Exercise is not everything when it comes to losing weight, especially sustainably. Diet, in fact, is the biggest factors that contribute to healthy weightloss. Calorie deficit is simply what leads to buring fat and what you eat, how much you eat, and whether you can stick to that routine helps maintain that deficit.
Content creator Saakshi Singh recently shared her own weight-loss journey on Instagram, revealing that she went from 115 kg to around 70 kg and lost more than 45 kg in 10 months. She also shared a detailed look at what she ate through the day.
When she began her journey, her maintenance intake was around 2,800 calories. The meals stayed focused on not only consuming calories whithin that limit while also prioritising protein and fiber intake.
However, the calorie intake to maintain a deficit is dynamic for everyone. As your weight fluctuates, your activity and routine changes, the number of calories you can consume in a day while remaining in a deficit also changes.
What She Ate In A Day
After beginning her day with blue tea, jeera and ajwain water or lemon and honey water, she had breakfast at 8 am. The key was to roate between different options instead of sticking one and end up slipping. Variety is key to a sustainable diet plan. Her choices included moong dal cheela or besan cheela with a low-fat paneer filling and skyr yoghurt. She also had paneer or moong dal upma, moong dal idli, moonglet, paneer-stuffed ragi dosa and vegetable masala oats with paneer.
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She targeted only 300 to 450 calories for breakfast, with 20 to 30 grams of protein.
For lunch, brown-rice moong dal khichdi with paneer, soya matar sabzi with a wheat-bran or jowar roti, masoor dal with roti and palak dal with roti were the rotating options. Occasionally, paneer or chicken prepared without oil or ghee also made it to the plate. Fiber intake is just as important as protien, so a salad of cucumber, carrot and onion alongside lunch is a non-negotiable. These meals counted for 400 to 650 calories, with approximately 25 to 50 grams of protein.
For snack time, it couldd be a fruit, khakra, roasted chana, makhana or some nuts, but never reaching above 100 to 200 calories.
For dinner, her options included paneer or chicken clear soup with sauteed vegetables, moong dal soup with vegetables, vegetable soup with one slice of no-maida bread, or lemon coriander soup with vegetables. But on days she felt really hungry, palak dal with a wheat-bran roti was the alternative. Sticking to 200 to 400 calories provided roughly 10 to 30 grams of protein.
Her Daily Target
Saakshi generally aimed for around 1,400 to 1,700 calories a day, with approximately 85 to 120 grams of protein. Her stated goal was a deficit of around 500 or more calories.
The focus was not on one particular food or a single restrictive meal plan. That's simply not something people can stick to for a long time. Her healthy diet is one that becomes your lifestyle, and this is exactly that.
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She also aimed for at least a 12-hour overnight fasting window.