I Lost 42 Pounds with These 6 High-Protein Meals
Maintaining a healthy weight can be a challenge, especially when juggling a busy lifestyle. For many, finding nutritious, satisfying meals that support weight loss goals is a constant struggle. Liezl Jayne Strydom, a YouTube influencer with 1.2 million followers, faced this challenge head-on and successfully lost over 40 pounds by transforming her eating habits. Now, she's sharing her weight loss journey and the meal plan that helped her achieve her goals.
The Importance of Protein in Weight Loss
By now, we all know that protein is crucial for a healthy body. But why? "Protein is one of the most important things you need to be eating enough of every single day if you have a goal of weight loss in mind," says Certified clinical nutritionist Autumn Bates.
Liezl echoes this sentiment, adding, "During this time the thing that I really struggled with was finding lower calorie meals that were still balanced with all the food groups and that didn't leave me feeling hungry."
Calculating Your Protein Needs
Bates recommends a simple formula for determining your daily protein intake: "Multiply your weight in pounds by .73 to find out how much protein to take in every day." For example, a 150-pound person would need about 109.5 grams of protein daily for weight loss. Liezl adds, "If you ate all of this [in her meal plan], you'd be getting more than a hundred grams of protein for the day."
Start Your Day with a Protein-Packed Breakfast
Liezl kicks off her day with a simple yet nutritious breakfast. "I'm starting with two eggs, but you can also use a vegan egg replacer," she explains. Her spinach fried eggs on toast take just five minutes to prepare. Bates supports this choice, saying, "I usually like to eat three eggs and pair it with a little bit of cheese to help boost the protein content a little bit."
Boost Your Morning with a Protein-Rich Coffee
To complement her breakfast, Liezl prepares an easy iced coffee. "It's got seven grams of protein in it, it's only 80 calories, and it's dairy-free," she notes. The recipe includes soy milk for its high protein content and creaminess.
Enjoy a Quick and Nutritious Lunch
For lunch, Liezl opts for a Mexican-inspired black bean salad with tortilla chips. "This is the kind of thing that I would've eaten for lunch a lot when I was trying to lose weight," she recalls. The salad includes cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, black beans, and cilantro, dressed with lime juice and olive oil.
Practice Portion Control
Liezl emphasizes the importance of portion control, even with healthy foods: "You can use about 140 calories worth of tortilla chips, which I find is usually the serving size on most bags of tortilla chips."
Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth with a Protein Smoothie
To curb post-lunch cravings, Liezl recommends her three-ingredient mango protein smoothie. "This is a great pre or post-workout snack if you want that, or just a little sweet tooth satisfier," she says. The smoothie combines frozen mango, protein powder, and almond milk, providing 25 grams of protein.
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Prep a Flavorful Dinner for Multiple Meals
Liezl's dinner is a honey chicken dish with rice and green beans, which she meal preps for several days.
"My favorite thing about this meal is that it's amazing meal prep. So what I usually do when I'm making dinner is just make enough for a few servings," she explains.
Bates supports this approach, recommending chicken as a lean protein source: "About three ounces of cooked chicken breast will have around 27 to 28 grams of protein."
Explore Other Protein-Rich Dinner Options
While Liezl focuses on chicken, Bates suggests other protein-rich alternatives. "Three ounces of cooked salmon has about 22 grams of protein," she notes. For red meat lovers, Bates adds, "Three ounces of cooked beef has around 22 grams of protein, and it's so easy to use."
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End Your Day with a Light, Protein-Rich Snack
For a late-night snack, Liezl suggests a simple veggie and hummus plate. "This is a high protein, high fiber snack before bed and it's very simple," she says. The snack includes cucumber, snap peas, and a quarter cup of hummus. Bates offers another option: "I love cottage cheese. Just about one cup will have between 24 to 28 grams of protein."
Customize Your Meal Plan
Liezl's meal plan is flexible, ranging from 1,200 to 1,800 calories per day. "To customize this meal plan for 1,200 calories, you can have the breakfast, the lunch, and the dinner, which are all roughly 400 calories. And then just leave out the snacks," she advises. For higher calorie needs, she suggests adding in various snacks and smoothies. Liezl emphasizes, "We're all different. We all need a different amount of calories to lose weight in a healthy way, so I will show you how to do that."
Track Your Progress
Liezl emphasizes the importance of tracking: "All these recipes are going to be on my blog for all these meals and these snacks with all the calories, so you can get that there." This aligns with Bates' recommendation to closely monitor protein intake for optimal weight loss results.
As Liezl says, "Meal prepping doesn't always have to be this big whole thing. You can just do it while you're making dinner anyway. It just makes sense."
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The "3 Meals and 3 Snacks" Formula for Success
Liezl's 42-pound weight loss journey was built around a straightforward meal plan:
3 Main Meals:
- Breakfast: Spinach fried eggs with toast
- Lunch: Mexican-inspired black bean salad with tortilla chips
- Dinner: Honey chicken with rice and green beans
3 Snacks:
- Protein-rich iced coffee
- Mango protein smoothie
- Veggie and hummus plate
This "3 Meals and 3 Snacks" approach formed the foundation of her successful weight loss, demonstrating that a balanced, protein-rich diet can lead to significant results without sacrificing variety or satisfaction. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.
