7 Day Meal Plan for 16/8 Intermittent Fasting Free to Optimize Weight Loss and Maintain Optimal Health
Introduction
Today is the day that you have decided to take an exciting step towards taking control of your health and your life. I'm so thrilled to introduce you to my 7-Day Meal Plan for the 16/8 Intermittent Fasting Protocol. My prospective aim with this meal plan is to guide you through a full week of this fascinating way of eating that has a number of remarkable health benefits, including weight loss, which is what many people are using it for.
You are probably already quite knowledgeable as to what intermittent fasting is, but for those of you who are not, I will provide a bit of info. This way of eating is not a diet but more of a dieting pattern. In simpler terms, it is making a conscious decision to skip certain meals. By doing this, you are able to go into a fasted state. What occurs is that after the body has finished digesting its food, usually 4-6 hours after completion, each person enters a fasted state. Entering a fasted state will state that insulin levels are low. During a fast, up to 12 hours, insulin levels will stay low, making it much easier for the body to burn fat. It's at the 12-hour mark where there are several changes that occur in the body, and I will go into that a bit further into the meal plan. But there are many different ways to incorporate fasting. The most common fasting method is the 16/8, whereby you will fast for 16 hours and eat all meals within an 8-hour period. This is the method that I have recommended to my clients, which is why I have created a meal plan around this pattern. The beauty of this way of eating and of this meal plan is that it is totally flexible and can be adapted to suit your personal needs, and you can eat any meals at any time once you have got the right amount of calories and macros for the day.
1. Day 1: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Meal 2 @ 2 pm Egg Omelette Macros: 500 calories, 36g protein, 35g fats, 10g carbs 10 oz Ribeye Steak Macros: 700 calories, 55g protein, 55g fats
Meal 1 @ 10 am Greek Yogurt with Berries and Nuts Macros: 350 calories, 18g protein, 26g fats, 10g carbs This is an ideal moderate carb, higher fat, higher protein first dinner to stir your fasting day off on the right foot.
1. Day 1 will be the initial day where you will begin your intermittent fasting meal plan. For the initial day, I propose beginning your eating part with a decent breakfast to set the diet off on the correct foot. Your breakfast will be the most strong dinner for a few reasons. First, it gives you the most energy to get recovered into your fast, and besides, if you are new to fasting, eating a strong breakfast can help mentally set you ok with the forthcoming fast by realizing you are 'all around dealt with'. This can be important for interpretation of satisfaction all through the fast.
2. Day 2: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Day 2: Breakfast (at 10 am): Blueberries and Cream Oatmeal 1½ cups goat's milk or hemp milk 1 cup steel-cut oats ¼ tsp salt 1½ cups blueberries 3 TBS walnut pieces MAPLE CREME: ¾ cup maple syrup (grade B works well) 2 tsp natural vanilla extract 1 cup unsweetened whipped cream In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the milk to a low boil. Reduce heat and add oats and salt; cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and let it sit, covered, for about 5 minutes. Stir and let cool. Meanwhile, place the maple syrup in a small saucepan and turn on the heat to medium-high. Bring the maple syrup to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. In 4 bowls, put 1 cup of oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries, and ¼ cup of walnut pieces. Pour 2 TBS of maple creme over the top of the oats for each serving. If desired, feel free to use cow's milk or a milk alternative for a creamy sauce. Lunch (at 1 pm): Fruit Salad with Mint and Lime 1 apple, chopped 1 pear, chopped 1 cup grapes, halved 1 cup strawberries, chopped juice of 1 lime 1/3 cup torn mint leaves Combine fruit in a medium-sized bowl. Pour lime juice over the top and toss with mint leaves. Let sit for about 30 minutes before serving.
3. Day 3: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Dinner: To maintain the correct ratios, you want to eat a slightly earlier dinner. However, if you are a nighttime exerciser (which is perfectly fine) and still have not worked out at this time, aim to eat the suggested meal before exercise and have a light post-workout meal, protein shake, or small snack. To cook an Asian-inspired salmon, place a salmon fillet on some foil and add spring onions, ginger, chili, and soy sauce. Seal the fillet in the foil and place it in the oven to steam or enjoy it on the BBQ. Serve the salmon with some brown rice and steamed greens (a bunch of asparagus and/or some broccolini is ideal). This meal is light yet extremely nutritious and provides a moderate serving of carbohydrates to provide fuel for your next day's fast. It will also ensure you don't feel bloated and undesirable for your exercise the next day. With a meal this good and a good number of healthy calories, you will also have room for a small dessert. A good option can be a scoop of plain yogurt with a handful of mixed berries mixed through.
Lunch: The best lunch to maintain this balance is a chickpea and rocket salad. It's healthy and extremely simple to make. Combine some rocket leaves, a tin of chickpeas, olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice. As well as being healthy and flavorful, the high fiber content of this meal will mean you don't feel extremely hungry 8 hours later.
Breakfast: The fig and nut porridge consists of rolled oats, a cup of milk, a large chopped fig, a tablespoon of sultanas, two chopped apricots, some chopped walnuts, and a dusting of cinnamon. To make this dish have the 16/8 ratio, a serving should be eaten at 10:00 am.
4. Day 4: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
For our heavy meal, we plan to have "Pasta Chicken Salad" which consists of iceberg lettuce, 1 cup of pasta (of any kind), 1 roasted skinless chicken breast, 1 clove of garlic and onion (diced), 1 punnet cherry tomatoes and around 50g of low-fat feta, and essential olive oil. Cooking it will be like cooking pasta but the process of cooking the chicken is like grilling. After cooking has been done, mix all the ingredients chicken together until you achieve a pasta-like consistency. This meal will cater up to 4 servings so keep the rest for lunch tomorrow. It would also be smart to take note of the time needed to burn the amount of calories you are going overboard with obtaining a detailed plan from this link.
For day 4, we plan to have a light breakfast consisting of only a wholemeal bread (2 slices). With this, we also want to have 2 slices of beef bacon and 1 whole egg. Be sure to have some vegetables with this breakfast meal. It's good for the vitamins and minerals plus it's low in calories. And to finish this light meal, you can have 1 medium-sized orange. Full of good quality carbs and various other health benefits as well.
Day 4 is another day without a workout (exercise), though you might want to take a long walk or do a little house cleaning as well. A good amount of protein in the food consumption will do you good as the protein helps to build muscle and repair body tissues after a workout.
5. Day 5: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
For dinner, I might have a really high carbohydrate and protein meal, to benefit muscle recovery and sleep. I'll be making a big beef stew within the slow cooker, which might last me for the remainder of the week, with 500 grams of meat, varied vegetables, and 100 grams of carbohydrates from rice flour as a thickening agent. This is expected to provide around 1500 calories, with 150 grams of protein, 200 grams of carbohydrates, and 25 grams of fat. This gives a complete of 2550 calories, with 242 grams of protein, 294 grams of carbohydrates, and 111 grams of fat. This is far less protein and fat than I might normally eat, however, excess amounts are not beneficial for the day's activities or recovery. The large amount of carbohydrates seems to be a divergence from the LCHF diet; however, recent results have very much tentatively shown this change to be a beneficial one.
For lunch, I might have a lower calorie, high protein and carbohydrate meal, as pre-exercise nutrient partitioning has been shown to be beneficial for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and muscle maintenance. I'll be having 200 grams of canned salmon, 2 slices of bread, and a broad mix of vegetables including cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. This may give me around 600 calories with 60 grams of protein, 50 grams of carbohydrates, and 15 grams of fat.
For breakfast, fat is a viable choice for appetite suppression, letting you go longer without a meal. Protein should be kept lower than throughout the day. The poor news is, this suggests no leucine threshold might be met for breakfast. I'll be having 2 complete eggs, 2 egg whites and 3 servings of mixed nuts (about 30 grams). This provides me about 450 calories, with 32 grams of protein and 50 grams of fat. This is way less protein than I would normally eat, and would be easier if I might drop the protein even lower; however, I much prefer whole eggs to egg whites. An alternate meal that you may prefer would be 5 whole eggs with about 25 grams of butter. This could provide more protein and less fat than the eggs and nuts.
6. Day 6: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
For breakfast, we made a spinach and cheese egg scramble with a serving of mixed berries. This meal was able to provide you with a good amount of protein and vitamins to start the day off right. At lunchtime, you ate a balsamic glazed pork chop with a side of mashed sweet potato. Sweet potato is a great natural source of carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, giving you some energy. Finally, for dinner, you ate a sausage and red pepper marinara pasta. This was a good meal on a training day, with a high amount of carbohydrates for energy, and protein values were still met with the meat in the sauce and sausages. This was a better alternative to takeout food on a Friday night that could have blown your calories for the day.
For breakfast, we tackled a high protein, low-calorie meal: the Egg & Green Tea. This meal helped accelerate your fat loss compared to other high-carb breakfast foods. For lunch, we cooked steak. Consuming protein at 25-30% of calories can boost metabolism by 80-100 calories per day and make you automatically eat several hundred fewer calories per day. It can also cut the desire for late-night snacking by half. Both help with weight loss and maintenance. We ended the day with a calorie-reduced meal to help increase fat loss: chicken stir fry with coconut oil. This meal was able to make you feel full and satisfied on fewer calories.
7. Day 7: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
2. Lunch: Chicken salad with the works and an olive oil balsamic dressing. There are infinite varieties of the chicken salad. Being a unique individual, you can make your own version using a variety of mixed salad items, nuts, seeds, dressings, and anything else you think of. This is one of my favorites and simple to make.
Calories: 470 Carbs: 15g Protein: 22g Fat: 37g
Instructions: Whisk eggs in a bowl, adding 2-3 pinches of salt. Cut the tomato into slices. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the whisked egg to the frying pan, and while the top side is still runny, add the tomato slices to one half of the omelet, then fold the other half over the tomatoes. Wait until the egg is browned underneath, then turn the omelet over and cook the other side a little. Slide the omelet onto a plate and serve a half each to two people. Cut the avocado into slices and serve on the omelet. Offer some sour cream to go with the omelet. (Serve 2)
Ingredients: 2-3 eggs 1 tomato Half an avocado Sour cream Butter for frying Salt
1. Breakfast: Omelet with tomatoes and avocado. This is another nutritious and filling breakfast option. Adding tomato and avocado to the usual omelet combination takes it to a new level of tastiness.