Been lazy on the couch all year? Want to lose some of what you have gained? Got some time? If your answer to all three queries is in the affirmative, then congratulations. You are just at the place you ought to be. Losing weight by managing diet and calories is a tough feat to accomplish. All those calculations and mixing and managing meals can drive anyone crazy. In their haste, people follow a diet plan that might not be the most suitable one for them. This is why you need a customized diet plan that can help you lose weight but not affect you in any other manner. In this discussion, we are going to give you a 30-day summer shred diet plan that is designed meticulously for a total of 1500 calories. We have used example food items but you substitute them with items of your liking as well. But be careful about those calories! We also discuss a few other tips that go well with your diet plan.
So, without further ado, let us first have a look at our 1500 calorie diet plan!
The 1500 calorie diet plan
You are not going to have one meal all day, which is just a very negative approach to a summer shred diet plan. What we are going to do is to discuss every single meal of the day separately and have a look at the most suitable choices for that particular meal. So, what comes first? Breakfast!
Breakfast
We are going to assume that you are a coffee or tea lover and that it is an essential part of your breakfasts. The macronutrient value associated with either of these drinks is almost minimal, hence we are assigning the number zero to these drinks in the calories section. Now as to eating, do you love egg whites? Even if you don’t, chuck in at least 5 in a bowl because this is a summer shred diet plan and you must make a few changes unless you are allergic to any of the food items that might be mentioned in this discussion. Ok, so from five egg whites, you are going to get at least 80 calories roughly speaking. A whole egg worth almost some number of calories won’t go amiss here either. To round it up nicely, have a one-third cup of oatmeal, preferably uncooked. This is worth 100 calories at least.
Snack A
What did you think, we were going to be harsh or something? Of course, you can have snacks! Ok so there are personal preferences but if you ditch them and follow what we are telling you, you are not going to consume more than 300 calories despite indulging in some very tasty stuff. We are a big fan of almond butter, are you? If you are, 1-1.5 tablespoon of it won’t hurt you and not be worth more than 150 calories. The fat content is higher in almond butter than protein or carbs. We are also not saying no to whole wheat bread, which can give you as much as 70 calories by gobbling just one slice. To sweeten the tooth just a bit, go for something carb-rich like half a cup of blueberries. We can promise you that these aren’t even worth 40 calories when consumed in the quantity that we have just mentioned.
Lunch
After your strenuous exertions at the gym, you deserve a good bite. If you don’t eat well, you damage your cause even further. What we mean by eating well is that you have to choose the elements of your lunch as meticulously as you did for snacks, breakfast, and dinner. First, tell us, are you a chicken fan or do you love Turkey? Either way, your diet will be full of protein if you opt for any of these. You can get as much as 140 calories if you opt for 3 oz. of chicken. Then, you need to make it sound like a dieting lunch so what you can do is throw in three cups of greens of your own choice and some white rice. Now that must look lovely on the lunch table, don’t you agree? To round off things nicely, have a quarter of an avocado. Believe it or not, despite eating all of this, all that you have to worry about is not even 300 calories. Stunning isn’t it? But we call it cunning!
Snack B
You have put in a decent effort at the gym and you had a nice lunch. So, what are the elements of your second snack of the day going to be? Don’t worry, we have made sure that it is tasty but not spoiling. Ok, let us start with chicken, or if you prefer white meat, you can go for 3 oz. of that too. This is the protein-rich aspect of your snack B, worth almost 150 calories. Then for some carbs worth almost the same amount of calories, chuck in some sweet potatoes. These are worth almost 100-120 carbs if you are having 5 oz. of these. The only thing that makes this snack B sound like a dieting snack is the inclusion of steamed vegetables. A cup of these and you get not more than 50 calories. Do you feel full already?
Dinner
All day’s efforts and errands mean that you need a dinner worthy of your size and space. For something protein-rich, why don’t you choose beef? Lean beef isn’t going to cost you even 150 calories, yet enrich your diet with enough protein to make up for any deficiencies. Most people love rice so we tell them to have half a cup but if you don’t feel like having rice twice in a day, you can look up an alternative as well. Since it is dinner, some hot sauce and green onions won’t go amiss either.
Post-workout
We assume that you are hitting the gym hard enough and you need post workouts to make up what you lose during a hard training session. We accounted for those whey protein shakes and chocolate bites into our calorie count and the net result is not more than 150 calories. This is provided you are consuming the normally recommended doses and not more than that.
The total?
We don’t need to double-check this. We told you already we were shooting for 1500 calories and that is it. This is a diet plan that has a calorie burden of 1500-1600 calories with more carbs more than proteins or fats. You can make it a bit more personal but we dare say this one will work just fine for you if your goal is to shred through diet.
Switch to these!
1- Low to zero-calorie drinks
Find us ten people in one town who aren’t addicted to sugar enriched drinks. From shakes to carbonated ones and a few others, the amount of calories that you are consuming via these drinks is phenomenal. And yet, you can’t eliminate these from your life completely. There are years spent on drinking addiction in some cases, we cannot be cruel enough to ask you to give it up suddenly. No, the best thing that you can do is switch to zero-calorie drinks. We understand that these are nowhere near the real stuff but at least you are having a taste of something. We all have to make some sacrifices, maybe this is your sacrifice!
2- Choose your condiments well
Man, or woman, you are going to have to miss out on some of the fancy loaded salads that made your days. Those are a big no for the thirty days in which you are going to follow the diet plan that we have described so meticulously earlier. Of course, there will be a replacement of some sort, we are not going to ask you to ditch stuff completely. Can you think of a few alternatives? No? Let us help you. How about you start having more of that hot sauce we mentioned earlier? If you are not a big fan of hot sauce, you can have ketchup but make sure that the sugar content is not too high. Mustard is an option that you can consider as well.
3- Ditch olive oil
You might be a big fan of olive oil but do you want to ruin all of your hard work by just dipping stuff into olive oil? We will not beat around the bush and tell you in clear terms that cooking oil is a big no for your summer shred diet plans. Instead, go for a spray at most. That way, you have a taste of what you wanted plus you aren’t letting the grand calorie total jump past 1500.
4- The shopping list needs to be updated
You might not be a big fan of some of the stuff mentioned in the shred diet plan. So, there is a good chance that you will need to update your grocery list because the chances of these items are found in your fridge are very less. So, scribble down what is missing from the plan in your fridge and go shopping! Please don’t pull faces, you are doing this for a noble cause!
Why a diet plan is important?
This is our favorite. Bulky guys who can hit the gym for 2-3 hours max pulling faces at our diet plan while uttering these very words. Shouldn’t exercise be enough? Well, if you can hit the gym for 20 hours straight, then go ahead. Be our guest. But if you can’t, please understand this. Do not go for overkills. The idea of training on a poor diet is just horrific. All-day, you must be engaged in some other activities as well. These are the errands that must be carried out. You burn calories even when you are doing these tasks and not hitting the gym. Hence, you need to figure out a plan that won’t let you have more calories than you need to sustain and make it to the end of the day.
Cycling your macronutrients
Before you start following this 30-day summer shred plan that we discussed for you, you need to write down the macronutrient intake that you were following earlier. This will help you assess if your macronutrient intake has increased or decreased. Remember that having an idea about the number of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats is critical in achieving your goals. If your new intake exceeds your previous intake, you need to cycle your macronutrients. For example, in another diet plan of similar nature, carb consumption might be greater than other macros. Hence, for those particular days, you can fuel your daily activities using carbohydrates.
Is this plan enough?
We think so. Your macronutrients are all covered and you are getting a decent amount of micros as well. We are biased in the favor of macros though we strongly believe in a plan that provides sufficient micronutrients as well. Talk about your micros, you are getting plenty of proteins and fats from this plan but the biggest plus is carbohydrates of course. If we were, to sum up, things, a total would sound something like 40 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent fats, and almost twenty percent of fat.
Conclusion
We hope that you have learned a new routine that you are going to follow this summer or the one coming next year. We have discussed a 30-days summer shred diet plan in detail that you can adapt to at your convenience. However, once you start following this diet plan, there is no turning back. You can have your doughnuts later, now is not the time. 30 days of pain and your gains will be maximum. Also, what sort of pain are you experiencing it here? We are sure that the discussed plan is about as yummy as it can get for a tummy that needs to think twice before it accepts anything like pizza fries!
