Workout challenges and diet trends come and go, but one that seems to continuously yield results is a calorie deficit. This occurs when you burn more calories than you consume, and it recently worked for a TikToker named Shelby, who lost 20 pounds in three months. In a video, Shelby candidly opened up about her weight-loss journey, which stemmed from “severely overeating.” Her number one weight-loss tip? Condensed meal planning.
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“Let me give you my biggest nutrition tip, if you are someone who struggles with eating in a calorie deficit…I’ve been trying to lose weight for years and it’s just melting off my body right now,” she began.
As someone who finds meal planning more of a burden than a cooking hack, Shelby seeks solace in following a simple yet strict weekday food schedule. In other words, she eats “the same exact meal [for] breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Monday through Friday.” When the weekend rolls around, she starts brainstorming next week’s menu.
“I don’t like to meal plan. It really stresses me out, like a lot,” she confided to her followers.
So instead, she finds recipes for a “high-protein, yummy breakfast, a good, high-protein lunch, and a good, high-protein dinner.” She added, “I switch it the next week.”
With her preferred method, she only has to meal plan once on Sundays. “I track it all out for the week. I know how much protein I’m getting [per day]. I know that I’m eating 1,500 calories a day, which is what I’m doing for the deficit that I’m in,” she shared.
Shelby is in a 500-calorie deficit, which equates to about one pound of weight loss per week. She has found this to be “a really healthy rate to lose weight,” and her logic makes sense. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “people who lose weight at a gradual, steady pace—about 1 to 2 pounds a week—are more likely to keep the weight off than people who lose weight quickly.”
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When it comes to building her meal plans, Shelby turns to Trader Joe’s for inspiration. She typically cooks egg bites and a chicken sausage patty in the morning before whipping out a premade salad kit for lunch. (Fun fact: TJ’s regularly updates its salad section to include kits with seasonal ingredients and flavors.) Shelby also has a protein smoothie with her salad bowl.
For dinner, one of her favorite entrèes is seasoned ground chicken and veggies. She drizzles on a sauce to tie it all together—though that’s one ingredient she frequently “switches up” to help differentiate her dinners throughout the week.
“I am someone that can really eat the same thing if I think it tastes good, and when I drown my ground chicken in sauce, like, it’s gonna taste good,” she shared.
Aside from nutrition, Shelby said she also follows a simple workout routine. She aims for 15,000 steps per day, engages in low-impact exercises, and also enjoys pilates.