HELP with diet

[fitgirl]

Hi Everyone, this is my first post here!

A week ago I started my weight loss journey. My goal is to get lean (lose weight, gain muscle). Im currently 26% body fat and want to reduce that to around 18%. A lot I know!!

This past week I have been doing the 1200 calorie light n easy program, which has been great in teaching me portion control, and also to eat regularly throughout the day. However I want to start preparing my own meals. I'm going shopping as soon as I get some advise, and plan to pre-prepare as much as I can to avoid getting hungry and binging. The idea of having my food ready in the fridge or freezer has helped me so so so much!

But - there is so much mixed information out there on the internet and I just don't know where to start. Especially because I am trying to lose weight but retain and build muscle mass simultaneously.

I do think for the next month or so I should be sticking to a 1200 calorie diet plan with regular exercise to start shedding some weight. Once I am lighter, I can start focusing more on the muscles. Is anyone able to help in terms of creating a meal plan?? I have searched high and low.

This is what I'm thinking:

For breakfast I ideally like something quick and easy like weet bix with skim milk, but once again I have heard mixed reviews weather that's good to eat for weight loss. I would rather not have to cook at this time.

Morning snack I'm planning a piece of fruit.

Lunch I am thinking brown rice, chicken and spinach. But I don't know what portion size is appropriate??

Afternoon snack another piece of fruit.

Dinner either chicken or fish with vegetables. but again stuck with the portion sizes!

If anyone can help if that's a good plan or not, and any other ideas to add variety it would be GREATLY appreciated!

BTW, I do Les Mills Body Pump 3 times per week for strength and toning. Is cardio necessary and how much should I do??

Thanks so much !!

[Blitz]

Grace

Use your Lite N Easy as templates for portion control. You can use your hands as a guide to portion size. Just Google "food portion sizes hands" and I'm sure something will pop up that will have a picture of portion sizes using your hand as a guide. There are many cool recipe suggestions on this site which are geared for us to use...check them out.

Breakfast is the most important meal. If you get it right it will set you up for a successful day. Don't scrimp on breakfast...make it work for you. Weet Bix is good, you may even want to slice a banana on top of it. I'm not a skim milk fan - to me all the natural goodness of the milk should be present. Protein at breakfast is a really good idea. I have a handful of almonds. A few times a week I also have bacon (lean) and eggs. The protein will power your exercise and keep your metabolism running hot.

Lunch should be the light meal of the day. Not keen on the idea of brown rice, chicken (unless it is really lean and with a salad) or spinach for lunch. Try tuna, a salad or something of that ilk. BTW not all salads need to be leafy and green...and you can mix in fruit like apple and sultanas in them as well.

Your dinner plans looks fine. As for portion size...when in doubt - eat half of what you use to eat!

Kim