Want tasty and no-fuss 2500-calorie meal plan ideas that will keep you happy throughout the day? Bring yourself to the table with our smart ideas and plans.
Sticking to a 2500 calorie diet plan allows you to choose a good amount of healthy food items to consume. With us, you can increase your chances of success by eating the foods you need to reach your diet goals. Whether you want to maintain weight or lose it, we know exactly how to do it.
Find out what food items you need to eat to lose weight and what – to maintain the weight. Get benefits out of our creative tips and specially designed calorie diet plans for men and active women. Jump-start your calorie-meal-planning right now!
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2500 calorie diet plan: Simple family-friendly meal plans to achieve 2500 calorie goals
With all the conflicting diet menu information many people are interested in how many calories a day do they need? The truth is that the answer to this puzzling question varies from person to person. The amount of calories the person needs depends upon his/her height, age, activity level etc.
When it comes to your caloric needs, your goals are an important consideration. You need to determine whether you want to lose weight, maintain weight or gain muscle.
2500 calorie diet plan will be suitable for:
- Men between the ages of 19 to 30;
- Moderately active men between the ages of 31 to 50;
- Active adult men over 50 years old;
- Very active women.
So, if you are one of those people, choose a 2500 calorie diet meal plan. But before you start, note that your plan should not only be caloric but also healthy.
The healthiest 2500 calorie diet plan adheres to some sensible guidelines: eat more grains, dairy foods, vegetables, and fruits and don’t eat unhealthy fat. On any given day make sure to strike a balance between heavier and lighter.
Remember, your healthy plan should include healthy food.
2500-calorie sample diet plan must include:
- 8 ounces of grains;
- 3 cups from low-fat dairy foods;
- Protein foods;
- Healthy fats;
- 2 cups of fruits;
- 3 cups of veggies.
To achieve the goals, base your diet plan on the above-mentioned and start eating healthy!
If you need help, focus on these helpful plans.
Day 1
- Breakfast: Low Carb meatballs with beef, cheddar, pork, egg and onion (3 large eggs, ½ lb cheddar cheese, shredded, 32 oz. pork sausage, 2 tbsp. chopped onion, minced). Combine all ingredients. Roll into balls. Bake for 20 minutes. Drink 1 cup skim milk. (Cal.403)
- Snack: low sugar oatmeal (1 packet) topped with a fistful of berries. (150 Cal.)
- Lunch: Burritos with beans and rice, ½ cup grapefruit juice. (905 Cal.)
- Snack: chocolate pudding (one chocolate pudding cup with one crushed graham-cracker square sprinkled on top). (150 Cal.)
- Dinner: Lime and Lemongrass herby chicken kebabs ( skinless and boneless chicken breasts, one lemongrass stem, 1 garlic clove, grated zest and juice of a lime, 2 tbsp. fresh coriander, tbsp. soy sauce, salt and pepper), rice, 1 cup fruit yogurt. (643 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: 2 large bananas and cup of water. (251 Cal.)
Day 2
- Breakfast: ¾ cups oats, old fashioned, 2 whole eggs, 1 cup blueberry, 8 fl oz. organic almond milk. (442 Cal.)
- Snack: 4-ounce orange-mandarin cup topped with 2 tbsp. chopped walnuts, 1 whole banana, 1 glass apple juice. (382 Cal.)
- Lunch: Black beans and corn salsa salad (2 cups salsa, ½ cup back beans, ¼ cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup corn, 4 cups shredded lettuce, 4 oz. ranch salad dressing, ¼ lb lean ground beef) – 362 Calories in one serving; 1 glass tomato juice. (403 Cal.)
- Snack: 1 trail-mix granola bar, 1 whole banana, purple 100% grape juice. (442 Cal.)
- Dinner: 9 oz. salmon, raw, 1 cup broccoli, raw, 1 cup squash, zucchini, baby, 8 fl oz. drinking water. ( 431 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: Quick Guacamole Dip with chips – mix ¼ cup mashed avocado with ¼ cup mashed salsa and serve with 20 tortilla chips. (400 Cal.)
Choose your daily food items depending on your goals: weight loss or gain. To lose weight, choose foods that keep you full.
For example, replace hard-for-the-body-to-breakdown white rice with brown rice. For weight gain choose high-calorie-content items. Eat a beef filet instead of fish or chicken. Add sour cream or butter to baked potatoes etc.
Day 3
- Breakfast: Smoked Salmon with Avocado on Rye. Ingredients: 1/3 avocado spread on toasted rye bread (2 slices), 1 ounce smoked salmon with ½ tbsp. chopped chives topped on each piece of toast, 1 cup skim milk, non-fat. (391 Cal.)
- Snack: 4 organic dark chocolate sandwich cookies, 1 cup orange smoothie. (388 Cal.)
- Lunch: 1 Mexican Burrito with Guacamole, 1 cup orange juice, flesh pressed. (562 Cal.)
- Snack: Pudding with cherries. (150 Cal.)
- Dinner: Warm chicken and barley salad, 1 cup milk, nonfat, fluid and 1 whole banana. (579 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: Whole wheat banana muffins, 1 cup orange juice. (430 Cal.)
Day 4
- Breakfast: 2 eggs, poached, 2 teaspoons butter, one muffin, ½ grapefruit. (350 Cal.)
- Snack: 2 cups melon balls, 1 cup skim milk. (220 Cal.)
- Lunch: Tuna salad sandwich, potato, baked and topped (1 serving), one orange, 1 fat-free plain yogurt. (779 Cal.)
- Snack: 20 dry, unsalted almonds, 1 medium banana. (300 Cal.)
- Dinner: ½ cup brown rice, 6 ounces broiled salmon, steamed asparagus, 2 apples, one cup fat-free pudding. (647 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: 1 ounce pumpkin seeds, unsalted, sugar-free yogurt. (204 Cal.)
2500 calorie meal plan for men
So is this the meal plan for you? Most men need from 2000 to 3000 calories a day depending on their size, age, weight management and activity level goals.
For those men who want to maintain a healthy weight, 2500 calorie meal plan is the best option.
A daily 2500-calorie healthy meal plan includes:
- 45-65% from Carbs;
- 20-35% from dietary fat;
- 10-35% from protein;
You can easily count your daily calories by knowing how many calories per gram Protein, Carbs and Fat have:
- Protein – 4 calories per gram;
- Carbs – 4 calories per gram;
- Fat – 9 calories per gram.
Plan 1
- Breakfast: 2 cups of whole grain cereal, 1 egg, 1 cup of melon, 1 cup of low-fat milk. (380 Cal)
- Snack: Blueberry muffin, 1 tbsp. butter. (400 Cal.)
- Lunch: Beef with asparagus and mushrooms, 1 small orange (506 Cal.)
- Snack: 1 cup non-fat yogurt, five whole grain crackers, 1 ounce of almonds. (460 Cal.)
- Dinner: Cuban chicken and vegetables, 1 cup of brown rice, a glass of orange juice. (505 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: Fat-free yogurt (150g.), 1 cup blueberries, ½ low-fat granola. (249 Cal.)
Plan 2
- Breakfast: ¾ cup cereal, high fiber, 1 cup low-fat milk 1%, one medium banana, cream, fluid. (347 Cal)
- Snack: Low-fat, fruit yogurt, 1 medium apple. (259 Cal.)
- Lunch: 3 ounce Turkey breast, Cheddar cheese (2 cubic inch), 0, 15 cup mayo, 2 slices of whole bread, 1 medium apple, 1 fresh-pressed orange juice. (722 Cal.)
- Snack: 4 graham crackers, 1 cup skim milk. (220 Cal.)
- Dinner: Tomato spinach stuffed chicken breasts, mashed potatoes (1 serving), 1 cup green beans with almonds, one baked apple, 1 cup green tea. (634 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: 3 non-fat, chocolate cookies, ½ cup vanilla ice-cream, 1 cup milk. (318 Cal.)
Eat up to six meals a day, consuming between 300 to 800 calories per meal. Balance your diet plan with carbohydrates, protein and fat.
Play around with food items and combinations until you find out what really works for you!
Plan 3
- Breakfast: 2 cups cereal, 1 medium banana, 1 box raisins, seedless, 1 cup milk, 1 orange juice. (602 Cal.)
- Snack: 6 reduced-fat crackers, 2 raw pears, berry boost smoothie. (224 Cal.)
- Lunch: Turkey sandwich (1 serving), 1/5 cup salad, tossed, 1 cup frozen strawberry, 1 cup apple juice. (522 Cal.)
- Snack: 4 medium kiwi, 1 sugar-free fruit punch drink mix. (200 Cal.)
- Dinner: Cherry tomato Turkey meatballs (1 serving), 1 cup cooked spaghetti pasta, ½ cup spaghetti sauce, ½ cup tossed salad with dressing, 1 cup grapefruit juice. (692 Cal.)
- Bedtime snack: 1 cup 2% milk, 1 low-fat chocolate éclair. (260 Cal.)
Take benefits out of our tips and healthy meal plans and get food on the table without the hassle. Stay stress-free by taking our tips into consideration.
If your goal is weight loss, choose low-fat and high-fiber filling items. But if you want to gain weight, add to your meal plan more calorie-rich foodstuffs. Add some fun to your daily meal plan with our creative meal recipes and tips you are sure to love.
Remember, you deserve to eat healthily!
Bumping Up To a 2500 Calorie Meal Plan
If you are planning on competing in any type of intense physical activity, you need to bump up the number of calories you consume on a daily basis. There are several reasons for this including the need for additional nutrients and having a sustainable level of energy to draw from. Many people don’t realize that after they finish exercising, their body may continue to burn calories for several more hours. If those extra calories are not readily available through the food you eat or stores of body fat, they will be drawn from the proteins that make up their muscle tissue.
Why So Many Calories?
Gradually increasing your calorie intake will give you the energy you need as you continue to increase your workout times. Aggressively training for any type of competitive event means a dramatic increase in the number of calories you will need each day to support your new level of activity. With this type of training and nutritional regimen, a steady stream of calories is needed to prevent the body from going into starvation mode.
There are several ways to maintain a constant supply of fuel:
- Use complex carbohydrates as snacks.
- Throw in a few meal replacement shakes along with snacks.
- Increase the number of snacks to balance out the number of meals.
While you will still eat the meal with the largest number of calories an hour or two before your main workout, you will need to provide your body with a steady stream of calories throughout the rest of the day. This ensures that your body has the fuel it needs, even after your main workout of the day is over. If you have incorporated a “two a day” workout program where you workout once in the morning and once in the evening, you will need to divide your calories accordingly while spacing them evenly between the two workout sessions.
Increasing Your Endurance
Having all of the additional calories at your disposal is a great way to increase your endurance. While many people use treadmill workouts to lose weight, using the treadmill for a few minutes between your workouts will improve your endurance. This additional period of activity further trains your body for an extended period of activity. Whether you are training for short periods of extremely intense activity (wrestling or boxing) or several hours of steady activity (a marathon), increasing your level of endurance is the key to having the energy you need to complete the event.
Anytime you plan on entering into any type of competition, you have to remember to balance your strength with your endurance. While being strong is great, you won’t get anywhere if you don’t have the endurance to maintain that strength until the end of the event. You need to make sure you understand how to pace yourself so that you are able to give a final push at the end. Many people give all they have at the beginning of a competition and don’t have enough power for a strong finish. You may have to learn to maintain a slow pace during part of the competition so you can really turn on the heat at the end.
A few tips to help this include:
- Train at various speeds for different intervals of times.
- In between your “two-a-day” workouts do Pilates or use the treadmill for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Swim laps or run after your workouts.
Any of these activities allow you to extend your endurance. They give you the strength you need to go the distance and remain competitive from the first minute to the last. By using a meal plan with a high-calorie count, you will be able to maintain this level of activity without compromising your muscle mass or depleting the nutritional stores within your body. In addition to padding your calorie intake, having the best muscle building supplements on hand is also very beneficial and will make sure you always have the nutritional support you need.
You can find further details of Diet Plans here.
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Please provide recipes for each item listed. For example, on day in the 2500 cal plan, it says burritos and 1/2 c. grapefruit juice- 905 calories. What is the burrito recipe, please, for that 850 calorie burritos?
Also please provide the beef and asparagus recipe, and Cuban chicken recipe.
, etc. Otherwise, it’s impossible to know how to prepare the food to equal rights he calories you recommend. Some burrito recipes have only 100 calories per burrito. Please post these recipes and the quantity to equal 1 serving, to your site, so we can find it. Thanks! Thank you for the site!
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This 2500 calorie meal plan is designed to help you build lean muscle while burning excess body fat.