Five of the best meals for weight loss

Prawns are nutrient rich and make for a low calorie addition to a meal. Photo / Getty Images

ANY discussion on weight loss tends to focus on calories, diets and the specific quantities of carbs, proteins and fats that will be required to successfully burn off the kilos.

Far less often are we given the specifics on exactly what we should be eating.

So if you are keen to drop some weight over the next few weeks, here are some the best meals that will support you with your goals.

GRILLED PRAWNS AND SALAD

While prawns have been considered taboo on many a low cholesterol diet, the truth is prawns are an extremely nutrient-rich food that contain very few calories. With a large king prawn containing just 20-25 calories, you could easily enjoy a meal of 6-8 large prawns and salad and still consume just 200-250 calories in an entire meal of prawns and salad. Or, a simple green prawn and vegetable stir fry will again come in under 300 calories, which is particularly low for a dinner meal.

WHITE FISH AND VEGETABLES

Tuna and salmon are nutrient rich types of fish, but their relatively high fat content means they are also relatively high in calories. For example a small serve of Atlantic salmon will contain at least 200 calories and 10-12g of fat compared to a range of plain white fish fillets which can contain half as many calories and almost no fat. Team your favourite grilled fish with steamed or stir fried vegetables and you will again have a filling nutrient rich meal for fewer than 300 calories per serve.

SOUP

It is not by chance that there are many, many diets that include soup as part of the regimen. Broth and vegetable based soups are not only exceptionally low in calories, but the volume and fibre rich vegetable based means you get a filling meal for minimal calories.

It appears that it is the volume of liquid consumed when we base a meal around soup that helps to fill us up for far fewer calories than solid food. For this reason basing a couple of meals in your diet each week around soup is proven to enhance weight loss efforts.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES AND CAULIFLOWER RICE

For the carb lovers, the thought of needing to cut back or completely eliminate carbohydrate rich foods such as rice and pasta is enough to turn you off any diet but the good news is if you are happy to swap to vegetable alternatives to rice and pasta. For example, zucchini or pumpkin zoodles, now readily available in major supermarkets or cauliflower rice are fibre rich, low calorie alternatives to carb rich grains. Team your favourite rice or pasta vege alternative with a light, vegetable rich sauce and voila, you have a low calorie meal that will compliment your weight loss attempts.

ROASTED VEGETABLE SALAD

Any meal that is based around vegetables will have fewer calories than a heavy rice or pasta meal, or large serves of protein with side serves of vegetables. The key is to focus on the vegetables that have a particular high water content including beetroot, carrot, pumpkin, eggplant and literally any type of greens you can think of. If you simple roast your vegetables in a little olive oil and serve with a white cheese such as ricotta or cottage cheese and you will have another delicious, low calorie meal.