Meal Plan to Get Lean: A Dietary Guide to Weight Loss for Women
Updated on November 26, 2025
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Trying to shed a few inches and get toned, but not sure where to start? Look no further. Here are some tips, plus a general meal plan that can help any woman looking to lose weight and gain muscle.
Always check with your doctor or a dietitian before you begin a weight loss program to make sure your plans are safe and optimized for your body. Certain health conditions may mean you’ll need to adjust aspects of a weight loss plan, and you’ll need to consider other elements that affect weight loss, such as age and lifestyle.
What Should a Woman Eat to Lose Weight and Gain Muscle?
First things first: While it can be tempting to go on a crash diet to try to lose weight quickly, it's just not a good idea. Fad diets, cleanses, and rapid weight loss in general can bring on a slew of dangers, and chances are that you'll gain the weight back as soon as you resume eating normally.
Instead, aim to take a slower, more gradual approach to weight loss, and lose 1 or 2 pounds per week. To do this, you’ll need to be in a calorie deficit, meaning you burn more calories than you consume. Generally, reducing your daily calorie consumption by about 500 calories will result in about 1 pound of weight loss per week. However, keep in mind that this can vary based on a number of factors, including age, sex, activity level, and your starting and goal weights.
Avoid letting your daily calorie intake fall below 1,200 calories, since that could cause you to miss out on essential nutrients. A major cut in calories, especially if you're exercising on top of that, can cause weight loss to stall. A process called adaptive thermogenesis occurs right after the initial weight loss — when your metabolism slows to match your low-calorie intake.
Foods to Include in Your Diet
It's not just the number of calories that matters. A meal plan for weight loss and muscle gain needs to look at the quality of the calories, too.
Not all calories are created equal. A calorie of junk food is not equal to a calorie of a whole food. While the former usually has little to no nutrition, the calories in the latter are usually accompanied by essential nutrients that your body needs.
You want variety in each meal; a good diet is a balanced, colorful diet. Opt for high-quality foods that provide you with both calories (energy) and nutrition. This includes:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole grains like brown rice and quinoa
- Good fats like avocado and nuts
- Lean proteins
An easy way to make sure things are balanced is to make half your plate fruits and vegetables (look to include high-fiber options), one-quarter whole grains, and one-quarter lean protein.
Your body can multitask — that is, you can build muscle while losing weight.
“Food doesn't make you gain muscle. You need to exercise; you need to lift weight for that,” says Nancy Clark, RD, the author of Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, who is in private practice in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts.
“But the body needs the tools to build the muscle, and that would be protein-rich foods like Greek yogurt, chicken, turkey, tofu, beans — any protein-rich food will build and repair. Carbs, like grains, fuel the muscle to do the exercise,” Clark says.
Foods to Limit or Avoid
It’s important to limit or avoid certain foods if your goal is to get lean, including:
- Refined grains
- Highly processed foods and snacks, including cured meats
- Added sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose, refined table sugar)
- Sugary foods and drinks
- Fried foods and foods with trans fats or significant amounts of saturated fat
- Sodium in excess of 2.5 grams per day, unless you have a medical condition that dictates a lower or higher sodium limit
That said, keep in mind that a too restrictive diet just isn't realistic for long-term weight loss and maintenance. “The minute you say, ‘Don't eat apples,’ the person starts craving apples,” Clark says.
Meal Plan Ideas
Here are some lean meal plan ideas for breakfast, based on a 1,400 to 1,600 calorie daily intake:
Breakfast
- Whole-wheat toast with fruit, shredded wheat cereal with 1 percent milk, and regular coffee with 1 percent milk
- Oatmeal (made with 1 percent milk), English muffin with light cream cheese, an orange, and coffee with 1 percent milk
You should also add a serving of protein, according to Clark, like eggs or cottage cheese.
And don't forget those good fats! Unsaturated fats — like avocado; nuts and seeds; oils like olive, canola, and flaxseed; plus fish — are necessary and beneficial to your health.
Lunch
For your midday meal, try:
- Apple and a roast beef sandwich, made with extra lean beef, whole-wheat bread, lettuce, tomato, and low-calorie mayo
- Baked chicken (without the skin), a vegetable salad with an oil and vinegar dressing, some brown rice with plant-based butter, and a piece of fruit
Dinner
Some dinner ideas:
- Salmon made with vegetable oil, a baked potato topped with plant-based butter, carrots and green beans made with plant-based butter, a whole-grain dinner roll, ice milk for dessert, and some unsweetened iced tea
- Chicken taco (made with a corn tortilla, skinless chicken breast, low-fat cheddar, guacamole, and salsa), Spanish rice (without meat), corn topped with plant-based butter, a banana, and some coffee (made with 1 percent milk)
It's a good idea to visit a dietitian for a meal plan that is customized to your age, preferences, lifestyle, medical conditions, and food allergies. A weight-loss plan for a woman over 60 may be different from a weight-loss plan for a woman over 40, for instance — a dietitian can help you navigate the best path for you.
In the meantime, Clark recommends that you get at least three or four different kinds of foods in any given meal.
“You would need some sort of protein to build and repair your muscles, some sort of grain to fuel your muscles, some sort of fruit or veg for vitamins and minerals, and some kind of calcium-rich food for your bones,” she says.
Also, make sure to drink enough water. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that most adult men consume 3.7 liters (L), or about 125 ounces (oz), of total water daily, and most adult women consume 2.7 L, or about 68 oz, of total water daily — with about 80 percent of that coming from drinks, and the rest from foods like fruits and vegetables.
The Benefits of Losing Fat
Nearly three out of four adults in the United States are overweight or have obesity.
Losing even a modest amount of weight, such as 5 to 10 percent of your body weight, results in health benefits like better blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. Plus, it may help you reduce your risk of certain diseases associated with being overweight or having obesity, including diabetes and heart disease.
Why Weight Can Be More Challenging for Women
You're not mistaken if you've ever felt like losing weight can be harder for women than it is for men.
There are a number of biological reasons for this. For starters, men tend to have more lean muscle and a lower body fat percentage than women, which makes their resting metabolic rate higher. And the higher your resting metabolic rate, the more calories your body is able to burn in a day.
Women’s bodies tend to store fat in the hips, thighs, and buttocks, and those areas have proven to be a little more stubborn when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain. Estrogen, the main female hormone, promotes fat storage in these areas in the lower region of the body. And keep in mind that a pound of fat occupies more space than a pound of muscle does.
Other factors like pregnancy, menopause, and hormonal imbalances can also lead to extra pounds – and make it more difficult to lose weight.
Strategize for Success
Losing weight can be hard, but apart from eating healthier and exercising regularly, there are some changes you can make in your daily habits to make it easier.
Practice Mindful Eating
It’s important to pay attention to what you eat and how much; instead of eating mindlessly, eat only when you're genuinely hungry and stop eating when you're full. Avoid eating while you're working, watching TV, or fiddling with your phone, since you're less likely to notice signs from your body telling you that you're full.
Try examining your motives toward the food you eat. It's possible that you're eating out of boredom or in response to an emotional trigger, like stress or sadness. If you are eating emotionally, start replacing that habit with a healthier one, such as taking a walk, reading, or calling a friend.
Move Your Body and Strength Train
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that each week adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity. Adults are also advised to engage in muscle-strengthening activities targeting all the major muscle groups at least two days out of each week.
Strength training can not only get you looking more toned, but it can increase your metabolism, helping you burn more calories and maintain a healthy weight.
Of course, the rate of muscle growth is different for everyone in a strength-training program. Age, sex, genetic makeup, as well as how often you exercise and how much weight you’re lifting, all contribute to the rate of your muscle growth. You'll probably be able to see some growth in three to six months.
Plan Ahead With Meal Prep
Meal prepping can help you stick to your nutrition plan, since it helps control calorie intake, provides structure, and eliminates meal guesswork. It allows much more control over what you put in your body compared with eating out or cooking without a plan when you’re famished.
Clark suggests that you write down what you feel like eating for a few days or the whole week, making sure the meals include carbs, fats, and especially protein. Quickly calculate calories for each meal, create a shopping list, and take a few hours to prepare a batch of meals that you can heat up throughout the week.
Seek Support
Weight loss requires a commitment to lasting lifestyle changes. Sticking to a plan can be challenging, and research shows that social support from family, friends, and peers can help with success. This is especially true for long-term weight maintenance.
Support from professionals, including personal trainers, registered dietitians, and therapists, can also help provide structure and accountability for achieving your goals.
The Takeaway
- It can be harder for women to lose weight and gain muscle than it is for men, but knowing what to eat is a big piece of the puzzle.
- Focusing on food quality — a balanced, colorful diet that’s low in processed foods and high in protein — will set you up for success when it comes to losing fat while gaining muscle.
- To effectively gain muscle while losing weight, you’ll benefit from exercising, getting enough lean protein and healthy carbs, and staying on top of hydration.
- Check in with your doctor before embarking on a weight loss program, and consider working with a registered dietitian to develop an individualized meal plan, which can further ensure you reach your goals safely.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
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Meet Our Experts
Melissa Sleight, RDN
Medical Reviewer
Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Melissa Sleight, RDN, is a board-certified lifestyle medicine dietitian with over 15 years of experience. She has a passion for educating her clients about improving their health through nutrition and lifestyle changes, and seeing them motivated to improve their health each day.
Sleight earned her bachelor's in nutrition and food science from Utah State University. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition group for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She is involved at the local level as the president-elect of Magic Valley Dietitians and is a liaison for her community as a board member of the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
She likes to cook and try new recipes, and loves water activities of all kinds — from paddleboards to hot tubs. She enjoys exploring the outdoors through hiking, on all-terrain vehicles, and camping.
Sleight earned her bachelor's in nutrition and food science from Utah State University. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition group for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She is involved at the local level as the president-elect of Magic Valley Dietitians and is a liaison for her community as a board member of the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
She likes to cook and try new recipes, and loves water activities of all kinds — from paddleboards to hot tubs. She enjoys exploring the outdoors through hiking, on all-terrain vehicles, and camping.
