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1,200 calories a day meal plan for women – vegetarian

If you want to lose weight, a meal plan can be a useful way to do so.

Many people choose to take on a calorie-controlled diet to help them lose weight and manage their food intake. But it’s important to make sure it’s the right option for you first. 

There are different types of vegetarian diets, but all vegetarians avoid eating meat, poultry, and fish. The most common type is a lacto ovo vegetarian diet, which includes dairy foods and eggs, and our menu plan is based on this. 

With careful planning a vegetarian diet can meet your nutritional needs whatever your age.

Our 1,200 calorie vegetarian meal plan is only suitable for women, as men generally have higher energy requirements than women. This means a plan that provides more calories a day would be more appropriate for men.

It’s both calorie and carb counted for your convenience, and contains at least five portions of fruit and veg per day.

We’ve included the value for fibre too to help you make sure you are meeting your nutritional requirements. We know lots of people in the UK aren’t eating fibre, so it’s important to try and include good sources in your diet every day.

Some of the recipes within this plan serve anywhere from 1-6 people. You can either reduce the quantities to serve as many people as needed or look at the chef’s tips to see if the recipe can be made in bulk and frozen for a later date. This will also help reduce waste. 

Before you begin this meal plan

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, research shows that the best diet is one you can stick to. So think about how the meal plan would fit in with your daily life and diabetes management. 

Before starting any healthy eating programme, please read how to choose your meal plan to make sure you follow the plan that's right for you. 

Please speak to your diabetes health care team before making significant changes to your diet. 

This is especially important if you treat your diabetes with insulin or other diabetes medications that increase the risk of hypos. Reducing your carbohydrate intake and changes to your body weight may mean your medication needs adjusting.

Important points about this meal plan

  1. This meal plan has taken nutritional information from our recipes and the sixth edition of Carbs and Cals, unless otherwise stated.
  2. Semi-skimmed milk has been used, but please use whichever you prefer. Any dairy alternative should be unsweetened and fortified with calcium. 
  3. These meal plans meet your recommended amount of fibre across the week. It's important to note that children under 16 years of age need less fibre than adults.

Disclaimer: every effort has been taken to make these meal plans as accurate as possible, but there will be some variation in nutritional values. Speak to a dietitian or your diabetes healthcare team if you have questions about your individual dietary needs. 

Your 1,200-calorie vegetarian meal plan

You can also download our 1,200 calorie vegetarian meal plan as a pdf (PDF, 83KB), which contains a full breakdown of the nutritional information per day.

Monday

Breakfast: Bircher muesli
Lunch: Cauliflower and leek soup
Dinner: Slow-cooked bean chilli served with 30g mini wholemeal pitta bread
Pudding: Low fat Greek yogurt

Snacks: one pear, carrot sticks with houmous, one medium banana
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Tuesday

Breakfast: Very Berry porridge
Lunch: Chilli bean soup with avocado salsa
Dinner: Hearty spanish omelette
Pudding: Cherry and chocolate dessert pot

Snacks: Two clementines, one apple, one orange
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Wednesday

Breakfast: Bircher muesli
Lunch: Kale and green lentil soup
Dinner: Slow-cooked bean chilli
Pudding: 125g natural yogurt

Snacks: An apple, 30g portion of almonds and a pear
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Thursday

Breakfast: 125g Greek yogurt 
Lunch: Two slices of medium wholemeal bread with grated cheddar, vegetable oil-based spread, tomato and cucumber
Dinner: Butternut squash and borlotti bean stew
Pudding: Two clementines

Snacks: One pear, a portion of almonds, Greek yogurt 
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Friday

Breakfast: Very Berry porridge
Lunch: Butterbean pâté served with tomatoes and a small mini wholemeal pitta bread
Dinner: Tofu noodle stir fry
Pudding: 125g natural yogurt

Snacks: One peach, portion of almonds, portion of spicy roasted chickpeas
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Saturday

Breakfast: Summerberry smoothie
Lunch: Two slices of medium wholemeal bread with grated cheddar, vegetable oil-based spread, tomato and cucumber
Dinner: Aubergine stuffed with tofu, mushrooms and borlotti beans
Pudding: A pear

Snacks: Portion of grapes, low fat Greek yogurt, a wholemeal fruit bar
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

Sunday 

Breakfast: Very Berry porridge
Lunch: Cauliflower and leek soup
Dinner: Mixed vegetable and bean curry 
Pudding: A pear

Snacks: portion of spicy roasted chickpeas, two clementines and 125g Greek yogurt
Milk: 225ml semi-skimmed milk

How much weight will I lose on a 1,200-calorie meal plan?

How much you lose from following this meal plan will vary depending on your age, weight, body composition, how active you are and more. Losing one to two pounds a week is a safe and realistic target for most people. 

This BMI calculator is a useful tool that you can tell you how much weight you need to lose to achieve a healthy weight. 

It’s also important to combine a healthy diet with physical activity. This can increase the number of calories you burn each day, as well as having many other benefits to your physical and mental health. 

Read more about exercise and diabetes

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