Now, while our food lists are helpful when deciding what to eat, how much of these foods you eat is just as important. In our PCOS Meal Plan we measure CALORIES & PROTEIN, and nothing else. It’s simpler and when you have a lot of fat to lose, you really don’t need to overcomplicate it. You just need to get the ball rolling. Below is our goal range for calories and protein. You can read more in-depth about that in our How to structure your meals for PCOS weight loss post. The short story is that we have a calorie and protein allowance and based on that, we structure our meals. If you are very tall or very short, read this post to learn how many calories are best for PCOS fat loss.
Most women: 1500-1800 calories / 120-230 grams protein daily
Our basic PCOS meal plan is structured into 4 meals.
| 1. Lean protein + any Daily Foods | Breakfast is a good meal to have starchy carbs from the ‘Daily Foods’ list, fruit, and all compliant foods you might like to enjoy. It is a great time to enjoy oat bran because you can easily mix in flavored protein powder or egg whites to boost your protein intake and oat bran will absolutely keep you full until lunch time. There are plenty of other options if oat bran isn’t your thing. In general, if you love carbs, breakfast is a great meal to have them. |
| 2. Lean protein + Veggies | Lunch is a good time to have a lean protein and veggies. For 2 meals every day, you will want to stick to this combo: lean protein and a large serving of vegetables. Vegetables are low-calorie carbs, so you can eat them in huge quantities which will ensure you leave the table full and satisfied, not looking for an unhealthy snack. |
| 3. Lean protein + Veggies | Dinner is a great time to have your second serving of lean protein and a large serving of veggies. |
| 4. Lean protein + any Daily Foods | Snack time is the second time in the day to indulge a little. If you have a sweet tooth, you can choose a sweet treat from the ‘Daily Foods’ list for this meal. The only requirement is that you get your lean protein in. Good examples of sweet snacks are a sweet protein shake with fruit, yogurt with Lilys dark chocolate stevia chips & zero calorie syrup. Or if you like savory, you can go with kale chips. If you had a huge breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and have already hit your calories, skip the snack. |
Here are some basic foods that would be good choices for your PCOS Meal Plan:
| 1. Lean protein + any Daily foods(breakfast) | –Oat bran with a scoop of chocolate protein, topped with Lilys –Dark chocolate stevia chips –Egg white omelet with Spinach & hot sauce –Oat bran & protein powder pancakes with blueberries & zero-calorie maple syrup –Pork & scrambled egg whites with a side breakfast salad and olive oil |
| 2 & 3. Lean protein + Veggies(lunch & dinner) | –Chicken breast with 450g green beans –Tuna with olive oil on a very large green salad with vinaigrette –Steak with 450g roasted broccoli –Pork loin with 450g steamed cauliflower –Tofu stir fry with 450g mixed vegetables and 200g shirataki noodles –Salmon with 450g Asparagus |
| 4. Lean protein + any Daily foods(snack) | –Plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla protein and topped with blackberries –Salted caramel protein shake made with almond milk –Fruit & veggie plate with cold meat of your choice –Salted cold egg whites with cucumbers |
See how it works? The only thing you need to do is choose foods from the Daily Foods list and make sure that you keep your calories and proteins within the daily recommended ranges. Easy peasy.
Our PCOS-friendly Recipes are our Superpower.
Eating foods for weight loss means cutting out a lot of high-calorie, fat-inducing foods that deliver flavor, texture, and magnificent mouth feel. ‘Mouth feel’ is an industry word, but it’s basically how food feels in your mouth and it is very much part of food appeal. Enter We the PCOS. Above all, we are a delicious food program.
We meticulously create, curate, and adapt world class recipes delivering rich tastes and flavors that satisfy your taste bud curiosity and elevate healthful PCOS eating to an indulgence. We do it this way to make sticking to a meal plan easier and losing fat with PCOS possible.
We deliver recipes that fit perfectly into our meal structure, delivering optimal calories and protein, while delighting with taste and satisfaction that may have you forgetting you’re eating for fat loss. Here’s a daily PCOS Meal Plan you can try out using our FREE recipes for PCOS:
| Lean protein + any Daily Foods | Breakfast: Olive Oil Zucchini Bread |
| Lean protein + Daily Food Veggies | Lunch: Chicky Salad Lettuce Boats |
| Lean protein + Daily Food Veggies | Dinner: Grilled Salmon with Mixed Vegetables |
| Lean protein + any Daily Foods | Snack: Sesame Strawberry Soft Serve |
With our recipes, you don’t have to worry about what macronutrient each ingredient is delivering. You just look for the clearly listed calories & protein and get on with your day.
So you can learn to build your own recipes, below is how our foods fullfill our meal structure requirements.
Try this daily PCOS Meal Plan out for yourself:
Breakfast: The Olive Oil Zucchini Bread has egg whites and Greek yogurt which satisfies the protein requirement. It also uses oat bran – a go-to staple in the morning for satiety.
Lunch: The Chicky Salad Lettuce Boats have chicken breast to account for our protein requirement and lettuce, as well as veggie ingredients, to make the meal primarily a protein + veggie dish.
Dinner: Our Grilled Salmon with Mixed Vegetables dinner gets its protein from the salmon and the veggie requirement from the mixed veggies.
Our Sesame Strawberry Soft Serve gets its protein from Greek Yogurt. There are “Sometimes” ingredients in this snack. As a rule, it’s okay to eat from this list sparingly as long as you don’t go over your calorie allowance (1500-1800).
Here’s how this curated food day looks in terms of calories & protein:
| Olive Oil Zucchini Bread | Calories 508 Protein 36 |
| Chicky Salad Lettuce Boats | Calories 344 Protein 60 |
| Grilled Salmon with Mixed Vegetables | Calories 519 Protein 43 |
| Sesame Strawberry Soft Serve | Calories 175 Protein 17 |
| Daily Total: | Calories 1546 Protein 156 |
You can use the recipes we have created exclusively for this program. It takes out the guesswork. We create new recipes every week to ensure choice. Or you can adapt your own. Just follow the meal structure and choose from the Daily foods most of the time, and the Sometimes foods some of the time, and you’re golden. As long as you stick to your calorie and protein allowance, you should see results.
Why we suggest ginormous veggie portions
The short answer is, to fill you up. The BIGGEST problem with “dieting” is that you get too hungry because you’re eating less and then you binge. The best way to avoid this is not to get too hungry. On our We the PCOS plan, we eat large portions of low-calorie foods. Most of our vegetable servings are 450 grams and above. The idea is to eat TONS of lower calorie foods that will fill your belly to bursting, but still have you dropping weight over the course of each week. It’s no fun to eat a tablespoon of a high-calorie food and spend the afternoon with a growling empty stomach. Stop yourself from cheating later, by eating a lot of the right thing first.
Yes, you may have a hard time eating these large quantities when you start and that’s okay, but once you start losing weight, you will find yourself scraping the bowls and plates. One trick if you can’t finish your breakfast, for example, is to eat half your breakfast and save the other half for later. Some people are hungrier in the evening. Experiment. And get yourself a HUGE serving bowl. This is your new dinner plate. Many of the breakfast breads and muffins for one make 6 pieces! Yes, these are all for you. Oat bran servings are regularly 100g each. If you’re doing the program right, you will not be hungry.
It’s okay if you’re a small eater. As long as you’re not letting yourself get too hungry, which leads to binging, eat as you please. The only hard and fast rule is to eat within your calorie allowance, choosing foods that lend themselves to fat loss, and to eat enough protein.
More support for your own PCOS Meal Plan
We have a growing library of Recipes so you can try out our food and see if you like it.
Check out our YouTube Channel for supportive videos weekly on PCOS Nutrition, PCOS Inspiration, PCOS Training, PCOS Mental Health, and PCOS Accountability.