High-Protein Meal Planner: Free 7-Day Plan

Get a free 7-day high-protein meal plan in seconds. Choose vegetarian, vegan or everything, set your daily calories and pick international, Latin American, Indian or mixed meals. You get daily protein totals, a weekly grocery list and a plan you can print.

Not sure? Get yours from the calorie calculator.

My 7-day high-protein meal plan (vizzblog.com)

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Weekly grocery list

Totals for 7 days. Rice, pasta, quinoa, lentils and beans are shown as dry weight to buy. Add herbs, spices, salt, garlic, chilli and lemon or lime to taste.

This is a sample plan, not a prescription. Calories and protein are approximate, based on USDA FoodData Central and the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (for a few Indian staples). Adjust portions to your hunger and progress: if your weight is not moving as you want after 2 to 3 weeks, change your portions a little.

How this meal planner works

The planner uses a library of 108 home-style meals: breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks from international (Western and Mediterranean), Latin American and Indian kitchens, with vegetarian and vegan options for every meal slot. International meals are the default; switch the cuisine to Latin American, Indian or Mixed whenever you like. Each meal is built from real ingredient amounts, and its calories and protein are calculated from USDA FoodData Central and the Indian Food Composition Tables.

For each day, the planner tries many combinations that fit your diet and cuisine, scales the portions in steps of a quarter, and keeps a combination that lands within about 10% of your calorie target, preferring meals with more protein and avoiding repeats. It then adds up every ingredient into a grocery list for the week. Tap Shuffle meals for a new plan, or Print to print only the plan and list.

Getting the most from your plan

  • Protein target: most active men over 35 do well on about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day. Check your number with the protein calculator.
  • Spread it out: aim for 25 to 40 g of protein at each main meal rather than one big dinner.
  • Cook once, eat twice: make a big pot of lentil soup, chili, beans or chicken for two days.
  • Watch the oil: one tablespoon of oil is about 120 kcal. The plan includes a modest amount for cooking.

Read more: protein after 35, muscle-building foods, plant-based eating for men and how to lose fat and keep muscle after 35.

Sources

  1. USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): nutrient values for most foods
  2. Longvah et al. (2017), Indian Food Composition Tables, National Institute of Nutrition: paneer, poha, semolina, moong dal, Bengal gram
  3. Morton et al. (2018), British Journal of Sports Medicine: protein intake and muscle gains, meta-analysis
  4. Schoenfeld and Aragon (2018), JISSN: protein per meal and daily distribution

This meal planner gives general education, not medical advice. It is a sample plan, not a personalised diet. If you have diabetes, kidney disease, food allergies, a history of disordered eating or another health condition, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian first.

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