1400 Calorie Diet: What It Is And What It Is For

We always start with the assumption that every diet must be tailored to the nutritional and caloric needs of the individual. Often, however, on the web or through the advice of friends and relatives, we come across diets of 1000, 1200, 1400 calories, and so on.

They are considered “effective” and sometimes “miraculous,” in most cases, they necessarily have to be, given the low caloric intake. These stringent and highly low-calorie diets provide lower calories than those generally needed for the body to function.

In this way, the body, to function at its best and counterbalance its daily caloric expenditure, is forced to draw on reserve fats, thus starting the weight loss mechanism. They are much more complex metabolic and biochemical processes, summarized in the following way: The human body is like a machine, and nutrition is the daily fuel needed to make it move.

When this supply is massively reduced, the body will enter a “reserve or alert” state. Without nutrients coming from the outside, the body is forced to draw on its reserves to carry out all its vital functions and fuel the basal metabolism. They are stored in muscle glycogen and partly in fatty acids inside the adipocytes, which are present on the belly, hips, buttocks, and subcutaneous fat.

1400-Calorie Diet: An Example of a weekly menu

Monday

1. Breakfast: 160 g low-fat yogurt with three dry biscuits.
2. Snack: 1 apple.
3. Lunch: 65 g of trenette with pesto (1 teaspoon), grated parmesan (200 g), stuffed artichokes (200 g, half a spoonful of EVO oil), and bread (55 g).
4. Afternoon snack: pear (200 g)
5. Dinner: veal escalopes (100 g) with sour chard (200 g + 1 tablespoon of EVO oil) + bread (55 g).
6. Evening snack: mandarins (200 g).

Tuesday

1. Breakfast: bread (25 g) + jam (5 g) + 150 ml partially skimmed milk.
2. Snack: persimmons (200 g).
3. Lunch: tomato gnocchi (130 g of gnocchi + 110 g of tomatoes + 1 tablespoon of parmesan) with sautéed courgettes (200 g) and bread (50 g)
4. Afternoon snack: clementines (200 g)
5. Dinner: natural tuna (120 g) + potato gratin (130 g + 1 tablespoon of EVO oil) + 50 g of bread.
6. Evening snack: orange (200 g).

Wednesday

1. Breakfast: cornflakes (30 g) with milk (100 ml skimmed milk).
2. Snack: mandarins (200 g)
3. Lunch: rice with artichokes (60 g of rice + 120 g of artichokes), onion and fennel salad (150 g of fennel and 50 g of onions), crackers (30 g).
4. Afternoon snack: grapes (200 g).
5. Dinner: vegetable wok (90 g of courgettes + 60 g of carrots + 60 g of leek + 90 g of red peppers + 1 tablespoon of EVO oil) with veal (120 g) and wholemeal bread (55 g).
6. Evening snack: persimmons (200 g).

Thursday

1. Breakfast: oat porridge (10 g), fresh seasonal fruit (100 g) with 100 ml of skimmed milk, and 10 g of honey.
2. Snack: pear (200 g).
3. Lunch: rice with peas (65 g of rice + 75 g of peas + 1 teaspoon of parmesan + 1 and a half tablespoons of EVO oil) with grilled courgettes (200 g)
4. Afternoon snack: grapes (200 g).
5. Dinner: Roman beans (125 g of beans + 55 g of onions + 20 g of anchovies + 1 tablespoon of EVO oil), 200 g of courgettes, sautéed chicory (200 g), crackers (30 g).
6. Evening snack: 1 apple (200 g).

Friday

1. Breakfast: wholemeal toast (2) with jam (15 g) and low-fat yogurt (140).
2. Snack: 1 orange (200 g).
3. Lunch: couscous with cherry tomatoes (65 g of couscous + 50 g of cherry tomatoes + 50 g of courgettes + 1 and a half tablespoons of EVO oil), tomato chard (200 g of chard), and crackers (30 g).
4. Afternoon snack: kiwi (200 g).
5. Dinner: grilled swordfish (130 g of swordfish, one tablespoon of EVO oil), carrots with parsley (200 g), and bread (55 g).
6. Evening snack: grapes (200 g).

Saturday

1. Breakfast: Partial milk, skimmed (160 g), dry biscuits (3)
2. Snack: grapes (200 g).
3. Lunch: lemon linguine (65 g of linguine + 1 and a half tablespoons of EVO oil), grilled vegetables (200 g of seasonal vegetables), wholemeal bread (55 g).
4. Afternoon snack: apple (200 g).
5. Dinner: Octopus and potato salad (145 g of octopus + 140 g of potatoes + 1 tablespoon of EVO oil), bread (50 g).
6. Evening snack: pear (200 g).

Sunday

1. Breakfast: milk (150 ml) and one wholemeal croissant.
2. Snack: 1 orange (200 g).
3. Lunch: steamed rice with turmeric and vegetables (70 g basmati rice, 30 g celery, 30 g cabbage, half a spoonful of turmeric, one and a half spoonfuls of EVO oil), peperonata (150 g), crackers (30 g).
4. Afternoon snack: persimmons (200 g).
5. Dinner: rocket and cherry tomato strips (100 g veal, 100 g cherry tomatoes, rocket to taste), sour broccoli (200 g), bread (55 g).
6. Evening snack: clementines (200 g).

Also Read: Five Diet Foods That Make You Gain Weight Without Knowing It