Inspiration: three different daily menus with completely ordinary food! | Hardworkout Magazine

Key takeaways

- The three sample menus in this article are each built to total 2500 kcal, with all food items listed in raw weight before preparation.

- A normal-weight man typically needs 3000–3500 kcal a day and a woman around 2500 kcal, according to the article.

- Daily energy needs depend on body weight, height, training intensity, activity outside work, job or studies, and your training and diet goals.

- Healthy, nutritious food is generally less energy-dense than unhealthy food, so a calorie-adequate diet often looks like a surprisingly large volume of food.

- Most people who train several times a week need more food than the 2500 kcal these sample menus provide.

When reading various diets or dietary advice from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, it may seem very easy to eat healthily. When you start on your own and compose both individual meals and entire daily or weekly menus, it suddenly becomes a bit more complicated.

Nutrition looks simple in theory, but can be difficult in practice for many. Get tips for meals and daily menus here!

Diet in Practice

There are many, especially women, who eat too little. Both too little total energy, but also too little protein and micronutrients to achieve goals of both weight loss and muscle growth.

Read also: [The Benefits of Counting Calories!](https://hardworkout.no/fordelene-med-a-telle-kalorier/)

How do you work out how much energy you need in a day?

How much food one should eat each day depends on several factors such as:

- Body weight

- Height

- Intensity of exercise

- Activities outside of work

- Goals with training and diet

- Job or studies

There are several formulas that can provide a guiding overview of your daily energy needs and basal metabolism, which is the energy requirement at complete rest. To find out how much energy you need each day, including physical activity, it must be calculated in. [This](https://nhi.no/skjema-og-kalkulatorer/kalkulatorer/diverse/beregning-av-kaloribehov/) calculator has done that.


Why does healthy eating look like so much more food?

Most people who clean up their diet and start eating healthy and nutritious food tailored to their daily needs are surprised by how much food it actually is. Healthy and nutritious food is often less energy-dense than unhealthy food that contains many calories per weight unit.

Therefore, it often looks like one is eating a lot of food when filling up with meat, vegetables, fruits, grains, low-fat dairy products, and so on.

How many calories does a normal-weight man or woman need?

A normally weighted man typically needs 3000-3500 kcal each day, and a woman around 2500 kcal.

Read also: [Guide to Mastering Daily Menus!](https://hardworkout.no/guide-til-a-mestre-dagsmenyer/)

Why are the menus built around 2500 kcal?

We have set up three different daily menus at 2500 kcal so you can see how much food it actually is. Most, both women and men, who train several times a week typically need even more food than this each day. The daily menus are also composed so that they have the recommended distribution of energy percentage for protein, fat, and carbohydrates from the Norwegian Directorate of Health's dietary advice.

All food items are listed in raw weight before preparation. Remember that this is just inspiration and examples of daily menus and meals, and not a definitive guide on how to eat healthily.

Daily Menu 1

Breakfast – bread slices with toppings

- 2 slices of whole grain bread

- 1 tsp butter

- 2 slices of turkey deli meat

- 1 tbsp peanut butter

- 1 pear

Snack

- 15 g nuts

- 1 glass of chocolate milk, approx. 2.5 dl

Lunch – omelette with cheese and ham

- 3 eggs

- 2 slices of cheese

- 4 slices of cooked ham

- Vegetables or salad

Snack – homemade mango smoothie

- 2 dl vanilla yogurt

- 1-2 dl raspberries

- ½ ripe mango

Dinner – oven-baked salmon with boiled potatoes

- 1 salmon fillet (approx. 125 g) baked in the oven with butter, sliced carrot, and leek

- 3 medium-sized potatoes

- 2 tbsp sour cream

- Vegetables or salad

Evening meal

- 4 flatbreads

- 2 tbsp cream cheese and sliced bell pepper as toppings

- 1 banana sliced as topping

- 1 orange

Read also: [The Zone Diet – is this the diet for you?](https://hardworkout.no/sonedietten-the-zone-diet-kostholdet-for-deg/)