Weekly Diet Chart for Weight Loss

Most diet charts online give everyone the same plate, which is why they rarely work: a 50 kg desk worker and an 85 kg site engineer do not need the same amount of food, and neither of them cooks the same dinner as someone in Osaka or Athens. This one asks for your height, weight, age, sex and how active you actually are, works out what your body burns, and turns a sensible deficit into portions measured in the bowl you already own — the katori, the rice bowl or the cup. It then shows a week of balanced meals in your own food culture, for whichever way you eat — vegan, vegetarian, eggetarian or non-vegetarian — so no two days are the same.

How to use it

1. Enter your age, sex, height, weight and activity level — all five change the answer.
2. The tool estimates what you burn in a day, then sets a target about 500 calories below it, which is roughly half a kilo a week.
3. That target is split across grains, protein foods, vegetables, fruit, milk and cooking fat, and shown as servings of about 150 g each.
4. Pick the food you actually cook — South Asian, East Asian, Western or Mediterranean — and how you eat.
5. Read the week's meals with every portion already scaled to you, in your own bowl and in grams.

Examples

• Female, 32, 162 cm, 72 kg, lightly active: 1,441 calories — 3.5 servings grain, 3 servings protein, 3 servings vegetables.
• The same woman, South Asian food: Monday lunch is rajma curry, 1 katori (145 g), with rice or phulka and salad.
• The same woman, Western food: Monday lunch is chickpea and spinach stew, 1 cup (230 g), with a wholegrain and salad.
• Male, 30, 178 cm, 85 kg, very active: 2,635 calories — 6.5 servings grain, 5.5 servings protein.

Frequently asked questions

How big is one katori?

The standard steel katori found in most Indian kitchens holds about 150 ml, which is roughly one small bowl of cooked rice, dal or vegetables — about 30 g of grain dry weight, or 150 g cooked. Half a katori is the smallest amount worth measuring by eye, which is why every portion here is rounded to the nearest half rather than pretending to gram-level precision. The chart prints the grams next to the katori so there is nothing left to guess.

Can I get this diet chart for Western, East Asian or Mediterranean food?

Yes. The Indian chart is still its own chart, unchanged, and three more sit beside it: East and Southeast Asian, Western, and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. Each has its own week of real dishes in all four diet types, so a vegan in Osaka gets tofu, soba and miso rather than a translated dal. Your region is guessed from your browser's language on the first visit and you can change it at any time. Western covers the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Australia together, because weekday eating in those countries differs in accent rather than in structure.

Why is a serving 150 g and not one cup?

Because bowls are not the same size, and a chart that converted between them by renaming the bowl would be wrong for most of its readers. A US cup is 240 ml; a katori is about 150; a Japanese rice bowl is filled to roughly 150 g of cooked rice. Calling one katori a cup would serve you half again as much food, every meal, without any number on the page changing. So the plan is stored in grams and only displayed in your bowl, and both are printed together.

Why does it ask for sex and activity, not just age?

Because age is the weakest of the five. What your body burns is driven mostly by how much of you there is and how much you move: two people the same age can differ by 800 calories a day. The equation used here is Mifflin-St Jeor, which clinical practice prefers, and it needs weight, height, age and sex together. Activity is then a multiplier from 1.2 for a desk job to 1.725 for physical work.

Why will it not go below 1,200 or 1,500 calories?

Below roughly 1,200 calories for women and 1,500 for men, it becomes very hard to reach your protein, iron, calcium and vitamin needs from food, and more of the weight you lose comes from muscle rather than fat. If your deficit would take you under that line, the plan stops at the line and tells you — you lose a little more slowly, and keep more of your strength.

Can I follow this as a vegan?

Yes, and every region has a vegan week. In South Asia the plan swaps dairy for fortified soya milk, tofu and extra pulses; in East Asia it leans on tofu, edamame and soy milk, which is what that kitchen reaches for anyway. Two things need watching on a vegan plate in particular: vitamin B12, which is not reliably available from plant food and usually needs a supplement, and protein, which is easy to under-eat. The tool shows your protein per kilogram for exactly this reason and warns you when it falls short.

Is this a substitute for a dietitian?

No. It is a sensible starting structure built from standard equations, not a personal prescription, and the portion figures are population guidance rather than a measurement of you. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, managing diabetes, thyroid, kidney or heart conditions, recovering from an eating disorder, or on medication that interacts with food, the plan should come from a qualified dietitian who knows your history.