Skinny up your meals using lean meat choices, and bake or grill without oil or butter. Meat can be tenderized and cooked to taste delicious and appetizing. Most importantly, chose leaner cuts of meat such as poultry, 90 % lean ground sirloin, extra lean roast beef, and pork loin cuts. You may save over 100 calories per meal, and sometimes up to 10 grams (g) of fat (or more) in just 3 oz. of meat by choosing leaner cuts. These calorie savings can have a big impact on weight loss when planning daily meals. Each gram of fat found in meat, contains 9 calories per gram, so higher fat cuts of meat can really drive up the total calorie count.
For example, 3 oz. of pot roast (chuck/arm) contains 20 g of fat and 282 calories vs. extra lean slices of roast beef containing only 2.2 g of fat and 90 calories for 3 oz. Ground beef is sold by the actual %beef and %fat the package contains. 90/10 ground beef means the purchase is 90% beef and 10% fat. 80/20 ground beef means the purchase is 80% beef and 20% fat. The calories for a 3 oz. serving of 90/10 is 184 calories and 10 g of fat vs. 80/20 ground meat containing 231 calories and 14.8 g of fat for 3 oz. The only difference in the two types of beef, is the amount of fat contained in each; the protein is the same. Pork loin cuts are 164 calories and 5.7 g fat vs ground pork at 252 calories and 17.7 g of fat for a 3 oz. serving of each.
When planning meals to lose weight, plan to purchase leaner cuts of meat to save calories by trimming excess fat calories from meals. Saving 100 calories at one meal, just 5 times a week, is a 500 calorie/week savings. This means over 2000 calories a month saved, just from choosing leaner meat choices. Because it is necessary to give up 3,500 calories to lose on pound of body fat, then ¾ of a pound can be lost in one month, just from skinnying up meat choices!