Diet plans / Weight loss

Weight loss diet chart: Indian vegetarian, 1,200 calories, a sample day

A sample day built around protein at lunch and dinner and plenty of fibre, so you stay full on fewer calories. Use it to see what a good day can look like, not as your personal plan.

Numbers worked out by Poshan Labs from IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) and USDA FoodData Central. Last updated 18 October 2026.

Diet: Vegetarian Non-vegetarian Eggetarian Jain

Calories: 1,200 1,500 1,800

Not sure which level? Start at 1,500, or work yours out: daily calories or calories for weight loss.

The day, meal by meal

Day total: 1,202 kcal

Early morning 6:30 am, 41 kcal

1 glass lemon water5 soaked almonds

Breakfast 8:30 am, 286 kcal

2 moong chillas½ katori curd

Mid-morning 11:00 am, 72 kcal

2 katoris papaya

Lunch 1:30 pm, 425 kcal

1½ katorismasoor dal1 katori sabzi1 roti1 plate salad

Evening 5:00 pm, 86 kcal

1 small katori chana1 cup green tea

Dinner 8:00 pm, 292 kcal

2 bowls soup1 besan chilla

Early morning 6:30 am, 41 kcal

1 glass lemon water5 soaked almonds

Breakfast 8:30 am, 286 kcal

2 moong chillas½ katori curd

Mid-morning 11:00 am, 72 kcal

2 katoris papaya

Lunch 1:30 pm, 425 kcal

1½ katorismasoor dal1 katori sabzi1 roti1 plate salad

Evening 5:00 pm, 86 kcal

1 small katori chana1 cup green tea

Dinner 8:00 pm, 292 kcal

2 bowls soup1 besan chilla

Day total: 1,202 kcal

Get this chart

Every sample day has at least 55 g of protein.

ICMR-NIN's 2020 allowance is 0.83 g per kg a day, about 54 g for its 65 kg reference man and 46 g for its 55 kg reference woman. The protein calculator gives your own number.

How the numbers were worked out

Calories and nutrients are calculated from the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), except curd, which uses USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy 171284 (plain whole-milk yogurt) because the Indian tables don't list it. Fibre is IFCT's total dietary fibre, which counts more of a food's fibre than the crude fibre in older Indian tables, so a day reads higher than you may expect. Cooked portions assume home cooking with the oil listed in each dish. Katori means a standard 150 ml bowl.

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Why the day looks like this

This day is built around protein at lunch and dinner and plenty of fibre, so you stay full on fewer calories.

It keeps everyday Indian food at the centre, so there's nothing on it you'd struggle to cook or find.

about 58 g
protein in the day
about 55 g
fibre in the day

If you need more or fewer calories, the portions change, not the foods: switch the calories above to see how.

This is a sample, not your plan

A sample day shows what eating for weight loss can look like. It can't know your reports, your medicines, your routine or what you can't stand eating.

Your own plan starts from all of those, and it changes every week as Puja sees how your body responds.

Medicines, pregnancy and breastfeeding

If you take medicine for diabetes or thyroid, or you're pregnant or breastfeeding, don't switch to a sample plan on your own. Talk to your doctor, or to Puja on a free call.

Read more about how Puja works with weight loss.

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