5 lazy girl lunch recipes that are quick, tasty, and helped me build muscle and lose fat and keep it off for 4 years.
Rachel Hosie
- Eating a high protein diet helped me lose fat while holding on to muscle.
- A selection of quick, tasty, healthy lunches helped me lose fat and keep it off.
The "lazy girl" meal trend may be blowing up on TikTok, but the concept isn't new: it's just simple recipes that make life easier.
When I decided to work on my diet and eating habits four years ago, cutting my body fat percentage in half in the process, over time I found a selection of staple meals that were high in protein and fiber, delicious, and, most importantly, easy. They were, essentially, lazy girl meals.
If you want to lose fat and/or build muscle, eating a high protein diet is hugely beneficial: it's satiating so keeps you feeling full, helps you hold on to muscle, and uses slightly more calories during digestion than fat and carbs.
Here are five of my favorite lunches that helped me lose fat and while keeping muscle, and maintain my physique in the years since.
Chicken, cheese, sweetcorn, and red pepper quesadilla
A quesadilla is a great way to use up leftovers, and you can add in whatever you want. Plus, it's quick, easy, and delicious.
Simply warm a frying pan on a medium heat, place a wrap in the pan, add your (pre-cooked) toppings, and once the cheese is melted and everything is warm, fold the wrap in half, remove from the pan and enjoy.
Dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine previously told Insider that eating a variety of vegetables, including sweetcorn and peppers, is important for good health, and you could swap the chicken for mixed beans to make a plant-based quesadilla.
Corn and courgette fritters with avocado and poached eggs
This brunch-style recipe from BBC Good Food is quicker than you'd think and goes really nicely with some halloumi and/or avocado.
Ludlam-Raine said that adding vegetables into foods such as fritters or muffins is a great way to boost your micronutrient intake, and eggs are a low-calorie protein choice while the avocado provides a good dose of healthy unsaturated fats for heart health.
Chicken, avocado, and cream cheese sandwich (or bagel)
This sandwich combination provides protein, fiber, and healthy fats, as well as complex carbs if you use wholegrain bread. It's one of my favorite combinations, but I also like swapping the cream cheese for pesto from time to time.
Some people wrongly see starchy carbs like bread as an enemy of weight loss. But Ludlam-Raine said that bread isn't to be feared: "Wholemeal and wholegrain breads are a key source of fiber in the diet as well as B vitamins, and may even be fortified with calcium and vitamin D too."
Cheesy broccoli omelette
Omelettes are quick and delicious. I like adding scallions and chopped (pre-cooked) broccoli to mine, as well as plenty of cheddar cheese and herbs. If you want to boost the protein content even more, you can add some extra egg whites to your whole eggs.
Ludlam-Raine said that omelettes are a great way to use up any spare or leftover vegetables, so the broccoli and scallions can be swapped for whatever you have in your fridge.
Big salad bowl
Salads that are little more than leaves and raw vegetables can often lack the right ingredients that make up a filling and nutritionally balanced meal (and are a bit boring in my eyes). So when I make salads, I like to add lots of delicious and satiating ingredients to provide fat, protein, and fiber, such as chickpeas, feta, wholegrain pasta, quinoa, chicken, falafel, hummus, roasted vegetables, and avocado.
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