The 30-second summary
- This is a GLP-1 diet meal plan: 7 day template built around one number, roughly 120g of protein a day, split into four sittings of 25 to 35g.
- The medication already did the restricting. Your job is the opposite of a diet: getting enough of the right things into a very small appetite, because a quarter to nearly 40% of GLP-1 weight loss can come from lean tissue.
- Portions are deliberately small. There are no calorie counts, only protein and fibre, and a lower-fibre version for the days nausea wins.
How to use this, before you look at the table
This is a template, not a prescription. Nobody eats seven perfect days in a row, and this plan is not asking you to.
Four things make it work.
Eat protein first. Whatever is on the plate, the protein goes in before the carbohydrate and before the vegetables. On a GLP-1 your stomach empties slowly, and you will often feel finished after five or six bites. Those bites should be the ones that protect your muscle. Everything else on the plate is a bonus. This single habit does more than any swap in the table below, and it is covered in more depth in our guide to hitting your protein target on a GLP-1.
Skip what does not appeal. If Thursday's salmon reads as unbearable on Thursday, eat Tuesday's chicken instead, or eat Wednesday's breakfast for dinner. Days are interchangeable. Meals within a day are interchangeable. The plan is a menu, not a schedule.
Hit the floor, not the ceiling. The number that matters is your daily protein floor. On this plan it is about 120g. If you reach 118g eating things that are not on the list, that is a complete success. If you eat every listed item but land at 70g, the plan did not work, however tidy it looked.
Eat on a clock. Appetite is not going to prompt you. Set three or four alarms, roughly at 8am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. When the alarm goes, eat the protein even if you are not hungry, especially in the first two or three days after your injection.
Portions here are small on purpose. A 100g chicken breast is about the size of a deck of cards. If a portion still feels enormous, halve it and add a protein drink later. That is not failure, that is the plan working around your appetite.
The GLP-1 diet meal plan: 7 day table
Protein and fibre figures are approximate, based on standard USDA values, and will shift with brands and portion sizes.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Protein snack | Protein | Fibre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 2 eggs plus 100ml egg whites, scrambled with 20g cheddar; 1 slice rye | Tinned tuna (85g) with ½ cup chickpeas, lemon, yogurt dressing | 100g roast chicken breast, broccoli, ⅓ cup quinoa | 200g plain Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp chia, raspberries | ~118g | ~24g |
| Tue | Overnight oats: 40g oats, 150ml milk, 150g skyr, 1 tbsp chia, berries | 60g smoked salmon on 2 slices rye, 100g cottage cheese, rocket | Turkey mince chilli: 100g mince, ½ cup black beans, peppers | 250ml high-protein yogurt drink, 20g pumpkin seeds | ~120g | ~26g |
| Wed | 150g cottage cheese, 1 boiled egg, tomato, 1 slice sourdough, seeds | ¾ cup cooked lentils, 50g feta, spinach, 2 boiled eggs | 130g baked cod, green beans, ½ cup new potatoes | Protein shake (1 scoop) in water, ½ banana | ~119g | ~20g |
| Thu | 2 poached eggs, ½ muffin, spinach; iced coffee with 250ml high-protein milk | 75g chicken breast, ½ cup edamame, ⅓ cup brown rice, sesame | 85g prawns and 75g firm tofu stir-fried, ⅓ cup noodles | 200g skyr with cinnamon, 20g almonds | ~121g | ~19g |
| Fri | 200g Greek yogurt, 30g granola, blueberries, 1 tbsp peanut butter | Chicken soup: 100g shredded chicken, ¼ cup white beans, greens | 120g salmon, roasted asparagus, ⅓ cup lentils | 150g cottage cheese, pineapple, 20g pumpkin seeds | ~120g | ~21g |
| Sat | Shakshuka: 2 eggs, ½ cup butter beans, 40g feta, 1 slice sourdough | 90g sirloin, rocket, ¼ avocado, 20g parmesan | 120g tandoori chicken thigh, cucumber raita, ⅓ cup basmati | Protein hot chocolate: 250ml high-protein milk, ½ scoop powder, berries | ~120g | ~18g |
| Sun | 70g smoked salmon, 2 scrambled eggs, spinach, ½ slice rye | 120g firm tofu, ½ cup edamame, soba noodles, sesame dressing | 100g roast chicken breast, roast carrot and parsnip, ⅓ cup wild rice | 200g Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp chia, stewed apple | ~120g | ~25g |
That averages about 120g of protein and 22g of fibre a day. The fibre matters more than most people expect: the adequate intake for women under 50 is 25g a day, and GLP-1 slowed digestion makes falling short expensive in the constipation department. Water does the other half of that job, so keep a glass with every one of those four sittings and read our note on hydration on a GLP-1.
You will notice a protein drink, a shake or a fortified milk in most days. That is deliberate and honest. Reaching 120g on a switched-off appetite without one is possible but joyless.
The shopping list, by aisle
One trip covers the week for one person.
Meat, fish and chilled protein
- Chicken breast, 400g; chicken thighs, 250g
- Salmon fillet, 120g; cod fillet, 130g; cooked prawns, 85g
- Turkey mince, 100g; sirloin steak, 90g
- Smoked salmon, 130g
- Firm tofu, 200g
Dairy and eggs
- Eggs, 12; a carton of liquid egg whites
- Plain Greek yogurt, large tub; skyr pots, 3
- Cottage cheese, 2 tubs; feta; cheddar; parmesan
- High-protein milk, 1 litre; one high-protein yogurt drink
Tins and dry goods
- Tuna in water; chickpeas; black beans; butter beans; cannellini beans; cooked lentils
- Rolled oats, quinoa, brown rice, basmati, wild rice, soba noodles, new potatoes
- Rye bread, sourdough, English muffins, oatcakes
- Protein powder, whey or pea; granola
Produce
- Broccoli, green beans, asparagus, spinach, rocket, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, parsnips
- Raspberries, blueberries, banana, pineapple, apple, lemon, avocado
Seeds, nuts and extras
- Chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, peanut butter
- Olive oil, ginger tea, spices
Scaling it down on a bad nausea day
Some days, usually day two or three after the injection, the plan above is simply not happening. Do not skip the day. Shrink it.
On a bad day, three things change. Fat comes down, because fat slows gastric emptying further. Fibre comes down, because bulk sits heavily. Temperature comes down, because cold and room temperature foods carry less smell, and less smell means less nausea.
A workable bad day looks like this, and lands near 90g.
| Time | What | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| 7am | 150g plain skyr, eaten cold, small spoon | ~15g |
| 10am | Protein shake in water, sipped over 30 minutes | ~25g |
| 1pm | 100g cottage cheese with a few plain crackers | ~11g |
| 4pm | 200ml high-protein milk, chilled | ~10g |
| 7pm | 2 scrambled eggs, white toast, no butter | ~15g |
| 9pm | 150g Greek yogurt | ~15g |
Your floor on a bad day is 80g of protein, not 120g. Take that number seriously and let go of the rest. Two or three reduced days a month cost you very little. A pattern of days where you eat almost nothing costs you muscle, hair and energy. If nausea is a recurring feature rather than an occasional one, our piece on why day three is the hardest explains the pattern and what actually shortens it.
Worth knowing: many women find the plan feels heavier in the week before their period, when appetite and nausea both shift. That interaction is real and worth tracking, and we cover it in how your cycle changes life on a GLP-1.
The three rules that outrank the plan
If you remember nothing from the table, remember these.
One. Protein at every sitting, 25 to 35g. Muscle protein synthesis responds to the dose in front of it. Four sittings of 30g protects more lean tissue than one enormous dinner of 120g. This is the mechanism behind the whole plan.
Two. Lift something twice a week. Protein alone slows muscle loss. Protein plus resistance training is what changes the outcome. Two sessions of 25 minutes is enough to start, and the strength training guide for GLP-1 users gives you the actual movements.
Three. Judge the week, not the day. One 70g day inside a week of 120g days is noise. Seven 70g days is a trend, and trends are what show up in your body composition six months from now. The scale is the least interesting number on the page. What you keep is the outcome, which is the argument behind protecting muscle on a GLP-1 and the rest of the GLP-1 diet hub.
What Steady does with this
- Steady tracks protein against a floor rather than a ceiling, so you can see at 4pm whether the evening needs a shake, instead of finding out at bedtime.
- It logs water, fibre and 14 GLP-1 symptoms alongside food, so a bad-nausea week shows up as a pattern you can name rather than a mood.
- It turns a month of that into one page you can hand to your prescriber, with protein, weight and symptom trends side by side.
Read next: How much protein on a GLP-1, Protecting muscle on a GLP-1, What to eat on Ozempic
Sources
- Wilding JPH, et al. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021. NEJM
- Prado CM, Phillips SM, Gonzalez MC, Heymsfield SB. Muscle matters: the effects of medically induced weight loss on skeletal muscle. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2024. Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology
- Institute of Medicine Dietary Reference Intakes for fibre, summarised by the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University. Linus Pauling Institute
- Dietary fibre in health promotion and disease prevention, StatPearls, National Library of Medicine. NCBI Bookshelf
- USDA FoodData Central, for protein and fibre values per portion. USDA FoodData Central
- UCHealth. Nutrition is vital when taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs, registered dietitian guidance. UCHealth Today
Medical disclaimer: Articles in the Steady research hub are educational, not medical advice. This meal plan is a general template and does not account for kidney disease, diabetes medication, pregnancy, food allergies or any other individual condition. Always speak with your prescriber or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat on a GLP-1 medication. See our full medical disclaimer.
