Healthy Lunch Wraps That Make You Lose Weight

When you are trying to lose weight and avoid high-calorie fast food, wraps are options that you can pack and carry with you for lunch. By choosing your ingredients carefully and varying your choices, you can use lunch wraps to help you lose weight and prevent boredom on your diet. Remember that what you eat with your wrap and during other daily meals affects your weight loss just as much as your wrap.

The filling for your wrap should include a source of lean protein, such as cooked chicken breast, turkey breast, tofu, canned tuna or beans. Low-fat or fat-free cheese is a source of protein and calcium. Protein is a filling nutrient that can help you lose weight because it slows the emptying of food from your stomach and delays the onset of hunger, according to Harvard University. Avoid fatty meats and full-fat cheese because they are high in cholesterol-raising saturated fat and calories.

Eating more vegetables can help you lose weight because they are low in calories and high in fiber, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Add sprouts and cucumber slices to a wrap with garbanzo beans and fat-free yogurt, or add lettuce and tomatoes to a classic turkey wrap. Cooked vegetables, such as grilled eggplant and zucchini, go well with low-fat cheese. Fruit is also high-fiber and relatively low-calorie, and you can try a wrap filled with black beans and mango or papaya, or chicken breast with diced pears.

Leftovers can be healthy, low-calorie fillings or lunch wraps. Make a salad with diced leftover cooked chicken breast, romaine lettuce, raspberries and low-fat vinaigrette, and stuff it into a wrap. Another combination with leftovers is cooked fish with shredded cabbage and cilantro. Full-fat spreads and dressings, such as mayonnaise, butter, ranch dip and honey mustard sauce, can add unnecessary calories to your lunch wraps. Instead, use lower-calorie options, such as fat-free plain yogurt, salsa and yellow or Dijon mustard.

A smaller wrap is lower in calories and better for weight loss than a larger one. Also, choose a whole-wheat or other whole-grain wrap because regularly substituting whole grains for refined options can help you control your weight, according to the the publication "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010." You can reduce the calorie content of your wrap by using a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla. To further support weight loss, have fruit and vegetables to round out your lunch instead of unhealthy high-calorie sides, such as cookies and chips.