Is Ceviche Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss) 

If you’re a fan of salads and seafood, you might have heard of Ceviche, and if that’s the case this article is perfect for you. Find out what goes into making this popular Peruvian dish and see whether, or not Ceviche can fit into your lifestyle.

Ceviche is a classic Peruvian dish that is made with shrimp, and raw veggies and is often used as an appetizer but it can also serve as a main dish. Although Ceviche is a national dish in Peru, the idea of softening raw fish and meat in vinegar stemmed from Spain and is connected to the Muslim heritage in Spanish cuisine. 

Although Ceviche is delicious, is it actually healthy?

Yes, Ceviche is a healthy dish as it offers a balance of all three macronutrients, which translates to a suitable range of calories.

Here are five steps that explain the calorie amount in one cup of Ceviche and the ingredients that go into making Ceviche the traditional way, and how to stay in shape while eating this classic Peruvian dish. 

1. What Goes Into Making Ceviche?

2. How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Ceviche?

3. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

4. Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle 

5. How to Increase Your Activity Level While Eating Ceviche

Now that we know our five steps, let’s get into the details that will help you stay in shape while enjoying some delicious Ceviche.

Tip 1. What Goes Into Making Ceviche?

The traditional Peruvian way of making Ceviche is by using raw fish - usually sea bass - that is marinated in fresh key lime juice, diced onion, chilis, salt, and pepper. After marinating it for hours (up to 7 hours), it would be served at room temperature with corn and cooked sweet potato. The marinade will break down the protein in the fish, a process called “denaturation,” which makes it appear to be cooked. However, the marinade doesn’t kill bacteria or parasitic worms in the fish. Therefore, we recommend simmering the fish or seafood first. 

Ceviche is a simple, yet flavorful and satisfying dish since it gives you fats, proteins, and carbs. 

It is also versatile and easy to be customized to your liking. 

A popular way of making Ceviche here in North America is with cooked shrimp, drained, cooled, and diced, and mixed with cilantro, red diced onion, diced cucumber, diced avocado, diced tomato, and a blend of lemon and lime juice, garlic, jalapeno, salt, and pepper. You can also add fish broth, a dash of vinegar, or tomato juice if you like. For a little bit more richness, you can also add 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Combine all ingredients and rest for an hour in the fridge. 

You can eat this version of Ceviche with fried plantain chips, tortilla chips, or over tostada shells.

It can be stored for up to a day in the refrigerator. Make sure to add the avocado and cucumber when you are about to eat the Ceviche, so you can preserve the crunch of the cucumber and avoid the browning of the avocado. 

Since it’s a popular dish in Spain and South America, you can find it in many Mexican or Latin American restaurants all over Los Angeles and nationwide.

Now that we know what Ceviche is, let’s take a look at the nutritional facts and see how many calories go inside one serving of Ceviche.

Tip 2. How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Ceviche?

Whether you live a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to consume daily.

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one serving of Shrimp Ceviche has 170 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 9 grams of carbs, 21 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fat. 

This is not bad at all. A serving of Ceviche delivers a low amount of carbs and fats but a high amount of proteins, which is important to build muscle and lose weight. 

A good rule of thumb for dieting is keeping a nice balance of macronutrients. A great ratio is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats. 

The key aspect is to understand how many calories you need to eat in a day and to make sure not to overeat on your total accounted calories for the day. 

This is why we recommend you try to make this dish at home customize it to your liking. Oftentimes ordering dishes - such as Ceviche - in restaurants contain a high amount of sodium and fat. 

Now that we have an idea of how many calories are in one serving of Ceviche, let’s learn about the importance of calories and how many you should be consuming in a day. 

Tip 3. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

Staying healthy and fit is all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your fats and carbs, and stay in shape. 

If you burn more calories than you consume, then you will find yourself in a “caloric deficit” which is the only way fat loss can occur. 

You can easily overeat unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, however, you can also overeat on healthy low-calorie options, such as Ceviche. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape. 

As we have mentioned in section two of this article, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight and stay in shape. 

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs and figure out how many calories you need in a day, as well as figure out how much of each macronutrient you should be consuming.

There are a few factors that determine your daily calorie intake. Such as weight management, weight loss, or weight gain. Other factors that play a big role, are your gender and your height. 

So, how do you know how many calories you should be eating in a day?

The answer is through trial and error and finding a calorie range that allows you to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. 

However, a good place to start is to multiply your body weight by 12 or to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.

Your TDEE relies heavily on how active you are and how much movement you see in your day.

Within your TDEE lies a subsection, which is called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which accounts for 15-30% of your entire day’s worth of calories.

This means, you are in control of 15-30% of how much you can eat, which is a huge portion of calories.

If you’re someone who loves to eat a lot while staying fit, then the activity is the key to a balanced lifestyle that allows you to eat whatever you like, such as Ceviche, and stay in shape. 

Once you know your calorie intake based on your weight and height, you can then decide how much you want to decrease it. If you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, we suggest you start with 100 calories less than what you are currently consuming and see if you notice a difference within a week. 

If you don’t see any changes in your weight, decrease your calorie intake by another 100 calories and see how that works. 

It is suggested, however, to not decrease the calorie intake below 1,200 per day for women, or below 1,500 calories per day for men.

The calories are actually not too bad in this dish and can be easily incorporated into your daily calorie intake, as long as you are not over-eating and are working out. 

Tip 4. Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle 

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and build muscle throughout every week. 

Building muscle allows you to burn calories at rest, which means you can eat more and still lose fat.

This is really the goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increases.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

As stated in Tip #3, you need to be able to burn calories throughout your day in order to put yourself at a caloric deficit. 

Keep in mind that weight loss is really the concept of calories in vs. calories out.

Although working out and building muscle takes priority, having a consistent cardio schedule can help with expediting the fat loss process as it raises the energy expended throughout your week.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that isolate each muscle group specifically. 

Although it can be intimidating to get in shape, as it will be hard to learn and might be discouraging at the beginning, it’s definitely worth it in the long run for both your health and fitness. 

All you need are a set of dumbbells, such as these adjustable dumbbells, and a reliable treadmill such as the Bluefin Fitness Treadmill that tracks your calories and you’re on your way to controlling the number of calories you burn. 

Regarding working out with dumbbells, it’s important not to add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body positions. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level. 

Here is a workout plan we’ve created for men and women, where you can get started if you are someone who hasn’t ever done a resistance training regimen.

So, defnitely make sure to check it out and learn the workouts online or through a trainer.

MEN:

Day One: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) : 

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

Day Two (Legs & Abs):

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Sit-Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Stiff Leg Deadlift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

Day Three: Back & Biceps (Pull Day):

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

WOMEN

Day One (Full Upper):

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Squats: 5x5

We recommend working out at least three times per week in the beginning, since the resting days in between are important to build muscle. 

You can also do a combination of resistance training and LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio, to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn. 

LISS is cardio that comes from walking or a brisk walk, you should be able to have a conversation while still building up a sweat.

HIIT cardio is intervals of a very high-intensity movement, such as sprints, battle ropes, or kickboxing movements aiming to quickly raise the heart rate.

The benefit of HIIT is allowing yourself to burn calories in a shorter amount of time. 

We recommend having 80% of cardio coming from LISS while 20% comes from HIIT for optimal fat loss throughout the week. 

LISS is a much more reliable source of consistent movement and does not require rest as it does not shock the Central Nervous System the way HIIT can.

It’s important to understand the importance of diet and workout, to enjoy dishes like Ceviche.

If you are new to working out, building muscle will happen relatively fast, so this is great news for anyone looking to get in shape.

That’s why it’s important to increase your activity level at least 3 - 4 times a week if your goal is to get lean. 

So if you love eating more than one serving of Shrimp Ceviche with store bought tortilla chips, you have to make sure your activity level is higher than usual, especially if you want to lose weight. 

In the next section of this article, we discuss how to increase your activity level. 

Tip 5. How to Increase Your Activity Level While Eating Ceviche

Calories are direct sources of energy that fuel your everyday life, so you need to make sure that you utilize them efficiently throughout your day. 

The best way to do this is to build muscle and to also move more throughout your day. 

60-75% of energy expenditure comes from your basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is how much your body burns if it did nothing all day. (NASM)

10% of energy expenditure comes from the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) which is the calories you burn from digesting different foods. (NASM)

15-30% of energy expenditure comes from the Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) which is movement such as working out and aerobics. Source (NASM) 

To sum it up, up to 30% of our energy expenditure can come from movement and activity so this is a huge portion of our weight loss journey that you can actively control.

The more movement the better and, to utilize and burn those calories, you should be moving all you can.

If you put calorie tracking, muscle building, and actively moving more together, dishes such as a Ceviche won’t get you off track because the formula provides so much leniency for you to shed some fat.

You don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats.

Therefore, the key here is to find foods that keep you full longer and still deliver a balanced amount of macronutrients. 

These foods are typically your proteins - such as fish and shrimp in Ceviche.

Working out allows you to be more flexible in your diet and lifestyle, which is so important if you want to sustain a lean body and stay healthy. 

Ceviche is a healthy and nutritious choice to be incorporated into your daily amount of calories and macronutrients, just keep in mind not to over eat, especially if you eat Ceviche with store bought tortilla chips. 

THERE IT IS!

Remember, although nutrition is a huge factor that influences weight loss, it is important to pair this journey with exercise as well.

Especially strength training.

Several years of research on the benefits of weight training have shown that individuals that do some sort of consistent resistance training at least 3-5 times a week have shown not only a great amount of weight loss but are also able to keep the weight off! 

The secret to this phenomenon is that strength training leads to a build-up of muscle.

Not only does your body recomposition into a more fitting and athletic-looking aesthetic, but having more muscle also increases your resting metabolic rate which essentially means you burn more calories at rest! 

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

We understand that not everyone has access to a gym membership or feels comfortable starting off in such an intimidating environment.

Although I would strongly recommend that everyone should get a gym membership, don’t worry we got your back!

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself. It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts.

These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring. Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too. As long as you are starting your muscle-building journey, we’re happy! 

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