Are Huevos Rancheros Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss)

If you love eating Huevos Rancheros but aren’t sure if this dish is healthy and fits into your health-conscious lifestyle, this article is for you. Find out what goes into making this popular Mexican dish and see whether, or not you can lose weight and stay in shape, eating Huevos Rancheros.

Huevos Rancheros is a classic breakfast staple all over Mexico but also popular in Los Angeles and Southern California. It’s basically fried eggs served with fried corn- or flour tortillas, and salsa.

Although Huevos Rancheros is quite delicious, is quite delicious, is it actually healthy?

Huevos Rancheros 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 serving of Huevos Rancheros and the ingredients that go into making Huevos Rancheros the traditional way, and how to stay in shape while eating this popular Mexican dish.

What Goes Into Making Huevos Rancheros?
How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Huevos Rancheros?
How to Make a Healthier Version of Huevos Rancheros at Home
How to Stay in Shape Eating Huevos Rancheros
How To Increase Your Activity Level When Eating Huevos Rancheros

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

Tip 1. What Goes Into Making Huevos Rancheros

Traditionally, Huevos Rancheros are made by frying eggs, and serving them on fried corn- or flour tortilla, served with a side of a tomato-cilantro-chili salsa, refried beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, or sliced avocado. Some recipes ask for ham steaks and queso fresco.

Huevos Rancheros 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 or diet restrictions. Which we will further discuss in this article.

The best part of Huevos Rancheros is that it’s versatile. You can use different ingredients to make this dish leaner and lower in calories. Still, all flavors will complement each other.

Since it’s a classic dish in Mexican cuisine, you can find it in many authentic Mexican restaurants all over Los Angeles and Southern California.

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

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

If you live an active and healthy lifestyle, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis.

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one serving of this version of Huevos Rancheros with ham steaks - has 640 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 38 grams of carbs, 66 grams of protein, and 23 grams of fat.

Although the caloric intake might be a bit high, this dish has a good ratio of all three macronutrients. And it consists of 8 grams of fiber, which are the good kind of carbs you don’t want to skip since it helps with dieting.

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.

Fiber allows you to feel full longer, which is key when you are in a caloric deficit.

The reason for the whopping 23 grams of fat per serving of this version of Huevos Rancheros is because it’s made with ham steaks and queso fresco.

Staying healthy and fit is all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your carbs and stay in shape. However, the carbs are not that bad in this dish and can be easily incorporated into your daily carb intake, as long as you are working out.

You just need 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.

The key to dieting is keeping a nice balance of macronutrients. A great ratio is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats.

This is why we recommend you try to make this dish at home and substitute certain ingredients to make an even healthier version of Huevos Rancheros.

In the next section of this article, we will show you how to make a healthier version of Huevos Rancheros, when you prepare it at home.

Tip 3. Try to Make a Healthier Version of Huevos Rancheros at Home

Huevos Rancheros is a pretty simple dish, that is quick to make and it doesn’t require many ingredients, and it’s budget-friendly.

Here we show you, how to make a healthier version of Huevos Rancheros.

By making a few changes and substituting a few ingredients, you will decrease the fat intake, and lower the caloric amount in this dish, so you can get a more balanced meal throughout the process.

For example, the classic way of Huevos Rancheros asks for fried corn- or flour tortillas, topped with refried beans, queso fresco, and fried eggs. This version of the dish described here also asks for ham steaks. To keep this dish lean, however, you want to stick to leaner meats such as chicken breast, or no meat at all. You can also use jackfruit, that has been marinated before and sauteed in the pan, and leave the cheese out.

Now that we know a little bit more about the nutrition facts of traditional Huevos Rancheros, let’s take a look at how you can eat Huevos Rancheros, lose weight and stay in shape.

Tip 4. How to Lose Weight and Stay in Shape Eating Huevos Rancheros

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.

You can easily over-eat unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Huevos Rancheros. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape.

Eating Huevos Rancheros, which is customizable and filled with whole, fresh ingredients, is a great dish if you are looking to stay in shape. However, if you are ordering this dish at a restaurant, skip the meat and cheese.

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 gain, weight loss, or weight management. Another factor that plays a big role is 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.

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.

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.

Most likely, you don't have to drop your calorie intake too low, as you’ll get a pretty low number to start off, with this dish.

So, how do you stay in shape or even lose weight eating Huevos Rancheros?

As you can see, one serving - which are two fried tortillas - of Huevos Rancheros has 640 kcals with macros, with 38 grams of carbs, 66 grams of protein, and 23 grams of fat. You can just add this into your day and subtract this from your total daily calorie intake.

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

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 as mentioned in section two of this article.

If the 30% carbs, 40% protein, 30% fat ratio is not working for you, and you live an active lifestyle, you can increase the carbs intake to 40% and decrease the fat intake to 20%. This will be the case, once you substitute certain ingredients by making Huevos Rancheros at home.

So, just do the calculation of whatever calorie range that you find, and split up your calories by following those macro guidelines.

Tip 5. How To Increase Your Activity Level When Eating Huevos Rancheros

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis, you need to make sure that you are exercising regularly and are building 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 increase.

So if you love to eat Huevos Rancheros the traditional way, or if you add meat and cheese to it, you have to make sure your activity level is higher than usual, especially if you want to lose weight.

We talked about the importance of understanding how many calories you need to eat in a day but now it’s time to shift the focus on why calories and building muscle go hand in hand.

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

The best way to increase your activity level is with resistance training, and incorporate high-intensity-interval-training sessions (Hiit) into your workout. This combination is a good way to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn.

Although it can be a little intimidating to start working out by lifting weights, you can start small by using your own body weight, as well as dumbbells that are up to 8 lbs, however, a good start is 2 lbs to 3 lbs dumbbells. Make sure you don’t add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body position. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level.

You can either work out at your local gym with a personal trainer, or invest in some workout equipment, so you can start exercising in the safety of your home.

It’s crucial to understand the importance of diet and workout, so you can enjoy foods like Huevos Rancheros.

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.

Here is a basic workout plan that can work well for beginners, or for anyone looking to get into the gym.

MEN:

Day One (Push Day):

50 close grip pushups
Tricep Pushdowns:3x10
Incline Bench: 5x5
Incline Dumbbell Press: 4x12
Incline Dumbbell Fly: 3x10
Lateral Raises: 4x15
Seated Shoulder Press: 4x12
Rear Delt Fly: 4x15

Day Two (Pull Day):

Hammer Curls: 3x10
Assisted Pull-Ups: 4x10
Bicep Curls: 3x10
Lat Pulldowns: 4x12
Cable Rows: 4x15
Dumbbell Row: 3x10 (on each arm)

Day Three (Legs):

Leg Lifts: 3x35
Squats 5x5
Weighted Crunches 3x35
Goblet Squats: 4x20
Walking Lunges: 4x20

WOMEN:

Day One (Full Upper):

Weighted Crunches: 3x35
Lateral Raises: 4x15
Lat Pulldowns: 4x12
Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20
Dumbbell Fly: 3x10
Dumbbell Row: 3x10
Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

Hammer Curls: 3x10
Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10
Cable Row: 4x15
Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15
Bicep Curls: 3x10
Hamstring Curl: 4x15
Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs):

Leg Lifts: 3x35
Squats: 5x5
Weighted Crunches: 3x35
Goblet Squats: 4x20
Jump Squats: 4x20
Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

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.

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

Conclusion

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!