What does 1200 calories look like?

[KathyinAL]

I'm just wondering if any of you calorie counters post your menus online somewhere. I'm trying to get a grip here and figure out what my meals should look like.

[RockyMtnGirl]

I use the GoWear Fit... which is an armband that tracks all the calories you burn (even the ones you burn by sleeping, or working on the compute, etc...) then I plug in all the food I eat into their software. I absolutely LOVE the armband!

To do 1200 calories I think it easier to do 6 meals a day then your body doesn't get super hungry or tired... So something like this:
-Breakfast: Vanilla and Almond Special K Cereal with Skim Milk
-Morning Snack: Rice Cake (Quaker, unsalted) with some fruit
-Lunch: Broccoli, Carrots, Tomatoes with a little fat free ranch, egg whites (for protein)
-Afternoon Snack: Rice Cake and some more fruit
-Dinner: Grilled Chicken (3-4 ounces, so less than a deck of cards), green beans, and a red potato (small but yummy)... or I repeat my lunch with all the veggies, or make a salad... the key is not to add the bad stuff like butter, salt, non-fat-free dressings, croutons, cheese, bacon bits, etc...
-Dessert: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich, or Healthy Choice Fudge Bars, or I make a smoothie with a bunch of frozen berries, a banana, and some orange juice, and just a tsp of splenda... so tasty!!!

[Matilda08]

b-english muffin 120, three strips of turkey bacon 75cals
s- cambells handheld soup 80 cals serving of pepperoni 170
l- turkey sandwich on wheat lite mayo 230
d- turkey burger with laughing cow cheese salad 300
s- cottage cheese w/banana 200

this is an idea for me for somedays

[VeeDeValentine]

~Well I don't usually have breakfast, as I don't get up THAT early, but if I did:

Breakfast: Small bowl of branflakes and cinnamon powder, skimmed milk :150
Snack: Two kiwis & an apple:90
Lunch: Soup & Half a cantaloupe:230
Snack: Some carrot sticks and cucumber dip:80
Dinner: Sitrfry of Babycorn, greenbeens, shallots, garlic, runnerbeans, zuccini && Soya sauce: 250

And then, if I have any calories left and get hungry, I have some cereals or low fat yogurt with berries <3

[KathyinAL]

Thanks so much!!!! I love looking at these ideas I cheated yesterday, but today will be a better day.

[ars]

H

[RealCdn]

Ladies,

Since nobody has said it, consider not starting at 1200 calories if you have more than 10 or 20 pounds to lose. It gives you nowhere to go later on. There's a show on here called The Last Ten Pounds Bootcamp and although they do a lot of exercise they don't drop the calories lower than 1400 per day. In fact one of you posted a daily total of about 800 - which is way too low. If we're truly honest with ourselves, we didn't get overweight eating 1500 calories (with the exception of the very light and very inactive).

[bensempress]

I would suggest eating 1600 calories a day, and cutting out white bread and pasta.

Eat celery and peanut butter, air popped popcorn, chef salad with 2 ounces of lunch meat and some yummy fat free oriental dressing (add a tbsp of almonds for protein and good fats! It will help you feel satisfied too).

Other options are quesadillas (one whole wheat flour tortilla with 1/8 cup 2% shredded cheese is a suggestion, it's YUMMY and satisfies ) and tomato soup.

use 1 tsp of olive oil and roast 1 cup of broccoli florets, 1 cup of fresh spinach leaves and about 2 cloves of garlic for 1-3 minutes. Add 4 ounces of chicken that has baked in the oven (Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the chicken on a piece of foil that's on a baking sheet and then use the foil like a bowl. add ground cumin, basil and some chopped garlic. add 1/4 cup of water then close the edges of the foil over the chicken. bake for about 40 minutes, take out and let cool for about 5 minutes before cutting in to bite size pieces.)

Use some teriyaki or barbeque sauce in the stir fry for a twist!

You can eat the whole shabang per person for only about 250 calories (this will FILL your plate) and add a salad for only another 50 calories if you use 2 cups of salad mix or lettuce and 1 tbsp of fat free dressing.

You can cook chicken the way I mentioned and use it for tacos too! I use old el paso taco shells because they have no hydrogynized oil and they are 150 calories for 3 shells...

Use TONs of salad mix and salsa to dress the chicken tacos and you can have a mound of food for about 350 calories!

I really find it fun to come up with delicous ways to eat and still be healthy, can you tell? LOL

[toobig]

Anne, thanks for the reminder. I needed that today.

[RealCdn]

I'm not saying that lower calories aren't sometimes necessary. For me though, trying to stick to low calories makes me less active and I lose less weight. Eating a little more makes me more active during the day and I tend to lose more that way. Also, when I try eating too little for my activity level it's more likely that I'm going to find it hard to ignore hunger.

I seriously blame thinking that 1200 calories was what I should be eating on how I continued to gain weight. I'd try silly diets that I'd lose a little weight on, then stall, and eventually decide that it wasn't working - and overcompensate by eating a ton of food. There is a middle ground. It's just not always easy to find it.