This thread is inspired by the thread about only eating 1,200 calories in the Weight Loss Support forum. The idea is that if you eat less than 1,200 calories you'll have a hard time getting all the nutrients you need. I thought it might be interesting to find out what all the featherweights cook to ensure they get the most nutrition for their low calorie buck. I am always looking for new ideas, so I thought if everyone wrote about their favourite meals, I could steal some recipe ideas

My favourite meals:

1. Lentil salad (red split lentils with caramelised red onions, baby spinach and goat's cheese) - I worked it out on myfitnesspal and apparently it is 333 calories per portion and a lot of vitamins and minerals.

2. Sardines or mackerel with steamed veggies and rye bread - yummy, under 500 calories and has a lot of good fats.

3. Cauliflower pizza. I got this idea from my low carb days. It is basically mashed up cauliflower, parmesan and eggs to make a crust and then toppings on top.

4. Roasted salmon, roasted veggies and a small portion of roasted potatoes. Easy peasy, one pan stick it all in the oven type thing. Under 400 calories if you don't eat too many potatoes (I think the limit is 115g of fish and 60g of potatoes).

I eat all of these things on a weekly basis, but I am starting to get a bit bored of them. Would love some new ideas!

I have no special meals I just try to eat lean meat ( not much red meat) fish or chicken and fresh fruits and vegetables. I try to watch the sodium, carbs and fats and keep those as low as I can.

One of my new favorites is what I'm calling a Mediterranean fish taco: seared mahi-mahi in a whole wheat pita with feta cheese, calamata olives and balsamic vinegar. All kinds of good.

love the cauliflower pizza idea... trying it!!!

I love to make my own chipotle bowl. 3oz chicken breast, 1/2c brown rice, 1/2c black beans, lots of caramelized onions and peppers, pico de gallo, dollup of greek yogurt (in place of sour cream), little shredded cheese... about 350 cals for lots of protein, whole grains, fiber, calcium, vitams... and yum!

i just put anything i eat on top of whatever leafy greens i have. or i will throw them in an omelette SP? i love eating all kinds of meats, even red meat and chicken with skin and pork with fat. i love eating seafoods. i just find that eating no carb productions like no potatoes, rice, cereal, desserts, etc really keeps the cals low!! the hard thing is resisting the carbs. yesterday i had a sweet potato..with brown sugar. :P

Great idea, claire!!

I also do a taco salad- pile of cabbage with fresh homemade roasted salsa (red onions, tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice) with black or pinto beans, cheese, a dollop of ff yogurt, and Tapatio sauce.

Black bean burger: tons of recipes online, I like this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemad...rs/detail.aspx

Thai fish cakes: basically just put fish fillet (white is best), a bit of bread crumbs, and Thai chili sauce in the blender, mix and form in cakes, fry in light oil. A great way to mix it up with seafood.

Protein oatmeal: 1/2 c oatmeal, 1 tbs peanut butter, 1-2 scoops chocolate protein powder. TONS of proteins, a bit of carbs and fat, and low in sugar. This is what I eat when I want to get REALLY full and curb my all-day grazing. Plus it tastes like dessert.

I love to cook so I'll think of some more and share them later

Also, I love making really high-nutrient, high-protein desserts. I make a variety of muffins using whole wheat and soy flour blends, flax, bran, coconut, pumpkin, diced applies and carrots, etc. I always substitute mashed ripe bananas for vegetable oil. I just made a multigrain muffin today with soy flour, flax, bran, and almonds that just came out of the oven- delicious and 7 g of protein for 200 calories. Not bad!

I'm on around 1100, which gives me a deficit of 400.

A big bowl of fresh miso soup with 1/4 cup (uncooked volume) Thai red rice, half a cup of tofu, a carrot, a few mushrooms, a green vegetable such as snow peas or pak choi, a spring onion, a bit of wakame seaweed, some sesame seeds, some ginger purée, and a dab of sesame oil that goes in when I'm mixing the miso into a thinner paste. This is about 281 calories, of which 11g fat, 32g carbs, 6g fibre, 18g protein, and is full of vitamins and minerals. I use it for a light lunch and often have fruit or a small bit of chocolate for dessert.

My general pattern is to have a small bowl of porridge (oats, soya milk, couple of dates, teaspoon protein powder) for breakfast, soup and/or salad for lunch, and then my evening meal is whatever I would usually cook. A snack or two is usually fitted in, fruit or rice cakes or what have you, and I'm particularly partial to curling up to watch TV in bed last thing in the evening with my partner and a bowl of strawberries. If the soup is a Western soup rather than miso soup, say butternut squash with lentil, I will accompany it with a slice of wholemeal bread and almond butter, and a side salad. I just realised yesterday that I've been doing this "soup and salad for lunch" plan for ten weeks now and I'm not actually bored with it yet. Is anyone doing anything similar?

I'm taking a multivitamin to be on the safe side, especially since I'm seriously ill to begin with, but I think I'd be doing pretty much fine for almost all micronutrients even without it. With the multivitamin, my vitamins in particular are off into the stratosphere. The one thing I'm currently short on is selenium. As I have a good few weeks of the current multivitamin left (the one I plan to take next has selenium, this one doesn't), I'm thinking of just having a Brazil nut a day to sort that out.

Ooh these recipes sound great! I can't wait till I can tolerate standing for long enough to cook so I can get trying some of these!

Esofia - I am taking a multivitamin too, and evening primrose oil tablets to stop my hormonal acne/stressy cow syndrome! I think I cover most things OK though, even on 1,000 calories in the last few days I've covered mostly everything (except maybe iron but I'm slightly anaemic anyway so I take a supplement).

Indiblue - if you love protein desserts, try the No Meat Athlete Black Bean Brownies. OMG so good!! Don't put all the sugar in though, they use an obscene amount. I use normal wholegrain flour or spelt flour, and sub the cocoa powder for real dark chocolate because it tastes nicer. Still work out under 150 calories per brownie!

I love cooking and the low carb way is the way to go to reduce calories for me. My boyfriend's bro has just lent me the Paleo Diet for Athletes book and reckons I should give up carbs while I'm recovering to help with hunger management. I'm gonna start reading it when I finally get all my uni work done!

Out of curiosity, how much evening primrose oil are you taking? I'm on 1g starflower oil (basically a stronger version of evening primrose oil) and 1g echium oil (basically the best veggie alternative to fish oil), and if I could afford it I'd be on more. When I first started the echium oil about 18 months ago, as a treatment for the ME/CFIDS, I don't think it changed the PMDD but it did reduce the bleeding.

I can't remember why you're having trouble standing, could you remind me, if I'm not prying? How long can you stand for? I can generally throw together a miso soup in five minutes. I put the rice on half an hour beforehand, and then the stuff with the veg takes five min including both preparation and cooking time. The less healthy version involves fresh noodles, the sort you buy in individual packets, at which point the entire thing takes five minutes from start to finish. This is one of the reasons why I like it, I can't stand for long either.

I am refusing to think about brownies or anything similar until I meet goal. At that point, the rather scrumptious gluten-free chocolate prune cake I semi-invented a while back might be reinstated, in tiny portions of course. I'm no longer on a GF diet but I discovered that the GF version actually tastes better, and reheats from frozen a lot better in the microwave.

I'm taking two 1,300mg capsules a day. I bought them from Holland and Barrett and got them shipped over when they were on sale. I don't know if they work or if they are just having a placebo effect :s

I had foot surgery on Tuesday and I have to keep my foot elevated at all times, iced up. I can just about manage to hobble to the bathroom but then it throbs and hurts for about 10 mins afterwards. It's getting better though so I should be back to cooking a bit in the next few days, and then i'll defo try it. In the meantime, the bf is the chef in our house, which is weird because he never cooks anything. I just give the orders about what to do from the sofa and he does it

Another recipe I really like:
Muffins made from oats and buttermilk (no fat). Basically 1 cup of oats, 1 cup of wholegrain flour, 1 cup of buttermilk, as much sugar as you think they need, 1 egg, baking soda and flavouring. I've made them with all oats and no flour before, and it worked. Combinations i've tried: blueberry; jaffa cake (yummmm!!! orange peel, a bit of juice and dark chocolate coating); lemon and poppy seed (so-so) and cherry.

I eat a lot of soup. It's a great comfort food, filling and really easy to keep the calories low. It's also easy to keep the fat low and protein high. My favorite soup is lentil vegetable... followed closely by black bean, sweet potato, portobello and butternut squash (I'm a vegetarian... can ya tell, lol?). Weather you make it homemade or buy it made, just watch the sodium.

I also make a lot of Ethiopian food - misir wot (aka lentil stew) is a great one. Saute a bunch of onions & a bit of garlic, add spices to taste - berbere is the true Ethiopian spice blend - add a bunch of diced tomatoes. Grind it all up with an immersion blender then add red lentils and simmer til the lentils are tender (you'll need to add water as they absorb the liquid). Salt to taste.

I don't use any oil when I saute my onions but occasionally I do add some butter near the end for creaminess and that's the only added fat.

I was craving my mom's tuna macaroni salad like I do every summer, and decided to make it a little healthier. Mine basically has equal parts spelt pasta, tuna, and veggies (celery, peppers, onions), and a minimal amount of mayo (you could use light for even less calories, but I try not to eat much fake junk like that). Turns out I can eat about a cup and a half for 300 calories and it's really filling because it's so high protein.

mayness that sounds delicious! I've never heard of spelt pasta but I'm intrigued! I wonder if I can order it on Amazon...

Also, perhaps sub yogurt for mayo? I never use mayo anymore, only yogurt, and you can never tell the difference!