I need to lose about 50 pounds for health reasons. I can eat around 1500 and do fine but anything below that and I get so hungry and dizzy at times. The trouble is, I'm not losing anything. Can you give me any ideas for more filling meals or snacks? I am allergic to wheat and peanuts so anything with those are out.

thank you!

I have found that for light healthy snacks that are filling, fruits and vegetables are often a safe bet. By the time I have one serving of baby carrots, I've normally killed the craving to chew on something, and they only have about 60 calories to 4 oz. I also love light popcorn. A whole bag is less than 200 calories and if I'm paying attention to how much I'm eating, I don't normally want more than 1/2 a bag. Hope this helps!!

You shouldn't need to go any lower than 1500 calories. Have you added any excercise to your routine to help speed things up?

I'll second the exercise and the notion that I'm not sure you need to go much lower. And ...
I had two thoughts ...
1 ... spread your calories out over the day. Try not to go more than 2 or 3 hours without eating.

2 ... make whatever you eat something that sticks to your ribs ... a protein and a carb together, like cottage cheese and a rice cake or a slice of low fat deli meat and a handful of raw vegetables.

I agree.
I am not a calorie counter. I recently added up my calories. When I was eating around 1400 - 1500 I wasn't losing anything. I exercise 90 minutes 5 days a week also. When I switched to eating around 1900 I started losing about 1 -2 lbs. per week. Your body might be holding on to the fat because your starving it. Remember your metabolism will slow down if it thinks its not being given enough.

Post a typical day of food so we can look at it. Perhaps there is a high calorie food that can be substituted with a lower calorie food.

I agree, if you can't eat less than 1500, throw in some extra exercise. If you are getting dizzy, it is usually due to lack of calories. However, the type of food has a lot to do with it too. Can't really give specific help unless I see what you're eating.

thanks all. I can't exercise much because of severe rheumatoid arthritis. Right now I'm in a flare and can do mostly stretches, not exactly calorie burners! I make sure and eat a protein with a carb but sometimes I eat fruit alone and I think, after looking over my food diary, that that is what is causing trouble for me. After eating only fruit, within an hour or so is when I eat the heaviest. I'll add some cheese or cottage cheese to my fruit and see if that helps.

thank you all for the suggestions.

oh yeah fruit alone is a killer for me, I actually rarely eat fruit as a snack, usually with meals. but if I do have it as a snack its with nuts or cheese

an apple with half a cup of cottage cheese keeps me sated for so much longer than an apple alone.

on a seperate cottage cheese note: I went out and bought cottage cheese b/c people here kept touting it as a great source of protein. I don't buy fat free b/c I don't like the way it tastes. The first time I bought 4% and like it enough to just eat a spoonful but since my sodium intake was off the charts the next time I was at the market i bought 1% NO SALT. I now chop up an apple and add half a cup of no salt cottage cheese and then add in my own pinch of salt and it taste just as good as the other stuff but I've cut the sodium by a ton.

A few more snack suggestions to add to the list:

Jello chocolate or vanilla pudding cups (sugar free) are great (60 cals),
a few olives and some swiss cheese,
Quaker caramel rice cakes are great for a sweet tooth,
Sugar free Jello with a dollop of fat free cool whip,
Smart ones make a turkey and green beans meal that is only 200 calories! Great snack for when you're really hungry!
I will sometimes have a serving of cream of wheat with some splenda if I know I won't be eating another meal for an extended period of time.

Hope these help!

I absolutely love weetabix cereal - with a cup of skim milk and a teaspoon of sugar sprinkled on top, it comes out to about 240 calories and fills me up for hours.

Ahh, sorry, missed the wheat allergy thing.