I started Calorie counting on Monday .. I am 196lbs 5'7''
How does my Menu look??

Day 1**960 Calories **

Breakfast- 1 1/4 cp kiks, 1/2 cup 2% milk 175 calories
Snack- SF Jell-o 10 calories
Lunch- Chili with beans 300 calories
Snack - SF jell-o 10 calories
Dinner- General Tsos Chicken, Green Beans 330calories
Snack- Baby Carrots, popcorn 135 calories

Day 2**925 Calories**

Breakfast-smart ones English Muffin 210
Snack- SF Jell-o 10
Lunch- Healthy choice chicken and shrimp 250
Snack- Carrots 35
Dinner- 4.4 oz Grilled Chicken, steamed broccoli, bbq sauce 190
Snack-Apple SAuce, 50- SF Jello 10-popcorn 100

Day 3**940 Calories**

Breakfast- Kik 's Milk 175
Snack- yocrunch yogurt 100
Lunch- Enchilada 270, Broc, Carrots, cauliflower 75, 1 tbs butter 50
Dinner- Healthy choice Grilled Chicken, roasted potatoes, broccoli, carmel apple crisp 270


My scale says I have lot 5lbs. I only drink water 80 oz or more a day. I know the Calories are low, but I am eating alot.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds like you already know your calories are too low.

I know my calories are low but I seem to be eating alot, and 6 times a day. Should I add more to the calories even though I feel like I am eating enough already?

Your calories are way to low, you should be eating a minimum of 1200 calories as you will be robbing your body of needed nutrients.

Well, I've heard you should never go below 1200. At first obviously you're going to lose, but your body may eventually go into starvation mode and halt your metabolism. Add a cheese stick or some nuts in there somewhere.. maybe with your jello add some fruit...

just some ideas

Thanks for the advice. Heading to the kitchen now for some grapes or apples. I appreciate the info this Is Why I put my menu on here for Support. I have never counted calories before so all the info helps.

Yeah, you should add some cheese sticks, nuts and maybe some more fresh veggies!

I had a few carrots and apples.

"Fresh" Means I can't steam my Organic Broccoli, Cauliflower, or carrots. I should eat them Raw?

not nessesarily fresh.. i hate raw veggies... I need to steam the ma little myself... the only veggies i eat raw are the kind that go into salad or baby carrots or grape tomatoes...

I would suggest adding more calorie dense things that way you don't have to feel like your eating a ton more.. like have a glass of milk with each meal.. that will add 90 cals per meal... or add peanut butter into something... dried fruits are great like cherries, apricots, craisins, or rasins.. usually 100-130 cals per serving and the serving is very small.. or cheese one slice of fat free cheese is 60-70 cals.. you could add that on top of something..

and maybe for your snacks instead of the 10 cal jello's you could get the 60 cal puddings by jello. or a cup of cottage cheese=90 cals, or a dannon light and fit yogurt =90 cals


oh and also you can cook with olive oil.. that will add some healthy cals and it's higher in cals..
hope that helps! and maybe switch to whole breads that are like 70-80 cals per slice.., you coudl use real butter or margerine or salad dressings, mayo things like that that take very little to get your calorie count up

more fruits and veggies
less processed (jello etc.)
HEALTHFUL cereal ... maybe one with protein
limit your use of frozen entree's...

All of those things will help get you to a higher and HEALTHIER calorie count. Add some natural pb to your english muffin, have a banana and a yogurt with it. Now THAT'S a breakfast.
Snacks could be fruit and raw nuts... or fruit and cheese.

Thank you Mariamherrera.
I think I just figured if I ate 1200 calories I wouuld not lose weight. I wold eat the foods that had the least amount of calories so I was eating alot but staying around 1000. I do have PB, and puddings. Cheese sticks. I just figured why eat alittle cheese stick for 80 calories when I could have a SF jell-o for 10? I eat mostly packaged foods so I know how many calories are in them. I take it the way I was trying to do it, is not the healthy way.
I did Atkins for many years and lost a lot of weight on it. This past time i was on it and i didn't feel like I was losing anything so decided to go off. I figured I would try something new. So it's counting calories for me. I just home I do it right.

You can have the cheese stick and also the sf jello if you like. That is the beauty of calorie counting. You can eat anything you want as long as they add up to your daily total (which should be no less then 1200 calories a day)



Can you buy yourself a calorie counting book? That way you can find out the calorie counts for all foods. I have The Biggest Loser calorie counting book myself.

You can also use online calorie trackers, like FitDay, The Daily Plate, sparkpeople, and so on. I use FitDay myself, the downloaded version that I can customize.

You may be able to lose weight with even more than 1200 calories. Those online tools help you set calorie targets as well. Sometimes they set the target too high, though, so exercise caution.

You've done really well with your planning so far, though! Just remember that less is not necessarily better.

Jay

By eating such low calories, you might find yourself feeling like crap in a few days. The lack of energy will cause you to burn less calories.

Like everyone else said your calories are pretty low, I think that 1200 is even pretty low. That is the mininmum amount that a person should have in a day, so when you stop losing at 1200 you have no where else to go.

I am 209 and most days I eat 1400 on days I dont workout and 1600-1700 when I do workout. I have been losing a lb a week.

I would definatley use an online calorie counter or atleast put your info into a calorie calculator to give you a ballpark of how many cals to eat!!

Good luck!!