If you keep your calories under 1300 calories, I'd love to see a sample of your daily intake and hear any tips you have for sticking within that range.

MFP advises me to eat 1100-1300 cals a day to lose weight (0.5-1.0 lb/week). I've already decided 1100 ain't happening. I want to stick to the high end of that range, just need a little help getting there! Over the past week, my calories have averaged just under 1400 cals a day, so I'd like to shave 100 off.

I may end up needing to hold my calories where they are and instead increase my exercise for that deficit. I'm already slightly hungry when I go to bed, so don't know if I'm capable of dropping lower w/o feeling too restricted. I really want to try though, so that's why I'd like to learn from the examples of low-cal masters.

I'm fond of a reddit sub called "1200 is plenty". Lots of good advice there about keeping calories low.

MFP currently has me at 1200 a day. I thought I'd never be able to shave off the 100 calories since it lowered it from 1300. But I've found it quite easy and I'm getting more veggies in now.

My breakfast is usually a little under 200 calories. Ezekial bread, 1/4th of an avocado, tomato, and an over easy egg. It looks small but once it settles it is pretty filling.

Lunch is my highest calorie meal. Usually some sort of meat, rice, and veggies. Usually takes up 400-500 calories.

Dinner is always a salad. Mixed greens, protein, loads of veggies, and one of the billion dressing flavors I have in my fridge(gotta keep it interesting). Usually averages about 250-300 calories.

Snacks (which are midmorning and midafternoon) probiotic drink, small banana, and raw almonds. This usually averages about 200 calories.

At first I felt a little hungry, but nothing too excessive. Sometimes I'll have 100 calories left for the day and I'll have a cookie for dessert or some rice pudding.

At first it can seem a little scary and almost completely impossible. But with a little tweaking and more of a reliance on veggies, it is very doable.

Hope this helps.

Amy - Thanks, that was very helpful and encouraging. I'm going to experiment with keeping my breakfasts at 200. I think that's a tweak I'll be able to do. That breakfast example sounds delicious btw, right up my alley. A question about the avocado. I've not had much success keeping them from going brown. So I've used that as an excuse to eat the whole thing. What technique do you use to extend the life of your avocado?


Locke - Great link, lots to learn from there, thank you! I've already found one meal there that I'll definitely be making.

I eat 1250 a day and always feel completely full and happy, I find it quite a liveable amount!

Here's a typical day of things I eat but I change it up quite a lot -

Breakfast -
Slim bagel (120 cal)
Fried egg (70 cal)
200ml unsweetened almond milk (26 cal) blended with 60g raspberries (16 cal) and 50g banana (45 cal)

Lunch -
300g of soup that totals under 200 cal (so any flavour as long as it is under 200)
Pink lady apple (approx 80 cal)

Dinner -
130g couscous (180 cal)
5 quorn meatballs (100 cal)
150g steamed aspargus (30 cal)

That totals 867 calories, leaving just under 400 for whatever you fancy. You could have bigger portions of the meals above (although they are not actually small portions to begin with!)

I usually have around 250 cal of dark chocolate in the evening. And during the day I might eat a bag of pop chips or something.

I typically eat a low calorie diet:

Breakfast: Frittata, or egg white scramble with different veg, or sauteed vegetables with a runny egg, mini crustless quiche, etc.

Lunch: All different kinds of soup, stuffed peppers, salad, chili (I make mine beanless with a lot of veggies)

Dinner: Vegetables and protein, salmon or tuna cakes, zucchini noodles and vegetable/turkey meatballs with marinara, tacos in lettuce wraps, taco salad, curry with cauliflower rice, stir fry, vegetable/turkey burgers wrapped in lettuce, zucchini boats, tuna with tomatoes and cucumbers, "lasagna" wraps made with thin slices of squash, stew, salad, etc.

gawd, I admire SO much you ladies who are happily living on such streamlined calories.

Two weeks ago, I started restricting myself at 1500 a day to lose. With a BMR of 1402; then calculated with Harris Benedict formula (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week) a calorie intake of 2174 to maintain current weight; thinking I could shave at least 250 calories from food, and burn at least 250 calories with a 40 minute session of exercise. Deficit of 500 calories a day x 7 days/week = 3500 calories, a pounds' worth.

The scale IS down 3 pounds, which is good I know. But I was eating SO very badly all winter, it seems crazy that with all this sudden restriction, my results aren't more staggering

So I wonder if I would have better luck with 1300.

I've been afraid of restricting myself too much and then just bagging it out of hunger and frustration. I want to be able to live this way without always looking forward to my next alloted calories.

I wil also appreciate hearing what others are eating to stay at that amount of calories!

Avocado mainly depends on how ripe you get it to begin with. You don't want it stone hard but it shouldn't be mushy (unless you are making a batch of quacamole, then the kind of mushy ones are easier to work with and aren't being wasted). I typically cut it in half and leave the seed in the side I'm not using until later in the week. Then I sprinkle a little lime on the top of whatever I'm not using that day. The avocado will still get a little brown on top but nothing too serious.

I hope that method helps. I can't remember when I started doing both of those things, I learned each method from two separate people and decided to combine them. If you don't mind warm avocado, I heard you can portion it out into freezer friendly containers and then heat it up when you want it. I don't have a microwave, so I haven't tried it. But I think it will stay good in the freezer for a few days.

I usually eat under 1300 odd calories - today 1217 calories:

Breakfast 270 calories:
Oatmeal, 1/2 apple, 1/2cup Blueberries

Lunch 321 calories:
Salmon, mixed greens sauteed with garlic and 2 tsps olive oil

Dinner 436 calories:
Quinoa, squash, onion, garlic, kale, sweet potato

Snacks 190 calories:
Sweet potato
Starbucks iced skinny vanilla latte

I aim to average 1200 calories a day over the week. I am usually a little below that (1175 or so). I do vary some from day to day. I usually have a couple of days above 1200 and then the others are around 1100 to 1150.

Breakfast - I eat a light breakfast. Sometimes just berries and a cheese stick. Or a boiled egg. Sometimes a Quest bar or a Kind bar.

Lunch/Dinner - I don't really differentiate meals as "for" one or the other. I eat a lot of fish which tends to be low calorie. Veggies add bulk and are low calorie. Several days a week I make a large salad with greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, and onion slices. I put with chicken or salmon or hummus. Depending upon the day's overall calories I may put on 1/2 ounce of pine nuts or almonds or some Parmesan cheese or feta cheese.

I often make a frittata with a ton of stir fry veggies. Sometimes I make tuna salad and eat it alone or rolled up in a 50 calorie whole wheat tortilla.

Sample day (1079 calories)

Breakfast - Blueberries, blackberries, green tea with one true lemonade packet (67 calories)

Lunch - 2 LaTortilla Factory whole wheat tortillas, shredded chicken, fat free shredded cheese - this was made into a quesadilla (231 calories)

Dinner - Huge Salad, with shredded chicken and pine nuts. For dressing I just combined 3/4 T. olive oil and 1 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar (332 calories). This was low calorie but was a lot.

Snacks - 1 ounce pistachios (170 calories - I have this almost every day), Dark chocolate covered almonds (237 calories -- this wasn't a great choice and I won't buy them again), 1/2 cup blueberries (42 calories)

Thanks guys, I'm loving these examples. My game plan now is to keep my breakfast light, make at least one of my meals a large salad with lean protein, and eat more veg for volume.

For breakfast today I made a frittata. I used zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and a little breakfast sausage. One huge slice came in at 200 calories, and it was so filling. I'll be making that a staple, just mixing up the ingredients to keep it fresh.

amy - Thanks, I'll definitely use that method next time! I had actually stopped buying avocados and switched to those individual portions of Wholly Guacamole. I couldn't trust myself not to eat the whole avocado b/c I feared it going bad, as they usually did for me. This will be healthier and more affordable!

Check out the Volumetric Thread for plenty of ideas on how to stay satisfied on minimal calories.

I always try to eat a little protein and fat with each meal and snack plus extra big servings of vegetables. That combination really helps me stay full longer and still remain below my calorie limit on MFP

I'm at 1,200. My eating is pretty varied but I often have one proper meal a day and then a few snacks (a protein shake, a whole grain English muffin, almonds & fruit, etc.) That way I get to enjoy quasi-normal eating a little bit each day, and then the snacks stave off hunger for the rest of it.

Sometimes I fast on alternate days so I can up the calories on days I eat. Google "intermittent fasting" if you're unfamiliar with it - it's legit, I promise.

Me!
I don't eat breakfast (I know it's bad but I'm never remotely hungry).
I start out with a small salad with 2 oz of chicken--its around 150 calories.
I might eat a fruit (70-100 calories).
For dinner I eat a vegan burger, wheat bun, steamed broccoli, and sometimes a SMALL potato (400-450 calories).
I have a snack at the end of the day. Typically popcorn. Normally this snack is around 300 calories.

I don't drink any calories.