Any recipes/ideas for meals or snacks with large portions but don't kill your calories?

MelaniaTrump

Bean chili - no oil added.
Had it today- I'm stuffed.

dragonrider6

Veggies. Very low cals so you can have HUGE portions.

RodaRose

alyssadanielle2493 wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

If you like big meals, you can do IF where you might only eat two meals a day. If you skip snacks, you almost have to work hard to fit in enough calories and protein into two meals. -- maybe do that on days when you want more food.

Thanks! Do you pretty much just eat the same calories in a smaller window? I'm on 1200 calories so are you suggesting two meals of 600 calories rather than spreading it out throughout the day?
I've looked into IF very briefly. I just know that I hate breakfast, but if I don't eat (and sometimes even if I do) my tummy is growling LOUDLY around 10 or 11 am, demanding food! I'm sure you get used to it and your body changes?

Yes. That is what is do. It took about two weeks to get used to it.
Perhaps do not eat first thing in the morning. Eat at 10:00 a.m.
-
Bulk up foods to give you a better feeling. Everyone has a different idea of how to feel more satisfied.
For me it is lots of green leafy veggies and other low cal veggies: eggplant, tons of broccoli or cauliflower,
Also I feel better with fats over 45 grams a day so I add butter or coconut to oil.

RodaRose

Edited

alyssadanielle2493 wrote: »

Typically I will load up on the veggies and do some type of meat. Lately it's been a bowl of shredded chicken taco meat with a little sauce and cheese melted with celery on the side.

Cook about a pound (one pound) of fresh yellow squash before you add the shredded chicken taco meet and sauce and cheese. That is a big meal and the squash has very reasonable calories.

Rusty740

I like heavier salads with cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and balsamic vinegar is pretty low calorie too.

Salsa is very low cal (sorry no corn chips) but I'm going to try making kale chips.

Right now I'm making roasted Edamame for a salty snack they have about 160 calls per cup of pre-baked size and are really high fibre(filling) and good protein.

Making homemade kombucha for a pretty low cal fizzy, fruity drink too.

rubyslippersinoz

hi Alyssadanielle2493,
I too enjoy a nice meal and that comforting full feeling. When I'm feeling particularly hungry, I will make a mock Chinese take out dish that is fabulous. I use cauliflower rice, which is just simply cauliflower that you put in the food processor till it resembles rice. And do a broccoli beef with double or triple the broccoli. You can literally eat til you are stuffed.. I am not a snacker, so I have extra calories to consume at meal time. Another one of my favorites it a big ole plate of Sautéed Cabbage, I use an entire head of cabbage, one onion, a couple cloves of garlic, one small can of sauerkraut , because I love the tang, some chicken sausage, apple cider vinager and whole grain mustard. It s delicious and satisfying. Please feel free to message me if you want more ideas, or if you want step by step instructions!

amusedmonkey

I'm a big eater too. I do 1400-1500 calories plus exercise though, so in most cases I can afford to go big. Mixing in vegetables with things really helps with the volume. I also do every other day intermittent fasting from time to time when I have a big appetite where I get to eat 800 calories one day and 2000-2200 calories plus exercise the next.

On my 800 calorie days I go big on soups, egg white omelets full of vegetables (usually shredded zucchini), tuna salad (1 can tuna in water, 1 large tomato, 1 large cucumber, 1 small pickle, a clove of garlic and a squeeze of a lemon) and protein fluff is a life saver for a sweet tooth - I add a couple of splendas because the sweetness gets deluted.

miconsumafuoco

TeaBea wrote: »

vivmom2014 wrote: »

Start by eating more than 1200 calories!!

This^

A very small % of women "have to" eat 1200 calories. Instead, most choose this for fast(er) weight loss.

I used a formula in Tom Venuto's book, Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, to figure out my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). I have a scale that measures body fat percentage, (not the best but accurate enough for me,) and I used that to calculate the amount of calories I eat a day on average to maintain my current weight (using the Katch-McArdle equation). He recommends no more than a 25 to 30 percent deficit goal after that. One pound of fat should be lost each week for every 500 calorie deficit per week. My TDEE is 1851 calories a day so my goal is about 1300 calories a day to lose about a pound a week. If anyone is interested, I would recommend buying his book, it's amazing! Or maybe you can Google the equation?

MakePeasNotWar

I find baked potatoes topped with black beans and salsa very filling, and you get a lot of food for only a few hundred calories.

Non-starchy veggies are great for volume, but I don't find they really satisfy me on their own. They make great "filler", though, if you like to eat a lot. Soups, salads, stir-fry, curries -there are so many ways to make meals vegetable heavy

MikaMojito

I agree with what lots of the others have written. I get bitchy when I don't eat large portions, so I eat a lot of vegetables. For tomorrow, I'll be chopping up half a kilo of green asparagus and flash-fry it in some olive oil. I'll have it with 100g of smoked salmon and 200g yogurt dip. All of that should be around 450kcal. If you chose low-fat ham instead of the salmon and lower-fat yogurt (mine is 1.8%fat) you could probably save even more calories. Or you could steam the asparagus instead of frying.

Another favourite is oven-roasted veg, preferably a mix of peppers, zucchini, eggplant, onion and cherry tomatoes, seasoned with garlic, thyme and whatever other herbs I have. Served again with a yogurt dip.

Or a vegan-modified caprese salad: Slice up looooooads of tomatoes and slice basil-flavoured tofu thinly. Pour a small amount of good quality balsamic vinegar on top. I tend to skip the olive oil because the flavour doesn't improve that much by adding it.

aylajane

jgnatca wrote: »

Zero calorie fillers are air, fiber, and water. So look for those foods that monopolize this. If you are like me some of the pleasure comes from the chew factor, so zero calorie diet sodas just don't cut it.

Water
Water, diet soda, teas, sparkling spring water, sugar free jell-o, soups, watermelon (but watch the sugar), cucumber

Air
Souffle, meringue, angel food cake, popcorn, mousse

Fiber
Konjac root, Shiratake noodles, hydrated Chia seeds (watch the little guys; calories add up), bran cereal, all the fruits and leafy veggies

I was going to mention the "air" part as well. For example, a serving of Jif "Whipped" peanut butter vs regular peanut butter has fewer calories and looks bigger, so it seems like you are eating more.

Two of the best "tricks" I have found for eating "volume" is
1) Egg whites whipped - I make protein pancakes using egg whites and protein powder (not all work well... may have to experiement). But the real trick is to whip the egg whites with a (very!) little xanthum or guar gum - it thickens them and makes them HUGE. The longer you whip the better. I will whip them for 5+ minutes, then add in the protein powder and string cut of strawberries or something (very little fruit goes a long way) and/or vanilla extract or something. Then BAKE them in the toaster oven for 10 minutes - one serving (I use 9 Tbs egg whites from the carton, and a scoop of protein powder) makes a pancake that is as big as the pan and it grows like 2 inches tall (it will deflate not long after you take it out) - but has about 200 calories, 40g protein and <5 carbs (the powder I use).

2) Chia, oatmeal, etc - soaking overnight in water or almond milk or something will make these expand to double their size. You can probably google "volumous oatmeal" or something to get some good recipes.

Beautyinthemoonlight

Eat plenty of healthy, low calorie foods. For example a lettuce leaf only has 2-4 calories (each) so you can easily make low calorie salads and continue eating lettuce pretty much all day (your jaw will get tired and you will get sick of eating for a while. I find that I crave crunch and fulfil this craving by chewing on ice. You can freeze homemade orange juice (no extra sugar) mixed with water for a bit of flavour. Other fruits also work well. Take notice of what you enjoy eating most (Crunch, Smooth, Spicy?) and make up or find a lower calorie recipe alternative.

Also if you crave starchy mashed potato, switch for mashed cauliflower as cauliflower is only 29 calories a cup so you could have a lot of cauliflower and other vegetables for a low calorie dinner.

meganordway

I made some changes to this recipe. I make my own ground chicken and use only 1lb of it. I also omit cheese. Play around with it and you can have a little more or less calories depending what you add/omit. We love this and eat it for dinner at least once a week

ClarissaMcDaniel

Arctic Freeze Ice Cream. Depending on the flavor you can eat an entire pint for 150 calories.

nikkidavis808

Egg whites! I make scrambled liquid egg whites with some chicken and veggies and the portions come out huge! Like a plate full of food with very little calories and barely any carbs depending on what veggies you put. I just made some scrambled eggs with chicken breast and kale.

nikkidavis808

Also protein oatmeal. One scoop of protein is about 120-130 calories depending on the brand and 1/4 cup of dry rolled oats is like 100 something calories. It takes me forever to eat one bowl because of the volume and keeps me full all day. The protein gives it the flavor so you don't need to add anything to it.

Chillipants

I cook massive batches of roasted veg with spices and balsamic or fat free veg curry. I'm on 1200 cals a day so this helps x

Francl27

Cauliflower fried rice
Spaghetti squash with meat sauce
Deconstructed egg roll (basically a bag of coleslaw mix pan fried with a bit of oil and some ground meat, with a bit of soy sauce)
Egg drop soup (simmer 2 cups of broth, add an egg, stir until cooked)
Bag of lettuce with some vinegar and mustard and a serving of cheese (feta or goat for less calories)
Egg white and veggies omelette (can't really stomach the stuff anymore, but heck)
Taco salad (lettuce, meat, sauteed onions and peppers, salsa, then you can add cheese, avocado, rice and beans too!)
Veggies, obviously.

chriskalen

I'm the same way; I like having a big meal!

I'm a big fan of Fiber Gourmet pasta which is like 3/5 of the calories of regular pasta. Tastes fine, and it's more filling than regular pasta, too. I buy it in bulk - 10 lbs at a time.

The same company also makes crackers, which aren't bad - the cheez it ones taste like reduced fat cheese nips so while they are no cheez it clone, they do the trick if you are hungry.

My big cheat code for eating a lot of food for fewer calories is using the following formula:

lots of veggies suspended in an interesting sauce + protein + bread vessel

So, for example, shakshuka with crusty bread and tons of vegetables, moo shu vegetable on tortillas, BBQ jackfruit or zucchini sandwiches with a fried egg on top. I find that rice is not usually filling enough for the calories it has, but I sometimes make homemade vegetable bibimbap, heavy on the veg and light on the rice. Or I've done cauliflower rice with bibimbap, too.

I also love making cold spiralized noodle salad (zucchini, cucumber, carrot, whatever) with a spicy peanut sauce and shrimp or tofu.

CorneliusPhoton

amusedmonkey wrote: »

I'm a big eater too. I do 1400-1500 calories plus exercise though, so in most cases I can afford to go big. Mixing in vegetables with things really helps with the volume. I also do every other day intermittent fasting from time to time when I have a big appetite where I get to eat 800 calories one day and 2000-2200 calories plus exercise the next.

On my 800 calorie days I go big on soups, egg white omelets full of vegetables (usually shredded zucchini), tuna salad (1 can tuna in water, 1 large tomato, 1 large cucumber, 1 small pickle, a clove of garlic and a squeeze of a lemon) and protein fluff is a life saver for a sweet tooth - I add a couple of splendas because the sweetness gets deluted.

I had never seen protein fluff before - very cool!
Do you eat your 800 calories all at once (and if so, when?), or spread them out throughout the day?