Dinners for 500 calories or less

sophie9492015

I struggle with low calorie dinners, what do you guys have? Im aiming for 500 calorie dinners but happy to hear about more calories aswell. How many calories do you eat at dinner?

kommodevaran

I took a different approach. I set my calorie intake to reflect a 1% loss per week, then split my daily intake loosely into meals, and picked foods to fit somewhat, and then adjusted portions. This way I could eat normal food, which avoided boredom and burnout, and it prepared me for maintenance later. Most dinners tended to end up around 600 calories, and I kept to 1600 calories for the most part.

sophie9492015

Thanks, Yeah im finding my dinners at least 600 when im really trying..

MFPSK1977

I'd throw a pound of broccoli on a plate with a 6oz. grilled chicken breast. You got like 100 calories left, so you could add some cottage cheese or an egg or something.
Usually choose 3 items but make your green veggies a huge amount.

sardelsa

My lunches are usually lower calorie or <500cals.. things like roasted chicken breast on salad or veggies, tuna wrap, veggie and cheese omelettes, soups, etc. Then for dinner I get to eat more, so 1000cal+ . I like it that way better since I don't really get that hungry at lunch but love a big dinner.

sophie9492015

Yeah im really thinking i need to rearrange my calories per meal.. i just had a really healthy dinner in my mind marinated tandoori chicken with some greek yoghurt and cucumber side. with steamed broccoli, carrots and cabbage and grilled zuchhini. Just over 700 calories.

skymningen

Todays dinner will be whole grain pasta with scampi in tomato sauce and some low fat feta cheese. I might add peas in if I feel like it. 75 g of the whole grain Spaghetti, 90g scampi, a little tomato sauce, 50 g low fat feta and 70 g of peas would get me around 500 cal (more like 480)

scarlett_k

I made an amazing prawn and orange curry with basmati rice yesterday and it worked out at only 524 a serving. Actually less if I had divided it into three as intended but I thought it was low enough to just eat half I can post the recipe if that's up your street.

sophie9492015

Yess please scarlet sounds amazing!

scarlett_k

Hopefully this will work (it's a books.google link just shortened) http://tinyurl.com/y7rejzcu

royalty_mind_1me

Sometimes I just feel lonely like a smoothie! It's always under 500

sophie9492015

scarlett_k wrote: »

Hopefully this will work (it's a books.google link just shortened) http://tinyurl.com/y7rejzcu

Mm, didnt work. Thats okay i can see the idea and probably make something similar . Thanks for your effort though!

ladyhusker39

I'm amazed at how well I can do all day. I'll eat about 800 calories or so from 7am until 5 pm. Them I get really hungry. I've started allocating 800 calories for dinner and another 200 for a post dinner snack.

amusedmonkey

My dinners, as in supper, are pretty small. 300-400 calories unless going out. Dinner, as in the largest meal, usually ends up at about 600-800 calories unless we're having something higher in calories. I don't have allocated numbers for meals, I just see every day if I want something in particular or if I have something planned and then just adapt my other meals around it to make it fit. If I don't want anything in particular and have no plans I just go through the day eating what I feel like eating at that moment making reasonable choices, then see how many calories I have left for dinner and fill them up with whatever is left and sounds good to me.

Now with that said, I have this planned today because my hunger levels are through the roof:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/lemony-chicken-soup-with-farro-white-beans-and-kale

It has many things that fill me up (beans, protein, volume, fiber) and is under 1 calorie per gram, under 0.8 even. I'm not using farro and kale, I'm using hulled barley and spinach because that's what I have on hand, and I'm eating it with a piece of bread because the more starch the merrier, might even make croutons if I'm not too lazy. It's such a low calorie dish for the volume that I can afford croutons.

MFPSK1977

scarlett_k wrote: »

Hopefully this will work (it's a books.google link just shortened) http://tinyurl.com/y7rejzcu

This should work
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YpsyDgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PT153#v=onepage&q&f=false

sophie9492015

I think its not working on my phone. Will try on laptop tomorrow!

prettyxpetite

I chop up some iceberg lettuce, cucumber and onion and then mix up a whole can of tuna with some low fat mayo. Eat it with the salad and it's great, very filling and about 350 cals

scarlett_k

If it doesn't work you can google Nadiya Hussain prawn orange curry with basmati and *hopefully* you should get a book preview of the recipe & instructions. It's so delicious!

I'm making another of her recipes tonight which is fish pie with cinnamon sweet potato and that comes in at under 500 a serving too. Looking forward to it as usually I find things seem to be less satisfying for dinner if they are under about 700.

nowine4me

500 gets me a head of cauliflower or broccoli, mushrooms, beans/tempeh/tofu/veggie burger, fruit and chia pudding or Yasso.

RodaRose

One pork chop cooked with little to no oil in a frying pan and pile of veggies like zucchini and broccoli.

sophie9492015

RodaRose wrote: »

One pork chop cooked with little to no oil in a frying pan and pile of veggies like zucchini and broccoli.

This is one of my old favorites! Can't go wrong!

Aerona85

Most of my dinners are 600-750 cals. My calorie goal for the day is 1590 plus I usually get 100-150 exercise calories. This split generally works for me, though some days are totally different (like when the local Mexican place caters at work..900 cal lunch right there, but I budget for it). 300-400 breakfast, 200 snack (depends on day/activity/what's going on), 400-500 lunch.

My favorite dinners right now are Cajun pasta, homemade meatball sub with spinach salad, Italian roasted chicken and vegetables, shepherds pie. As long as I plan ahead, I more or less eat whatever I want.

MichelleLaree13

sweet potato with cinnamon or brown rice 220 calories, 7 oz (raw) chicken breast 200ish, 8 oz green veggie like broccoli 80... that is over a pound of food

bbell1985

Meat and a ton of veggies.

kokonani

You could skip breakfast or save the calories for a bigger dinner.

LynnJ9

bbell1985 wrote: »

Meat and a ton of veggies.

I agree. 5 to 7 ounces of meat, depending on the fat content, one small starch such as a piece of bread, small potato, or a serving of rice, and lots of veggies.
Some of my dinners are:
Chicken (6 oz) shis kabobs with green and red peppers, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, and small potatoes
Chicken lettuce wraps made with ground turkey and slice of bread
Spicy shrimp (7 oz) with tomatoes, green peppers over a serving of fettucini
Pork tenderloin (6 oz) with asparagus, mushrooms and a serving of rice
Grilled steak (5 oz) with zuccini, salad and small baked potato
Orange roughy (7 oz) with spinach and tomatoes over rice
Chicken breast (6 oz) with red peppers and broccoli over a serving of angel hair pasta and low calorie marinara sauce

DebLaBounty

My favorite this week was 4 oz. grilled rib eye steak (315 calories) and a cup of Greek salad - cucumber, tomato, red onion, feta cheese with olive oil/vinegar dressing (150). Total: 465. Added in 1/2 cup of roasted red potatoes on the side at 54 calories for a grand total of 519 calories. Yum!

kimlight2

My go to dinner is:
2 Fit and Active Whole Grain Waffles with Apple butter (200 Cal)
3 Egg Whites and 1 egg (150 Cal)
2 Slices Fit and Active Turkey Bacon (50 Cal)

I have 100 calories left for Fruit.

rahlpn

I like breakfast for dinner. 2 eggs, 1/4 cup red onions, sliced ham, cherry tomatoes, slice of cheese omelet. 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 3 strawberries sliced. 460 Cals.

gothchiq

An omelette and a salad. No cheese or anything like that, I put veggies and mushrooms in the omelette, low cal dressing.

Sp1tfire

2 kashi blueberry waffles with around 8 blueberries on them, 2 tablespoons of real maple syrup, 2 or 3 scrambled eggs. total: 415 cals with 2 eggs and 485 with 3 eggs. and BREAKFAST FOR DINNER!