Cannot survive on 1200! Food diary included

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  • dlharris1
    dlharris1 Posts: 34 Member
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    DananaNanas wrote: »
    243 calories is still a lot to work with for your last meal or snack but you have to make it count!

    Greek yogurt and (healthy, nutritious) cereal/granola is my new favorite combo.
    Not sure where you're from but wal mart has full size tortillas that are low carb and 50 calories each! My go-to quick dinner is a cheese & veggie quesadilla (I'm vegetarian)... you can make one for less than 300 calories. If I have extra calories I use black beans too.

    Feel free to add me so you can check out my diary :) it looks like you're vegetarian too. I am and stick to 12-1400 calories per day (depending on activity)

    ETA might want to go back a couple days if you look at my diary, yesterday was an off day as my fiance and I went out to eat at the restaurant we're having our rehearsal dinner at and I got 0 exercise >_< lol

    Thank you yes I'm veggie, ok I'll try add but I'm new to app still trying to figure it out
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,978 Member
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    I'm about your height and I lost 75 pounds with my goal usually around 1350 plus I ate back exercise calories. I would usually eat about half of my calories for breakfast and lunch and the other half plus exercise calories for dinner and a snack after dinner. I still do that in maintenance. I think with your stats your goal is too aggressive. There is really no reason you need to be at 1200 calories. It might take a little longer, but it will be easier and more sustainable if you switch your goal to 1 pound per week.
  • dlharris1
    dlharris1 Posts: 34 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    The breakfast is a little low in fat which might be setting you up for crisps later. Even adding a teaspoon of olive oil when cooking your egg will make such a difference.

    Some people feel full with extra fiber (veggies, oatmeal), others with extra fat (nuts, oils), and others with extra protein.

    You are on the higher end with carbs and on the lower end of the three filling categories mentioned above.

    I'm a snacks person so in order to fit them in I made a relatively thin lunch. I'd have a salad or a soup. But then I needed a protein based snack by mid-afternoon!

    Totally! An hour after breakfast I spied the crisps lol
  • natruallycurious
    natruallycurious Posts: 359 Member
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    Oh! Also make sure to drink plenty of water! I don't know what your water intake looks like currently, but sometimes our bodies confuse thirst for hunger. I find a lot of times that when I am feeling hungry earlier than I think I should be, I drink some water and I feel fine. You may already be drinking enough, but just a thought.
  • YOLO145
    YOLO145 Posts: 98 Member
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    @dlharris1 Do you cook without oil?
  • dlharris1
    dlharris1 Posts: 34 Member
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    khenik6064 wrote: »
    Oh! Also make sure to drink plenty of water! I don't know what your water intake looks like currently, but sometimes our bodies confuse thirst for hunger. I find a lot of times that when I am feeling hungry earlier than I think I should be, I drink some water and I feel fine. You may already be drinking enough, but just a thought.

    Totally! I am naturally just an extremely thirsty person so drink pints and pints a day..
  • Iamnotasenior
    Iamnotasenior Posts: 234 Member
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    I am a pescatarian (most meals are vegetarian) and I am on 1,200 cals a day. Please add me to see my diary. I make sure I hit my protein macro each day (as much as possible) and try to "spend" my calories on foods that will not trigger a blood sugar spike and then crash because that WILL make me hungry. Also, some days, I am hungrier than others and on those days, I do allow myself some extra calories. Weight loss is not linear and your body is not a machine with preset daily needs. Some days, you may need to eat more and that's okay, just make sure you are feeding your body things that will satisfy that hunger for a longer period of time, like protein and high fiber vegetables, fruits and grains.
  • dlharris1
    dlharris1 Posts: 34 Member
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    YOLO145 wrote: »
    @dlharris1 Do you cook without oil?

    I either dry fry or use a low cal cooking spray
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
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    French_Peasant wrote: »
    Relser wrote: »
    I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.

    ^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1

    Not knocking veggies, because I seriously love my veggies, but I just don't think I could possibly eat 800g of veggies a day. I mean seriously. Right now I eat about 150g a meal, so about 300g a day, but 800g - wow. I think I would really get a good cleansing. I'll definitely have to check out your thread to see how everyone accomplished that.



  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    I would agree with what @livingleanlivingclean said... drop your rate of loss to 1 Ib a week (the 2Ib tends to be for those with more weight to lose) and set your activity level to lightly active. That will make this a lot more sustainable for you and will help maintain your sanity. It is always best to find out the maximum you can eat whilst still losing weight rather than to shoot for the lowest number.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    you have less than 25lbs to go to your goal weight - a .5-1lb a week weight loss goal would be more appropriate and correct activity level (sedentary is typically less than 4k steps in a day, so if you had at least that, you are lightly active) - plus eat back workout calories
  • Stationagentjules
    Stationagentjules Posts: 57 Member
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    I'd recommend eating a bit more protein and a bit less carbs.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
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    MommaGem2017 wrote: »
    French_Peasant wrote: »
    Relser wrote: »
    I would eat a big ol'bowl of veggies with each meal- I see you are eating some and that's good. But eat a cup of carrots, a cup of celery, and a cup of peppers/cukes (three cups with each meal) and as a snack and I think you will feel much fuller and they are very low cal.

    ^^^^^ This is exactly the advice you need to follow. You are getting a good amount of veg, but it really helps to crank it up to 800 grams a day, and learn to make it delicious. For more insights, feel free to read this challenge that a few of us did in the spring, where every day we followed the UK guidelines to get 10 or more servings of fruit and veg. It makes a HUGE difference in satiety, especially when combined with a lot of high quality lean proteins. You can read it here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10521320/10-a-day-800g-veggie-fruit-challenge-participants-check-in/p1

    Not knocking veggies, because I seriously love my veggies, but I just don't think I could possibly eat 800g of veggies a day. I mean seriously. Right now I eat about 150g a meal, so about 300g a day, but 800g - wow. I think I would really get a good cleansing. I'll definitely have to check out your thread to see how everyone accomplished that.



    I was a part of that challenge, (with my previous account), and I went into it thinking I'd have no problem hitting the target and jumped in head over heels-oh my gosh it about killed me lol :p So afterwards I made it a personal challenge to work up to the target and over the course of several months I focused on adding veg/fruit to my meals. Now, I can easily hit 1,000g a day and have several days a week where I get around 1,400g. There was definitely a learning curve involved, but now I can do it no problem. I'd highly recommend taking things slow though, your body needs time to adjust for the added fiber and such.

    As a little example of how I fit it all in, here's part of my eating plan today-

    lunch was a large skillet full of (frozen) carrots and broccoli, 1 1/2c riced cauliflower (I use this instead of white rice now-gets in the veg and super low calorie!), 1 whole package of mushrooms, green onion and then 3 ounces of chicken breast, shredded (with 1tsp olive oil to coat the pan and then sweet n' sour sauce and a few shakes of seasoning). Huge bowl of food that will keep me full for hours, at under 400 calories.

    Then, late afternoon I'll have my daily green smoothie-1c skim milk, 1 banana, 5-6 large strawberries and then a greens mix (I blanch various greens and then freeze them in muffin tins, to make 'green disks'; I add two disks to each smoothie. Today's disks are made up of swiss chard, broccoleaf, kale and dandelion greens).

    Then later tonight I'll have a whole wheat flatbread topped with red lettuce, black refried beans, tomato, red onion and black olives. With a bowl of sweet cherries as a side.

    I'll easily hit over 800g of veg/fruit today. But, again-I had to work up to this :)
  • InkAndApples
    InkAndApples Posts: 201 Member
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    The app gives me 1200 for 1lb per week (I'm on a full diet break atm but fully considering switching down to .5lbs per week as I "only" have 25lbs left to go).

    Fitbit has been my saviour as the extra calories from daily activity give me loads of motivation to be more generally active - personally I find that works better than setting a higher activity level, but each to their own.
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
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    I am seriously impressed @OliveGirl128 and @French_Peasant - you've both given me some good food for thought!
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    @dlharris1 If you are not using a kitchen scale already, get one. They are cheap and necessary.
    If you are suffering to lose weight, change your goals from losing 2 lb per week to losing 1/2 lb per week. Then eat as much as it allows. You will feel better and lose weight.

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