Low cal receipes?

Amanda4MyGrant
Amanda4MyGrant Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello from Texas! Have any low cal receipes to share? I'm running low on ideas over here. 🫨

Replies

  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 220 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/730832/low-calorie-recipes
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10464002/low-calorie-recipes
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10567619/low-carb-low-calorie-recipes

    Might also want to browse through, https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/categories/recipes for anything that sounds good.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    I think you need to give us a bit more information: what kind of food do you enjoy, what not at all, do you cook? what is low cal for you? what keeps you full?

    All my dinners are basically in the range of 500-600 calories. I could do bigger of course and would go over that. But my recipes are perfect for my way of eating and keep me full and happy. Today I'm having a couscous bowl with cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes in olive oil, chicken or tofu (not decided yet), spring onion and cucumber and a chimicurri dressing. Tomorrow is probably spaghetti with anchovie with green olives, capers and a tomato base. If this is not what you enhoy eating then you really need to tell us a bit more about your preferences.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    What do you consider low cal? I am for around 500 calories per meal and try to get at least 35-40g of protein per meal. It's hard to make recommendations without knowing your nutrition goals.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,222 Member
    There are some good low calorie recipes in the MFP blogs, too. Direct link:

    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/recipes/
  • SoCalSwimmerDude
    SoCalSwimmerDude Posts: 507 Member
    I’ll play… just yesterday for breakfast:

    2 eggs, 2 chicken sausage links, and a small caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic) was under 500 cal and over 40 in protein.

    If you do 1 egg and 1 link it would be about a 250 cal and 20 protein. Very filling.

    But I never follow recipes… just cook what I like. You’re welcome to follow me… I feel like I kinda crush it when it comes to high protein, low cal, and nutrient dense eating.
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 871 Member
    edited August 2023
    SoCalSwimmerDude wrote: »
    I’ll play… just yesterday for breakfast:

    2 eggs, 2 chicken sausage links, and a small caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic) was under 500 cal and over 40 in protein.

    If you do 1 egg and 1 link it would be about a 250 cal and 20 protein. Very filling.

    But I never follow recipes… just cook what I like. You’re welcome to follow me… I feel like I kinda crush it when it comes to high protein, low cal, and nutrient dense eating.

    That sounds like my palate! Don’t know how to follow you but sent a friend request incase that’s what that means 😆.
  • SoCalSwimmerDude
    SoCalSwimmerDude Posts: 507 Member
    ddsb1111 wrote: »
    SoCalSwimmerDude wrote: »
    I’ll play… just yesterday for breakfast:

    2 eggs, 2 chicken sausage links, and a small caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic) was under 500 cal and over 40 in protein.

    If you do 1 egg and 1 link it would be about a 250 cal and 20 protein. Very filling.

    But I never follow recipes… just cook what I like. You’re welcome to follow me… I feel like I kinda crush it when it comes to high protein, low cal, and nutrient dense eating.

    That sounds like my palate! Don’t know how to follow you but sent a friend request incase that’s what that means 😆.

    Now that I’ll be watched, I should mention that I’m a normal eater too. Lol. Not every day is salads and broccoli. ;)
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 871 Member
    SoCalSwimmerDude wrote: »
    ddsb1111 wrote: »
    SoCalSwimmerDude wrote: »
    I’ll play… just yesterday for breakfast:

    2 eggs, 2 chicken sausage links, and a small caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic) was under 500 cal and over 40 in protein.

    If you do 1 egg and 1 link it would be about a 250 cal and 20 protein. Very filling.

    But I never follow recipes… just cook what I like. You’re welcome to follow me… I feel like I kinda crush it when it comes to high protein, low cal, and nutrient dense eating.

    That sounds like my palate! Don’t know how to follow you but sent a friend request incase that’s what that means 😆.

    Now that I’ll be watched, I should mention that I’m a normal eater too. Lol. Not every day is salads and broccoli. ;)

    Thank gawd or I’d have to remove you 😂
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,455 Member
    edited August 2023
    I enjoy experimenting.

    How can I take an old favorite and lower the calories with substitutions or cuts?

    Fried rice: supplement with cauliflower rice.

    Mac and cheese: use skim milk and half the butter for the roux, and skim milk cheese. Still high cal but not as high and I’m also more conscious of portion size.

    Potato salad: made with boiled potatoes, low or zero cal Mayo, low cal relish, and smoked paprika.

    Baked potato: use yogurt instead of butter. Or eat potato salad instead. For some reason, I can get four filling servings potato salad for same as 2 servings baked potato.

    Use a preheated nonstick pan to brown meats instead of oils. We make stir fries this way and actually prefer them because the veggies stay crisper and tastier.

    Homemade pizza on lavash or gyros is fantastic and much lower cal than the pizza parlor. BTW, Trader Joe’s lavash bread made an excellent pizza crust last week. We had generous pizzas for about 550 calories each and that was with a couple ounces of turkey pepperoni (not bad at all!) or (my preference) diced prosciutto.

    Lump or log mozzarella is a lot fewer calories than the preshredded bagged stuff and tastes way better in dishes.

    Margarine is almost half the calories of butter and makes little difference in taste in most dishes.

    Scones: usually ok with 1/2 - 2/3 the butter (margarine works fine) called for in most recipes and a fraction of the sugar.

    Meringues- LOVE little low-cal crunches of joy called meringues and you can cut the sugar in with little loss of flavor or texture.

    Jordan’s zero cal Skinny Syrup? Shall I sing the praises? In coffee, chai, sparkling water, homemade ice creams, baked goods, etc etc etc. There’s a flavor for everything. You can buy them for cheap at TJMAxx and sister stores. I’ve gotten to where I just mostly use their plain simple syrup.

    Keep some simple extracts (peppermint, almond, chocolate, coconut) on hand for quick jolts of almost zero cal flavor.

    Experiment. Create joy in the kitchen and in your tummy. So what if one or two fails have to go in the trash?!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,222 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    I enjoy experimenting.

    How can I take an old favorite and lower the calories with substitutions or cuts?

    (snip many good ideas, here and followig)

    Mac and cheese: use skim milk and half the butter for the roux, and skim milk cheese. Still high cal but not as high and I’m also more conscious of portion size.
    I also like to bulk it out with cauliflower (can be pureed) and/or smashed Winter squash (has that classic orange-cheese color), or add some pureed tofu (invisible) for extra protein.
    Potato salad: made with boiled potatoes, low or zero cal Mayo, low cal relish, and smoked paprika.
    I like Greek yogurt in potato salad, pasta salad, deviled eggs, etc., instead of mayo. YMMV. The better brands of red lentil pasta are pretty close to wheat pasta in flavor/texture (to me), and have around twice as much protein. (I like Barilla.)

    Experiment. Create joy in the kitchen and in your tummy. So what if one or two fails have to go in the trash?!

    Yes! The worst that can happen from a failed experiment is pretty minor, and the up side has a lot of positive potential.

Categories