Anyone on 1200 - 1300 calories / day?

NaRmI10

HI I am trying to keep my caloric intake to 1200 - 1300 per day and having a tough time with it. If you are caloric intake is 1200 cal / day ... What is your diary like?
Thanks.

kk_140

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

blb85

Working-out is key!!! It helps to be able to add some more calories through-out the day for me since I have a hard time sticking to the 1390 calories a day I have set for myself (on a .5lb loss a week plan, realized trying to do more was unrealistic and would only make me crash and burn ultimately rather than making this a long-term lifestyle plan). If only I could get rid of alcohol from my diet, my days would look a lot better!

But mine goes something like this:

Breakfast: Instant oatmeal, or cereal (with skim milk), or whole what English muffin with almond butter (or regular butter), or a greek yogurt parfait (200-350 cal) plus a coffee with skim milk and splenda (10 cals)


Mid-morning snack: fiber bar and multivitamin (150 cal)

Lunch: side salad with soup or half sandwich (350 cal)

Late afternoon snack: almonds, carrots/hummus, 100 calorie snack pack (100-150 cal)

Dinner: 4oz chicken breast, salmon, etc. vegetable medley (usually a frozen package from store by Healthy Choice or Green giant) about 250 cal

1250 cal total approximately. Again, I do exercise so I can give myself some wiggle room for alcohol or whatnot. This is the plan I stuck to when I was being consistent (and not letting my boyfriend, who I just moved in with, from distracting me).

toronto_j

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

dopeysmelly

I'm on 1300 at the moment. My diary is open.

Water_Gal

I manage with 1200 and go up to 1750 on heavy exercise days.

8 am bran cereal with lowfat milk and strawberries and raspberries 180 coffee 40
1030 am lowfat Greek yogurt 100
1pm lean cuisine meal 290 average
3 pm a dozen almonds or a nonfat string cheese 60. Via berry refresher from Starbucks 35
7 pm dinner is usually 1/2 boneless and skinless chicken breast or similar portion of steak, pork chop or fish, salad with lite italian dressing, veggies and rice or small portion pasta or potato 500 average
Wine 110 calories, on workout days
Dessert (if I have calories to spend) is a weight watchers triple chocolate ice cream on a stick. 110

This is a typical day and I eat the frequent snacks so I never get really hungry. I have lost just under 40lbs in 12 weeks, good luck!

kk_140

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

blb85

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

Hahaha! I love your response! Some people can be so judgmental!!! It's all about making this work for you, as an individual, so you can stick to a lifestyle! If you are happy, keep doing what you be doing!

NaRmI10

This is cool! thanks.

NaRmI10

Thank you all for the response.... I do try to workout 4 - 5 times a week... so I might get some bonus calories.

AmZam05

I eat 1,300 and I try not to eat back all my exercise calories but I do usually end up eating back some.

I think it's important to ease into it. I started at 1,500 for my first few weeks then gradually bumped it down. That way my body adjusted to the reduced intake and I wasn't suddenly starving.

For breakfast I usually have some kind of whole wheat product, whether it's a waffle with peanut butter, a bagel with light cream cheese, or an english muffin with peanut butter and apple butter (my personal favorite :happy: ) or a non-sugary cereal with almond or soy milk, either light or unsweetened. Also eggs are amazing. (about 200 calories)

I have a morning snack of fresh fruit (about 100 calories)

For lunch I have soup or leftovers from the night before. Also a well-chosen 6" sub from Subway is reasonably filling and low in calories if you are in a pinch and have to eat out. (about 300-400 calories)

Afternoon snack I have plain greek yogurt with berries and some kind of sweetener because I haven't been able to get used to it unsweetened (100 calories)

For dinner, I cook 95% of the time. We eat a lot of fish, chicken, and turkey with vegetables and I generally choose potatoes before any other starch and we try to avoid flour products as much as possible. (usually around 500-600 calories)

So even at the most it is normally around 1400 for me personally, before exercise. But I have taken the last few months to really narrow it down to what low calorie foods I like and can tolerate eating on a normal basis. Also as a previous poster mentioned, working out is very important to maintain a deficit if you are eating a good variety of foods, not to mention it's fabulous for you physically. Just remember to eat a good variety of your macros and try your best to follow serving sizes. For me, after a while, serving sizes actually became filling where before I used to look at a serving of something and laugh!

Good luck!

Rainboots80

I am and I also am vegetarian and eat low carb. I eat pretty much the same breakfast and lunch every day and dinner varies.
Breakfast is eggs with cheese and coffee
lunch is a spinach salad with olives, veggies and ranch
Dinner is veggie burger and a vegetable or I make Mock Mack and cheese using cauliflower.

LuvDarkChocolate

My cheat day was yesterday....but my diary is open. Please don't judge.

TeaBea

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

It's not "just" about eating clean....or the total # of calories. MFP allows you to track protein, fat & carbs. Your diet looks to be very low in protein. Calorie reduction plus too little protein = muscle loss for most people ( those who are really obese....can get away with not losing muscle...for awhile).

MFP helps me get more protein. Healthy weight loss should help you reduce your body fat percentage.

gypsy_spirit

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

Her ticker and time invested beg to differ with you. Adding in treats is not stopping her weight loss, rather, it's helping her stay on track. 80% healthy, 20% treats is a really good habit to develop for long term success.

saddare

Mine just dropped from 1340 to 1280 (darn recalculation for weight lost!). My biggest problem has always been portion control, so I've relied pretty heavily on Lean microwave dinners, Lean Pockets, and other such portioned foods. It really makes tracking a no-brainer. For snacks between meals, I favor FiberOne 90-calorie granola bars or Jello 90-calorie pudding cups. Weight Watchers has a variety of string cheeses that are 50 calories each. You can also get a variety of 100-calorie "snack packs" in assorted chips and crackers. And my life-saver when I'm hungry but close to max for the day: dill pickles are 0 calories per spear!

It's probably not the healthiest way to do it (the sodium, for one, shoots sky-high if you don't watch it), but it fits into my lifestyle and works for me! To try and off-set the unhealthiness factor a little bit, I usually have a cup of fresh fruit with my multi-vitamin as soon as I wake up.

Cranquistador

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redlockqt

Mock Mack and Cheese sounds amazing! Do you have a recipie?

toronto_j

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

Hahaha! I love your response! Some people can be so judgmental!!! It's all about making this work for you, as an individual, so you can stick to a lifestyle! If you are happy, keep doing what you be doing!

I don't think you have to be 100% "clean" (I'm certainly not) but I'd be starving if I ate this junk all day. Nutritionally dense food CAN be lower in calories and also keep you feeling fuller, so I don't think this kind of eating is good advice. I believe that losing weight should go hand in hand with improving health.

toronto_j

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

Her ticker and time invested beg to differ with you. Adding in treats is not stopping her weight loss, rather, it's helping her stay on track. 80% healthy, 20% treats is a really good habit to develop for long term success.

This definitely isn't "80% healthy."

TeaBea

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

Her ticker and time invested beg to differ with you. Adding in treats is not stopping her weight loss, rather, it's helping her stay on track. 80% healthy, 20% treats is a really good habit to develop for long term success.

This definitely isn't "80% healthy."

I agree.

As far as success......it's more than just the number on the scale (or on a ticker). You could lose "weight" on an all twinkie diet.....the only problem would be, massive muscle loss.....leaving a higher body fat % than when you started.

I'm all for treats......but the treats shouldn't crowd out nutrition.

Ldonahue921

Lots of grilled veggies, low carb wrap makes it more filling. fresh fruit for snacks. almond milk yogurt & fruit smoothies. LOTS of WATER between meals. It's easier if you choose comparable (flavor-wise) substitutions for your heavier favorites. Example: For Taco Night we did grilled veggies (instead of saute), lean chicken (instead of ground beef) and used low carb wheat tortillas. A single serving is around 200-300 calories (less if you go vegetarian). Burger night is portabella mushroom cap grilled with all the flavors and toppings of a hamburger. Have fun with it. I'd like to hear others ideas for HEALTHY meal ideas in this calorie range.

jaysmom2001

There isn't much protein in your diet? Do you stay full?

_lyndseybrooke_

No, because I don't have to starve myself to lose weight. Also, because food tastes good.

I'm 5'5" 133 lbs and I eat 1810 calories per day gross when averaged over the entire week. Last week I lost almost a pound. Being 3 lbs from goal, that's almost too much weight lost in one week. If I lose more than .4 lb this week, I'll be bumping it up another 100 calories.

Your body needs food to function. Unless you're 3 feet tall and sedentary, you should be eating more than 1200 calories per day. This is the only body you're going to get - treat it better.

All of you 1200-calorie folks, feel free to yell at me and tell me how you're totally full on 1200 calories per day and you gain weight if you eat more than that. I'll be over here eating while you try to convince me that you're a unique flower whose body works totally different from everyone else's.

kk_140

There isn't much protein in your diet? Do you stay full?

Depends on the day, sometimes I eat beef jerky as a snack, or have chciken, steak, pork, etc. for dinner. This is just what I ate today, I don't eat like this everyday.

But whatever lol I wonder if this gif will work...

BreeJaxon

It depends on the day usually somewhere around there. You're welcome to open my diary, send request

amberburke1982

really ?!?!?!?

sugarlemonpie

Yep! Although if I work out and burn around 350 calories I typically up my intake to 1500 or so calories. Feel free to look at my diary, it's not perfect but it's pretty accurate.

JennaViolet

I try to keep to 120 calories.
Sometimes I am lower, sometimes over... but it all depends on exercise.
Calories are easily and quickly taken up, a cup of tea and a few biscuits and you're nearly half way through your allowance!! It's upsetting haha.
But I exercise a lot. I aim to burn an average of 750 calories a day, but walking a total of 1 hour to and from uni, a little exercise regime, including 40 mins step ups, yoga etc and also I do tap dancing and ballet once a week each for an hour.
This way I can have nearly 2000 calories. Which makes life easier.

You can do it so that you only consume 1200 calories without exercising but it makes life difficult and personally I'd be hungry very often. Find an exercise regime that works for you and walk instead of driving wherever it's possible. It's a healthier way I think because you get all of the nutrients and increase your fitness.

Hope this helps. If you want to know my exercise regime I can tell you (I like it because it doesn't involve paying and travelling to go the gym, you don't have to buy any equipment and it doesn't take that much time).

nicjustine

It varies but lately its been a combination of these:

breakfast: greek yogurt (+berries and granola sometimes) and coffee or tea

lunch: homemade yumm bowl (brown rice, black beans, yumm sauce, pico de gallo, avocado, cilantro) or veggie burger on wheat bun.

dinner: big salad (spring mix or spinach, +extra veggies, cheese, a little dressing, whatever sounds good), soup, baked chicken and veggies, or one of the lunch options.

snacks: fruit, hummus and seed crackers or carrots, protein shake, or almonds.

I also drink lots of water, I think that helps with staying full throughout the day too. As a general rule, I try to eat as little bread and dairy as possible, so I'll usually skip on cheese, croutons, and milk unless I need it. If I do use milk for something, I try to make it almond milk and If I do eat bread, I go whole grain/wheat.
Also, I try to eat frequently and in small portions. If I'm hungry, I drink more water and eat something good, clean, and filling. But usually staying hydrated and eating small amounts often keeps me feeling pretty full throughout the day.

PinkyPan1

I am on 1200 and my diary is open. I do exercise daily and eat back a few calories.