Fitting food choices to calories remaining

bobbisplayin

Hi - I am new to this site as of yesterday. I LOVE it! I am having one little struggle. I have a 1500 cal./day diet and after entering my food for breakfast and lunch, I have 324 calories left to plan dinner with. Does anyone know of any tricks or tools that I can figure out a meal plan within the calories I have remaining for the day? My struggle is not to go over my calorie limit, and it seems all the dinners I have at home would take me over.

NatalieWiley

I picked up a lean cuisine for my dinner tonight because my lunch will take a large portion of the calories I am allowed. I would suggest just picking one of those up when you are in a bind on what to make.

patty1138

bump I need the answer too!

cutethang1

Try a protein shake with yogurt and berries. What helps me is to plan out all meals the night before and move things around and tweak so I dont run out by dinner.

Good luck!

melissa_e

Usually in that scenario I try to make the meal out of vegetables - a big plate of roasted broccoli or a salad. If you just add a few hundred calories of nuts, cheese or meat you've got a satisfying meal. Also you can go on an extra long walk or something to earn a few more calories for a bigger dinner!

pa_jorg

Did you add in your exercise calories to the 1500? You should be eating back at least half of them.

Try a big salad or veggies stir fry with grilled chicken if you really need to stay in that range.

GreekByMarriage

I can usually do 3-4 ounces of grilled chicken, a serving of veggies, and brown rice (1/2 to 3/4 of a cup depending on how many calories I have left) for about 320...

bed2883

If I'm low on calories I eat veggies and egg whites.

Sidesteal

You might want to consider reducing your calorie intake earlier in the day (perhaps eat fewer calories for breakfast/lunch) so that you have a larger calorie budget for dinner. You'll still have to fit foods into this budget, but your target will be larger.

BrownEyedGiRL928

You'll probably have to look at the calorie count for your breakfast and lunch and find alternatives that have less calories but are filling.

One tip I have is to enter your meal into MFP before you eat it. That way you can see the total calorie count for that one meal and make adjustments. Sometimes for breakfast I'll want to eat two waffles, two sausages and have syrup... but if I see that that meal might put me over my calories for the day I'll cut back to one waffle... or opt for one sausage instead. It really helps me kee at least.

If I know I'm going to have a meal that's got a lot of calories, I'll enter that in first, and then plan my other two meals and snacks around that one high calorie meal. That way I stay within my calorie limit. If I were to eat my meals before entering them into MFP, I'm sure to go over my calorie count.

eve7166

I try to plan my meals aheas so I have enough calories for the rest of the day.. pick what meal you prefer and start with that one first.

gsager

You could work out to get some more calories for dinner. That would not be enough for me.

bobbisplayin

Thank you all for your FANTASTIC suggestions and tips. I know exactly what I can do now.

MUCH appreciated!

dls06

Try to enter foods before you eat them. Plan the day ahead and try to find healthy substitutions for the things you love. Enter different foods to see what the numbers are. Make changes where you need to. Watch portion size too. I have a food scale and you would be surprised to see how many of us "under estimate" what we are eating.

froeschli

I don't usually have that problem. Bu if I want to fit in an extra snack, I go and exercise to 'earn' it.
If you stick with veggies and lean meat, chances are you'll be ok on a 320 calorie budget. Just watch out for salad dressings, carbs or butter

froeschli

I know I am in trouble when I start thinking about my day and which part of it could be classified as extra exercise

vxjammiedodgerxv

You might want to consider reducing your calorie intake earlier in the day (perhaps eat fewer calories for breakfast/lunch) so that you have a larger calorie budget for dinner. You'll still have to fit foods into this budget, but your target will be larger.

^^THIS^^

Also, if you log any exercise you can earn some calories to have a bigger dinner too xx

stormieweather

Have 4 oz of chicken or lean beef or a handful of shrimp. Add 2 veggies (with no sauces) and a side salad with 1 tbsp of light dressing and you have less than 400 calories. I broil or saute the chicken with seasonings, make the lean beef into a burger with some spicy mustard and ketchup, and flash saute the shrimp with a splash of lemon.

Another low cal meal is an egg frittata - 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup of egg whites - put into small frying pan and drop in 1 oz of cheese, and veggies such as spinach, onion, broccoli. When the egg is no longer runny, put under broiler until lightly browned. Spread with salsa and enjoy! Can even have a slice of toast with it!

Another option is to go power walk for an hour and then you can have an extra 150 calories.

When I started doing this, I had that happen a few times. I learned to pre-plan my meals to fit my goal. Like now, I have the rest of the day all planned out and know exactly how I'll end up, calorie wise.