Daily Menus???

ColleenDeBeasi

Here's the deal. I get between 1800 and 2100 calories a day, depending on exercise. My trouble is how to divide those calories. I find myself having about 500 every day just to "play" with. Basically, I've planned my meals and snacks, and I'll be hungry enough to eat them, but I haven't planned what to eat with them. Usually, it ends up being crap. So while I'm under my calorie goal, nutritionally, I'm not where I could be.

Would some people with similar calorie ranges reply to this, or post what a typical day would look like for you? I really appreciate it!

TabbyKatzzz

My starting calories is 1200, more on days I exercise. You are welcome to look at my diary if it will help.

Since my husband and I started this in January, we have been sticking with lean proteins, fruits and vegis, and lots of granola bars for snacks. My husband has more calories than I do, so he just eats bigger portions of meals or snacks than I do.

I hope this helps.

melsinct

I am on maintenance, which puts me at 1700 calories (before exercise calories are added in). I really need to plan out my day in order to hit my calorie target and not say "OOOH! 300 calories left for red wine!" :blushing:

I always decide the night before what's for dinner the next day (so I can defrost anything as necessary), so I log it ahead of time. I also pack my lunch and snacks for work the night before, so after logging both lunch, snacks and dinner for the next day, I can see how the day is shaping up. If I see that I'll be running low on calories (like I am today) I will add calories in a few different ways: a glass of milk at breakfast, an extra snack of nuts (I eat almonds daily but will up my serving if I need calories), go a little heavier with the olive oil when cooking dinner, etc. Think of all of the usual suspects that are healthy, high calorie foods and add them to your diet (avocados, healthy oils, nuts, nut butters, seeds, etc.). Worst case, you can keep ground flax seeds on hand and add some to different foods. A lot of times you don't taste it but the nutrition is there and it will bump up your calories.

The only way for me to add calories in a healthy way is to plan, plan, plan.