My lunch has how many calories??!!

Options
2»

Replies

  • kahlee2000
    kahlee2000 Posts: 77
    Options
    Start exploring on ways to prepare veggie dishes -- and then make large ones on the weekend and pre-pack them for the coming week in serving sizes. The beauty of veggies is you can eat so much more of them, and not rack up excessive calories.
  • rugbygirlca
    rugbygirlca Posts: 85
    Options
    My favourite cold lunches include things like vegetables with hummus, bean salads, weird blends of left-over dinners (eg rice + meat + some veggies and salsa). My very favourite are taco salads (sometimes I use ground beef, sometimes chicken, and sometimes veggie ground) - a little greek yogurt and salsa on the side...delicious.

    For sandwiches, you'll probably find that lean meat has fewer calories and more protein than PB&J. I'm picky about the type of bread I eat as some brands are really high in calories and salt. With Passover coming up, you'll have a chance to experiment with things other than sandwiches, anyway.

    I usually aim for 1400 cal / day. My calories are usually distributed into about 250-300 for breakfast, 300-400 for lunch, about 200 in snacks and then the rest for dinner.

    From looking at what you had today, if you skipped the PB in the morning and the pistachios at lunch, you'd have quite a few more calories left for dinner. That said, pistachios are quite good for you and the ones in the shell can keep you occupied for quite a while to prevent you from eating other stuff.
  • athensguy
    athensguy Posts: 550
    Options
    Today I ate a bag of broccoli (4 servings), a peanut butter sandwich, and a Diet Coke for 450 calories.
  • jenmcdav
    jenmcdav Posts: 67
    Options
    Oh-- another thought. if you can get to a microwave for a minute, oatmeal is great. it's filling and has a lot of protein and you can add nuts, dried fruit etc to change up the taste. i also like chopped fresh apple and cinnamon in it.
  • jfrog123
    jfrog123 Posts: 432 Member
    Options
    You say you eat pb&j often - peanut butter has good fat, but it does pack in the calories. That is probably a big part of why your lunch has so many cals. Have you ever tried PB2? It is basically powdered peanut butter. A lot of the fat is removed so it has a lot less calories. You can add water to reconstitute it and make it like peanut butter or you can add it directly to protein shakes or other items. It does not taste exactly like Jif, but I like it and it is a calorie bargain. It might be worth a try.
  • IPAfan5
    IPAfan5 Posts: 27
    Options
    If you aren't too hung up on having something different every day, the easiest way is to do some bulk cooking on the weekend.
    When I was still working in an office I would make something like a large pot of chili or stew and then just portion it out for the week.
    Then the next weekend I would cook 5 hamburger patties, or chicken breasts for sandwiches.

    It saves a lot of headaches, allows you to eat real food and is a breeze to track, On busy days, the less I have to think about lunch, the better I stick to my plan.

    This is what I do, I spend a few hours every sunday cooking up chicken breasts, vegetables, rice, beans, and measure them out for perfectly sized lunch and dinner portions for the entire week. It saves me time during the week and I will never have to worry about having a cheat meal because it is "more convenient" when I'm tired during the week.
  • amazon75
    amazon75 Posts: 165
    Options
    You may want to try peter pan whipped peanut butter (150 vs 190 cal) and a lower calorie bread like Nature's Own 40 calorie a slice. Using them with the smucker's spread would only be 250 calories.
  • SunnyAndrsn
    SunnyAndrsn Posts: 369 Member
    Options
    Thank you all for these ideas. A few notes. Last time I did MFP, I took salads every day. They had grilled chicken and hard boiled egg to add protein. I got so sick of it (every day for 4 or 5 months) that to this day I can't eat grilled chicken or hard boiled egg on salads.
    Maybe I will do some more salads, with just different ingredients (need to find something else I can put in salad for high protein) or bulk cooking.
    In my lunch now, makuing it 790 calories: PBJ sandwich, pistachios, yogurt, apple, baby carrots. (take a look at my diary for details on brands, etc.) I need all this protein, but not all the calories.
    Thanks again everyone.

    I'd switch out the PB&J for a meat sandwich with veggies. The veggies are going to be much lower cal and so will the lean meat. I'd say switch out the pistachios for a hard boiled egg to decrease the fat, but if you're sick of those than forget that.

Categories