How many calories are your meals?

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manda1978
manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm on 1200 a day and I think that I snack alot. If you look at my diary (will make it public) there's always heaps listed under snacks. Is that normal?? My friends seems to have alot less under snacks but quite calorie dense meals, dinner in particular. Thoughts?
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  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    When I was at 1200, I was eating three small "meals" a day. I never ate more than 300 calories at a time, but I ate 6 times a day. There is a school of thought that says that eating small meals keeps your metabolism level and high and prevents you from getting hungry.

    However looking at your diary....yikes.......if you are really logging everything, I think I'd consider cleaning up your diet. You are eating a lot of really empty calories. For eating such low calories, every one needs to count and help fuel you. You are eating a lot of junk that is doing nothing for you. Eek.
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    Junk? can you please point out the junk I eat? I have to omany cups of tea, and the occasional small chocolate at night (50cal) but overall I think I eat very healthy.
  • rogerbosch
    rogerbosch Posts: 343 Member
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    right now 2400; when I'm at 62kg I'll maintain with 2000
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    right now 2400; when I'm at 62kg I'll maintain with 2000

    I meant per meal, not overal :)
  • sammythorpe
    sammythorpe Posts: 3
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    I find that I have the majority of my calories at breakfast and lunch and a light calorie dinner, but will have a long list of snacks too. Although I only keep a few things at work, I find that sunflower seeds go far, and so do the Jols Sugar Free Pastilles. Chewing gum might help too if you are looking to cut the calories down at snack time too. Peppermint tea is a good switch for milky tea, and is nice in the afternoon, as it only has a few calories compared to coffee.

    Good luck with your weight loss.
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    You have cookies, candy, cake and added white sugar every day. Add sugar to your macros that you are tracking and that will give you a good picture. At 1200 calories, IMHO, you don't really have room for any kind of junk food, at least I didn't feel like I did when I was at that calorie intake. You want protein and nutrients.......not that much processed sugars. Honestly, even yoplait yogurt is really high in sugar and relatively low in protein for what it is.
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    I find that I have the majority of my calories at breakfast and lunch and a light calorie dinner, but will have a long list of snacks too. Although I only keep a few things at work, I find that sunflower seeds go far, and so do the Jols Sugar Free Pastilles. Chewing gum might help too if you are looking to cut the calories down at snack time too. Peppermint tea is a good switch for milky tea, and is nice in the afternoon, as it only has a few calories compared to coffee.

    Good luck with your weight loss.

    Thank you, glad I'm not the only one with a long snack list lol. I think it looks worse as I itemise everything. If I could group it (ie I eat the strawberries and yoghurt together as 1 snack, the carrot stick/snow peas/capsicum with the skinny dip as another snack etc). Maybe I'm just being paranoid lol!
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    Oh and you can change your meals on here so that you can better view them....I have mine set up as "breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, other snacks". Breaking it up might help you space your calories out better?
  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 557 Member
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    I don't eat meals either. I list foods by 6 meals a day. Every time I eat a bit I log it under a different title. That way I can remember what I ate when. For no real reason. We are grazers. Do what works for you.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    meals around 500-600, snacks around 200 (unless I get into the ice cream).

    I eat a bit more than 1200/day.
  • ccebohmygod
    ccebohmygod Posts: 27
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    I eat 1400 a day and I tend to eat 300 cals at breakfast and lunch then 500 cals or there abouts at dinner. I find I only have about 3 snacks a day, mostly fruit, occasionally chocolate and snacks in total never exceed 300 a day. You do seem to snack a LOT. They seem like empty calories to me. Tea is fine, we all have our caffine but it seems like a lot of picking albeit fairly controlled picking. Maybe filling up at meal times would make you less inclined to pick
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    You have cookies, candy, cake and added white sugar every day. Add sugar to your macros that you are tracking and that will give you a good picture. At 1200 calories, IMHO, you don't really have room for any kind of junk food, at least I didn't feel like I did when I was at that calorie intake. You want protein and nutrients.......not that much processed sugars. Honestly, even yoplait yogurt is really high in sugar and relatively low in protein for what it is.

    Australian foods may be different that in the US. The Yoplait ForMe yoghurt has no added sugar. The junk you refer to, its not regular. Cake was Fathers Day, cookie was once or twice in the last month, candy? I'm guessing you're referring to the 54cal small chocolate a day. Yes the sugar in tea I need to look at. I'm not going to deprive myself of every little luxury just because I want to lose half a kilo (I'm around 130 pounds).

    I've tried the high protein diet for many years and I've plateaued hence the calorie counting.

    Sorry if this is abrupt but I didn't ask to be scrutinised, just how many calories others who are on 1200 were eating as meals.
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    I don't eat meals either. I list foods by 6 meals a day. Every time I eat a bit I log it under a different title. That way I can remember what I ate when. For no real reason. We are grazers. Do what works for you.

    Thank you, that may help my diary look a little more balanced.
  • kittyr77
    kittyr77 Posts: 419 Member
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    Hi:) i think you're doing pretty well getting lots of fruit and veg and also decent protein most days.
    There's one day you had seven spoons of added sugar and another you got over half your daily calories from coffee and cookie. That's not great, how about you cut out the excessive sugar and replace it with protein dense food like eggs, tuna or nuts, seeds?
    I honestly think if you cut down that sugar in drinks even by a half teaspoon a week you'll be free of it in no time and will have more cal spare for nutritious food.
    I generally eat 200 breakfast, 400 lunch, 500 dinner and 100 snack on average.
    You're doing well, keep up the good work x
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
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    Hi:) i think you're doing pretty well getting lots of fruit and veg and also decent protein most days.
    There's one day you had seven spoons of added sugar and another you got over half your daily calories from coffee and cookie. That's not great, how about you cut out the excessive sugar and replace it with protein dense food like eggs, tuna or nuts, seeds?
    I honestly think if you cut down that sugar in drinks even by a half teaspoon a week you'll be free of it in no time and will have more cal spare for nutritious food.
    I generally eat 200 breakfast, 400 lunch, 500 dinner and 100 snack on average.
    You're doing well, keep up the good work x

    I had a blowout on Saturday and stopped logging lol. Its the 1st time its happened since I joined MFP. Yep the sugar in tea I'll start addressing.
  • MissBernie73
    MissBernie73 Posts: 115 Member
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    I set my diary out as breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and desert, which is normally a hot drink and a small chocolate treat. I have lower breakfast and lunch calories and leave room for a bit more at dinner.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    meals can be anywhere from 500-900..
    i've never been a snacker/grazer and besides that my meals are usually high protein so they keep me full for awhile
  • rogerbosch
    rogerbosch Posts: 343 Member
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    abt 800 for breakfast, 500-600 for lunch, 500-600 for dinner and 400 or so for snacks.
  • Delovelybella87
    Delovelybella87 Posts: 69
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    I'm struggling with eating enough calories personally and I think it could be the reason why it's actually harder to lose weight, after i work out I'm in the negative net rage of 1200 plus calories which personally from what I have been reading could be just as bad as over eating. In the last week my top calorie intake was 900 calories other days can rage from 500-700 cal a day , unwhich I burn over that amount with daily cardio and strength training. I don't feel like I'm starving my self, I eat a light yogurt every morning, then eat lean meat and fresh veggies without any sauce. Has anyone else struggled with this issue and how horrible is this for me?
  • MessyLittlePanda
    MessyLittlePanda Posts: 213 Member
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    I'm struggling with eating enough calories personally and I think it could be the reason why it's actually harder to lose weight, after i work out I'm in the negative net rage of 1200 plus calories which personally from what I have been reading could be just as bad as over eating. In the last week my top calorie intake was 900 calories other days can rage from 500-700 cal a day , unwhich I burn over that amount with daily cardio and strength training. I don't feel like I'm starving my self, I eat a light yogurt every morning, then eat lean meat and fresh veggies without any sauce. Has anyone else struggled with this issue and how horrible is this for me?

    Difficult to say without knowing your stats (height, current weight, exercise level) but you could be damaging your metabolism by eating this way long term, so it may be difficult for you to return to eating normally and keeping the weight off. It simply shuts down eventually. Short term, we can all manage - if you had food poisoning or an illness for example that meant you couldn't eat so much for a few weeks. But doing this long term is unhealthy.

    You are eating around the calorie level that people with eating disorders try to stick to. Not saying you have one, but just saying.....a friend of mine who is a recovering anorexic used to try and ensure her calories never went over 700, and she always claimed she felt full despite hitting the gym every day as well.

    She did that for 3 years, and now has a whole host of problems, like osteoporosis, problems regulating her body temperature (which has also resulted in excess hair growth, by the way), no periods, so no fertility, and she has chronic fatigue syndrome and terrible IBS. And that's despite a re-feeding programme, support from a dietitian, antidepressant medication, a team of psychotherapists, and a support group. Costing the NHS a whole load of money to sort her out, and still going.

    She started out doing a VLCD for weight loss. I'm not saying that every person who does that will develop an ED, but the problems you may encounter doing VLCD's can set you up for it - simply because as soon as you start to eat a bit more, after doing VLCD for months at a time, you will gain weight, and therefore, you will want to drop to the lower calorie level again because it will seem that you cannot eat more than the very low calorie level without gaining. But here's the thing, you won't lose either, because your body isn't getting enough nutrients, so it's going to hang on to what it's got. I won't call it "starvation mode" because that's a misnomer I think, it's what happens when your metabolism slows right down.

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