High Volume Low Calorie Meal Ideas?

kristen6022

Do yourself a favor and learn portion control now, or your whole life will be a yo-yo of weight loss/weight gain.

That being said - grill a 4-5oz piece of chicken, pork chop, salmon or a turkey burger (on a grill pan on the stove or on a real grill) and fill the rest of your plate with veggies (2-3 serving sizes). Spice it up with herbs and spices that you like or mustard or hot sauce.

HartJames

Shredded chicken (I do 4/5oz) tossed into pan of corn, onion, black bean & peppers mixture (I buy frozen from Wegmans), 2 Joseph's pitas, 1 ounce of avacado, 2 tbsp pineapple salsa & 2 tbsp of plain Greek yogurt (my sour cream). Huge amount of food for 400 cals (my biggest meal of the day).

Also do a turkey burger with sandwhich thins, grilled onion, Swiss cheese and avacado with a side of sweet potato fries for about the same cals.

jacksonpt

The best thing I've found is to have a huge glass of water while I'm cooking dinner, then another one with dinner. All that water gives me the full/stuffed feeling I need to naturally stop eating without stuffing myself full of actual food.

milu1f

Sure portion controll is important, but come on. As a big person you are used to bigger meals, so as u change ur habbits its good to have some meals that feels like alot but isn't.

cielbee

Lots of great ideas here-adding more veggies into dishes, making things into soup and the like. This is the premise of the Volumetrics books by Barbara Rolls (how to get more food for fewer calories). Try checking one out for your library for more ideas.

orapronobis

For me, vegetables are the key. Have a BIG salad with one meal (I usually have mine with lunch.) Use only 1 tablespoon of a light dressing. (I think the Ken's Steakhouse brand of dressing packs the most flavor for the least calories.) Toss your salad and you'll find that only 1 tablespoon is PLENTY for a nice big salad.

At another meal, fill half your plate with vegetables. (I usually do this for my evening meal.) I LOVE roasted veggies. They're easy, very tasty, and add some crunch to the plate. You'll find a lot of recipes that say to toss the veggies in 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil. You don't need that much at all! Clean, pat with a towel to remove most of the water, toss with 1 teaspoon of oil, add seasonings. I usually use salt, pepper, and garlic powder, but add what ever tastes you like. Roast at 400 for 20-40 minutes, depending on what you roast. You want them to be starting to brown. I usually flip mine half way through the cooking time.

You get the extra benefit of the nutrition from the veggies without a lot of calories. When I stick to this, I find that my appetitie naturally decreases and cravings are minimized.

Joanneea

Tonight I made brown rice with Jamie Olivers - salsa verde to which I added capsicum, advocado, red onion and as well I had a piece of fresh salmon. It was relatively low carb and very filling, plus easy to make.around 350 to 450 cal and 18 carbs

treehopper1987

Stir-fry! I love making stir-fry since you can put pretty much anything in it... make it vegetarian, with/without meat, shrimp, rice, noodles... The high calorie ingredients are typically your meat (except shrimp) and rice/noodles.... veggies are very easy on calories AND you can eat a lot... if you want more ideas just message me

I'm always having to come up with these meals because of the hubby lol

tekwriter

I agree it is hard to cut down how much you eat and almost impossible to do all at once. choosing healthy and within your calorie budget alternatives is a great mindset. I like to make red coconut curry chicken and when i do i add a bag of mixed vegetables into the curry sauce they are wonderful. There are tons of recipes out there for it. The weight watcher's taco soup is a great one for a filling lunch. I also like to keep a big bag of sliced frozen strawberries for sweet treat. I add splenda and top with a little cool whip, yummy, cold and sweet. Keep an eye on the recipes through the forum there are some really good ones and take a look at eating well they have some great ones too. Best of luck to you.

micahnelson

Get slightly smaller plates. Not trying to be snide. It helped me. Our plates get pretty big in America. Eat a smaller portion on a larger plate. Plate size making you feel full is all in the mind, so using a mind trick is helpful.

XXXMinnieXXX

I'm 92lbs down and I must say I still eat very hearty portions. You do need some portion control with a lot of meals, but my dinners always consist of some nice meat and mounds of veggies. I stick to a lot of green veggies. You can have loads of those for very little carbs and calories... Green beans, broccoli, sprouts, cabbage, mange tout, asparagus. I eat salad stuff in abundance too lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers etc.
.
Tuna or chicken salads are good options. Low calorie and lots of filling protein!

Soups are a go to staple for me. Pea and ham provides lots of fiber from the peas and some protein, and I also love chicken noodle soup. Both under 300g per bowl and lots of filling protein.

You can't go wrong with a good portion of any lean meat plus plenty of veggies. Keeping the carbs moderate (35%/120g) helps my hunger levels massively. Enough to feel satisfied but my blood sugar aren't all over the place, causing me to be constantly hungry!

Eat 20-30g of fiber per day and get 8+ glasses of water in. Eat a sensible amount of calories so you don't feel too deprived. I'm usually around 1700 but been less recently as I've been sick...

Get yourself a beginners cook book. Need to keep getting new ideas to keep you motivated and on track.

Good luck.

Zara

palmerar

Subscribe to Cooking Light, it is the best decision when it comes to cooking real food. It teaches you how you can reduce certain ingredients to make anything heathier. They do a lot of comfort food makeovers and provide nutrition info for complete recipes so you don't have to add. Most of their recipes are in MFP too!

32mandy1979

My thot is to pack the recipes with a bunch of extra veggies. For instance, if you make roast, instead of the boring white potatoes go with color. Sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, ect. Green giant makes some frozen boxed veggies with seasonings in them that are low cal and taste great! I have the same issue. It is hard to be satisfied off of a serving of no matter what it is! Good Luck!

coolvstar650

Does anyone have any ideas for high volume low calorie meals?

This week I made some cornbread (cornmeal mix with water in place of the milk and one egg), baked tilapia in the oven with some salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder (no oil on the pan, use cooking spray) AND some veggies. I really like Birdseye Normandy mix. But this week I had some other veggies.

On my regular sized plate I put a large piece of cornbread, 8 oz of tilapia (which is a lot) and a big pile of veggies...total for the plate just under 500 calories. This is a MASSIVE amount of food, really tasty and good for you.

TArnold2012

Grilled veggies like squash, zuchinni, onions, cabbage, carrots, celery are all yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GoTeamMeaghan

I gotta go with stir-frys, soups and anything involving spaghetti squash (only 42 calories per cup!)

curlydigs

Great idea

bigswany

Vegies are your friend. Unfortunately when it comes to proteins and carbs you need to exercise portion and proportion control. Snack on fresh vegies, use your imagination and create new combinations and use new vegetables, even use a non-fat unsweetened yogurt for dip. In time you will look forward to this new regime and begin enjoying a whole new you. I used to LOVE ice cream, now I will mix frozen berries with non-fat unsweetened yogurt and mush in a super ripe bannana and sprinkle cocoa powder on top. Hits the craving right on and nutritional toooooooo! Good luck, I am down 65lbs and lovin it.

trud72

soups/stews,stir frys,salads and yes roast dinners! all packed with tons of veg! :blushing:

oh and another one,
sliced red and green cabbage as thin as you can cover with lemon jucie and virgin olive oil is better in a huge bowl.chicken/turkey shredded,marinated into strips(i normaly do chineese flavour),and put into cut open toasted pitas and stuff full with the cabbage and the meat and whatever sauce if ant you desire i use chilli! :bigsmile:

rel12345

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