Schedule or No Schedule?

I have no schedule at all, not really. If I get hungry, then it's time to eat something. My meals gradually get bigger as the day goes on: about 300 calories for breakfast, 400-500 for lunch, then around 800 or so for dinner. I try to always have either low-cal snacks or some nuts as well. I have found that I only need a half a serving of peanuts, cashews, or almonds to tide me over for an hour or so, if it is getting close to meal time.

My day varies but I usually follow the Meal snack meal snack meal ...with 2 -3 hour intervals between each ...


It works for me... if your schedule works for you then by all means go for it.. As long as you are putting good clean food in your system you have nothing to worry about.

I eat when I feel hungry, regardless of time. I would recommend getting some exercise as often as possible so you can eat MORE than 1200. 1200 is rough. For snacks, i often have almonds, yogurt or a protein bar.

Hard boiled eggs. I find them to be very filling and only 70 calories. Also try drinking a big glass of ice water with your egg, and that should do the trick.

I try to get in some heavy cardio work 3-4 times a week. Lots of exercise is an excellent appetite suppressant. It has to be something you enjoy, though. If you don't like your exercise, you won't stick to your plan.

I don't intentionally schedule, but my weekdays typically look like this:

Breakfast: 7 or 7:30 a.m. (right after I work out)
Snack: 10 or 10:30 a.m. (when I feel like it)
Lunch: around 12
Snack: anytime between 2 and 4 p.m. (when I feel like it)
Dinner: around 7 (or whenever I get home from work)

Occasionally I'll have a snack after dinner, but usually not.

You can eat a surprising amount of food for 1200 calories -- you just have to eat smart. I'll just give you an example, because I've already prelogged my afternoon snack and dinner, and my total right now is 1197 calories. (My calorie goal is higher than that, so I will likely add more to dinner or throw in a protein bar or dessert, but I wouldn't necessarily need to do that. This would fill me up fine.) I'm not representing that these are the best food choices ever or anything -- just trying to show you that you don't have to go hungry on 1200. This is also under all my macros except sugar (darn fruit!).

Breakfast: Egg scramble made with 1 whole egg, 3 tbs egg whites, feta cheese, one piece bacon, one slice cucumber, one piece of red bell pepper, one piece of orange bell pepper, 1/2 tbs chia seeds, crushed red pepper, and black pepper

Snack: Pomegranate greek yogurt

Lunch: Herb turkey / muenster cheese / pepperocini sandwich spread on wheat bun + a small tupperware container full of blueberries and raspberries

Snack: a quart sized ziploc bag a little over half full of grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and cucumber slices

Dinner: my version of a Chipotle burrito bowl: brown rice, corn, black beans, light sour cream, one roma tomato, salsa, and shredded mozarella cheese -- one serving size of each

This is a lot of food for the day!

If you eat a lot of protein and fiber, it keeps you full. This rounds out at 76g of protein, which isn't too bad. (I normally would do chicken with dinner to raise that up a little more, but I'm out of chicken and don't feel like going to the store, so black beans it is.)

I hAve such a crazy schedule that I usually just stick to what my dietitian has told me to do, try to never go more than 4 hours without eating something. I always do breakfast, lunch and dinner, I try n eat 400 cals at breakfast and 500 for lunch, 400 for dinner. I fit In snacks when I can. I used to b particular about not eating after a certain time, but for instance I worked out for two hours last night then had dinner at 10pm. But i had lunch at 2, and a snack at 5. And i worked my butt off! Just do what works for u, keep non perishable snack on hand that r healthy. We all find the path that's right for us.

I find 1200 calories are not normally enough - so I exercise and eat at least some of them back, til I'm not hungry any more.