1200 calorie days

Oatmeal or a boiled egg & toast in the morning. Any grilled, broiled or baked seafood. I basically just do seafood for my meat. It makes it easier for me because it feels like I'm treating myself since I love seafood.

Just a question for those of you who eat 1200 calorie days...what are some of your go to meals? Also when do you eat most of your calories? I just lowered my count to 1200 needed some good ideas. Thanks!

I like to make a big salad with tomato, crushed almonds, turkey (I really like Deitz & Watson reduced sodium), mixed greens, avocado if got a ripe one on hand, some bacon bits, cheese, and a low calorie dressing. I actually found a 0 calorie ranch dressing at Walmart last weekend, and they had a lot of other varieties as well. I'm sure someone somewhere will tell me that gives you brain cancer or something, but it provided the flavor I love without the fat, and it's gluten free, sugar free, etc (it's really mostly seasoned water). I also like to mix a can of tuna with a tbsp of greek yogurt, capers, dill, pepper, and yellow mustard and then spoon it on to lettuce leaves and make tuna roll ups.

I'm not on 1200 anymore, but this is as true then as it is now: I ate fairly skimpy calorie wise (I ate a filling breakfast of oatmeal and watery fruit or jerky for snacks that would leave me feeling full) during the day so that I could have a larger dinner and frequently a treat afterward. I love mexican, so lately I've been making a mexican casserole with lean meat, beans, low fat cheese, etc so that it's fairly low calorie for a dinner, but still filling and DELICIOUS. But I will also splurge and have pork chops with veggies and side like potatoes or rice, lasagna. Honestly, I didn't have to change a whole lot in my diet to eat 1200, except that I needed to eat the real serving sizes or smaller portions, rather than just loading up my plate.

key for me is to get at least an extra 200 cal from exercising so I can have a tasty snack in the afternoon. Also, to break up the meals into two parts: main meal and then a brunch/snack/desert about two hours after the main meal.

Breakfast: Either an egg or yogurt or cereal 100-250 cal
Brunch: fruit salad 200 cal
Lunch: sandwich or salad with nuts - the nuts are important to not being starving (I do each every other day) 200-400 cal
snack: whatever. often zapps chips at 220 cal or a frozen crab cake at 150.
Dinner: varies, but i make sure there is little to no pasta, low fat, and at least 2 veggies. Example: ham, yam patty, and lima beans. Or, cabbage casserole. Or, fish taco with green beans. Maybe around 400 cal.
Then a small desert of 100-200 cal if i did well and saved cals/exercised enough for them.

I seem to always be in a hurry or just to lazy to do big cooking, so I try to buy as much low-cal stuff as I can at the store that I can just throw together in a small amount of time.

Breakfast- Chocolate PB2 mixed with low-fat vanilla yogurt with a banana. Sometimes I add granola.
I also like making savory oatmeal with spicy curry, caramelized onions and raisins.
Lunch- half a cucumber cut in slices with Tuna salad. I make mine with a pouch of tuna, light mayo, sweet relish, and a chopped up apple.
Dinner- I've been a big fan of spaghetti squash lately and I'll top it with marinara mixed with a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese.
My quick go-to is the Mrs. T's Cheddar and Potato perogies, because they are less than 200 cals a serving and i top them with marinara and cottage cheese and I heat up some freezer veggies in the microwave,
Snacks are usually protein or fiber- apples, 2 oz. sliced roast beef with horseradish, beef or turkey jerky, mozzarella sticks, carrots and hummus, cottage cheese with hot sauce. You get the picture.

If I need dessert I'll just drink a single serve dark chocolate almond milk.

Strangely, I kind of like that MFP gave me a lower calorie count, because it's oddly fun to challenge myself to get the most bang for my calorie buck.

Good luck!