Low cal meals with bigger portion sizes?
ashlensmomma
Posts: 124 Member
in Recipes
I am trying to get my Husband to make the change to eating healthy. Only problem is, he thinks that if he decides to give healthier food a chance, (veggies, lean meats) he will be hungry all the time because he will have to eat tiny meals. Does anyone have any meals that you can eat large portions of, while still staying around 500-600 cals? He is a big chicken and beef eater.
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Replies
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A small chicken breast and a TON of veggies. You can eat plates of veggies and stay under!0
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My favorite "go to" meals are:
Spinach salad with spinach, light feta cheese, rotisserie chicken (or any chicken really) and a balsamic-vinaigrette dressing. You can have a HUGE plate/bowl and add lots of chicken. It takes time to eat and you feel quite full afterwards
Homemade chili with lots of veggies and I add TVP (textured vegetable protein) along with ground beef/turkey. Again...big servings that leave you quite full
Smoothies!!! I use: 2 cups spinach, 1 cup coconut dream, 1 cup frozen fruit, half a banana, 3/4 cup greek yogurt and a small scoop of banana protein powder....I'm full for hours!
My favorite snack is popcorn and I usually save some calories for 2 tsp of butter on it
Enjoy...good luck!0 -
6 oz of salmon 280c 15 oz asparagus100 1 tbl butter 1000
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As of right now, the only vegetables this man will eat is raw cauliflower, radishes, corn on the cob, and okra (if it's fried). He will eat potatoes baked in the oven too. I have to slowly introduce new veggies in with his meats lol0
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Swimsoccertax, do you have a recipe for the chili?0
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For a hungry man on a diet I'd suggest
lean chilis,
taco salads with beef, sauteed onions, and peppers,
steak and steamed/grilled veggies,
Baked chicken and fish, and lots of raw fruit and veggies.
Protein and fiber are both very filling, carbs are not. 0 -
Yes!!! I have a very large appetite.... and I know most serving sizes are typically 1-2 cups in size, honestly, I prefer eating twice that amount... 2-4 cup servings... So I have been giving myself this little "Challenge" to see just how little calories I can cram into a 1 cup serving, so if I want seconds, I can have at it.... and I am a picky eater and a meat n' potatoes person as well!!! =p I guess I have a man's appetite lol...
Here is what is on the menu for the next few days, it tastes great to me...
Creamed Chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes... It's 185 calories per 1 cup serving.... You can totally load up your plate and pile it pretty well for 550 calories... but it's quite filling, and really 2 cups can fill one up very well for 370 cals.... if you add more broccoli you can stretch it even farther...
I poured 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, over one package of boneless skinless chicken thighs.... (about 6 pieces) Now ^_^;; I can't cook very well.... and take shortcuts lol.... I took two bags of "Steam n' mash" mashed potatoes, and a bag of steamed broccoli florets and mixed those together..... when the chicken was done, I chopped it up tiny, and poured that with the remaining cream of chicken soup on top...... It made 15 1 cup servings, each one having enough protein, fiber and veggies to be a regular meal should I have one, however at only 185 calories, I can have seconds if I wish...
I've made something else recently, using steam n' mash potatoes, broccoli, and a small amount of velveeta cheese, and that came in at 147 per cup....
The trick is, if you like big portions, learn to fill it with as much healthy stuff as possible (like broccoli or bell peppers) and if possible find ways to flavor the dishes without the use of butter or cheeses.... And if you use some form of measurement to compare, you can challenge yourself to see just how far you can "Stretch" those calories.... see if anything can be replaced....
I really like storing my foods in 1 cup containers, because if I just want a quick low calorie snack, I can grab something with a bit more nutrition than a bag of chips.... (that 180 meat, potato and broccoli dish will go further than a 200 calorie bag of chips!) and for meals, if the calories are low enough, 100-200 calories, then you can totally help yourself to large portions and have seconds or thirds pretty easily .......0 -
As of right now, the only vegetables this man will eat is raw cauliflower, radishes, corn on the cob, and okra (if it's fried). He will eat potatoes baked in the oven too. I have to slowly introduce new veggies in with his meats lol
My hubby hated all veggies, but he tried spaggetti squash with meat sauce and mozzerella on top and actually liked it!
If he likes cauliflower, you can make mashed potatoes out of cauliflower instead. Its very good!0 -
Swimsoccertax, do you have a recipe for the chili?
Here's a really good turkey chili recipe http://aguiltlessglutton.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/turkey-chili/0 -
We love buffalo cauliflower bites in this house... oddly enough, you can find the recipe on the PETA website, although i use butter when i make them. only 22 cals each!0
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Bell peppers stuffed with meat or beans and rice. I usually eat 1 stuffed half and my boyfriend will have two. Each half is 2-300 depending on whether you use meat or beans.
I loosely follow this recipe...http://allrecipes.com/recipe/stuffed-green-peppers-i/detail.aspx
I also make a lot of stir-fries with tofu (or chicken/steak when we were eating it). That may be tricky if your husband doesn't like a lot of vegetables, but a tasty sauce could persuade him.
I agree with other posters that chilli is a good filling meal. Its also easy to sneak in a lot of pepper, corn and even carrots and celery.0 -
These are some great ideas!! Im living with 3 large,very picky men who make dinner time quite the struggle. if its not Meat and Potatoes then its just not good to them. I will for sure be trying some of these meals in the future!! The one home run meal I made for my picky men was a rotisserie chicken and a huge pan of roasted veggies....those veggies were so awesome the just gobbled them up.0
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I'm a big guy and I like quantity too for my dinner. What I had tonight might work if he likes spicy food and seafood. It was a crowd pleaser with the family, including kids too.
Take a giant container of salsa from some place like Costco. Throw in 2 pounds of shrimp. Throw in lots of cut up onions and green and yellow peppers, a touch of olive oil, and maybe some canned tomatoes. Heat it up until shrimp are cooked after it boils...
A giant, tasty bowl full to the brim with seafood is well under 500 calories... Tastes and feels like about 1200 calories. Take a look at my diary today if you want ingredients/calorie count... it's open.
You could substitute fish if you don't like shrimp.0 -
To fill up, sometimes it's a combination of the food that works, a combination of protein with complex carb,, and veg will be more filling than just protein and veg.
Baked chicken breast 4 oz, with baked potatoes, 4 oz, cauliflower, 2 cups - 600 cal
Beef Tenderloin 6 oz, corn boiled, 1/2, cauliflower 1 cup - slightly over 600 cal
It's also the method of cooking,and all other condiments that adds up the calories. Watch the use of oil, butter, sauces.
Or you can add brown rice or beans or eggs that are more filling too. Another suggestion is Perhaps you can start cutting the portion, instead of drastically, cut by 200-300 cal, to start with. Ie, if he is eating at 1000, go down to 700-800. He may not fill the difference. Then, slowly cut it more when he get use to eating this smaller portion.0 -
This is soooooo good, it tastes like a really good spaghetti sauce with lasagna noodles. I get so full from 2 cups and the soup comes in at 210 calories for two cups. Also, it's not soup at all, there's barely any liquid to it.
Skinny Italian Lasagna Soup
1 lb Lean ground turkey (or lean ground beef or chicken)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 Small onion, finely chopped
1 Medium zucchini, cut into thin disks, and cut disks in half
1 (10 oz) pkg Frozen chopped spinach, (not thawed)
1 tsp Garlic powder & 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
2 tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 (14.5 oz) cans Italian diced tomatoes, not drained
1 (15 oz) can Tomato sauce
½ cup dry pasta of choice or 3 lasagna noodles, broken into small piece
Crockpot: Place meat and onions in a large non-stick sauté pan, and cook until meat is browned. Add onions and meat into the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on low.
If using pasta: When the crockpot has about 1 hour left, add the pasta and stir to combine. Place the lid back on the crockpot and continue to cook about 30-60 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through. Enjoy with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top if desired!
Stovetop: Spray a large pot with cooking spray, and bring heat to medium-high heat. Add the turkey, onion, and garlic. Cook, breaking up the meat with spoon, until turkey is browned and onions are softened. Add zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and the rest of the seasonings. Bring tomato sauce to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow sauce to simmer for about 15 minutes.
If using pasta, add pasta to the pot during the last 10-15 minutes of cook time. Continue to allow sauce to simmer over medium heat until the pasta is cooked through, about 10-15 additional minutes. Enjoy with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top if desired!
104 calories per cup0 -
My favorite "go to" meals are:
Spinach salad with spinach, light feta cheese, rotisserie chicken (or any chicken really) and a balsamic-vinaigrette dressing. You can have a HUGE plate/bowl and add lots of chicken. It takes time to eat and you feel quite full afterwards
Homemade chili with lots of veggies and I add TVP (textured vegetable protein) along with ground beef/turkey. Again...big servings that leave you quite full
Smoothies!!! I use: 2 cups spinach, 1 cup coconut dream, 1 cup frozen fruit, half a banana, 3/4 cup greek yogurt and a small scoop of banana protein powder....I'm full for hours!
My favorite snack is popcorn and I usually save some calories for 2 tsp of butter on it
Enjoy...good luck!
*I use spinach in my smoothies too...0 -
Also thought I'd mention, if he is a meat eater, I just recently learned Jennie-O has these 1/3 lb turkey burger patties, that are only 160 calories each! They are huge! I'll sometimes have one of those with a plate of corn and potatoes and I can become quite full, if you can hold off the butter on the potatoes, and stick to salt and pepper, or if you can use some of that 0 cal. "Butter spray" that helps quite a bit too!0
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You could make a nice curried chicken sneak in a few vegetables and serve it on a bed of roughly chopped steamed cauliflower
here is a recipe you might like - you could also dice some capsicum and carrot or some other veg diced I use pumpkin or sweet potato as well
Indian Chicken Curry
A quick and simple chicken curry recipe, low in fat but high in taste. This medium curry goes great with the Spinach Pilau and a dollop of mango chutney.
Nutrition Information Per Serving
| 272 calories
| 11.0g fat
| 39.0g protein
| 6.2g carb
| 0.4g fibre
Ingredients
1 tbsp Oil
10g Butter
3 Cloves Garlic, crushed
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Ground Coriander
½ tsp dried mint
570g Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, diced
200 ml water
Method
Heat the oil and butter in a wok or large, heavy frying pan. Add the garlic and onion and stir fry for about 5 minutes until onion is golden.
Stir in the garam masala, coriander and mint. Add the chicken and cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the water, stir, and simmer without a lid for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened.
If you like fresh coriander, stir in a tablespoon, chopped, prior to serving.
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/recipes/low_fat/indian_curry/chicken.htm
Or another way to introduce more veg use finely sliced cabbage in place of pasta and make some low cal tomato based chicken sauce. you can sneak a few different veggies by shredding them
I find you if you finely chop spinach you can put it into quite a few meals as well.
Fresh is Best, But dont Take My Word For it, Try It Yourself.0 -
Try butternut squash! Its really a lot more filling than you would think. Plus you can't feel guilty for having more than 1 serving. I can't eat a lot of dairy so I don't add any cream to it. I added corn starch to make it thicker since I left the cream out. Adding a little mozzarella is very good and can be added individually.0
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bump0
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Don't know if you could put this over on a Big Eater but you might enjoy it.
Chinese Celery Stir Fry
Many ribs of celery, sliced on the diagonal
Mass quantities of slivered onions
Frozen peas, to taste
soy sauce
sesame oil
cooked chicken, shredded or chopped up
Saute the onion in sesame oil. Get some carmelization. Add your celery. Add peas and chicken. drizzle with soy sauce. Eat with hot Chinese mustard.
I'm having this tonight! I might throw some slivered almonds in at the end.0 -
One of my favorite ways to increases the bulk of certain foods with practically no calories is slaw mix. Toss half a bag into a pot of chili, taco meat, meatloaf, soup, etc. It makes me feel full and I can eat a larger portion. I even add it to fried rice. I'm diabetic, so I typically use 1 cup of cooked rice, 1 shredded zucchini, half a bag of slaw mix, and then everything else (chicken, low sodium soy sauce, ginger, and eggs) as usual.
The added fiber is a big help when you are cutting down on fats, if you catch my drift. 0 -
Spinach salad with spinach, light feta cheese, rotisserie chicken (or any chicken really) and a balsamic-vinaigrette dressing. You can have a HUGE plate/bowl and add lots of chicken. It takes time to eat and you feel quite full afterwards
This but instead of feta, i use goat cheese and instead of chicken, I do fish. I also add tons of fruit!0 -
If he'll eat raw cauliflower, you might be able to transition him to cooked cauliflower.
One of my favorite meals is to boil cauliflower and mash it with salt/pepper (just use a masher to mash it like mashed potatoes). I then make vegetarian gravy with tons of mushrooms (sneak them in, he won't notice) and marinate some lean, thin sliced sirloin, and cook it fast in the cast-iron pan.
I fill a bowl with the mashed cauliflower, top with the vegetarian mushroom gravy, and top with 4 ounces of steak. That giant bowl is under 500 calories.0 -
As of right now, the only vegetables this man will eat is raw cauliflower, radishes, corn on the cob, and okra (if it's fried). He will eat potatoes baked in the oven too. I have to slowly introduce new veggies in with his meats lol
My kids are super fussy, but when I am browning ground beef, I grind up mushrooms and brown them with the beef. It changes the texture slightly, but the mushrooms take on the flavor of the beef and my kids don't even know the difference. It's a way to sneak the veggies in and lower the calories, you get less meat, but never notice the difference.
Does he do tomatoes? You can hide lots of veggies in tomato based foods (chili, spaghetti sauce, etc.) if you cut them small and use chunky tomatoes!0 -
Great thread :-)0
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Most white seafood is super low in calories. I like baked cod.
Also, I buy the California blend of vegetables and pretty much eat an entire bag with my meal if my husband is not there to share. Last night I heated up some boxed butternut squash soup (90 cal/cup) and ended up adding my veggies into the soup. It was so delicious. I had that with a chicken sausage link for under 500 calories. I had budgeted for dessert, but was too full to eat anything else.0 -
my hubby like Roast beef so I put a roast in crock pot and add sliced carrotts, celery, onion, lots of spices, You could put in the potatos in big pcs so you can pick them out. You could try something like this and let him eat as much as he wants it will all be good and healthy for him.
I try to make 1 new dish every week or 2 I tell him it is knew and we are trying it. some he likes and some he does not.
These are just some idea's. I've just slowly made his meal healthy and let him eat what he wants. His weight is staying the same.
Mine is slowly going down.
Good Luck!0 -
I have had that same issue with my family- they are definitely meat and potatoes kind of people. I will usually make my own spaghetti/lasagna sauce, and add in a lot of veggies either chopped fine, or blended after its cooked.
I will also make a lasagna, using a thick layer of sliced veggies (squash works well here) and make a bechamel sauce using non fat milk mixed with the tomato sauce to mimic cheese. sometimes i will add just a sprinkle of parmesan because the flavor stretches so well, without having to use a lot of calories.
I have also made soups using TVP or tofu, and no one can tell the difference. When i'm baking, i use non fat sour cream in place of oils so i can have my brownies/cupcakes every so often. i also bulk up on whole grains when baking so that i can have more fiber in my diet, rather than empty calories.
i will generally make sauces using cornstarch, or boil down the liquids after cooking if the cooking liquids aren't too salty.
one of my favorite meals is to take boneless skinless chicken, and place in a 8x8 baking pan. chop up lots of fresh garlic (limited only by your love of it), and sprinkle over the chicken. Mix up lipton's onion soup mix with 2 cups of water (rather than the 4 it calls for) and pour over the chicken. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. The garlic mellows out and the sauce thickens up a slight bit so you can put it over steamed veggies or whole grain rice.
hope that helps0 -
Yes!!! I have a very large appetite.... and I know most serving sizes are typically 1-2 cups in size, honestly, I prefer eating twice that amount... 2-4 cup servings... So I have been giving myself this little "Challenge" to see just how little calories I can cram into a 1 cup serving, so if I want seconds, I can have at it.... and I am a picky eater and a meat n' potatoes person as well!!! =p I guess I have a man's appetite lol...
Here is what is on the menu for the next few days, it tastes great to me...
Creamed Chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes... It's 185 calories per 1 cup serving.... You can totally load up your plate and pile it pretty well for 550 calories... but it's quite filling, and really 2 cups can fill one up very well for 370 cals.... if you add more broccoli you can stretch it even farther...
I poured 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, over one package of boneless skinless chicken thighs.... (about 6 pieces) Now ^_^;; I can't cook very well.... and take shortcuts lol.... I took two bags of "Steam n' mash" mashed potatoes, and a bag of steamed broccoli florets and mixed those together..... when the chicken was done, I chopped it up tiny, and poured that with the remaining cream of chicken soup on top...... It made 15 1 cup servings, each one having enough protein, fiber and veggies to be a regular meal should I have one, however at only 185 calories, I can have seconds if I wish...
I've made something else recently, using steam n' mash potatoes, broccoli, and a small amount of velveeta cheese, and that came in at 147 per cup....
The trick is, if you like big portions, learn to fill it with as much healthy stuff as possible (like broccoli or bell peppers) and if possible find ways to flavor the dishes without the use of butter or cheeses.... And if you use some form of measurement to compare, you can challenge yourself to see just how far you can "Stretch" those calories.... see if anything can be replaced....
I really like storing my foods in 1 cup containers, because if I just want a quick low calorie snack, I can grab something with a bit more nutrition than a bag of chips.... (that 180 meat, potato and broccoli dish will go further than a 200 calorie bag of chips!) and for meals, if the calories are low enough, 100-200 calories, then you can totally help yourself to large portions and have seconds or thirds pretty easily .......
^^this 100% is my way of doing it so far! - I found quickly I am a fan of quantity - and i can eat what seems like just as much and not feel deprived, if I"m filling it with better food - rather than - wendys, mcdonalds, and the like lol.
My go to sandwich recently is:
nature's own double fiber wheat bread (2 pices = 100 cals)
dukes mayo (1 tbsp 100 cal)
frenches mustard (ZERO CAL)
3 slices of oscar meyer turkey (60 cals)
1 cup spinach salad mix (5 cals)
total of 265 cals - and the size i'm at now - i can have 2 sandwiches at 1 time if i want and stay in my calorie # easy!
and the crunch is outta this world!
and when i pull the sandwich away from my mouth and like look at it you know - it kinda tricks my brain because it's kind of like i'm eating a thick meaty hearty sandwich - but it's just filled with good veggies at a fraction milifraction even of the calories lol.
4.5 cups of spinach = 20 cals = THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT LOL - spinach is my new bff haha0
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