1500 calorie days

1500 calories a day seems really low for a man, how much less than your TDEE is it?

Regarding home cooked meals, what I do is log each ingredient individually, raw, so I get a value for the whole recipe. That's if I'm cooking for just me... if it's a family meal I log the whole meal, then save it in "my meals" (click on "quick tools" to get a drop down menu that allows you to do this) and remove the ingredients from my diary - then I weigh the whole recipe cooked, and weigh my own serving, and work out what fraction of the whole meal I ate. Then I go back to my diary, and enter it as the fraction of the whole thing that I ate... e.g. if I ate one quarter of it, I enter that as 0.25 of 1 meal. (and the same if I make batches to be reheated later, I put the whole recipe in "my meals" then log it as what fraction of the whole recipe it is.


I have found this to be the best way to deal with home cooking, especially as I'm not one to follow a recipe accurately. that way I have a value for what I've actually eaten, not someone else's version of the same recipe

Or, you could just use the recipe calculator

I'm really trying to stop eating highly processed foods or frozen foods, but it seems that they are the only way I can actually lose weight as they have calorie counts on the packages. Does anyone have any recipes with accurate calorie counts in which to make a goal of 1500 calories in a day? Would be appreciated.

Use the site's recipe builder - it's fab.

You just say how many it's going to serve, and then add in each ingredient that goes into your meal, and it's saved in your recipe base for the next time you want to use it.

Plus i would suggest you read this and calculate your BMR and TDEE, Knowledge is power
Here is good info:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

To try and answer your question, you just need to start using the search engine. I eat loads of fresh fruit, meat and vegies. For example, I often have 150 gms of chicken, and then some vegies such as 1/2 cup peas and corn, a cup of zucchini, maybe 1/2 cup mushrooms, 5 pieces of asparagus etc. All of this is in the search engine. If I have steak or fish, same thing, weigh it and then search for it.

Sometimes my calories may be slightly out, but you never actually know what you are putting in your mouth, and I am as honest as possible. I have lost 33 kgs (73 pounds) so it is working for me.

I eat 1500 calories a day, so around 300 or 400 calories for dinner is good for me. I get hungry so am a bit of a snacker. I eat breakfast, recess (yes I am a teacher!) lunch, sometimes a snack in the afternoon and dinner. So, plenty of food and nowadays none of it is processed or frozen (except the peas and corn).

Feel free to friend request me because then you can see my diary every day. I am not always perfect but I eat well and log everyday. You will rarely see any processed food in there.

Hope this helps in some small way : )

As people have stated 1500 seems to be very low and I agree, however being 295 @ 6'2" I actually am gaining weight at 2000 calories a day (gained 4 pounds last week). I highly doubt it is muscle due to the fact that I haven't been working out the last couple of weeks. I'm only doing 1500 calories to push myself over the plateau I am at.

Entering the raw ingredients sounds like a good idea, I'd just need to start measuring food and weighing it before I start eating it. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Being 295 at 6"2 - you need to eat far more than 1500 cals! My partner is almost the exact same stats as you (he weighs 7lb more) and he is eating 2900 cals a day.

Eating at too low a deficit won't help you lose weight. Plus you will be hungry and far more likely to give up. Try upping your cals to at least your BMR.

Try to increase your walking for exercise. Invest in a food scale. I weight now everything. 1 tb peanut butter can fluctuate a lot in weight!

Putting your stats at scoobie, I get BMR 2659! and TDEE-25%=2393 for someone doing deskjob with almost no exercise! I think you were undercalculating how much you were eating in order to gain with 2000 calories. There is no way you have gained 4lb last week by eating 2000 since each 1lb equals 3500 calories, above your daily TDEE. It would mean that this week you ate 14000! calories, above what your body needs to maintain the basic functions of life.

Agreed. I can easily put on 4lbs day to day, but it quickly comes off again. Anything from water to the amount of salt you have eaten can have a big effect. Weight loss is not a linear thing - I often go for three weeks without loss as my body adjusts and holds on to water, then lose 3lbs in one week. Some weeks I put on a couple of pounds, the next week I lose four (there are quite a few stories about this on MFP if you have a search).

How long have you tried eating 2000 calories? If it's just for one week then that is not enough to get a true picture. Stick at it for four weeks and if you weight loss is still not going in the right direction, then you need to have a rethink (and a trip to your doctor if you are gaining as you should not be gaining on that calorie intake).

Hope you find a happy balance

As people have stated 1500 seems to be very low and I agree, however being 295 @ 6'2" I actually am gaining weight at 2000 calories a day (gained 4 pounds last week). I highly doubt it is muscle due to the fact that I haven't been working out the last couple of weeks. I'm only doing 1500 calories to push myself over the plateau I am at.

Entering the raw ingredients sounds like a good idea, I'd just need to start measuring food and weighing it before I start eating it. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Unless you ate 14000 calories over your maintenence, that 4lb wasn't fat.

It was probably water retention, depending on how carb heavy you ate - see attached - http://www.justinowings.com/understanding-bodyweight-and-glycogen-de/

Plus i would suggest you read this and calculate your BMR and TDEE, Knowledge is power
Here is good info:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

Definitely use this and try the hairy dieters cook book it has lovely recipes with all calories listed.

It's interesting that a lot of people find 1500 too little. I'm 5'11" and started around 250 lbs. I started eating around 14-1500 for an average day and i usually have about 12-1300 these days now that I'm a bit under 200 I lose an average of about 1.5-2 lbs a week and feel fine. It's not like I'm avoiding eating either (though a few times this last week, I've been a bit bad with eating something large in one meal and not much else for the others - horrible plan overall).Good luck either way, I hope you can do it!