what does your "1200" calorie menu look like?

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  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
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    IMHO: 1200 is too low IF you are working out. I am usually around 1800 a day. But I run and lift. MFP sets these levels too low. Again- IMHO.
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
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    I came in here to say it looks like my breakfast but then realized the OP only weighs 115, which is basically half my weight. For all i know 1200 is the right number for her.

    Carry on
    Think a few people *might* have missed that. She's also 5 ft. tall.

    Agreed, buuut, part of the reaction (part of mine, anyway) is that she said that she's finding it "torturous". So, a slower approach might be a bit more doable for her.
  • DontStopB_Leakin
    DontStopB_Leakin Posts: 3,863 Member
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    I came in here to say it looks like my breakfast but then realized the OP only weighs 115, which is basically half my weight. For all i know 1200 is the right number for her.

    Carry on
    Think a few people *might* have missed that. She's also 5 ft. tall.

    Agreed, buuut, part of the reaction (part of mine, anyway) is that she said that she's finding it "torturous". So, a slower approach might be a bit more doable for her.
    And that's the part I missed.


    *headdesk*
  • ebf2f
    ebf2f Posts: 1
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    I also am 5 feet tall and trying to get around the 105 range. So far I lost 7 pounds on this site and it has been really hard. I started to cook a lot of food with whole grains. For dinner I sometimes make stir fry that has peanuts, vegetables, shrimp, and brown rice or quinoa. Sometimes eating a light lunch like some light soup and bread and then have some healthy snacks in between like bananas with peanut butter or light yogurt. Also I love this website for cooking food http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/
    I hope this helps!
  • Sunlight2013
    Sunlight2013 Posts: 53
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    I'll give you a hint - you can eat a lot more than that and lose weight.

    How? I would love any suggestions. I'm only 5 feet tall and weight 110.5....my goal is 105 and the scales not budging for me.....what should i do differently
  • Tetonia
    Tetonia Posts: 79 Member
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    My experience is that the easiest way to stay full on a smaller amount of calories is to focus on lean proteins and vegetables for your meals and cut out refined carbs, bread, pasta. Don't drink your calories. Think about meals and snacks in the 100-350 calorie range. I am 5'2" and eat 1300-1500 but can easily stay within 1200 with planning if my week is too busy to work out.
  • crazytreelady
    crazytreelady Posts: 752 Member
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    I try to do 300 calories per meal and 300 for snacks.

    I like to have sometimes 2 boiled eggs in the morning, a yogurt and half a slice of toast or a protein shake

    For lunch I may have a sandwich (I make my own bread, so I can pretty much dictate the calories per slice) or a BIG salad

    For dinner maybe half a chicken breast, some rice and some sauce like teryaki

    For snacks, I'll have oranges, maybe another yogurt, granola bars, jello mousse, cheerios in a baggy...
  • charismanoodles
    charismanoodles Posts: 343 Member
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    Breakfast: High fibre muesli with milk, maybe a piece of fruit if you feel like it,

    Lunch: Some sort of omelette with salad, or quinoa bites, soups etc all work well.

    Dinner: Something I've cooked in the crockpot, like bean chilli, on top of a sweet potato with cabbage and natural yogurt. It's so yum and low cal.
  • ttomasovich
    ttomasovich Posts: 8 Member
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    im looking for a menu in a book or in a download that i can follow day by day. i have trouble being creative without getting out of control. any ideas.
  • Tracytxray
    Tracytxray Posts: 26
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    bump
  • ravenrxx
    ravenrxx Posts: 455 Member
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    Fee free to look at mine.. I'm trying to improve my diet as much as possible. Cause working out cant outweigh your diet. Your diet has to be good in order to see the results you want to see. Eat things that are filling an not a lot of calories. (dont forget to read the nutrition label however!)

    Progresso soup is filling..high in sodium though. They do have lower sodium ones though.
    Low calorie bread, I eat the sara lee one that has 45 calories each slice.
    Oscar meyer turkey breast.
    LETTUCE/SALAD IS VERY FILLING! Just make sure you get a low cal dressing. Kraft has a low fat one and its like 25 cals a TBSP.
    I currently use the spray ranch though by spritzers.
    Tuna is good.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    Workout and eat back your exercise calories.

    I strive to net 1200. Today I did not workout. I tend to go over on those days and today I was about 150 over - so around 1350. Here's my menu:

    Breakfast: protein bar and coffee

    Am snack: clementine

    Lunch: ham and cheese wrap and chips (the bulk of my calories for the day lol)

    Pm snack: skinny cow candy

    Dinner: carrots, cucumbers, and cream cheese chicken (delicious and about 200 calories a serving - yay for Pinterest!)

    Evening snack: 1/3 oz cheese & 3 crackers, sugar free fudgesicle and 2 flavor ice Popsicles


    I like my snacks lol.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    I'll give you a hint - you can eat a lot more than that and lose weight.

    How? I would love any suggestions. I'm only 5 feet tall and weight 110.5....my goal is 105 and the scales not budging for me.....what should i do differently

    Do you feel that those 5 lbs will really make a big difference in how you look? What if you were able to eat more, combined it with heavy weight lifting, and were able to be smaller while feeling full?
  • tjk0905
    tjk0905 Posts: 13 Member
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    I am also 113 and 5'1" and stick to 1200 calories as best as I can to reach my goal of 105. I found eating something small full of fiber or protein every 3 hours works. Coffee with creamer, an apple and yogurt for breakfast, I often eat the apple first then an hour later eat the yogurt. Lunch is a salad with light dressing, chicken salad and crackers, can of soup. I will eat a granola bar about 4pm which is an hour or so before I hit the gym. So far Its working. Snack on a handful of almonds, those nummy flavored mini rice cakes, special K crackers... I literally count them so I dont over indulge.

    Oh and for the person who said will that 5 lbs really make a difference - YES! Think about it in percentages; that's a 5% loss. If you are 200 lbs, the equivalent is 10 lbs to lose. Does that 10 really make a difference? I believe your answer is yes.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    I try to do 300 calories per meal and 300 for snacks.

    I like to have sometimes 2 boiled eggs in the morning, a yogurt and half a slice of toast or a protein shake

    For lunch I may have a sandwich (I make my own bread, so I can pretty much dictate the calories per slice) or a BIG salad

    For dinner maybe half a chicken breast, some rice and some sauce like teryaki

    For snacks, I'll have oranges, maybe another yogurt, granola bars, jello mousse, cheerios in a baggy...

    Wow I could never eat that dinner, there's nothing there! Lol when I get to 115 (5.1) my bmr will be 1296 my tdee thankfully will be 1460 ish at a deficit.
  • brit_ks_89
    brit_ks_89 Posts: 433 Member
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    You are probably over extending your goals.. with as little as you have to lose, you should be aiming for 1/2 lb per week. Also, I am assuming you are a bit active since you have three kids? Do you run around with them? If so, then you should be aiming for lightly active. I can bet you can eat 1500-1600 and still lose. Also, concentrate on eating proteins and fats... they are much greater for satiety.


    THIS .. IF YOU ARE EXERCISING PLEASE EAT MORE THEN 1,200!!!!! yes - eat your exercise calories back!!!!
  • moppet85
    moppet85 Posts: 5 Member
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    I've only been logging my food for a couple of days after having a bad, lazy few months, but I've found I'm averaging about 1200 as well. And I'm 5'11. I'd definitely eat more if I felt hungry - I have no interest in starving myself - but I find I am actually satisfied with that amount. Which is weird, because I love food!

    Anyway, you can check out my food diary for inspiration :) I've been going hard on the vegies.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Breakfast - eggs, yoghurt, cottage cheese, one slice of toast with peanut butter.
    Lunch - soup and salad
    Dinner - lean meat or fish with loads of veg. Small portion of pasta, rice, potatoes.
    Snacks - fruit, cheese, nuts.
  • tachyon_master
    tachyon_master Posts: 226 Member
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    My diary is closed, but my regular menu when I was doing the 1200 calorie setup was something like:

    Breakfast (180 cal): small granny smith apple, 1/4 cup wholemeal oats, 100 ml low fat vanilla yogurt, green tea
    Lunch (510 cal): wholegrain breadroll, 30 g avocado, 100 g chicken, 2 nectarines, 600 ml bottle coke zero
    Dinner (380 cal): 200 g mixed seafood (shrimp, squid, mussels), spicy tomato pasta sauce, 250 g shirataki noodles, zero sugar pink grapefruit juice
    Dessert (120 cal): 50 g mixed berries, 100 g lemon sorbet

    I eat way more than this now because I'm marathon training, but it's an idea of what I used to eat.
  • PanicMoon
    PanicMoon Posts: 8 Member
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    Things I usually eat:

    Oatmeal - 100-260 calories depending on the brand
    Soup - 140-200 calories depending on type/brand
    2eggs - 140 calories with turkey bacon -70 calories

    Sandwich - (bread meat cheese veggies) - 250 calories
    Quesodilla - (tortilla meat cheese veggies) - 280 calories

    Pretty much it's good to have a few meals that are 200-400 calories and just mix it up day to day. :)

    (I usually eat 200 for breakfast, 300 for lunch, and 450 for dinner, with snacks throughout the day)

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