What do you eat to stay at 1200 calories a day?

I tend to do coffee and a cereal or protein bar for breakfast. In the beginning of my journey for lunch I ate salads with protein but did the dipping fork routine (still use this) or had frozen meals at 200 to 300 cals because it was just easy and it was something I didn't have to think about . I didn't snack at all, I drank water instead. Then for dinner I grill meat and eat huge portions of veg before eating protein. For me the secret was eating appropriate portions. I judge any snack, sweet, alcohol against Cal intake and what is important to me. Then I simply started walking.... to burn and be able to eat more. I am now in maintenance mode and still do the same. The only difference is that the first 2 months were VERY hard but now its just habit. Its all about in vs. out. Use spray oil, shrartaki noodles, grill when you can, don't use the weather as an excuse not to burn and keep supporting and accepting support. You will get there if you just take it min by min. Listen to the positive things in your head and not the things telling you to eat whatever or excuses not to get in a burn. Get up and move. Add me if you'd like another friend. And as you read this, get down and give 20 crunches! :flowerforyou:

I take my dinner way down and then just eat smaller portions of normal food at breakfast and lunch. I do a healthy bar of some kind, like Mrs. May's Trio bars or the Kind bars. They are all natural, healthy, low calorie and delicious like candy. That's about 200 calories. That leaves my plenty enough to have a smaller, yet very satisfying breakfast and lunch. The light dinner takes about a week to get used to, but after that you'll do fine. What do you need a lot of calories for at that time of night anyway? Since you have kids and probably eat with them, soup might be a good choice for you.

I was raised cooking... so I have been making meals since I was 5. Oh I should add that I went from a carb based up bringing being hyper sensitive to gluten. So I try to eat mostly gluten free.
When I lived alone, I ate a ton of shirataki noodles with chicken broth and veggies, or home made meat sauce, salads, and Sprouts has some awesome healthy chicken meatballs.
Now I live with my boyfriend who is ultra picky, addicted to fast food for 20 yrs. So first I got him used to home cooked meals. He rarely eats out now vs. his 2-3 runs to fast food/day. Recently I started cooking Paleo based on the Paleo cookbook (amazon) and we are getting used to it. Tonight I made a beef and broccoli which came to 400 calories per serving. Low sodium, and I know exactly what was in it. The other day I made spaghetti squash with paleo meat sauce, which I loved under 400 cal. I make a lot of kabobs. HE loves red meat, which is a challenge, but I only eat a little, and keep roasted whole turkey breast sliced in the fridge. I make my own pudding cups and jello cups (orange sugar free jello with tangarin oranges..yumm) . Found Blue Bunny no sugar mini ice cream bars that are only 70 cal.
I also make Dukan Gallette for breakfast every day which comes to about 300-350/cal, and is full of fiber, keep me fine all morning. (I can handle oat bran go figure).
I keep 100 cal. snacks for the urges, but I generally eat only 3 times as that's filling enough.
I also work out two separate times a day, once after work (I work overnight) then early afternoon after some rest. easy 350-600 cal. burned. I use Runkeeper for walks/runs.
Hope to loose all I need to :O) this logging everything seems to be helping me a lot and is keeping me motivated. Hopefully my body will be able to keep up. :O)
Good luck to you all!

My goal is 1200 calories a day, and so far, I have had no problem staying that low. However, I find myself grazing on low calorie snacks and eating chicken with no sides, etc. I don't have actual low calorie MEAL plans that I can eat, other than weight watchers meals. I would like to start cooking and experimenting a little. I have two small children, so I like quick and easy meals. However, I am trying to learn to enjoy new foods and cooking them. Can anyone share their recipes for simple, not a ton of ingredients, low calorie meals? Thanks!

I dont worry about it I work out about it I work out so I need to eat more if I don't quiet eat enough I don't sweat it ( see a pattern) I mostly just eat when I am hungery and don't eat when I am not

I was on 1200, have put it up to 1300 in the past fortnight. I am 5ft and very overweight, so it works for me. My diary is open, but I'm more of a snacker than a meal-eater.

Eggs are my best friends. ;-) On days when I don't have an egg for breakfast I'm much hungrier than usual. Tuna and string cheese sticks are other choices that I've found helpful. I've been doing 1200 calories for about 5 or 6 months and don't find it that difficult. Must admit though that I'm not hugely successful in the exercise department. :-( Check out my diary for ideas if you like, it's open. You'll also see that I ***completely*** miss my 1200 cal target on 'special occasion' days but am still continuing with slow but steady weight loss.

this sounds so yum!

I make sure to eat alot of veggies, usually cooked and flavored with garlic and other spices.

When I was doing the 1200 calorie thing, I came up with this dish that I had for lunch every day and still love:

Brown rice (I used the microwaveable long grain brown rice pouches from Trader Joe's - either 3/4 of a cup or 1 1/2 cups.)
1-2 oz. sliced turkey breast (not the deli slices made of pressed turkey parts, Columbus brand low sodium turkey slices are great)
4 tbsp. of pico de gallo (or adjust to suit your taste, use fresh made, not bottled which has more sodium)

Sometimes I also added 1/2 of an avocado (diced) or used 3 tbsp. of guacamole in place of the salsa for a healthy fat.

Just heat the rice, mix it in a bowl and enjoy.

I bought a panini press from Philipps and I am now abusing it to cook whatever I like without much hastle. Whole fish or fish fillets, chicken breasts, all sorts of vegetables, bread, tortillas, potatoes.

You dont have to use any oil and everything gets crunchy and tasty. Most nights I just put my marinated chicken breast and corn on the cob in the press and have a great meal 15 min later.

Other than that, I also keep my meals simple with 3 ingredients or less. My favourites

Seabream with cauliflower
Steak and corn on the cob
Spinach lasagne
Greek salad with Quinoa
Chili con Carne
Smoked salmon bagel

I also love pasta with cream sauce, which I make from water, philadelphia fat free cream cheese and some shredded parmesan, fresh garlic and basil, mmmmmhhhh.

My allergies make it hard to even get up to 1200 cals a day which I know is dangerous to go under my body just can't process high starches it makes me miserable feeling so I load up on lean meats and greens and fruit which doesn't seem bad but you have to eat double to the eye of a persons normal meals with starches to get to 1200 cals a day

Lean cuisines

Try to make cottage cheese salads. Just add some spices to cottage cheese and mix it up with all your favourite veggies, you choose! Since cottage cheese has only (depending on what type you get though) around 100 calories per 100 grams, one huge serving of this is only around 200 calories, 300 at the most depending on what you put in it. And suuuuper healthy and filling! Keeps me filled for hours. Good luck!

A ton of fresh/raw veggies or cooked veggies in general. A lot of protein. Very limited fruits usually just berries in the morning. Dairy e.g., greek yogurt, string cheese. Almond milk. The only bread carb I eat is one slice of whole grain/oatmeal (country kitchen) in the morning and with dinner I will some times have a Josephs flax low carb lavash. I am big on egg whites and hard boiled egg whites, they seem to satisfy me and I am a big snack person vs. a meal person so I am usually eating something small about every two hours or so. Most days I can keep it under or at 1200. Other days I am over by a hundred or so but I don't care because I don't go by my "Net", only by the 1200 limit. Some days I end the day with a 200 calorie net after my exercise even if I go over by two or three hundred.

OR, yeah, just eat more than 1200 a day

I drink a smoothie made out of 50% greens and 50% fruit in the morning with a tablespoon of chia seeds in it.
this ends up at about 300 - 500 calories depending on what goes in and if I'm having a larger portion.

Lunch is a salad made with greens and vegetables with a 30 calorie dressing. 2 cups of greens are only 25 calories and then just choose low calories vegetables for the salad. With the salad I have a soup made chicken broth that also has veggies in it like bok choy, snow peas, mushrooms, etc as long as it's low calorie it goes in the pot. without the chicken broth it has very few calories but the chicken broth only adds 70 calories.

Snacks are more fruit or veggies

Lots of water

Dinner is usually more caloric and is not really planned out. Some days I pig out a bit. So dinner is where things get a little harder.

Of course I still slip up and don't always follow this plan perfectly but when I do weight loss is easy.