Any ideas for a 1200 calorie per day diet

You can check my diary if you want. It's usually good. Weekends I tend to run wild, but Monday to Friday is usually 1200.


Breakfast I have an omelette or steel cut oats. A protein and veggies or something light at lunch. Dinner is a lean protein and veggies again. Shake after working out or before bed. It's pretty easy.

Did you set your own goals at 1200 calories, or did MFP or someone else do it? I've been very happy with successes based on MFP setting goals for me. I started above 1200 calories based on their advice and have gradually dropped weight, thus earning less calories so that I'm now at 1200, too. If I want to eat more, I can earn the food by exercising more and I've never felt deprived since I started this. I think feeling deprived is bad for success because it leads to quitting.

If your former diet was basically healthy, but too high calorie, you can still eat most of your old favorites by tweeking the recipes and using portion control to keep your calorie count where you want it. If you need to learn more healthful habits, there is a lot of support here from MPF itself and from other users. Some people are abstainers who have to give up certain foods completely to be able to meet calorie goals. Others, like myself, are moderators. I've accomplished miracles in my life with portion control. Get a good food scale and disher/servers so that you can measure your portions and know for sure how much you're eating. I love the option of earning more food through exercise, or paying myself back for a little indulgence with exercise. I now habitually eat back part of my exercise calories, but not all of them.

Last advice: DON'T SKIP BREAKFAST. It leads to later binging.

MFP has set me up as well for 1200 a day, some days are great and some are not..............basically I try to stay at 350 per each meal with 2 100 snacks,,,,,,,,,,,or toss it up.......

I usually eat less in the morning and more lunch and dinner..............but this little figure might help you.

Hi! 1200 calories is pretty easy to plan, as long as you dont have any junk food around to tempt you. You can make eggs for breakfast, use pam instead of oil/butter to cook with. You can even add a little shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, or mushrooms to them to mix it up. For lunch you can have a grilled chicken salad. Use the rest of the tomato and mushrooms from breakfast. Pile it full of veggies by adding cucumber or peppers. For dinner, you can have a grilled chicken sandwich if you made an extra chicken at lunch. Add your veggies like lettuce and tomato. You can even make another salad to pair with your sandwich. Throughout the day snack on veggies or fresh fruit like apples. I hope this helps. Good luck! I would also try to plan your meals out ahead of time so you are more likely to stick to it.

I did 1220 and the target was 1240...but I was more on sugar by -13.
Breakfast
Kellogs Corn Flakes
Danone low fat yoghurt
Orange

Lunchs
Lettuce, cottage cheese, Avocado, tuna fish(sardines), green tea.

Dinner
Mashed potatoes, homemade chakalaka, Roasted pork,spinach.

Hi there, the people saying you are ok to be on 1200 calories are right - MFP says this is how many I should have a day as my lifestyle is sedentary and I am not that overweight. I do however find that 1200 cals is not quite enough for my body each day (I do need to graze or I pass out!) so I deliberately overeat most days by 2-300 cals then exercise these off.

To try and help me stick to this, I eat a bigger breakfast to keep me going longer - usually the same most days and normally is a mini English breakfast (cooked healthily!). Eggs (scrambled) I find are good for filling me up, often also have baked beans, mushrooms, a slice of brown bread/toast, a frankfurter sausage (hot dog) and a few small potatoes. In total, I aim for about 450 cals for breakfast.

Lunch I tend to have crispbreads with low fat houmous and parma ham or sliced salmon. I eat Snack a Jack rice cakes instead of crisps and snack on carrot/cucumber/pepper sticks dipped in low fat mayo. I try and eat about 2 portions of fruit a day but I also find meringue nests are really good when I need a fake sugary hit (I know some will say they're bad as all sugar!) but half of one is only about 25 cals and can really stop a craving for sweetness that fruit just can't match!

Dinner I try to eat lean meat, a small amount of carbs and then bulk out with veg if possible. I deliberately don't cut anything out totally as that just makes me want it more! Everything in moderation I find is the key and if you have a bad day, don't let it get you down! Feel free to look at my diary but be warned - it's not that great this week - struggling to find the time to exercise!!

To the OP, lots of protein helps keep you feeling fuller, eggs, chicken, quorn, even baked beans!

I am on 1200 per day, I have to ensure I eat plenty of protein, that way I do not feel like unnecessary snacking due to hunger.

It is definitely do-able.

Bump

Best idea for a 1200 calorie a day diet: Eat more than 1200 calories. By quite a bit.

For those saying don't do 1200, it's starvation, don't seem to know what you're talking about it. 1200-1500 is a respectable range for some women that have more sedentary lives. I'm on 800 by my doctor's orders (trying to figure out and mend a digestive disorder) and as long as I reach my macros set by him and my nutritionist and don't over exercise I'm fine.

I learned to be more than satisfied on my low cal plan. Last night I made spinach lasagna rolls (for recipe google spinach lasagna rolls skinny taste) and had a large salad with it. My dinner was around 250 calories.

For eating lower its all about portion control for higher calorie foods and supplementing the less food on your plate with lower calories foods. For example, I used to eat with my plate being mostly covered by the main meal/dish/entree, and then veggies or fruits on the side. I just swapped those and I'm getting roughly the same amount of food for less calories and higher nutrition.

I think the big thing you're leaving out here is that it's a respectable range for *some* women (mostly small-framed ones) who live sedentary lives. I've been sedentary for years now, owing to office work, and because of my height and frame, I still burn close to 2000 per day. 1200 per day make me sickly and weak; 1500 is doable.

Really, 1200 is an arbitrary number and is basically considered by the people at MFP, as I understand it, as the absolute minimum a person should be eating. Some get by just fine on it. Some (very petite) women can get by on less. I'm thinking that these posters who "don't know what they're talking about" are basing their opinions on personal experiences and feedback they've heard from others.

The truth is, nobody here "knows what they're talking about" in the sense that nobody here, as far as I know, knows the OP's body type, height, frame, etc. 1200 could be perfectly doable. It could also be potentially harmful.

In response to the OP- Unfortunately, I don't have many tips to offer because, time and time again, I've had difficulty getting by on only 1200. The best response I can give you is to eat lots of protein and whole grains, as well as fruit and veggies. These foods will probably make you feel fuller longer.