How do you eat 1200 calories?!

That's the range I eat when I am losing.

The only way I can do it is to eat low carb.

B - string cheese & coffee

S - plain greek yogurt & apple

L - grilled chicken salad w/veggies

S - 1/2 serving almonds (or whole) and apple/orange

D - meat & veggies


*Sometimes there are extra calories available and I always have trouble fitting in wine.

But, at my age, and with certain joint/back issues that prevent me from doing hard core workouts, I need to keep my calories low. I do try to get a couple hundred from workouts for buffer.

0% fat yogurt and 2 eggs for breakfast, small apple for snack, 250 calorie microwave boxed crap for lunch, 130 calorie All bran bar for snack, 3 oz meat and lots of veggies for supper, see what's left and have a snack mid evening.

1200 is impossible for me, but I eat between 1500 and 1600 daily.
The key is eating fibre-rich or nutrient-dense foods because they keep you full for a long time. Try to choose oats, potatoes, squash, brown rice, eggs, fruit, veg, lean protein, whole grains, nuts, and other nutrient-dense foods as the bulk of your caloric intake. Eating these foods, you can fill up your plate and have it look and feel like a whole lot of food, and it is quite filling. Its also important to listen to your body and to eat if you are really hungry because 1200 calories is extremely low.

I wash it down with 400 more...

I wash it down with 400 more...

YEP!

Eggs and bacon for breakfast, yogurt and or fruit for snack, big salad with a little chicken, tuna, or beef at lunch, lean protein and veggies for dinner. No sodas. I drink coffee with creamer only, then lots of water. My treat is sliced strawberries dipped into jello sugar free dark chocolate pudding. It tastes like chocolate covered strawberries.

I don't wanna sound like a jerk or anything but I see this Q posted constantly on these forums, and I don't really understand. My current calories (no exercise) are at 1,410 and I find that pretty easy to meet. MANY days I am close to 1,200 and I don't feel like my diet is very restrictive at all.

Typical for me would be 200 cal breakfast, 400-ish calories for lunch, and 500-ish calories at dinner. That still leaves 100 cals to play with at the minimum 1,200.

I'm just not sure where the problem is for you. Do you drink any of your calories? That can add up very quickly.

eat calories that have the biggest bang for your buck. by that i mean get your calories from protein, low-gi carbs, fibre etc. For breakfast, for example, 2 slices of toast and a tablespoon of peanut butter is around 400 cals, but about 2 hours later you will be starving again. Instead, you can have 30g of oats cooked in water with some seeds/nuts (i personally use chia seeds and linseeds, which have plenty of benefits within themselves) for around 350cals and you will find yourself full for hours. So for less calories, you are getting more benefits than just simple fuel; you are getting a good source of fibre, protein, omega 3 etc.

Steering away from too many fruits (1 piece a day is sufficient, find one that has a high fibre content etc) can help (they don't keep you satisfied for long are are generally loaded with sugar). Instead, i find snacking on natural almonds, pumpkin seeds etc works much better at keeping hunger at bay, and plus you are doing it without the sugar. Be careful with nuts though, try to stick to a handful a day, they are calorie dynamite if consumed heavily.

I personally steer away from rice/pasta and other starchy foods like potatoes. Instead, i will have sweet potato/pumpkin, beans and legumes and a large array of greens. You can have a very satisfying meal using those things, without the bloating and massive calorie usage.

Drinks. Stick to water/tea's and coffee (although do try and limit sugar and try ordering long blacks instead of lattes)-fruit juice/soft drinks and alcohol are killers, and are basically just empty cals.

Anyway these are things I have been sticking to, and I have found them to be most effective.
I hope they help you! (i am for 1200 a day and usually have not too much of an issue sticking to it)

I eat lots of veggie soups, steamed veggies, steamed fish, red meat or chicken meat cooked in the oven with vegetables and tomato sauce, fruit, low calorie cottage cheese and yogurts.

I eat about 1450 calories a day. I always have room for snacks between meals and everything too. I do plan my days in advance though and then modify from there. My breakfast almost always consists of oatmeal, pb2, and then either pumpkin puree with pumpkin pie spice or berries. That's under 200 calories, but filling. My other almost daily staples include a smoothie before dinner with a coconut milk, spinach, and half a banana base and then whatever else I like to add. I tend to snack on fruit, portioned out granola, rice cakes, apples and cinnamon, graham crackers, and 2% string cheese. I've also upped my vegetable intake, especially with green low cal veggies like broccoli and spinach. Feel free to friend me and check out my food diary!

I don't. I hit about 1400. When I started it was almost 1600, and the first couple weeks I gave myself a break, so if I didn't meet it, I didn't beat myself up, because I was still learning about the calorie content of foods, choosing better foods, and exercising more than I was the week before. After a few weeks it wasn't so hard to eat 14oo, so I suggest allowing yourself the adjustment time,
Also I did 1200 for a while, and didn't really lose weight, but when I bumped it back up to 1400 I lost right away. For me I think 1200 was too low to keep my metabolism working effectively.
And drink a lot of water. It's repeated over and over, but it helps. Sometimes I think I'm hungry but I'm really just thirsty.

I don't. Not even when I first started on the healthy jounrey. 1,200 is way low and most likely for a person who wants to lose 2 pounds a week with no exercise.

I eat between 1,750 and 1,850 every day, but I also exercise every day.

This. I am tall, very active and only aiming to lose 1lb a week at the very most, so I average around 2,000 everyday. :drinker:

Breakfasts: 160 calorie oatmeal. 100 calorie banana. 200 calorie yogurt and granola. 250 calorie fruit/spinach smoothie.

Lunches: 285 calorie PBJ. 260 calorie avocado and tomato sandwich. 190 calorie turkey sandwich. 250 calorie lean cousine.

Dinners: 400 calorie chicken and veggies. 350 calorie fish and veggies. 500 calorie steak and veggies. 400 calorie chicken salad.

Snacks: 160 calorie Oreos (3 cookies). 90 calorie ounce of cheese. 200 calories of tuna and crackers.

These are just a few but I find I have a lot of variety. I still eat practically anything I want...it's all about moderation.

I don't find 1200-1500 too hard. Today I've had:

b: 2 eggs, scrambled, 1 piece of toast, half a pear, 3 coffees w/ a splash of milk
l: 1.25 cups seafood jambalaya (mostly veggies, a bit of rice and fish)
s: a seriously badass banana-walnut muffin I baked up today
d: 150g corned silverside w/ a dollop of peppercorn gravy, 1 cup mashed potatoes (made w/ skim milk, no butter), and somewhere between 50 and 100g of peas (haven't had dinner yet). Will probably have a cup of decaf coffee or two w/ milk afterward.
My total for the day is almost dead on 1200, more if I go for the extra peas

Heck, yesterday's lunch only came to 169 and it was a giant bowl (2 cups) of minestrone loaded with veggies.

My lunches are often mostly veggies (soup, salad, wrap/sandwich, raw w/ hummus) a> to get in my nutrients for the day and b> because Iike big/rich dinners and need to budget the cals hehe. Being mostly veggies, you get a lot of bulk in the meal without a lot of calories.

I did eat 1200 calories when I first started MFP - and knew NOTHING about dieting - this is why I came to MFP - it was all mapped out for me and all I had to do was follow it. I lost #38

I kept that weight off for about 1½I went up into a maintenance level - and within 6 months, I gained back #18. From only eating 1200 calories for so long, I'm pretty sure I slowed my metabolism down, so when I started eating 'normal' again - My body couldn't handle it. Not to mention I was losing my hair, I was tired, and my nails were tearing and brittle on the 1200 calorie diet. Lost weight, yes, felt great? NO!