1200 calorie meal plans

Feel free to see my diary for the past 3-4 weeks. If you exercise, you can eat those exercise calories back.

Honestly, from my experience diets that contain this little of calories should not even be considered. You are no way meeting your daily needs of your macro and micro nutrients. Having a diet with this low of calories will leave you feeling tired, week and lethargic with barely enough energy to get through your day. It is also not very realistic because no one can stick to a diet that aggressive the rest of their life. You need to make a lifestyle eating plan that is maintainable and sustainable because being healthy is not about totally restricting yourself from everything, it's about making better choices day by day and by being consciously aware of what your putting in your body. It's also not going to happen overnight but with some determination and will power, it can be done!

Honestly, from my experience diets that contain this little of calories should not even be considered. You are no way meeting your daily needs of your macro and micro nutrients. Having a diet with this low of calories will leave you feeling tired, week and lethargic with barely enough energy to get through your day. It is also not very realistic because no one can stick to a diet that aggressive the rest of their life. You need to make a lifestyle eating plan that is maintainable and sustainable because being healthy is not about totally restricting yourself from everything, it's about making better choices day by day and by being consciously aware of what your putting in your body. It's also not going to happen overnight but with some determination and will power, it can be done!

Wow very impressed this is coming from an 18 year old! Took me 47 years to figure it out and many yo-yo diets of all kinds.

The previous post above was also very good. Please follow the advice.

not to shaby there too mockchoc!

keep motivating Dawson_4!... good job!

MFP recommends 1200 to all women because of one small thing....
The option to lose 2lbs a week. If you select it and are sedentary.... that's the goal it gives women.
Then if you don't exercise... that's all you get. So without the "education" the women who chose those two things
are set to 1200 a day.

Um, no .. I chose that setting and got over 1200 ...

eat on a deficit of max 500kcal, so 1200kcal a day is not really appropriate and healthy.
You can go lower then that for about 2weeks, but then your metabolism will slow down and you'll hit a plateau. fun.

@erin8389 because we care

I have

breakfast - hard boiled egg, banana, almonds

snack - carrot, corn thins with peanut butter

lunch - greek yoghurt, canned tuna

snack - air popped popcorn, pear

dinner - salmon wrap with lettuce tomato

snack - apple

I'm set for 1200 calories a day and find it extremely hard to stay within that range. I usually go over, but don't get too upset because it is still lower than what I was eating before I started and still makes me accountable.

I'm very small (154cm for 49Kg) and I'm set at 1200Kcal/day - which is my BMR.
I exercise a lot and always eat back those calories.
I don't find it difficult at all to keep within that limit, I actually feel like I'm always eating. Healthy and in small portions but continuously.

An average day for me is:

BREAKFAST
- oatmeal with 15g oats, 1tsp chia, 1tsp flaxseed meal, some fruit, 100ml almond milk, 85g chobani
- egg white muffin = 1 egg white, 20g ham, 5g baby spinach, 1 cherry tomato

AM SNACK
- 1 apple
- 50g chicken breast slices (deli type)

LUNCH
- carrot, tomatoes, cucumber + 100g turkey breast
- 1 wholemeal cracker
- 1 fruit

PM SNACK
- protein shake OR protein bar OR cottage cheese + fruit
- green tea

DINNER
- 100g chicken or salmon or prawns... + lots of veggies
- 1 or 2 wholemeal cracker

AFTER DINNER
- 85g chobani + frozen bluberries + 1tsp honey if I really need something sweet

THROUGHOUT THE DAY
- almonds
- a bit of fruit (fresh, frozen or dried)
- green tea or almond milk

EXERCISE
- typically around 60min. of vigorous activity, alternating cardio (running / spinning / HIIT / boxing) and strength (conditioning, circuit)
- at least 3.5Km walk every day
- I normally burn around 400-500 calories from exercise

Pretty sure as long as the food you chose is nutritious, a 1200 calorie per day diet is perfectly okay in the short term, especially if you are not getting much exercise/activity. But others may be right that if you rarely eat more than that, your body starts to "adjust" and you would actually be better off throwing in some days a few hundred more calories to keep your metabolism revved up.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/1200-calorie-diet-sample.htm

http://www.freedieting.com/1200_calorie_diet.htm

I am also on a 1200cal/day lifestyle. I seem to eat constantly, just so I can actually eat all my calories otherwise it "fusses" at me for eating too few a day. I do workout daily and I'm using a Fit-bit now, which I love. I rarely am able to eat back my exercise calories, basically I am not going to eat up until midnight just to do so, especially when I'm not hungry. I have plenty of energy and sleep so good now that I am eating better. You can add me if you like, my diary is open to read so check it out.

I DON'T eat diet foods, frozen or otherwise. NO prepackaged TV dinner type meals since they are jacked up with sodium and never filled me up before (plus I gained weight on them). I don't do protein shakes, whey powder or any of the like, makes me gag. I eat a hearty omelet and grapefruit every morning along with my coffee, have several snacks in between, a huge plateful of lunch which usually consists of chicken and various steamed veggies and a fruit. My supper always varies depending on whether I cook or my husband cooks Always Always Always choose 3 servings of veggies and 2 fruits a day at the very least.

I have looked at several diaries here and find that too many people eat very little and the "wrong/fattening" kind of food or they are on a ridiculous amount of protein shakes and laboratory engineered powders (that btw aren't meant for humans to survive on) but they must be starving and that kind of change is unhealthy and will lead you to never change your eating habits and bounce back to your old weight or above quickly.

RULE OF THUMB: It's all about discipline not deprivation and when you learn how to control yourself then you will set good habits for life and thats what the whole purpose of MFP is, learning new habits and changing your life for the better. I'm serious though, check out my diary if you want. Good luck and I hope this helps, Tammy:happy:

OP: my favorite snack is peanut butter and carrot sticks very satisfying and only 90 calories

A tablespoon of peanut butter is at least 100 calories.. and that's not a lot, you probably eat 2 as that is considered a serving anyway, then you need to add in the calories from carrots. I think You are under estimating your intake a bit..

OP:

I agree that 1200 calories isn't enough for most people

Google scooby's calculator and fill in the blanks to get a better idea how much you should be eating.

Skinnytaste.com has amazing recipes so does chocolate covered katie
I am also a fan of stir fry
and cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit, jelly or protein powder mixed into it.
Carrot sticks, celery sticks, other cut up fruits and veggies with hummus or other dip you made
hard boiled eggs by themselves or mixed with avocado
I actually like low sodium rice cakes with PB & J on them or just one or the other. Or hummus
Make protein cakes
add egg whites to eggs, rice and other recipes for a low calorie way to make them more filling and higher protein
make stuffed peppers or mushrooms (less cheese and the right ingredients and you have low calorie ones)
Use lettuce wraps instead of wraps