Anyone on 1200 - 1300 calories / day?

Working-out is key!!! It helps to be able to add some more calories through-out the day for me since I have a hard time sticking to the 1390 calories a day I have set for myself (on a .5lb loss a week plan, realized trying to do more was unrealistic and would only make me crash and burn ultimately rather than making this a long-term lifestyle plan). If only I could get rid of alcohol from my diet, my days would look a lot better!

But mine goes something like this:

Breakfast: Instant oatmeal, or cereal (with skim milk), or whole what English muffin with almond butter (or regular butter), or a greek yogurt parfait (200-350 cal) plus a coffee with skim milk and splenda (10 cals)


Mid-morning snack: fiber bar and multivitamin (150 cal)

Lunch: side salad with soup or half sandwich (350 cal)

Late afternoon snack: almonds, carrots/hummus, 100 calorie snack pack (100-150 cal)

Dinner: 4oz chicken breast, salmon, etc. vegetable medley (usually a frozen package from store by Healthy Choice or Green giant) about 250 cal

1250 cal total approximately. Again, I do exercise so I can give myself some wiggle room for alcohol or whatnot. This is the plan I stuck to when I was being consistent (and not letting my boyfriend, who I just moved in with, from distracting me).

I'm on 1300 at the moment. My diary is open.

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

I eat 1,300 and I try not to eat back all my exercise calories but I do usually end up eating back some.

I think it's important to ease into it. I started at 1,500 for my first few weeks then gradually bumped it down. That way my body adjusted to the reduced intake and I wasn't suddenly starving.

For breakfast I usually have some kind of whole wheat product, whether it's a waffle with peanut butter, a bagel with light cream cheese, or an english muffin with peanut butter and apple butter (my personal favorite :happy: ) or a non-sugary cereal with almond or soy milk, either light or unsweetened. Also eggs are amazing. (about 200 calories)

I have a morning snack of fresh fruit (about 100 calories)

For lunch I have soup or leftovers from the night before. Also a well-chosen 6" sub from Subway is reasonably filling and low in calories if you are in a pinch and have to eat out. (about 300-400 calories)

Afternoon snack I have plain greek yogurt with berries and some kind of sweetener because I haven't been able to get used to it unsweetened (100 calories)

For dinner, I cook 95% of the time. We eat a lot of fish, chicken, and turkey with vegetables and I generally choose potatoes before any other starch and we try to avoid flour products as much as possible. (usually around 500-600 calories)

So even at the most it is normally around 1400 for me personally, before exercise. But I have taken the last few months to really narrow it down to what low calorie foods I like and can tolerate eating on a normal basis. Also as a previous poster mentioned, working out is very important to maintain a deficit if you are eating a good variety of foods, not to mention it's fabulous for you physically. Just remember to eat a good variety of your macros and try your best to follow serving sizes. For me, after a while, serving sizes actually became filling where before I used to look at a serving of something and laugh!

Good luck!

My cheat day was yesterday....but my diary is open. Please don't judge.

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

Her ticker and time invested beg to differ with you. Adding in treats is not stopping her weight loss, rather, it's helping her stay on track. 80% healthy, 20% treats is a really good habit to develop for long term success.

.

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

I never claimed to be a clean eater. :P

Hahaha! I love your response! Some people can be so judgmental!!! It's all about making this work for you, as an individual, so you can stick to a lifestyle! If you are happy, keep doing what you be doing!

I don't think you have to be 100% "clean" (I'm certainly not) but I'd be starving if I ate this junk all day. Nutritionally dense food CAN be lower in calories and also keep you feeling fuller, so I don't think this kind of eating is good advice. I believe that losing weight should go hand in hand with improving health.

Well I don't count my calories on MFP, I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method, but I'll write out my average day. I've been doing 1,200 to 1,300 calories for a few months now with great results.

8 AM: bagel thin with an egg white on it- 140 calories
11 AM: mini bag of doritos- 150 calories
1 PM: 30 special K cracker chips- 120 calories
2 PM: 6 oz. baby carrots with 1 Tablespoon light ranch- 105 calories
4 PM: 3 fun sized snickers bars- 240 calories
6 PM: 2 oz. pasta with 4 Tablespoons italian dressing- 270 calories
6 PM: 1 cup fresh green beans- 70 calories
7 PM: 72 grams Sugar free ice cream with 5 Tablespoons light whipped cream and 2 tablespoons sprinkles- 150 calories

To a grand total of 1,245 calories today.

Hope this helps.If you need any hints or tips you can message me

Doritos, crackers, Snickers and ice cream? Where's the nutrition?

Her ticker and time invested beg to differ with you. Adding in treats is not stopping her weight loss, rather, it's helping her stay on track. 80% healthy, 20% treats is a really good habit to develop for long term success.

This definitely isn't "80% healthy."

I agree.

As far as success......it's more than just the number on the scale (or on a ticker). You could lose "weight" on an all twinkie diet.....the only problem would be, massive muscle loss.....leaving a higher body fat % than when you started.

I'm all for treats......but the treats shouldn't crowd out nutrition.

There isn't much protein in your diet? Do you stay full?

There isn't much protein in your diet? Do you stay full?

Depends on the day, sometimes I eat beef jerky as a snack, or have chciken, steak, pork, etc. for dinner. This is just what I ate today, I don't eat like this everyday.

But whatever lol I wonder if this gif will work...

really ?!?!?!?

I try to keep to 120 calories.
Sometimes I am lower, sometimes over... but it all depends on exercise.
Calories are easily and quickly taken up, a cup of tea and a few biscuits and you're nearly half way through your allowance!! It's upsetting haha.
But I exercise a lot. I aim to burn an average of 750 calories a day, but walking a total of 1 hour to and from uni, a little exercise regime, including 40 mins step ups, yoga etc and also I do tap dancing and ballet once a week each for an hour.
This way I can have nearly 2000 calories. Which makes life easier.

You can do it so that you only consume 1200 calories without exercising but it makes life difficult and personally I'd be hungry very often. Find an exercise regime that works for you and walk instead of driving wherever it's possible. It's a healthier way I think because you get all of the nutrients and increase your fitness.

Hope this helps. If you want to know my exercise regime I can tell you (I like it because it doesn't involve paying and travelling to go the gym, you don't have to buy any equipment and it doesn't take that much time).

I am on 1200 and my diary is open. I do exercise daily and eat back a few calories.