those on 1200-ish a day - typical days menu?

I feel Iike I'm on a famine - I'm not paticularly exciting with my menus, today I am having/have had:

breakfast - sultana bran skimmed milk
lunch - tuna salad, banana
dinner - scrambled eggs on 2 pieces of wholemeal toast (no butter) and if I'm feeling exciting I may have a squirt of ketchup.
snacks - tea with skimmed milk - probably about 6 cups - I've given up cigarettes, I'm cutting down on diet coke, I need one vice :-)

I feel the opposite - I can't get mine over! My diary is open btw.

What's your average meal combo?

H

That is an extremely low calorie diet, is there any reason why it's so low?

If I were to eat that little, I would stick to eggs, meat, fish, and vegtables.

Exercise bumps me up some, but you're welcome to check out my diary.

I understand how you feel, but I've found that the calories I burn exercising bring my calories consumed below 1200. (eat 1600, minus 400 calories exercising=1200 net calories)

B: egg/vegetable omelette-no cheese/whole wheat toast
L: turkey/mustard sandwich/fruit
chicken breast/brown rice/vegetable

It is also helpful to eat 4-5 200-300 calorie meals a day. Not to be confused with grazing, which is snacking all day, but pre-planned meals, every 2-3 hours. It keeps your metabolism burning throughout the day.

i am on the 1200 cals too

my typical day is

breakfast : tea with ss milk and sweetex, 2 slices of warburtons bread, toasted and spread

lunch: chicken stirfry with rice noodles

Dinner :2 x chicken breast with vegtables and jacket potato

snacks : alpen chocolate and orange bar, penguin bar, frube yoghurt, sliced peppers, cups of tea with ss milk and sweetex

this normally brings me just up to 1200 but if i exercise i add extra portions to my meals , and having a larger lunch means im not that hungry to snack later in the evening

Today my breakfast is: 2 small slices of wholemeal toast with a little peanut butter and yoghurt.

Lunch will be pasta salad (pre-bought - 325 cals) and some fruit

Dinner will be 60g (dry weight) of spaghetti with a tomata based sauce (passata, pepper, onion, corgette, mushrooms plus a little garlic, basil and orgeno) served with a big green salad.

Plus I have enough left over for a snack (humous & raw veg!)

Breakfast- typically a Muller Light fat free yogurt, or a sachet of OatsSoSimple with skimmed milk (depending on what combos of protein/carbs etc I'm eating for the rest of the day). As a treat sometimes, scrambled eggs on 1 slice wholemeal toast.

Lunch- a big bowl of salad with chicken or tuna and a fat free dressing. Or a low fat/low cal fresh soup- eg Covent Garden carton/Glorious Skinny tub/Supermarket's own tub. If I can afford the calories I'll have a miltigrain bagel or slice of dark rye bread (no butter) with these.

Dinner- either a low fat ready meal (if in a hurry) or grilled meat or fish with steamed veg or a salad. If I can afford the calories, a low fat dessert such as creme caramel, Cadburys low fat mousse etc.

The key for me is the snacks! I am currently managing three meals a day as above, plus two or three decent snacks. I always have fruit, either two pieces or more likely a shop-bought pack with 2-3 portions of prepared fruit in it. Other snacks include Dairylea Dunkers (up to 120 cals each); Mattessons Fridge Raiders chicken pieces (higher fat but loads of protein and still only around 140 cals a pack); Babybel Light mini portions (40 cals each); low fat crisps (generally around 100 calories a pack); or a Go Ahead! bar of some description- the Yogurt Breaks are particularly nice and, again, only about 150 cals a pack.

I always plan my eating a day or so ahead and will start by entering dinner (main course only), followed by lunch. Depending on what carb/protein ratio I'm on, I'll then select a breakfast which balances it nicely. Snack are then added based a) on how many calores I have left, and b) whether I need snacks rich in protein, carbs, or both, and whether I can afford much more fat. So really by looking at it a little more scientifically, I am letting my day's menu pretty much write itself.

I find it's when you just enter your food as you eat that things start to run out of control. A little applied thinking and things kind of fall into place. Hope this helps!

one word - exercise!!! If you even got in 30 mins a day you could burn 300 calories = calorie per minute is a decent workout. This would allow you to even have a couple snacks like fruit, fiber one bars (they are great)..etc. Try to eat high fiber foods when you can, for me they keep me fuller.

Mine is also set at 1200/day and without excerise I would starve I am sure!!!

what i dont get is MFP has got me at 3900+ cal /day. i dont eat that much. i been keeping it between 1500 and 2000 and am losing weight steady but dont feel like crud. how do they get the numbers?

I live with my parent so I can't really be too picky about what I have for dinner unless I offer to cook it so I tend to stick to eating about 500 calories (or more if I exercise) for most of the day and then I have 700 calories left over for whatever I have for dinner. So I have oatso simple or some cereal for breakfast which is about 200 calories.
Then I have either a sandwich for lunch or a salad and a smoothie later on. If I've done some walking during the day I'll have some dried fruit or something as a snack later on.
Unless we're having something really unhealthy for dinner the meal usually totals to about 700 calories or less. I normally work out how many calories the meal is going to be beforehand and if it goes over 700 I'll just leave some.
I'm normally hungry by about 5 oclock but I just ignore it until dinner.
Also to avoid calories from drinking coffee I just drink it black. I add extra water to it instead of milk and it doesn't taste bad. Plus I read online that if you drink coffee black it boosts your metabolism, which it doesn't do if you drink it with milk and sugar. (:

i been drinking black coffee more than normal because it seems to cut my appetite. is that right?

what i dont get is MFP has got me at 3900+ cal /day. i dont eat that much. i been keeping it between 1500 and 2000 and am losing weight steady but dont feel like crud. how do they get the numbers?

3900 sounds incredibly excessive... Unless you are exercising like a maniac for 6 hours a day???

Just to add that my cups of tea (PG Tips with SS milk and sweetner) are zero calories !!! Phew - thought I was going to have to give up me cuppa's as well...