Meals under 600 kcal

Are you doing the cooking? Focus on baking or broiling meat/fish and cooking two large veggie dishes. Pinterest has some great ideas. Create an account and try different search terms.

You can just adjust portion sizes. For example, say you start with pork chop, apples, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. That can be a really low cal meal or not very low cal, depending on how much of each thing you eat. When eating with someone not watching calories I just increase my veggie portion (or meat if I need more protein and it's on the lean side) and reduce my starch some.

beckiirs92 wrote: »

I think my problem is carbs! looking on pinterest and other places online.. I have bread/pasta/potatoes with every meal.. I feel like its not a 'meal' without them.. must be bumping up my calories right? lol

You can still have them, just have a smaller portion. More lower calorie vegetables, and less potatoes/bread/pasta. Half a roll, instead of whole; Less pasta and more sauce; Fewer potatoes, or half a baked instead of whole.

For mashed potatoes, try subbing half of the potatoes with cauliflower or turnips. Both are lower carbs and calories but are so mildly flavored you won't even notice them.

Grilled chicken breast with a side of roasted vegetables. Easy.

Mexican! Fajita style onions & peppers (sub water for oil), slice & mix in any protein (I use black beans sometimes). Whole grain tortilla or rice. I add avacado & kids use sour cream & cheese. Tonight I added spinach to the veggies, sometimes corn...so many options & always makes me feel full.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

beckiirs92 wrote: »

I think my problem is carbs! looking on pinterest and other places online.. I have bread/pasta/potatoes with every meal.. I feel like its not a 'meal' without them.. must be bumping up my calories right? lol

You can still have them, just have a smaller portion. More lower calorie vegetables, and less potatoes/bread/pasta. Half a roll, instead of whole; Less pasta and more sauce; Fewer potatoes, or half a baked instead of whole.

For mashed potatoes, try subbing half of the potatoes with cauliflower or turnips. Both are lower carbs and calories but are so mildly flavored you won't even notice them.

This is great advice. I measure out my meat and starch carefully and don't have starch with every meal. I usually have it with one, maybe 2 if I have oatmeal for breakfast.

For the other I'll have extra veggies or fruit or maybe some dairy.

But if eating with others the starch is a great thing to have, since it allows you to bump up or down the calories just by having more or less. I might make a second veggie and give myself half of the potato serving I give to others (or let them dish up).

I also often do the winter squash or root veggie replacement for the starch course. Fills out the same place on the plate and feels even more like you are having a traditional dinner than adding a second or third veggie course or fruit would.

Also, any meal can be under 600 calories. Take a 1200 calorie meal. Eat half of it. Done.

This works for a 400 calorie meal too: Take a 1200 calorie meal. Eat one third of it. Done.

And so on, and so forth.

I've had a rummage in my food diary to see what I usually do, I know my dinners are usually under 600cals, so here goes...

- Boiled rice, Quorn chicken pieces, gravy (from an instant mix), broccoli, cauliflower
- Jacket potato topped with light Philadelphia, various vegetables and pickles, grilled turkey breast
- Quorn mince bolognaise-style (seasonings, tinned tomatoes, vegetables, stock), pasta
- Grilled lamb steak with spices and mashed potato (made with almond milk and little butter)
- Tuna (tinned) mixed with mayo or cottage cheese, vegetables, on top of steamed squash
- Baked pork loin, vegetables, with quinoa

Sorry I didn't attribute specific numbers, but each meal is under 600cals. Like others have said for me it's about portion size, I always have carbs at dinner too. Also I don't have tiny carb portions (rice is 180g cooked, quinoa is 70g dry, a jacket potato is, well, a large potato - don't worry I weigh it when I'm cooking ). I almost never cook with oil so that helps a lot, our cookware is non-stick so it isn't necessary and in the oven I use baking parchment. I like vegetables so adding lots really makes the meal but are low in calories and I usually steam them. My meat portions are typically 100-150g raw. Quorn is particularly low in calories, I buy it because as much as I like meat I don't like eating it every day, however it's great for putting together a lower calorie meal - I had a fair amount yesterday, 130g frozen of chicken-style pieces, and that is only 116 calories.

I have children and am married so any meal is for everyone, I cook things like the above mainly aimed at providing veggies, some protein, and some carbs and I just measure out my portions. There are some things we only eat occasionally because of calories (eg fried food) or that I provide on the side and I omit if necessary (eg grated cheese to go on top of a pasta dish).

Fussy kids make life hard. I adapt meals and often serve components separate for my fussy child as she hates things mixed together

Nachos for dinner last night was under 600 cal. I had a big serve of green salad on the side, made it with lean mince, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and taco seasoning. Heaped raw cabbage between the corn chips and meat (gives a great crunch and fills me up). Small amount of grated cheese 10-15g)

Small serve of spaghetti Bolognaise, make with lean mince, passata, herbs, garlic and I blitz a ton Of veggies very fine (hiding them from the kids) capsicum, onion, spinach, zucchini, onion, mushroom, celery all work. More sauce less pasta for your serve

Grilled chicken/steak, 1 boiled egg, roasted sweet potato, feta, cucumber, tomato and salad leaves tossed together for you and maybe separate for fussy kids. If you have spare calories some dry fried crumbled pancetta over the top.

Buy baby potatoes, easy for portion control. Mini bread rolls are another option and serve carb heavy or calorie heavy meals as a half serve with a late salad or steamed veg for you.

Google slow cooker cashew chicken, add veg in the last 60min to bulk it up and make it less calorie dense. Cabbage, capsicum, zucchini, cauli and broccoli all work well. Serve with a small amount of boiled rice or cauliflower rice if it floats your boat, I prefer real rice