Can't consume 1200 calories

Calorie dense foods can be your best friends when you're trying to boost your calories. This is a generic list and it's definitely not comprehensive, but anything here can be included in a balanced diet (as long as there are no allergies, medical conditions, obviously):
avocado
cheese
full fat dairy
Greek yogurt
ice cream
peanut butter (or other nut butters)
dark chocolate
less lean cuts of meat (including beef, pork, sausage, etc.)
seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, etc.)
nuts
olive oil
coconut oil
butter
beans and lentils
protein shakes, bars, and smoothies
hummus
beef jerky
cornbread
tuna
full calorie condiments
full calorie sauces & dressings
sour cream
guacamole
whole grain pasta
rice
bacon
whole eggs
quinoa
fruit and fruit juices
pretzels
bananas
scones
muffins (bran, blueberry, banana nut, etc.)
potatoes (sweet, red, gold, purple, white, etc.)
dried fruit (raisins, apricots, plums, dates, etc.)
granola
coconut
salmon
edamame
honey
molasses

Friend me. Check out my diary. It's not all "clean"....I do about 80/20 whole foods to processed things. I eat 1500-2k calories so you can easy cut out the bad stuff and get 1200.

You can easily consume 2000+ calories on healthy food. Depending on your definition of clean, some of these you may have to exclude....but for a general idea of healthy foods that can easily add up to 1200 calories: chicken, fish, eggs, beans, green beans, spinach, cheese, yogurt, lima beans, white/black beans, whole grain rice, nuts, honey, carrots, celery, hummus, venison, lean beef, tomatoes, broccoli. I mean really the list is endless.

BTW - are you sure 1200 is what you should be eating? Recheck your calculations, that is the minimum suggested by most health care professionals.

I hope you're talking about 1200 net. Reading you exercise at least 5 days a week, your intake should most likely be quite a bit more in order to properly fuel your body while losing.

Be careful of entering starvation mode. I find that once I stop being hungry, I start holding weight. If you are having a hard time hitting 1200, you are most likely eating too little. I agree that calorie dense foods are the best way to go...avocados and almonds are my go-to snacks.

Usually, the fastest and easiest way to add calories is with oil and fat. Add a sour cream based salad dressing or some hummus. Or coconut or olive oil.

You mean 1200 calories per meal, right? Because 1200 calories per day is a piece of cake, pun intended.

You obviously ate over 1200 calories per day in order to need to lose weight. Your problem is that you're labeling foods as "good" and "bad." No food is bad. If it fits into your calories, eat it.

I was having the same problem in the beginning. I started to become "afraid" of foods, eating much lower calorie and macro-wise than what myfitnesspal would allow me to eat to successfully complete my log. After pretty much starving myself, which I didn't even realize, because I'd claim to be "full", I had the worst attack of binge eating I could ever have imagined and made myself really sick. I also stopped losing weight for a little while. I finally started having more nutrient dense foods, like Ezekiel bread, and tortillas, guacamole and even yogurts and cookies every once in awhile, and I'm finally losing weight again, even though I upped my calories. I feel so much better on the daily, and even when working out.

Please, don't let this happen to you. I'm currently going to the doctor because I think I may have caused some bodily harm from it, due to symptoms I have been experiencing. Even if you aren't hungry, add butter to your veggies, or cook with olive oil. Use real sugar instead of 0 calorie sweeteners.

Bad foods is an outdated term. You can eat at McDonald's and burger King if you want as long as you hit your macronutrients goals for the day.

profilce wrote: »

Thank you everybody! I checked this calculator twice and it says I should eat 1200 calories a day. I exercise 5 days a week.In these 5 days, I'm at the gym on Monday. I can eat like 700 calories and then I think that I ate too much. But I know that I should eat more because I shouldn't starve myself and I'm not trying to do that. I agree with you Lindsey! I've gained pounds last year because I didn't work out for one year and ate lots of junk food like pizza, mc donald's stuff etc

Let me guess...you selected 2 Lbs per week as your goal (very aggressive) and you put your activity level to sedentary...even though you're probably not sedentary...and obviously you are working out so you need to account for that activity too.

As others have stated...you don't need more volume...eat more calorie dense foods...eat some frickin' fat...it's good for you. Srly...dietary fat is essential to proper and balanced nutrition.