Filling diet foods please

There's no reason to have the little amount of calories unless you are like 4'11 and 80lb.

That being said, it's your choice, not mine. Eat a lot of veggies with every meal to not only fill you up, but this means you'll at least be getting a fair amount of micro nutrients.

Fish fillets are fairly low in calories but moderately filling! Personally I'd be eating 2 or 3 every day!

A 1200 calorie day for me is almost always about how much volume I can consume for my goal. Large quantities of salad vegetables - cucumber, radish, lettuce, carrot - without dressing. A pint of soup at a time - I buy a variety that comes in at 240 cals for 600 mls. A soft boiled egg on a slice of really good bread - my favourite toast bread is 100 calories a slice, so it's around 190 calories for both. I like runny egg yolks so I don't need to butter the toast. Plain fish fillets (firm white rather than oily varieties) and prawns (if you eat crustaceans as well as fish) are great as they are generally slightly lower in calories than red meat and poultry alternatives, and take on lots of other flavours.

Cut the "hidden" calories - my mind has always tricked me that "wraps" must be healthier than sandwiches. But those things can have up to 300 calories in the wrap ALONE, and what I really want is the filling, not the gummy, floury wrap. Use lettuce leaves or blanched greens instead. I will by more mindful of dairy products on light calorie days i.e. I can have an individual tub of 0% Fage with my breakfast, but I will avoid cheese.

I use lots of fresh herbs and chillies along with ginger and garlic to add the all-important flavour to food.

And I like to keep a low calorie ice-lolly in the freezer - I don't usually have dessert, but the psychology of reduced cal days can drive me up the wall, and it's nice to have a treat on hand that won't blow the energy budget.

Fruit and veg are your best friends. I just made a super filling and low cal (less than 250) bulgur wheat & spinach salad and I'm stuffed. Add lots of different things to keep your palate entertained. Dressings made with lemon juice, red wine/balsamic vinegar, garlic, pepper and/or ginger et al will up the flavour factor. Add prawns, egg or a bit of cheese for protein. Oven roasted root veggies (carrot, sweet potato, parsnip) are lovely too and you get a lot for your 'money', provided you don't drown them in oil. Home-made soups are fab too - I've always got a few portions in the freezer. The seemingly never-ending chopping and constant need to replenish fresh stuff in the fridge is a bit of a pain but you get used to it. I've found things I make an effort to make myself from scratch are far more filling than any of these low-cal/'reduced' ready meals and products you can get.

Also, 'skinny' popcorn (I like Metcalfe's or Tesco's own) is great if you want a treat to munch on that is also quite filling and not laden with calories.

Re; the 1200 calorie limit - if you do find yourself constantly hungry, think about upping your allowance and losing that bit more slowly. Better that the weight comes off eventually than you get disheartened through constant hunger and give up completely.

I keep frozen chicken tenderloins in the freezer- thaw a couple while getting ready for work in the morning, put in toaster oven for a bit, then put in a baggie. Take a zucchini squash and some onion, chop them up and put them in a container, to put in the microwave at work for 2 minutes. Bring some sliced watermelon for a snack. Fat Free cottage cheese is good, too. Lots of water. Bring a sweet potato with you to work, put in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. Yum!

An awesome breakfast is Southwest style Egg Beaters, tons of spinach/kale/sorrel/other green leafy, any leftover steamed veggies thrown in with nutritional yeast and a hit of Sriracha or cayenne. Makes a ton of food, and you can roll it up in two soft corn tortillas for about 150 calories total.

On a 1200 calorie a day vegetarian diet, you are pretty well limited to lots of leafy greens for volume. Carefully measure a nice vinaigrette made with EVOO, because fat helps you feel full too.

Karen_libert wrote: »

my favourite meal is fish and veg with noodles. I buy birds eye inspirations fish selection (love the thai coconut one) and stir fry whatever veg I have. The fish makes it own sauce so just add noddles and you have a good meal for around 500 calories. I but different flavours of noodle pastes so you can eat a ton of veg and noodles for even fewer calories

Yess how good is the coconut curry salmon, so yum!!