What does your 1200 cal day look like?

I eat 1300 a day and Mon to Fri I eat within this goal easily. At the weekends I def find it harder, esp if I want a drink or two but I try to get the gym throughout the week and I don't eat back any of my exercise calories and this gives me enough leeway to see a .5kg loss each Mon. It took me a while to understand when I am most hungry and once I settled into eating my meals when I am most hungry, that has stopped me snacking altogether - but there was some trial and error involved. For me a typical day looks like this:

Breakfast - low fat yogurt and fruit (130 cals) or 2 scrambled eggs (180-200 cals)
Lunch - dinner leftovers - could be veggies stirfried with chickpeas (190 cals) and a small fillet of salmon (300 cals) or chicken fajitas (300 cals for the chicken/veg) with 2 tortillas (226 cals) or coucous and tuna salad (approx 480 cals depending on what I throw in)

Dinner will depend really on what calories I have left but I always try to keep back at least 550 cals for dinner. Dinner could be fish finger wraps, pasta with veggies and tomato sauce, chicken casseroles, tuna salad, individual serving pizzas, etc. You learn fast the things that really pile on the calories but aren't so worth it. For me, removing the cheese and sour cream from chicken fajitas made them a good calorie option and they are still really tasty. A year ago, you would have had to pry the block of cheddar from my cold, dead fingers!

I weigh everything on a kitchen scale and then portion it out so I know exactly what I am eating. Planning is key for me!

For comparison, I am a 5ft 4" female, 38yrs old with a desk job so sedentary activity level.

I stick with 1200 calories most days. I try to add a lot of veggies to my meals to help me stay full.

Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled without added fat, with lots of chopped tomatoes, scallions, red onion, and chilis, with 2 slices of Sara Lee reduced calorie bread.

Snack: Apple

Lunch: some sort of lean protein, such as chicken or ham with a ton of steamed vegetables (baby carrots, snow peas, cauliflower, turnips, rutabaga...) and a non-fat Greek yoghurt.

Snack: Apple

Dinner: some sort of protein again, like chicken, flank steak, or salmon, with tons more steamed vegetables, and a bowl of salad (lettuce, cucumber, bell peppers) with 2 tbsp reduced-fat dressing.

Dessert: Weight Watchers ice cream bar (I love the chocolate covered salted caramel one, 80 calories)

If I've got room left over in my calorie allowance, I add more fruit (apples, grapes, bananas) and yoghurt. Or the 60 calorie Jello brand chocolate pudding!

I do something like 16:8 IF normally (it's more of a 'when I'm actually hungry' thing and not a really strict fasting window), and sometimes eat at 1200. I've never really been hungry in the mornings, and I like larger meals w/o much snacking. This keeps me really satisfied as long as I'm thoughtful about meals and get a decent amount of fat and fiber.

Today -
1 cup Skinny Taste chicken taco chili + 1 cup jasmine rice
shredded cheddar
apple

Baked potato, butter & sour cream
Green beans
Crunchy baked fish and cocktail sauce

1219 calories

I'll probably have tea with 2 tsp. of sugar and a piece of dark chocolate (80 calories) before I leave work, since I'm going to the gym. I'm a fan of pre-exercise caffeine.

1 tub of Ben & Jerries.

I skip breakfast (other than a cup of tea)

Lunch is around 300 calories, usually a small serving of leftovers from last night's dinner.

The rest of the calories are spent on dinner. Usually some form of lean meat or fish and vegetables. Maybe a small side of high fiber grains. Or maybe a meatless meal of bean soup with salad or a small sandwich. Maybe an omelet or frittata. Almost always with a glass of wine.

Depending on how caloric the meal was, I may have a few sweetened nuts as dessert.

Example, not everyday

Breakfast - 250 cal
- Orowheat brand, extra crisp english muffin 130 cal
- 2 slices Maple Leaf Natural Selections turkey or chicken 35 cal
- 1 slice Saputo Monterey Jack cheese 60 cal
- 1 cup Silk creamy cashew unsweetened, in coffee 25 cal

I sometimes have a banana between breakfast and lunch - 90 cal

Lunch - 292 cal
- 15 grams Kraft Feta crumbles 45 cal
- 0.5 cup chopped cucumber, 0.5 cup chopped red pepper, 0.5 cup chopped tomato 40 cal
- 0.5 can Pole and Line Tuna, drained (85 gram) 77 cal
- 2 slices weight watchers brown bread 100 cal
- 2 tbsp fat free miracle whip 30 cal

Snack - 1 apple 80 cal

Dinner/Snack - 488 left
- Usually snack on baby carrots 3 oz 35 cal, while making dinner or driving home
- Veggie chicken burger patty, Yves 110 cal. I am not vegetarian but these are convenient
- Cooked or raw veg, cucumber, lettuce salad
- Water steamed broccoli or cauliflower, usually with 1 cheese string pulled apart and melted on top 60 cal
- Homemade hummous 60 gram, 90 cal
- Maybe put all these into a pita or half pita, Pita Bread Factory brand 130 cal for 1 whole pita

I find this to be enough food all day, but I am not stuffed silly, nor am I going to bed hungry. I also do not exercise. If I do, it's only walking 1-3 km, and I will eat back 30-50% of the calories.

The other key for me is no artificially sweetened anything, including stevia, splenda etc.. Those things really rev up my appetite and make me crave more calories.

HTH!

emilk2016 wrote: »

trigden1991 wrote: »

1 tub of Ben & Jerries.

Lol, that sound more like mine ...

Yea I read that the other day .. supposed to be 4 servings in that pint lol

Good luck

Interesting to see how many people have a very similar pattern to my own, with a small breakfast, slightly bigger lunch, and nearly half the calories spent on dinner.

OP if you struggle to eat 1200 calories how did you get into a situation where you need to lose weight?

If you are finding it difficult to eat that much it is because you are making it difficult to eat that much based on what you are choosing to eat. So choose something else.