Cannot survive on 1200! Food diary included

I found that I had to up my intake at first to about 1500 cals. I was able to bring it back down to 1350-ish after a week or two as my body got used to it. Also, I exercise nearly every day, otherwise I'd never make that number. I like my food too much! I've lost about 11 lbs in the last six weeks. You can check out my diary if you like, and see if it helps with any ideas (you may need to friend me first).
I also found that I had to get away from processed foods as much as I could, just to make the calorie count. I've kind of fallen into clean eating by default, although that's not what I deliberately intended to do (and in fact, I don't necessarily agree with the clean eating philosophy). There are days when I don't do so well - pizza, chocolate, etc. But on the whole I do okay.
My point there is: don't rely too much on snack foods. Go for things like dried fruits and nuts (although watch the fats and sugars there - I have an allowance of only eight almonds and six pieces of dried apricot every day). Plain Chobani yoghurt is another favourite - sometimes I'll mix this with fresh crushed blueberries and a half-teaspoon of honey.
Spreading out the calorie intake across the day is another strategy I use. If I've had a calorie blow-out the day before and I need to cut the intake, I'll pre-plan my whole day and spread it all out as much as possible, so I end up grazing through the day instead of having three big meals.
Hope this helps.

KailaLaFlor wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

KailaLaFlor wrote: »

HeliumIsNoble wrote: »

KailaLaFlor wrote: »

I'm struggling to even meet 1,200 a day since I gave up junk foods and started eating more plant based. I'm doing an oatmeal shake for breakfast with unsweetened almond milk, a HUGE plate of brown rice and roasted veggies for lunch, and I don't even want to snack I'm so full from those. Dinner is protein and vegetables.

I'm going to have to get some protein powder or something to add to my shake and up my calories, I keep coming up around 900, and physically can't eat more.

Are you weighing the rice?

I cook it and then measure out 1 cup of cooked brown rice. I eat like half a large sheet pan of roasted vegetables on top of the bed of rice. I add about 1 tbsp of olive oil to the vegetables before hand. It's a lot of food, but only adds up to about 400 calories on a good day.

you are supposed to weigh rice dry and cup measurements will be off since its a solid.

I make 1.5 cups dry (900 calories) in the rice cooker and dip a cup out everyday. It lasts 5 days. 900/5

HeliumIsNoble wrote: »

In addition to what they just said, a tablespoon of olive oil is approximately 120 calories per 15ml tablespoon. If your tablespoons are bigger, or smaller than 15ml, which is v. likely, it will be more or less.

Do you weigh the vegetables? I eat roasted veg a lot, and trust me, we are not talking under 400cal when I do that kind of meal. ONE large sweet potato (300g+) is 240+ calories.

I buy bags of frozen vegetable mixes. For example, for my main mix, a whole bag is 225 calories. I eat half one day, and half the next. That's one of the reasons why I buy the frozen, it's easy to track. I'm still working on getting a scale.

using a cup will still be inaccurate. and as for bags of veggies you do know they can be off by up to 20% ? so a bag of veggies can end up being more than 225 calories. when you get a scale weigh out the dry rice an then add it to the cooker. Then you will know exactly how much rice you are eating. you may be shocked and its highly possible it will be a lot more than you think. I learned that the hard way.same with peanut butter,spaghetti,macaroni,etc.

I recently upped my calorie goal to 1,350. Its much more reasonable and with only 20 min workouts 5xs a week I am still loosing just the same as when I was struggling at the 1,200 level. And I make sure most of my intake is veggies and protien sources.

jlynn1991 wrote: »

I recently upped my calorie goal to 1,350. Its much more reasonable and with only 20 min workouts 5xs a week I am still loosing just the same as when I was struggling at the 1,200 level. And I make sure most of my intake is veggies and protien sources.

Making sure you get sufficient fat is important - use the recommendation from MFP as a minimum. Fat is important for health and body function, and helps with absorbtion of a lot of the nutrients in the other food you eat.