Exasperation with meal planning...can someone tell me how to fit 3 meals into 1200 calories?

Instead of asking how to not go mad on 1200 cals, i'd be asking why you think you need to eat 1200 calories in the first place.

Have you selected to lose 2lbs per week? Is that realistic for you? Perhaps try setting your goal to 0.5-1lb a week - you'll get more cals, and achieving your weight loss goal would be easier, even if it would take longer...

MonaRaeHill wrote: »

I see all these things on meal planning, they only serve to make me edgy. What the heck are people eating on these meal plans? They sound like far too much work for a nibble, which is how I view 300 calories. That's a nibble, not a meal! Lawdy.
I can exceed 1200 calories by just eating once per day.....which makes me cranky....especially if I exercise that day. geez. What gives? I need an on board Weight Watchers chef. Or just choose to live on protein shakes w/greens, which is about the only way to eat healthy with what my budget will stand......blek.
How does anybody only eat 1200 calories, without losing it? Better off not eating at all.........in my mind. lol.

I workout so I can eat more food.

Otherwise I would divide 1200 by 3 to get 3 meals of 400 kcals. Can you get more excercise into your day?

Why do you think you only get 1200?

Are you eating back actual exercise calories and selecting an appropriate loss rate which may mean a much lengthier but more possible task?

Last, but not least, 1200 is not easy and it boggles my mind. And yes, in order to achieve it you probably do need to cook very well thought out meals by yourself, or vastly reduce your expected portion sizes (I mean most Lean Cuisine meals are under 350 Cal, and I would kill someone living off a single one as a meal. Then again I deliberately tried to increase my tdee and limited my deficits to less than 25% while I was obese, and not even 15% when I no longer was)

Anyway. How much fish, shrimp, chicken breast, pork tenderloin, egg white, and how many vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, rutabaga (swede)), mushrooms, carrots, zoocchini, peppers, gai-lan, bok-choi, jicama, and garlic, perhaps, and while you're at it, how many tomatoes and green peppers sprinkled with onions, or some spicy peppers, and/or even a few olive/pickle/jalapeno rounds can you fit on a plate worth 400 to 500 Cal?

And don't forget to count the Pam spray, it ain't 0 Cal in quantity. Balsamic glaze, mustard, shriracha, Greek yogurt, nothing, have all been used as sauce at times. Shiritaki noodles or zoodles are also interesting ideas.

In my case? Excercise more to give yourself a few more calories to play with.
I also suggest logging for a while, even before making any serious changes to your diet.
Weigh (with a scale is best) everything you eat, and write why you are eating it (i.e, lunchtime, hungry, kind of bored, out with friends, watching tv) and how you are feeling right before, right after and an hour after (hungry, comfortable, normal, full, very full bloated, drowsy).
This gives you a baseline pattern for your normal habits and routine. From there, it's just a matter of experimenting. Are you very full after dinner? Cut back on a few things. Does lunch leave you bloated and gassy after an hour, try less or no mayo, and see if there's something you don't mind dropping each meal (fries, or cheese, or maybe only 2 tacos instead of 3).It's amazing how quickly these small and easily sustainable changes will add up to big calorie cuts. Only cut one or two things at a time, until they become habit instead if trying to do everything at once. That way they become individual habits instead of one big "diet". So when you backslide you won't drop everything at once, just one or two habits, that you can fix again more easily.

Unfortunately, for us short chubby females that 1200 is a hard reality. I’ve been at it almost a year and the meals are a constant struggle. Good news I’ve kept off the 35 lost pounds, but pushing forward for more loss to get below even 170 is proving most challenging.

I made these collages a while back of a representative 1200 day. You can eat a lot of food on 1200 if you choose less calorie dense options.

I regularly eat 1200 a day during the week so I can eat 2000+ at the weekends

The only way I can do this and not go nuts with tiny meals is to do intermittent fasting .. so miss breakfast ... eat a light lunch if I need it, then I have 900 cal in the evening for a decent size meal and snacks

It’s not ideal and I “should” increase my calories, but I have always favoured the short hard fast aggressive 1 - 1.5 month cuts

Add me as a friend though if you want to see my diary for what I eat

I'm 5'2, MFP wanted me at 1200 calories to lose 2lbs a week. I couldn't do it because I like to eat. I decided I'm okay with 0.5-1lb/ week and increased my calories to 1500 ish. Since I really like to eat I walk on average 14-15k steps everyday that's an additional 200 bonus calories if I need it. I've lost 36lbs eating this way. It was a slow weight lose, which I preferred. I'm in no rush. My ultimate goal is to be 125-130lb. I have this entire 2018 year to lose the last 15 pounds.

There's nothing virtuous about eating 1200 calories. That's just the minimum MFP allows and thus where many women get stuck when they choose an aggressive goal. BTDT, don't do it any more! I can eat 1200 per day, and even convince myself that it's not making me miserable, that I'm eating healthy because, vegetables! Etc. For a while...until I can't any more. The hungries kick in, I get tired, irritable, and have no energy for daily life, much less purposeful exercise.

My answer to this question therefore is always, don't. Bump up your calories, lose a little more slowly, and enjoy life along the way. It's the only one you get.

Also, when you exercise you should eat at least a portion of those calories back. How much will depend on your individual results but usually a minimum of half.