1200 calories/ day food ideas
hsamimis
Posts: 2 Member
Hi all,
I am new to this, trying to lose 30 pounds, aiming to lose 2 pounds a week. Based on the app calculations I should be eating 1200 calories which I am struggling with as I constantly find myself hungry. For breakfast this morning I had a whole wheat wrap with a tablespoon cream cheese, two scrambled eggs with butter and 1/2 avocado and I am already at 580 calories.
Just wondering what your meals look lile if you are also on a 1200 cal diet.
I am new to this, trying to lose 30 pounds, aiming to lose 2 pounds a week. Based on the app calculations I should be eating 1200 calories which I am struggling with as I constantly find myself hungry. For breakfast this morning I had a whole wheat wrap with a tablespoon cream cheese, two scrambled eggs with butter and 1/2 avocado and I am already at 580 calories.
Just wondering what your meals look lile if you are also on a 1200 cal diet.
1
Replies
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If you've only got 30 lbs to lose, 2 pounds a week is too aggressive and extremely unlikely. A healthy rate of loss for you is between .5 and 1 pound per week. Put that into MFP and see if you get more calories to work with.18
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With 30 pounds to lose, you shouldn't be shooting for 2 lbs per week. Switch to 1 lb per week. You'll get more wiggle room and have a better shot at success.
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If you've only got 30 lbs to lose, 2 pounds a week is too aggressive and extremely unlikely. A healthy rate of loss for you is between .5 and 1 pound per week. Put that into MFP and see if you get more calories to work with.
This ^^^^^
Slow weight loss is sustainable weight loss.11 -
Thanks everyone. I will follow your advice
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Also that wrap is full of calories. If you want a wrap use a corn tortilla to cut the calories dramatically. I buy corn tortillas that are 50 calories each. I spray with pam and warm in a fry pan before filling. If you add an egg with extra whites scrambled with some spinach, onions and peppers you get a much lower calorie count. You can even throw in an ounce or two of ham. A tablespoon of shredded swiss cheese is a nice addition too. I generally eat odd things for breakfast like the Ocean's snack kit with rice crackers (146 calories) or a thin bagel with 2 T. lite cream cheese (160 calories). My lunches are often homemade soup that is pretty low cal (250 cal). Dinner is my big meal of the day usually around 500 calories with the rest in snacks. I snack on low fat popcorn alot or fruit with 2% milk and sweetner. Those are pretty low and fill me up. I also use Built Bars for a snack at 100 calories each.4
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I'm sorry to barge in, but I am curious.
Why is it not ok to aim for 2lbs a week?
And why is slow weight loss more sustainable than quick weight loss?1 -
I'm sorry to barge in, but I am curious.
Why is it not ok to aim for 2lbs a week?
And why is slow weight loss more sustainable than quick weight loss?
Because fast weight loss is usually not sustainable. That's because you can't keep it up long enough to lose the weight. Most people burn out after a month or two. Also 1200 calories is the lowest that is safe for a woman so that might not even be the 1000 calorie a day deficit that is required to lose 2 pounds a week. At that level you are likely going to lose muslce and your heart is a muscle. In addition and in my opinion the most important thing is that you will learn nothing to help you maintain. It took me 2 years to reach goal but I am maintaining the loss for the last 2 years which is the first time in my life I lost and kept it off.13 -
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Slower weight loss is more sustainable yes but I also think that a 1200 calorie diet isn't totally crazy depending on what your current BMI is. I lost over 30 pounds eating a 1200 calorie diet and only doing moderate exercise.
There are tons of typical diets for 1200 calories available online but the biggest takeaway will be to lower your sugar and carbs and load up on veggies and protein. They will keep you fuller longer. Using your breakfast as an example if you just ate the eggs, cream cheese and avocado but skipped the butter and wrap i calculate that breakfast to come out to only 250 cals. And all the protein in that would likely sustain you until lunch anyway. For me i usually go with a somewhat carb heavy but slow burning breakfast of oatmeal. My lunches are usually a combo of a protein and veggie with a small amount of carbs and i tend to load my dinner with more carbs because I have two small kiddos and my kids love their breads, pastas and rice!5 -
I agree that you might want to set your goal down to something that gives you more of a budget to work with
If you are having problems staying hungry some things I have done in the past to stay full but within calories:
Add in low cal vegetables for bulk/volume without a lot of calories (ex: add onions, peppers, tomatoes or mushrooms to your eggs)
Swap out high calorie foods for lower calorie options (ex: a tortilla can be 200+ but wheat toast is 120 for two slices, corn tortillas are another option) I prefer the regular version of something that’s naturally lower in calories vs a low fat/reduced calorie version
Pay attention to how foods make you feel. Your breakfast has a lot of fat (butter, avocado, cream cheese) which is calorie dense— if it leaves you satisfied that’s great, if not then you can make some swaps (ex: swap cream cheese for salsa/hot sauce/a low cal condiment) Also I don’t know if you’ve hear of neufschatel cheese, it’s like cream cheese but slightly lower calorie, I have no idea what the difference is but it’s really good and I like it
Finally, grilled/baked chicken breast (seasoned but no fat/oil) and steamed frozen broccoli/veg (1/2 tps fat/oil) is really filling and you can get a solid meal for around 300 calories (for 4-5oz chicken and like....almost a whole bag of broccoli). I like broccoli vs greens/salad because it feels more filling and you don’t have to use as much oil/fat to make it palatable—you don’t have to use it at all if you don’t want3 -
Getting your food right takes some practice. You've learned your breakfast is too calorific, so tweak it! Drop the wrap. Eat some eggs with avocado. Or whatever. It's your diet, make it what you want.2
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I agree with modifying your calorie goal to give yourself some more room! 2 lb/week is a lot with only 30 pounds to lose.
As far as your actual breakfast, I'm always amazed at how many calories wraps/tortillas are! I shouldn't be at this point, but it's something that always "feels" light to me, but can have a ton of calories. You could swap that to something else, or just modify your fillings. For me, I'd choose either the cream cheese or avocado, not both, since they serve a similar creamy, fatty purpose in the wrap and eliminating/minimizing the butter. Add some spinach, mushrooms, or peppers to the eggs to bulk them up a little more for very low calories, things like that.
Also remember that depending on the activity setting you have chosen, you still should be adding in any intentional exercise. People have different schools of thought on eating back exercise calories or not, but it's something to keep in mind and play around with as you figure out how to eat at a (reasonable for you) deficit.1 -
I am on 1200 because of my height and I eat any exercise calories back.
For breakfast my recent go to is either greek yoghurt with fruit, or chia pudding. Sometimes 'egg muffins' or at the weekend I will have some cereal like cornflakes.
For lunches I tend to eat salads, soups, or leftovers from the day before. Dinner I tend to have things where it's all mixed in, e.g chilli, casserole, soup (as opposed to say, chicken, rice and veg) because then I can bulk it out with veggies and split it into 4/5/6 depending on how many calories it is.
It took me a lot of trial and error to see what works for me. My breakfast and lunches used to be bigger however I need to snack a lot throughout the afternoon due to an issue with my blood sugar so I cut these to allow for more snacks.
Feel free to add me and have a look at my diary. Haven't been doing great recently though.0 -
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I'm sorry to barge in, but I am curious.
Why is it not ok to aim for 2lbs a week?
And why is slow weight loss more sustainable than quick weight loss?
Have you ever read the tortoise and the hare?
2 Lbs per week is really aggressive for someone not having a ton of weight to lose. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot. Someone with a lot of weight to lose is going to have a higher TDEE and therefore a more manageable calorie target trying to lose 2 Lbs per week.
Going back to the tortoise and the hare...who is going to win between someone with a reasonable rate of loss goal and a reasonable calorie target that they can sustain over time without much issue vs someone being very aggressive and constantly going off plan because they can't sustain that effort long term?
A good general rule of thumb for weight loss is no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Even then, you really have to determine what is best for you individually...technically, I could safely lose 1.85 Lbs per week at my current weight...but I'm also at a healthy BF% so it would be pretty aggressive and pretty low calorie...I wouldn't be able to stick with it very long. My energy levels and fitness would also likely suffer quite a bit.2 -
My 1200 cal plan works for me. My problem is eating when I am bored or frustrated, or sitting in front of the TV that plays ALOT of food commercials. I am working on coping skills. I also count everything right down to the milk that goes in my coffee. Breakfast: cinnamon raisin english muffin, coffee/milk. Lunch: 80 cal greek yogurt, 4-5 tortilla chips (I must have something that crunches!), decaf coffee/milk, sometimes a clementine. Dinner: 4 oz. of meat, 1 cup vegetable, 1/2-1 cup applesauce. Snack: 1 cup boomchicka popcorn @35 cal per cup, 1 small piece of chocolate (yup), diet ginger ale and herbal tea and lotsa water. My variation in my food is always at dinner because breakfast and lunch work with varied snacks works for me.2
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OP - It took me about 4 weeks to get to a point that I wasn't going to bed hungry, eating a meal and thinking about seconds, or randomly finding myself in front of an open fridge. Just a matter of getting your body used to fewer calories.
I also have myself set to 2 lbs a week, though I have a lot more to lose. I did that on purpose because I know if I go over a little one day, it's not going to kill me. I just don't let myself do it 2 days in a row.1 -
I'm sorry to barge in, but I am curious.
Why is it not ok to aim for 2lbs a week?
And why is slow weight loss more sustainable than quick weight loss?
Some people's week looks like this when their calorie deficit is too aggressive.
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
Others stick to it for weeks or months at a time and then fall off the wagon, binge, and gain it all back (plus more). Or have serious health consequences like this: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p17 -
Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
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Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
It's generally recommended to lose no more than 1% of your body weight per week, otherwise you risk losing more muscle mass than you need to. So if OP is over 200 lbs, yes, she could probably lose 2 lbs per week with little consequence.
The other issue is that to lose 2 lbs per week, you need to be in a 1,000 calorie deficit daily. For a woman to stay over the bare minimum 1200 calorie floor, she'd need to have a TDEE of at least 2200. While this isn't impossible, it's certainly not typical.
If she is under 200 lbs and has a TDEE under 2200 calories, she would need to undereat. While doing that for 15 weeks might not cause long term metabolic damage, it would be utterly miserable and she could lose several lbs of muscle in the process. If she managed to succeed, she would be fatigued and under-fueled at the finish line, which would leave her psychologically at risk for swinging back to the other extreme and eating too much. We see that happen often here.
If her TDEE is less than 2200, and she told MFP she wants to lose 2 lbs per week, it will not give her lower than 1200 calories, even though that will cause her to lose slower than the 2 lbs she asked for.7 -
Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
The faster you lose, the more muscle you lose. That's bad.2 -
@hsamimis Maybe just skip the wrap (tortilla) and have Eggs and Avocado. Eat more protein rich food, soup and veggies (fiber) to feel full?
I was at 1200 for a while but upped to 1300 because I'm trying to be more active and want more muscle.0 -
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Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
If you believe the statistics, and they seem plausible, 80 percent of the people who try to lose weight fail to achieve their goal. Of the 20 percent who actually make it to goal 15 percent of them regain their weight. It is not just SOME people it is MOST people.
The question other than preserving muscle mass is how to be the 5 percent and not the 95. As a hopefully reformed member of the 95 I can attest that going quick to get it over was my path to failure time and time again.6 -
If you increase your protein, you should feel fuller and not lose a lot of muscle while dropping the weight. I don't sacrifice a lot of my calories and each between 1,650 to 2,000 calories a day but I do a lot of exercise daily where I still create a significant deficit. My metabolism has shot through the roof. I'm never starving, feel stronger and I'm steadily losing 2 to 3 pounds a week. You have to find what works best for you and note that you can manually adjust the calories and nutrition percentages. I'd suggest wearing a smart watch such as Fitbit (or whatever brand you choose) and sync it to MyFitnessPal so you can see how many calories you burn for the entire day. That is the best starting point and then your nutrition and exercise plan should be developed based on total expenditure.1
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Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
If you believe the statistics, and they seem plausible, 80 percent of the people who try to lose weight fail to achieve their goal. Of the 20 percent who actually make it to goal 15 percent of them regain their weight. It is not just SOME people it is MOST people.
The question other than preserving muscle mass is how to be the 5 percent and not the 95. As a hopefully reformed member of the 95 I can attest that going quick to get it over was my path to failure time and time again.
But this is not a long term case.
We're talking 30 lbs. That's 15 weeks. Not enough time to lose muscle mass and especially not if the weight loss is supported by weight lifting.
Also, Regaining the weight has nothing to do with how fast you lose it and everything to do with what you put in your mouth.
We can argue and the research show that people have the propensity to binge and overeat when going through restrictive diets, but it ends with self control.
The people I've both trained and trained with don't seem to relapse. Myself included.
I find and there's plenty of research around, that shows slow weight loss has a demotivating effect and causes people to give up mid way through.
All I'm saying is that there are more ways to skin a cat and regaining the weight is an effect of unhealthy habits, rather than being a failure of the diet.
Each individual is a different case.
If the research showed that rapid weight loss over a short period of time caused metabolic issues, i'd agree with you 100%.3 -
I completely agree with this article. I use MyFitnessPal as a tool but I've tweaked my nutrition and fitness plans to meet my needs and complement the tool. 1,200 calories was not enough for me; I would feel lethargic and too weak to complete my workouts. I started eating a lot more calories based on what my body requires to get through the day and have had consistent weight loss results (along with consistent daily exercise and meal planning).0 -
Based on the answers here.
There's nothing that stops her from aiming to lose 2 lbs per week, aside from the fact that some people can't stick to the diet/calorie caps.
No physiological reasoning and 15 weeks of dieting is not long enough to cause any metabolic impact.
So, if @hsamimis can stick to her diet and exercise routine for 15 weeks, she can reach her goal safely.
If you believe the statistics, and they seem plausible, 80 percent of the people who try to lose weight fail to achieve their goal. Of the 20 percent who actually make it to goal 15 percent of them regain their weight. It is not just SOME people it is MOST people.
The question other than preserving muscle mass is how to be the 5 percent and not the 95. As a hopefully reformed member of the 95 I can attest that going quick to get it over was my path to failure time and time again.
But this is not a long term case.
We're talking 30 lbs. That's 15 weeks. Not enough time to lose muscle mass and especially not if the weight loss is supported by weight lifting.
Also, Regaining the weight has nothing to do with how fast you lose it and everything to do with what you put in your mouth.
We can argue and the research show that people have the propensity to binge and overeat when going through restrictive diets, but it ends with self control.
The people I've both trained and trained with don't seem to relapse. Myself included.
I find and there's plenty of research around, that shows slow weight loss has a demotivating effect and causes people to give up mid way through.
All I'm saying is that there are more ways to skin a cat and regaining the weight is an effect of unhealthy habits, rather than being a failure of the diet.
Each individual is a different case.
If the research showed that rapid weight loss over a short period of time caused metabolic issues, i'd agree with you 100%.
Of course people give up half way through or sooner. Of course they are demotivated. Most of them are trying to go too fast and they end up miserable.
The goal is less motivation and less self control. The easier it is the less you need. I cannot tell you how many times I have beat myself up over not having enough willpower to stick to a terrible weight loss plan.
I am not a trainer so I am not at risk of getting fired for someone not meeting a goal that may not be wise. The OP is already struggling so all I care about is helping her find her lane. You seem to keep arguing for fast results even if the OP is struggling. Trainers have a bad reputation around here for doing exactly what you seem to be doing.10 -
@NovusDies I had the same experience as you. It took me till I was 59 to realize that slow and steady wins the race. Even when I lost weight fast I always ended up gaining it back because I hadn't learned how to maintain. Where losing weight is concerned I think the battle is more than getting to a goal it's about staying there once you finally arrive.5
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I am maintaining at 1300-1400 calories per day. I was at 1250 for all of my active loss period. Have not been able to add many more calories, as you can see. (only 5 feet tall, so I was never going to get to eat a ton)
I have completely changed the way I eat over the past year and a half. I've learned to bulk up every meal with veggies... lots of them!
Breakfast is almost always 1 egg + 1 egg white with green peppers, onion, diced zucchini and spinach. Occasionally some leftover baked potato diced up. Keeps me full until lunch time (I teach, and don't have opportunity to snack at all between breakfast and lunch). About 150 calories.
Lunch is usually a "power bowl" as I call it..... quinoa or farro with lots of veggies, whatever I have ready (I spend Sunday afternoons food prepping): roasted diced beets, roasted diced sweet potato, sautéed bok choy, diced zucchini, diced eggplant, chopped or riced cauliflower, diced tomatoes, edamame, diced cooked chicken breast.... all tossed together and microwaved. Maybe lentils or black beans if I feel like adding a little more protein and starch. Sometimes I'll add a T of a favorite salad dressing or sauce; sometimes I"ll add an ounce of goat cheese which melts and makes a kind of sauce. I try to keep lunch at 350 calories.
Dinner is whatever main dish I"m making my family... chicken, steak, shrimp, pork.... with lots of veggies, and maybe some potato. I love to make cauliflower "mac" and cheese (steamed and finely chopped cauliflower with reduced fat cheddar and nonfat greek yogurt) with my dinner. I've learned to enjoy that side instead of a pasta, rice or potato on many nights. Frequently asparagus or string beans. Maybe Zucchini or Eggplant sliced and roasted with tomato sauce and part skim mozzarella. 2-ingredient dough made into pizza crust with tons of veggies on it.
I'm definitely a volume eater, so I find that meat with tons of veggies is what works best for me, in order to have enough calories. When I was eating more carbs and less healthy foods, I was severely limited in the amount of food I could fit in, and I was really unhappy.
This is my new way of eating, and I'm very happy with it. Definitely a lifestyle change!
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