5 ft tall...1,200 calories...vegetarian diet

thegoya
thegoya Posts: 100 Member
edited December 16 in Food and Nutrition
Any other 5 ft vegetarian females with a pre-exercise calorie goal of 1,200 calories who do not eat packaged foods/added sugar?
How do you do it, how do you reach 1,200 calories and even more when you exercise and still keep within the percentages?

Replies

  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    5'0 vegan, 1200 goal. I do eat some packaged foods, but even when I don't, I don't have a hard time meeting my calorie goal. Try eating at least one serving of nuts a day to start. A smoothie is an easy way to pack in some calories--you can put vegetables like spinach and kale in with the fruit and juice or "milk" of your choice and easily add in some calories that way. Try eating lentils and making homemade roasted chickpeas.

    I am still experimenting with whether eating my exercise calories back diligently is the right thing for me. On the days that I do naturally, I don't sweat it. I'm not sure where I'm at yet with eating them for the sake of eating them.
  • naveej
    naveej Posts: 73 Member
    bump ......would love to know abt veg diet
  • flhedinger
    flhedinger Posts: 35
    I am taller than you and consequently am eating 1400 calories a day, but I am vegetarian. When you say that you are having a hard time meeting your calories and getting the percentages right, do you mean that you are having a hard time getting enough protien without eating too much fat and/or carbs? (If I have misidentified your problem, let me know and I will try to adjust my asnwer accordingly!)

    I have a hard time eating enough protien without going over on my o ther macros. I find that Greek yogurt is especially helpful in that regard - I use it as an ingredient in a lot of my meals (as sour cream with foods at lunch and dinner, with my oatmeal or in a smoothie for breakfast) and I often eat it as a snack. If you do not want to have the added sugar of flavored yogurts or fruit on the bottom yogurts, you can always cut up and add your own fruits to the plain yogurt to make it more fun and interesting.

    Another food that helps me get the protien is, as another poster mentioned, nuts, and recently I have been eating dry roasted edamame as an easy snack during the day at work.
  • Tzippy7
    Tzippy7 Posts: 344 Member
    I recently took a break from all this to try to get out of a plateau, which is the risk of eating less than 1200. Sometimes I eat chicken, i prefer chicken to any form of dairy if Im going to eat animal products. I suggest nuts! (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches !), avacado, lots of seeds on salad (sunflower seeds are good), whole grain bread is good too. In general if i have already eaten my meals for the day and im way under ill have a banana or a fruit of some kind. And I always have too many calories from soy lattes haha.
  • claram5415
    claram5415 Posts: 512 Member
    I am 4'11 and vegan because of health requirements. My problem is keeping under 1200 calories because of course, there's plenty of vegan junk that you can eat. However, if I start off with cereal and soy milk, eat fruit and salad and don't give it to temptation, I can come in at right at 1200 calories before exercising. Homemade hummus is a great dip for veggies or a good sandwich spread on pita bread, etc.
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    flhedinger, thanks for the response.

    At 40C/30P/30F I almost always reach the protein and fat limits before the carbs and approx 200 - 300 calories short of 1,200 calories. No matter what carbs I add, (although I prefer not to add any) it also increases the other two categories.

    What's a girl to do?
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    flaxMilk, great information...thanks ;)
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    Tzippy, I'm going to add more seeds...great idea :) Thanks.
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    Vegetarian groups:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/45-happy-herbivores
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/219-mfp-vegetarians


    Short groups:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/82-shorties-5ft
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/173-vertical-challengers
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4095-meatballs-ladies-5-1-under
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    claramaynard,

    For years I thought I should keep the calories low. I"ve since read that no one should go below 1,200 calories. Believe it or not, now that I eat 'clean', I find it hard to make the 1,200 calories and even harder to get to the added calories on days I exercise...go figure.
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    naveej,

    I'm a quasi vegetarian so not sure I'm the best person to advise.
    At first, I started because I enjoy cooked fat too much so the way to get around that is not to eat foods that typically have it..i.e, ribs, wings, etc. Any meat/chicken without fat is boring to me...so that solves that problem...lol
    I eat everything but red and white meat and chicken, I also avoid most processed food and dairy. I eat fish, eggs, beans, etc.

    I enjoy eating clean but sadly I do go off course and that is why I am attempting to lose the 25 pounds I gained over the last year.
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    yesthistime,

    Fantastic...I just joined them all...thanks so much :)
  • flhedinger
    flhedinger Posts: 35
    flhedinger, thanks for the response.

    At 40C/30P/30F I almost always reach the protein and fat limits before the carbs and approx 200 - 300 calories short of 1,200 calories. No matter what carbs I add, (although I prefer not to add any) it also increases the other two categories.

    What's a girl to do?

    For me, I don't worry too much about going over on protein or coming out a little bit low on carbs - knowing my body, I would rather fall low on carbs and high on protien than the other way around. And also I think that the protein levels are set a little bit low on MFP.

    Do you eat very many grains? If I have brown rice and/or sweet potatoes are part of a meal, that gets the calories and carbs up pretty quicly, but they are complex carbohydrates and are healthy in other ways as well. I love to make brown rice and black beans the base to a lot of my meals (mostly because I love rice and beans, but it does feel like a healthy choice, also).

    I think that if you keep adjusting the foods that you eat, you will find a way to get close to the percentages that you're looking for. I find that the foods I have to watch most in terms of my fat intake are nuts, cheese, and avocados, as well as cooking with olive oil (just have to be really aware of how much I'm pouring into the pan!). In the past I have thought that certain foods (avocados are a good example) are healthy in general and I didn't realize quite how much fat they were really adding to my diet.
  • thegoya
    thegoya Posts: 100 Member
    flhedinger, thanks for the response.

    At 40C/30P/30F I almost always reach the protein and fat limits before the carbs and approx 200 - 300 calories short of 1,200 calories. No matter what carbs I add, (although I prefer not to add any) it also increases the other two categories.

    What's a girl to do?

    For me, I don't worry too much about going over on protein or coming out a little bit low on carbs - knowing my body, I would rather fall low on carbs and high on protien than the other way around. And also I think that the protein levels are set a little bit low on MFP.

    Do you eat very many grains? If I have brown rice and/or sweet potatoes are part of a meal, that gets the calories and carbs up pretty quicly, but they are complex carbohydrates and are healthy in other ways as well. I love to make brown rice and black beans the base to a lot of my meals (mostly because I love rice and beans, but it does feel like a healthy choice, also).

    I think that if you keep adjusting the foods that you eat, you will find a way to get close to the percentages that you're looking for. I find that the foods I have to watch most in terms of my fat intake are nuts, cheese, and avocados, as well as cooking with olive oil (just have to be really aware of how much I'm pouring into the pan!). In the past I have thought that certain foods (avocados are a good example) are healthy in general and I didn't realize quite how much fat they were really adding to my diet.

    flhedinger,

    For years now I've been choosing whole grains as my go to complex carbs although not consuming many at this time. I'm transitioning out of a low carb diet and have added oats and quinoa to the mix so that the numbers are healthier at the end of the day. I know now that I should, so I have accepted that good carbs are not the enemy. (My choices are still somewhat based on carb to fiber ratio) Adding beans is a slower transition although I do enjoy garbanzo.

    I've been playing with the numbers since starting with MPF a few weeks ago and still can't find a way to reach my calories. I eat lots of volume and I'm not hungry which makes it less difficult to find those calories but I realize if I don't increase the 'fuel' my weight loss will be slowed down...already proven.
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