[Closed] 1200 calories a day - what would you eat?

2500 calories worth of donuts!

1200 calories is unnecessary torture.

I've been doing this for a week already - I could murder someone for a doughnut.

Greggs chocolate donuts btw, none of yon crispy kreme inferiority.

Move more and eat more 🙂

Bran flakes are pretty low in calories, eat with plenty of low fat milk, perhaps adding water.

Tuna for a low calorie source of protein?

Lots of water to make you feel more full.

Or blow the whole day's calories on a box of doughnuts. 😉

Bottle of red and a cheeseburger?

5 crunchies!

I would recommend using myfitnesspal to find out how many calories you can eat and lose.

It gave me 1530 (5'11" 16 stone) to lose two pounds a week and I lost at a rate over that 3 or 4 pounds a week.

To answer the original query.

Breakfast

Quaker Oats Porridge Pot - 220 calories

Lunch

Wrap with salad, chicken/turkey/ham and sald - 280 calories

Low calorie bag of popcorn - 80 calories

Dinners

Beans on Toast - 650 calories

Various M&S ready meals - 600 calories

etc.

Snacks

8 cups of tea with milk - 120 calories

Soreen Lunchbox loaf - 100 calories

Banana - 100 calories

HTH

Have been eating around that for the past month.  Just make everything yourself if poss, I cut out wheat bread, wheat cereals, and dairy which helped.

Breakfast:  Ramikin of porridge made with soy milk, w/ blueberries and a handful of mixed nuts.  Some days with chopped apple OR slice of rye toast with peanut butter

Lunch: Crudités* (lots of) with hummus (*carrot sticks, celery sticks, radishes, sliced sweet peppers, sliced cucumber)

Dinner: lentil casserole OR cauli and sweet pot curry OR homemade mushroom and courgette bolognese sauce with butternut squash 'noodles' (spiralized)  OR red lentil dahl with whole grain mix.  Usually serve a few extra greens or veg on the side, ie broccoli, kalettes, cabbage, sweetcorn etc

snacks:  sultanas, nuts, fresh fruit (berries, apples, pear etc) OR rough oatcakes with hummus OR seaweed snacks, or Lentil Chips OR popcorn in moderation

Get the pic?  Basically the Carol Vorderman Detox Diet (got the book from ebay for a few quids) yet remixed to household tastes  😉

Must admit am feeling much more energetic, 😴 Sleeping better, dreaming more, waking earlier and enjoying the taste of food a lot more.  Haven't weighed self for 3 weeks but clothes are baggier by considerable amount 🙂

Still have the odd day 'off' (no more than one evening a week) with a shared bag of chips and mini fish but would easily have polished off a whole bag before.    No intention or desire of going back to bad old ways now the month is up.  Good luck OP, whatever you decide to do.

1200 calories per day is hard.

Breakfast: Porridge with a small handful or fruit, seeds and nuts. It fills you up. Downside is you need portion control.

Lunch I find really hard because bread or wraps add many calories. Soup (not creamy ones; mostly veg and water) or salads with some protein to make you feel full.

Evening meal: Lots of veg and a bit of protein. Try spiralised courgette or butternut squash instead of spaghetti with a tomato based sauce. Roast root veg and squash instead of potatoes. Or just have meat & veg, without potatoes. Puy lentil, sausage and tomato casserole with steamed greens would be <600 cal (3 sausages). Cut down on oil and no butter. Use feta or goats cheese instead of hard cheeses. Fresh grilled fish and salad. Cut the fat off meat. And portion control.

I agree with using MyFitnessPal to really see where the calories are, especially snacks, drinks etc (though note it is not particularly accurate and a pain if you cook a lot yourself because you need to weigh stuff and add everything manually - but this can be a good thing with portion control!).

112* Pringles. Salt and vinegar, obviously.

Worry about the blood pressure later.

* If you're not au fait with the units, that's approximately 1.1 tubes.

(Edit: No exercise?  Even if I'm stuck in a hotel in crap conditions 5K on a treadmill takes less than 20 mins and chews through a fair amount of energy if you go hard)

+1 why no exercise?  I cycle 6 miles to the shops to get groceries.  Its the perfect utilitarian 1hr workout.  When I want more I do the 16 miler to the farther shops 🙂

1.1 tubes of crisps?! Blimey, I would snack on that whilst cooking tea. No wonder you are struggling to hit 1200 calories.

Greggs chocolate donuts btw, none of yon crispy kreme inferiority.

You are wrong. It's an aulds fudge donut that you want

Lots of chicken, you get to eat a reasonable volume of food for the calories.

If you do restricted diet long term make sure you dont end up missing any vital vitamins/minerals etc.

Mainly cake

6 pints of Guinness.

Oh, hang on. That's drinking.

Assuming actually what you want to do is lose fat rather than just 'any' weight, Don't cut too much or you will end up losing not just fat but also muscle. 10 percent calorie deficit is about what you need for long term FAT loss. Look up basal metabolic rate and calculatioins around this. Also to avoid muscle loss lift heavy weights so your body realises it still needs them (and doesn't prefer dropping the muscle in preference to fat)

Oh yeah and myfitnesspal.

And look up macronutrients and 'cutting' for how the bodybuilders do it (i.e. scientifically)

Surely the answer is simple: vegetables.

All the scientific evidence on nutrition says that a diet of mostly veg is by far the healthiest, and most veg is low calorie.

Gherkins for the win.

Lots of em

I'm trying to do something similar. Counted my calories for a couple of weeks then just followed the basic principles of reducing carbs unless I exercise and heavily reducing sugar regardless. I don't cut down on the meat/protein though and I don't worry much about eating some fat because my other basic principles seem to keep it down anyway. Meat can be helpful because they are very satisfying calories, and bring other goodness with them.

I flat out insist on eating good food because I want to keep at it longer term. I don't worry about going way over on some days. I see it as a general improvement and expect the weight loss to be slow. I'd rather enjoy the process and I'm seeing a noticeable improvement.

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">So something like a Thai beef salad seems a cracking meal option to me. Hot crossed buns are a disaster, unfortunately.</span>

I started on about 1200 calories a day but I've moved to more like 1500 which I can do without feeling dissatisfied. Drink is the other killer, and normally the reason for going a long way over on some days.

Lots of salad and/or vegetables plus a thousand calories of meat or eggs.

I will be exercising / commuting, but will eat more on the days that I do.  This is for the drive to work days.

I was limited to 1600, but a good day (1300 calories) was a bit like this:

Breakfast:

Shredded wheat x2, 1% milk and tea = 216 calories

(although a favourite is 2 weetabix with a bit of added fruit muesli and 1% mik, 340 calories)

Lunch:

2 pitta's, low fat houmous, lettuce, tomatoes, light mayo, tea = 477 calories

Dinner:

BBC goodfood recipe (most dinners were) Thai fried prawn and pineapple rice, and a mullerlight yogurt = 405 calories

Snacks:

Homemade latte, 1 apple, 1 clementine, 1 instant coffee = 196 calories.

The big thing is to use a calorie counter like Myfitnesspal, bulk out with fruit, and MEASURE YOUR PORTIONS!  I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that have a triple serving of cereal!  Also, build your sandwiches as you eat, it takes longer and makes you feel like you've eaten more 🙂

1200 calories a day – what would you eat?

The pointy end of a shotgun.

Last year I did 8 weeks of 800Kcal/day and no carbs. 1200 is LUXURY!

Try and hold on until lunch and only have 2 bigger meals.

Stop reading womens magazines and eat properly. It's not difficult.

Stop reading womens magazines and eat properly. It’s not difficult.

Trimming your cals-in while maintaining cals-out IS eating properly if you wish to lose some weight. Eating only nuts, or drinking smoothies only is following daft diets.

However, I found that at 1200 cals or lower, I can't sustain it because it keeps me **starving**. I find it easier to eat nothing than 1200, and no more likely to scoff tons the next day.

Grand big mac and large fries, 1185 calories, with the 15 calories I'd saved each day I'd have a biscuit once a week.

I did this for ages last year. Went like this;

breakfast: coffee

lunch: coffee

dinner: red wine

1200 calories a day – what would you eat?

The pointy end of a shotgun.

I laughed.

OP, here's an infographic that helps visualise what 1200 calories a day actually looks like served up.

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/1200-calories-looks-like-infographic/

I'd concur, this looks like a typical day for me except have been laying (!) off the eggs and probably have more nuts.  Yesterday had a day off, sank two pints of Batham's and worshipped at the altar of cheddar and spanish onion door-stop.  It was necesarily guilt-free.  Did I enjoy this meal as much as the homemade lentil and wild mushroom bolognaise with sweet-potato spiralized 'tagliatelle'?  I'd say about equal.  Surprised myself.  Beer is a killer though.  More beer? Hard to say no.  Mmmm water.  Water,

What do you plan on doing once you get to your planned weight? I'm not sure 1200 calories is maintainable long term so you need a plan on what your diet will be once you get close to your desired weight.

Personally I'd rather eat a bit more and losenthe weight slower. Less likely to give up and end up binging that way.

I'm currently doing 1500 a day (plus extra if I exercise.), with the added complication of <30g carbs.

Today, so far -

Coffee with double cream

3 rashers of bacon

1 egg, fried.

That's about 420 cals so far, according to myfitnesspal

Not hungry yet (11am)

Plan is for maybe a bit of smoked mackerel and green veg/mushrooms for lunch, maybe with some pecan nuts

Pork chop and green veg for tea. The kind of veg I'm allowed is cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, courgette, spinach, that kind of thing, but that's only to keep the carbs down.

Bit of cheese or chorizo for a snack later.

Bit troubling to start with, but I'm two weeks into this now and not craving the shite I normally cram my face with.

Don’t cut too much or you will end up losing not just fat but also muscle.

No you won't. Not by reducing your calories a bit on one day everyweek.

I would try to avoid carbs the day before and you will probably find your hunger easier to manage on the restricted calorie day.

Add an extra zero, then you'll only have to eat one meal a week? 🤔  (IANADietician)

Bring on the beige-binge*: (NSFBinners!)

*The Great British Beige-off

You can actually go below 1,200 calories a day for faster weight loss. They call it very low-calorie diet which typically ranges from 500 to 800 calories per day. Here's a list I found of very low-calorie diets.

**** that.

Lifestyle change is what you need, not some unsustainable fantasy 'diet.

Avoid starchy foods imo.  I'd be replacing starch with cabbage and cauliflower.  Sounds awful, but - caluflower with a bit of cheese sauce on is lovely, and savoy cabbage stir fried with bacon pieces and lots of pepper is bloody lovely and very filling.  Have that with a naked burger and a little barbecue sauce, you won't be craving more.

I don't do weight loss by starving myself, I find I just get ill, plus exercise induced weight loss is a lot more fun.

But to make it easier, avoid sugary stuff that'll make you hungry again shortly after. I dropped about 5 kilos on similar exercise levels by not keeping sugary stuff at my desk at work (I do keep moderately unhealthy savoury snacks).

Coffee with double cream

Interesting idea this, will try it.

Protein and lots of stuff with fibre.

1200 is too low for a month, but if you're determined it makes for a lot of tuna, chicken broccoli and green beans.

A daily deficit of 200 cals is more sustainable.

Also, just don't have cereal for breakfast.  Terrible idea.  Sugary and starchy, you produce insulin, then you get hungry later.  Protein for breakfast with some fat.

Dropping 4Kg over spring isn't a huge target, and should be doable with a defict between 250 and 500, so unless you're on the short side of average you shouldn't need to put yourself into survival mode (which can be counter production).

I was able to lose between 500g and 1Kg a week by consuming around 1700Kcal a day.
with my daily requriement to maintain weight around the 2100 mark.