1200 Calories A Day...What On Earth Can I Possibly Eat? (vegetables, Weight Watchers)

[Three Wolves In Snow]

So...I've decided that I want to lose about 2-3 pounds per week for at least a good two to three months and have done all those little calculator tests and whatnot and have discovered that in order to get to my goal, I can only eat 1231 calories a day.

So I plugged in some numbers on LoseIt (dot) com and my one fricken lame salad put me right at my limit for the day.

SERIOUSLY?

I had about 5 cups of iceberg lettuce, 1/8 cup, (about), of yellow onion, two normal slices of tomato, (then chopped up), croutons, (I KNOW....now), about a cup, (but really, it makes salad so much more fun), and then Ceasar salad dressing.

Later, for a snack, I had a cup of Simply Smart Chocolate Fat Free Milk. (160 cals).

BAM, over my limit by 41 calories.

*&$#!@!!!

Really? I have to eat like a rabbit? REALLY? How is this even possible?

Perhaps I know nothing about food. Perhaps you all know more than me. Perhaps you all have better ideas about what I can eat that won't go over my limit of 1231 cals a day and is actually enjoyable.

Things to note:

I HATE fish/seafood, do not even suggest it, I will not eat it.
I don't do kale or other weird veggies like that.
I like meat. Since I can't really afford a lot of it, I don't get a lot of it. But, for example, I splurged and bought myself some ground hamburger, (as a congratulatory gift to myself for getting a job...I'm being dead serious), to make spaghetti. Spaghetti consists of, at this point, meat, noodles, sauce. Whee.

I eat a LOT of salad because, with croutons!!!, it's fun. Without croutons...not so much. I don't like a lot of weird textures and tastes all mixed together, I'm pretty Plain Jane when it comes to my foods. For example, if I have a meat, a veggie and a side dish on a plate, I will eat one thing at a time. I do not mix my food.

I don't drink, so there's no extra cals there.
My weakness is Peanut M&Ms...which, duh, I know, those are out.
I have to have some kind of chocolate or I will turn homicidal which is why I get the Simply Smart chocolate milk and allow myself a swig or two a day. (Swig or two turns out to be about a cup, apparently...who knew.)
I am not rich and do not have the means to buy a whole bunch of fancy stuff.

If I walk in to the grocery store tomorrow, regular store, no specialty store, what can I buy that will last me a week, cost under $50, will be interesting, tasty, doesn't take a lot of time to prepare and keeps me at 1200 cals a day?

Is this even possible?

I do really well on low carb diets and kept it off forever until I broke my ankle and was laid up for six weeks. That's not even counting the long road to recovery, building up to the point of walking like a normal human again. Things went to h in a handbasket after that. I need to lose 30 pounds for me to be satisfied.

Am I really only going to be able to eat one lame salad with NO croutons a day for months to do this?

(Oh and when I do have time, (right now my day is consumed with 12 hours for work, giving me about 2 hours to myself when I get home to take care of the pets, shower, get ready for the next day and then I pass out by around 9pm...if not earlier), I get on my WiiFit+ and do some of the things there. I burn about 350 cals when I do it...which is about twice a week right now until I get my regular schedule of 12+ hours a day and THEN the 3 hour commute added in...so keep that in mind before telling me I have to exercise for two hours a day because I, literally, do not HAVE those two hours.)

How is any of this even remotely possible?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

How is any of this even remotely possible?

It must be. Look at all the thin people out there. It's simple.

[Luckyd609]

Two pounds a week is what you should shoot for, and that's a good week. You need to figure out what is important to you and if you are willing to do what it takes. If you go into this making excuses you will fail plain and simple. Losing weight is not hard, but it is not easy either. You may want to try Weight Watchers. They give you lots of good information about eating all kinds of foods. They may be your best bet once your head is in the game.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

So...I've decided that I want to lose about 2-3 pounds per week for at least a good two to three months and have done all those little calculator tests and whatnot and have discovered that in order to get to my goal, I can only eat 1231 calories a day.

So I plugged in some numbers on LoseIt (dot) com and my one fricken lame salad put me right at my limit for the day.

SERIOUSLY?

I had about 5 cups of iceberg lettuce, 1/8 cup, (about), of yellow onion, two normal slices of tomato, (then chopped up), croutons, (I KNOW....now), about a cup, (but really, it makes salad so much more fun), and then Ceasar salad dressing.

Later, for a snack, I had a cup of Simply Smart Chocolate Fat Free Milk. (160 cals).

BAM, over my limit by 41 calories.

1. Stop eating iceberg lettuce. It's nutritionally void. It offers no vitamins or minerals worth mentioning, and the little it does offer, is in such small amounts that you'd be better off eating chalk. At least then you'd get lots of calcium. Switch to romaine, or wild greens, or baby spinach, or a mix of all three. You'll get more iron, more vitamin A and C, among other things. No reason to eat 5 cups of it either, in a single sitting. Try 2-3 cups tops for a dinner-sized platter.

2. Red onion tastes better . Add a _handful_ of croutons, instead of a cup. Have half a beefsteak tomato instead of just two slices, or a whole smaller tomato, or a half dozen grape tomatoes. Though I'm not a foodie or organic food fanatic, I have experienced that organic tomatoes really do taste better than non-organic. Just make sure to rinse well before cutting it into the salad.

3. Add half of a boneless, skinless breast ofchicken, cut into strips. Serve it warm right on top of the lettuce. Low calorie, high protein.

4. Instead of bottled caesar dressing, use a little olive oil or even a pat of butter to sear the chicken in, with some wafer-thin slices of shallot, a shake of red pepper flakes, a squeeze of a lemon wedge, some sliced button mushrooms, and a capful of sherry. Cook the chicken in -that- mixture and pour it over the salad. No extra dressing needed, just sprinkle with some romano cheese. Low calorie, high protein, very high flavor, and very filling.

That lunch..by the way -

575 calories
22 grams protein
58% rda vitamin A
50% rda vitamin C
25% rda calcium (it'd probably be closer to 15-20% if you only used a little cheese)
30% rda iron
37 grams carbs
36 grams fat (it's a bit on the high side for a single salad but I use a whole tablespoon of olive oil; you can use just a teaspoon and still get the chicken cooked nicely)
862 mgs sodium (again, it's a little high but I use more cheese than I really should)
250 grams potassium
13 grams fiber
3 grams sugar (mostly from the tomatoes)

Lots of room left over for more calories, as long as it's mostly low-fat calories. There's even enough room left with carbs to have add a few more croutons, or have a fiber bar as a snack between lunch and dinner.

[Kim in FL]

Not all salads are created equal. Anon hit it right on the head. Think about what and how much you're putting into your salad.

1200 calories is very doable and if make sure to eat protein and plenly of it, you won't be hungry.

[NCN]

Do you like soup? You can have a whole can of soup for about 200 calories. No crackers though. I like croutons in my soup but about 6 not a cup.

[NCN]

I am doing 900-1200 calories a day also. I will come back and post my meals with the calories later. I do points instead of meals, but I can find the calories on the packages.

Breakfast this morning is 1 huge banana for about 100 calories, 2 strawberry eggo waffles, toasted, for about 200 calories. 1/2 cup 1% milk in coffee for about 50 calories.

Total breakfast is about 350 calories and 6 points.

950 calories left for rest of day.

[lawmom]

Do you like cottage cheese? 1/2 cup of that is good protein, and I love it (although I eat the full-fat version of things -- of course they taste better.)

Not all calories are equal -- make sure you get some good fats in every day. Make choices that are nutritionally dense for the calories. That will keep you more satisfied and will ensure you get the most "bang for your buck" nutritionally.

I'm having a hard time seeing how that salad an milk added up to so much. How much dressing do you use? I plugged things into fatsecret.com and this is what I got, assuming 2 tablespoons of dressing (a normal serving) -- of course dressings and croutons may vary a bit by brand (1c of croutons is 8 servings, BTW.)"


Fat(g) Carbs(g) Net C(g) Prot(g) KCals
31.50 72.69 67.59 25.09 690

You must have used a TON of dressing?

That's also a large amount of net carbs for not a lot of good nutrition.

[fleetiebelle]

The thing is, if you do it right, you can eat a lot more food for 1200 calories a day than you think. You don't have to eat like a rabbit. A big muffin and coffee might be 500 calories, but you can have a small egg white veggie omelet with whole wheat toast and fruit, which is more food, for almost the same or fewer calories. You can eat more grilled chicken breast with steamed vegetables for the same amout of calories as your spaghetti. You're not depriving yourself, you're improving your options.

[Squirl]

I am in the same boat. Also broke my ankle and still rehabbing the ankle after 8 weeks laid up during mid Jan thru early March. Even tho it's now Nov, I am still dealing with it. I gained almost 20 lbs now thru lack of exercise. It's pretty frustrating. I do ok with keeping the calories down until about 4:30 pm. But I do eat oatmeal for breakfast many days. A couple of hard boiled eggs with non fat mayo (15 c) a Tblspoon. Mixed with a tsp of sweet relish on a cple of slices of diet bread is a big portion for lunch. Nothing wrong with a piece of fresh fruit for snacks. We have been eating spagetti squash instead of pasta with our spagetti sauce and grnd beef. We eat a lot of chicken, too, and lots of frozen and fresh veggies. I stir fry -- with just a tiny bit of oil - all kinds of veggies and also slice in a garlic clove. But, I must admit the evenings and eating out on the weekends are undermining all the good things. I am pretty frustrated, too! I feel your pain.