Hi All please can I have some insight as to what everyone who is on roughly on between 1000-1200 calories eats for meals,snacks and portion sizes in order to lose weight. Thank you.
Today:
B: yogurt with granola
S: coffee protein shake
L: poached salmon 2 oz with carrots
S: walnuts 1 oz appr.
D: vegetarian chili sin carne with cheese
S: fruit, probably mandarin
I assume you regained? I personally wouldn't drop below 1200 calories per day, especially since you're nearly 2 years out.
Eating too little results in adaptive thermogenesis, a process in which the body slows its metabolic rate to compensate for the lack of caloric intake.
Perhaps a better plan is to eat 1600 to 1700 calories while burning off 400 to 500 calories through daily exercise and movement. This tactic preserves your metabolic rate.
I'm able to maintain a body weight in the 120s with 2000+ calories daily plus regular exercise. I wouldn't ever want to eat in the 1000 to 1200 range.
Anyhow, here's a sample menu of 1200 calories...
Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with 1 tablespoon half & half (20 calories)
1 cup full-fat cottage cheese (120 calories)
1 small apple (80 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 220 calories
Snack:
1 string cheese mozarella (80 calories)
1 hard boiled egg (70 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 150 calories
Lunch:
1 green salad with 5 ounces tuna (120 calories)
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise (40 calories)
1 hard boiled egg (70 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 230 calories
Snack:
1 medium navel orange (80 calories)
3 slices cooked ham (90 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 170 calories
Dinner:
Turkey/cheddar sandwich w/2 slices 45-calorie bread (190 calories)
1 pickle (5 calories)
1 side green salad with 2 tablespoons light dressing (95 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 290 calories
Bedtime snack:
1 5.3 ounce fat-free greek yogurt (90 calories)
1 baked apple with cinnamon (80 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 170 calories
GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY: 1230 calories
10/23/14 Initial Consult 200 lb, 5'1 tall
4/6/15 Highest Wt 225 (yes: 25 lb gain)
4/20/15 Surgery Wt 218, BMI 41
1 mo 203.0 -15
2 mo 190.5 -12.5
3 mo 184.5 -6
4 mo 177.0 -7.5
5 mo 171.0 -6
6 mo 164.5 -6.5
7 mo 157.5 -7
8 mo 152.5 -5
9 mo 149 -3.5
10 m 143 -6
11 m 142 -1
1 yr 138.5 -3.5
13 m 133 -5.5
14 m 128 -5
15 m 125 -3
16 m 121 -4
17 m 120 -1
18 m 118 -2
Dec '17: BMI 23.5; consumes 2000+ kcal/day
I have never counted calories through this whole process. My focus has always been protein and veggies. If I have room, I will eat healthy carbs. I try to avoid sugars and white flours but do eat them occasionally.
Today I ate:
Bfast: 20 oz latte made with espresso, non fat Fa!rlife milk, and Splenda
Snack: Small apple and piece of Colby Jack cheese
Lunch: Mongolian Beef stir fry with rice
Snack: Coffee flavored EAS Advant Edge Low Carb protein shake
Dinner: Beef Stew with green beans
Snack: 1 mandarin orange
I haven't been counting calories lately, but I have counted them for so long that I'm fairly aware of how much I'm eating.
Breakfast:
non-fat greek yogurt (80 calories)
non-fat string cheese (60 calories)
Snack:
Apple or plum (80 calories)
Rice cake (40 calories)
a few pieces of homemade beef jerky
Lunch:
Salad with grilled chicken. no cheese, no croutons, and light dressing
or 1 sushi roll
Snack:
Premier protein shake or small bag of protein chips (140 calories)
Dinner: turkey burger (no bun) (or grilled chicken, piece of steak, or half a cup of pulled pork), pickle, fresh veggies.
Age: 51
Highest weight: 257
Starting weight: 252.4
Month 1: -20 (232.4)
Month 2: -9.4 (223)
Month 3: -11 (212)
Month 4: -11.6 (200.4)
Month 5: -8 (192.4)
Month 6: -7.6 (185.8)
Month 7: -5.2 (180.2)
Month 8: -5.4 (174.8)
Month 9: -3.8 (171)
Month 10: -5 (166)
Month 11: -3.4 (162.6)
ONE YEAR: -1.4 (161.2) Total loss: 95.8 pounds!
Month 13: -3 (158.2)
My doctor told me not to snack, although I do have a cup of coffee with half and half and Splenda in the afternoons to hold me over until dinner. When I met with my nutritionist prior to surgery, she said that once fully healed, about a year out, I would be able to eat about a cup of food at each meal. I think that's accurate. I don't really count calories, but I usually have a P3 Protein Snack with a Protein Shake for breakfast, A salad with grilled chicken or an Atkins meal for lunch, and some sort of grilled, baked, or broiled meat with veggies for dinner. I try to avoid most carbs, but every now and then, I'll have some whole grain bread. I know that some people continue to eat carbs and still lose weight, but the low carb lifestyle was recommended by both my gastric sleeve doc and my regular doc, so I have tried my best to adhere to it. It's something that has worked for me, and I really don't feel like I'm missing anything. My best advise is to find what works for you and to be consistent. If you look upon your eating as a diet instead of a lifestyle change, it will be much more difficult.
Breakfast:
1 cup coffee with 1 tablespoon half & half (20 calories)
1 cup full-fat cottage cheese (120 calories)
1 small apple (80 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 220 calories
Snack:
1 string cheese mozarella (80 calories)
1 hard boiled egg (70 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 150 calories
Lunch:
1 green salad with 5 ounces tuna (120 calories)
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise (40 calories)
1 hard boiled egg (70 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 230 calories
Snack:
1 medium navel orange (80 calories)
3 slices cooked ham (90 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 170 calories
Dinner:
Turkey/cheddar sandwich w/2 slices 45-calorie bread (190 calories)
1 pickle (5 calories)
1 side green salad with 2 tablespoons light dressing (95 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 290 calories
Bedtime snack:
1 5.3 ounce fat-free greek yogurt (90 calories)
1 baked apple with cinnamon (80 calories)
---------------- TOTAL 170 calories
GRAND TOTAL FOR THE DAY: 1230 calories
Rehab I know that's not how you eat so don't take offense.......
Take that menu and get the eff out of here with it. The only good thing I can say about that menu is that it is heavy with protein. About 100 grams if I'm guessing. Besides that? YUCK.....lol.
Can anyone actually commit to eating like this for the rest of their life? I mean, I'm 55 so I have fewer days in front of me than behind me. Having said that, there ain't no way in hell I could eat like that for the rest of my life starting with today. I'm with rehab....I don't want to live if it means that I have to live on 1200 calories of grass, twigs and acorns for the rest of my life. 45 calorie bread? I've had it. That stuff has the consistency of cotton balls with about as much taste. I'm down with the fruit choices and cottage cheese, but, that's about it.
That menu is a diet. Plain and simple......
To the OP....it looks like you are getting near to your two year surgeversary.....have you had some regain and that's why you have yourself on 1200 calories? For the love of all that is good, pure, and tasty. Don't tell me a NUT has you doing this.....
I don't know about you, but diets didn't work for me when I was fat and I sure as heck know that they won't work for me now. Why? Because I'm a wuss when it comes to suffering. I do not like suffering. Now, that's not to say I didn't suffer when I was fat or suffer for a couple of months post op. I did. But now that I know a better way of living, I don't want to suffer ever again. You purchased the WMD of portion control tools. Use it. Go back to doing what it is you did to lose when you first had the sleeve.
You are about to get on the roller coaster with a yo yo and a pogo stick.
Just look at it like this. If you've gained, (and I am assuming you have) then it probably wasn't what you were eating. It was how much of it you were eating. Maybe you graduated from one glass of wine day to three or four. Maybe you substituted a ding dong for a t bone steak......
Take a look at the root cause of what made you gain (if you've gained) and eliminate that issue and let the sleeve work for you again.
Please don't diet.
So, here's a sample of what I eat when I need to drop 5-10 lbs because I drank too many margaritas one week or two.
Breakfast - What ever protein choice I made from dinner the night before with one egg. Fried. In real butter. The protein is almost always rib eye steak, some sort of fish that I caught fresh the weekend before, or pork. Not a big chicken guy. For the last few mornings, it's been Angus Chuck Roast I crock potted all day last Sunday.
Snack - cheese. Period. Dot. Com. Cottage, cheddar, string, etc
Lunch - I indulge myself here. What ever I am craving, that's what I get. Usually it's hooters chicken wings. Love them wings. I get the child's plate. 4 wings and tots. I either eat three wings and a few tots, or all four wings and no tots. I don't feel like it's a choice because I just plain old don't have room for 4 wings and some tots.
Snack - Fruit
Dinner - Huge protein meal. Animal protein. Mooing, oinking, water breathing protein. Made just the way I like it.
Next day...lather, rinse, repeat.
When I follow this regimen, I will always lose a half to a full pound a day. Always. I also do not over eat. Overeating has been the culprit in weight gain for me in the past so I know that's my pitfall. It isn't what I'm eating...it's how much of it I'm eating.
Notice how I didn't list a single meal or snack with veggies in it? That's because I don't eat them. Now don't get me wrong, I love veggies. I just feel like I have to make sure that every bite I put into my mouth counts for something and has a mule kick portion of protein. I can get the same benefit out of a bucket full of supplements than I can out of 8 servings of fruit and veggies. So, I don't eat them and I substitute protein, carbs, and fat instead.
Protein ramps up your metabolism and the carbs and fat are what your body burns for that ramped up metabolism. That's the secret.
Also, for me, no less than 100 ounces of WATER a day.
Nutrition, Supplements, Hydration, Exercise. If you are in maintenance and ignore any of those four pillars and then couple it with over eating.....
Perfect Storm.
I was never told to count calories, just protein and liquids. So basically every meal or snack starts with a protein, then veggies, then carbs if I'm still hungry. I've had 2 eggs most mornings for over 4 years! I use Premier Protein as my coffee creamer, and drink the rest in the afternoon for a snack. Lunch is typically leftover dinner. Dinner is always our "rule of two," a protein and veggie. We also follow the "less legs the better" rule, so eat much more seafood and chicken than red meat or pork. (But I do have a good steak once in a while. Actually part of a steak). Snacks are nuts, low-fat greek yogurt, low fat string cheese, fruit, or veggies.
I seriously don't overthink this at all. I maintain and feel like it's magic. Last night I had three tiny chicken street tacos at Buffalo Wild Wings and didn't gain an ounce. (I do weigh daily now that I'm maintaining.)
I'm similar to Tinman. I'm about eating real food, no low fat, low anything.
I eat a base of protein & use real butter, real full fat cheese, etc.
My breakfast is always an egg (cooked using butter) and 2 slices of turkey bacon (my preference).
Lunch Leftovers from night before protein, maybe with a salad, depending on what I have left.
Snack almost always cheese or deli meat roll ups
dinner protein (steak, chicken, pork chop, etc. I focus on protein first and have maybe 2 forkfuls of veggies. I eat about 2 ounces of potein and I am full.
I also love me some buffalo wings (non breaded wings).
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