What can you eat with 1500 calorie a day? HELP!!!

[Tanuki]

The "no brainer" way I do it is via Lean Cuisine (especially their spa cuisine line). It's portion control.

I go to the frozen foods section and buy enough to select three meals a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a top calorie limit of about 300 calories. Buy prepackaged and get the junk food out of your house and only drink "no calorie" beverages in general.

That gives you about 900 calories plus two snacks of 200 calories each - my no brainer way is to take the single serving vanilla "La Crema" yogurt by Dannon (120 cal) and dip fruit in it (cut up an apple or just buy a fresh fruit salad at the store) for one snack and I kinda like a small bottle of Starbucks mocha frappachino (sold in the store) for the other snack.

I usually have one glass of wine per day and a snack size M and M's or something other in chocolate for about 100 calories and call it a day.

For cravings I buy baby carrots and dip in low calorie ranch.

 

[corgi_monster]

1,500 = 7 Banquet turkey dinners

= 3 or 4 Chicken McNugget Happy Meals with a Diet Coke

There are a lot of non-diet type foods that you can eat for 1,500 calories or less.

 

[ANTSS2001]

The "no brainer" way I do it is via Lean Cuisine (especially their spa cuisine line). It's portion control.

I go to the frozen foods section and buy enough to select three meals a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a top calorie limit of about 300 calories. Buy prepackaged and get the junk food out of your house and only drink "no calorie" beverages in general.

That gives you about 900 calories plus two snacks of 200 calories each - my no brainer way is to take the single serving vanilla "La Crema" yogurt by Dannon (120 cal) and dip fruit in it (cut up an apple or just buy a fresh fruit salad at the store) for one snack and I kinda like a small bottle of Starbucks mocha frappachino (sold in the store) for the other snack.

I usually have one glass of wine per day and a snack size M and M's or something other in chocolate for about 100 calories and call it a day.

For cravings I buy baby carrots and dip in low calorie ranch.

I would do this if I can exercise regularly... since my system cannot desolve sodium and saturated fat very well I cannot go this route... I wish I can since those panini lean cuisine are awesome.. but I eat one package and I sure will not be able to fit in my shoes

 

[Green Tea]

no idea on how many calories I eat. But, I konw that fruits and vegetables are so low in calories that you can pretty much eat as much of them as you want and it only makes you healthier, no heavier.

 

[Mickey&Donald]

I would do this if I can exercise regularly... since my system cannot desolve sodium and saturated fat very well I cannot go this route... I wish I can since those panini lean cuisine are awesome.. but I eat one package and I sure will not be able to fit in my shoes

Wait a second... you can't eat Lean Cuisines, but you can eat an entire BAG of cheese curls?

I see now, this is one of those "selective" diets, right?

 

[tuckerkeys]

one thing i ate constantly were thomas' english muffins. they have a light one that is only @ 100 cal per muffin. i used light butter and a little bit of jelly and would usually have 2 at a time. also used these for english muffin pizzas, with the light mozz. cheese and measured out the pizza quick sauce. i lived on turkey sandwiches for lunch w/ light bread and lettuce & toms with light mayo and dinner was chicken with veggies, sometimes rice. snacks were microwave popcorn and light ice cream. it is definately a pain measuring and monitoring, but i'd loose @ 1-2 lbs a week on this diet ( i did exercise 3x a week though and this spead things up...)

 

[LK03]

I'm eating around 1250 calories per day, this is today's breakdown:

Breakfast
1 1/4 c Fruit Loops Reduced Sugar
1 c milk

Lunch
Turkey and cheese tortilla wrap
Single serving bag of Funyuns'
100 calorie Hostess chocolate cupcakes
Watermelon

Snack
Banana

Dinner
Chicken breast grilled in a skillet
1 c baked beans
1 c milk

Snack
Sugar free chocolate pudding

 

[M 'n C]

I'm on WW and have 22 points a day which is roughly 1100 points give or take 100 due to fruits and veggies being low points

Anyways:

Breakfast is always a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with 1/2 to 1 cup of fresh berries and 1/2 cup skim milk

Lunch is always 6 oz Weight watchers yogurt, 1 ham & cheese or turkey & cheese sandwich (I use the lite bread that is 80 cals for 2 slices, ff cheese, and lite deli meat), 1 banana, and 1 to 1.5 cups of fresh fruit

Dinner varies. Usually it is a protein based meal from my crockpot or george foreman grill with salad and some other veggie. For example this week its been slow cooked bratwursts with sauerkraut and then either salad or fruit (normally I split dinner and do salad before workout and meat after I workout).

 

[flipflop]

I'm eating around 1250 calories per day, this is today's breakdown:

Breakfast
1 1/4 c Fruit Loops Reduced Sugar
1 c milk

Lunch
Turkey and cheese tortilla wrap
Single serving bag of Funyuns'
100 calorie Hostess chocolate cupcakes
Watermelon

Snack
Banana

Dinner
Chicken breast grilled in a skillet
1 c baked beans
1 c milk

Snack
Sugar free chocolate pudding

Aren't those 100 calorie hostess cupcakes great? I love them. I, unfortunately, have a hard time eating only one pack, so I have had to keep them out of the house. I may try again next week.

 

[Christine]

I would absolutely STARVE on some of the food you guys are eating!!!

My Sparkpeople range is around 1500-1600 calories for day and I have a VERY hard time with that. I tried to do that for several weeks and I felt like I was going to fall apart. Not so much starvation, but just feeling weak, etc and AWFUL.

Part of my issue is that I won't do artificial sweeteners. A lot of the "light" products are full of them. Even the light Thomas' English Muffins had artificial sweetener in it and it ticked me off. I'm trying to be "healthy" and I personally don't believe artificial sweeteners are a part of that goal. I find the Lean Cuisine's to be fairly inedible; however, I was glad to see that the Spa versions have lowered their sodium. The Butternut Squash Ravioli one isn't too bad. But I am RAVENOUS after eating one of those. I've always had a huge appetite though.

 

[ANTSS2001]

Wait a second... you can't eat Lean Cuisines, but you can eat an entire BAG of cheese curls?

I see now, this is one of those "selective" diets, right?

nope shouldnt be eating it either.... now this morning I am paying for it... I had sat in the tub with hot water and alcohol to extract some of the fluids I built up from eating it last nite... my other downfall chips and cheese curls

 

[ANTSS2001]

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Chiming in here......We do have a poster on the fridge of the food guide pyramid w/ calories of items. We also read labels....which is very important to do. Some of the things you think are good are HORRIBLE!!!!

We are on low fat diets here in my house, due to weight loss needs, acid reflux, and no gallbladders for me & my 16yodd.

Basically, we only have red meat once a week.
We eat chicken breasts for dinner.....chicken, chicken, chicken...
Turkey burgers.

Then make steamed or fresh veggies (no salt, butter, maybe a little splash of seasoning/lemon....usually nothing now.)

Fruit, fruit salads, jello.....

Working on low fat/high fiber muffins for breakfast/snacks.

Olive oil will be your best friend. We will have steamed rice one day, fried rice the next.
I am working on making that lower in sodium.

Basically if it comes from a box or a bag....read the label. I am trying to switch to healthier pastas/rices, etc....
I try and shop the "perimeter" as much as I can.

Of course I do buy things for the kids for school lunches and this year DH and I are staying away from it. I threatened him....
My dd's lunch snacks lasted 2 weeks and counting!!!!!
That is a major success for us.

I guess the hardest thing is realizing you do not need to be constantly eating....which is a hard habit to break.

My current goals are learning how to make lower fat snacks and I am on the hunt to lower hydrogenated fats from our diet. They are in everything.

Kids DO NOT want to give up the JIF but are willing to compromise with getting rid of margarine for REAL BUTTER.

 

[OneThingRemains]

I would absolutely STARVE on some of the food you guys are eating!!!

My Sparkpeople range is around 1500-1600 calories for day and I have a VERY hard time with that. I tried to do that for several weeks and I felt like I was going to fall apart. Not so much starvation, but just feeling weak, etc and AWFUL.

Part of my issue is that I won't do artificial sweeteners. A lot of the "light" products are full of them. Even the light Thomas' English Muffins had artificial sweetener in it and it ticked me off. I'm trying to be "healthy" and I personally don't believe artificial sweeteners are a part of that goal. I find the Lean Cuisine's to be fairly inedible; however, I was glad to see that the Spa versions have lowered their sodium. The Butternut Squash Ravioli one isn't too bad. But I am RAVENOUS after eating one of those. I've always had a huge appetite though.

I'm in exactly the same boat. I finally stopped counting calories, and just tried to eat as many unprocessed and healthy foods as I could. I've always had a big appetite, and whenever I would count calories I'd worry way too much. I actually lost 20 pounds before I started counting calories, and have only lost 2 since I started (a couple of months ago). I have a feeling that its just because I'm at a plateau now.

I'm a believer that unless theres some strict dietary need to cut calories, as long as you're getting your servings of veggies, and eating whole grains, and cutting back on sugar and junk food, your body will know how much you should be eating.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Check out products by Kashi! I was on a 1500 calorie plan three years ago and Kashi products really worked for me as they are high in protein and fiber. I also ate a lot of fruit (for sugar high) and vegetables. Combined with regular exercise, I lost twelve lbs. in 6 weeks.