Breakfast: 92 grams of egg whites Sauteed with onions mushrooms bell Peppers, one serving of Turkey breast or grilled chicken, and a 70 calorie bread option.

Lunch (examples): Greek yogurt With berries, protein bar, grilled chicken, salad with lean red meat

Dinner: any well balanced dinner that includes protein rich meats or lentils or beans

Snacks: Edamame, protein bar, fruits

I just read this whole thread and it’s all so familiar- I tried for years to lose weight following these healthy plans and these women’s diets do look good. But I was starving! This is why GLP-1s are finally saving the day for those of us who are sick of dieting and know that at the end of the day, none of this works if you’re hungry. You will gain it back. Good luck, really, but know there are finally other options.

On that level of calories, I’d be eating my own arm.

I am a Bariatric patient and I keep a high protein/“high” fiber diet. My caloric intake runs about that or less. Here is one day for me:

Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs with sautéed cut veggies (I keep/meal prep containers of cut onion, pepper, tomato ect), feta cheese, and one slice of Dave’s Killer Bread

Lunch: Homemade chicken salad (use Greek yogurt and blended cottage cheese as binder instead of mayo) with chopped up nuts, celery and craisens. Crackers of choice.

Snack: homemade hummus and veggies and/or pretzels and some cheese

Dinner: grilled protein (grilled pork tenderloin, low fat hamburger patties/ground beef, grilled chicken) and roasted veggies (I meal prep these a few times a week)

Dessert- if still hungry I’ll have a yasso bar

This is my daily intake-average as a 54 yo 5’1” /118 lb woman who exercises only moderately (3-4 days week mix of cardio and weights).

Coffee with half n half in the am.

Lunch is either smoothie (almond milk protein powder frozen banana tb if almond butter) or yogurt with fruit and nuts or open face turkey sandwich with avocado and veggies. A handful of nuts or turkey jerky later if I’m still hungry .

Dinner is whatever we are eating: usually a salad, a main/proten, a veggie and a carb. Usually I have a little chocolate or treat (have been experimenting with high protein “ice cream” in the ninja blender lately).

Weekends I’ll have a glass of wine and a dessert or pizza etc if we go out …


For me two relatively normal
meals a day is better than 6 tiny snacks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

It might not be anorexia but it is a sad way to live.

Maybe for you. But others might put a higher value on looking and feeling thin and less of a value on food (especially excess calories that give 30 seconds of satisfaction).

You can have both. Just lift weights and be active. I easily maintain at over 2000 calories and I am a size 2-4 at 5’6”

Age?

43

I'm post menopausal and in the obese category (over 200 pounds) and am two weeks into solid calorie counting and seeing good results at 1200-1300 calories a day.

Not trying for high protein or low carbs - focusing on not being too restrictive and portion sizes.

Breakfast - large mug of black tea with two sugars. Half a pack of Bel Vita biscuits (so two, a pack has 4) and a tablespoon of peanut butter - 257 calories

Lunch - salad with protein, or something leftover from a dinner, or a small sandwich from home with deli meat on a thin sliced bread or slider roll. Try to keep this to under 400 cal

Afternoon snack - fruit + some cheese and/or nuts; or baby carrots and a lighter dip; or mug of tea with sugar and milk and a small cookie/graham cracker/shortbread - something tasty but lower in cal; or yogurt - depending on what lunch was and what dinner will be and how hungry I am, trying to keep to between 100-250 cal

dinner - a smaller portion of what my family is eating. Double up on vegetables- steamed broccoli or whatever plain. Last night it was a smaller serving of chicken pot pie (not eating all the crust). On taco night it was 1/2 cup rice + meat, beans, little bit of cheese on the plate, not on a taco. Small serving of steak + half small baked potato. Whatever dinner is, just cutting portion sizes by half. Aiming for <400 cal total.

I usually find room for a taste of ice cream (a spoonful) or 2 hershey kisses or a bite of something.

I am experimenting with this as well and for me the key is to also have some fat with each meal. So I had fruit, Greek yogurt but also a tablespoon of peanut butter for breakfast. If I have scrambled eggs I add cheese. It’s just key to keep carbs low and not grab any random unbalanced snacks. I have been having one or two servings of grains each day, usually with dinner with the kids but the rest of my carbs are coming from fruit and vegetables and a serving of beans or lentils or something. I feel less hungry this way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

What does someone else's obesity problem have anything to do with your diet? This is what happens when you don't eat enough calories - you make illogical arguments like this.

1200 to 1300 calories is undereating. If you're doing it temporarily to lose weight, it means you know it's less than what your body needs to maintain itself. I bet you constantly think about food, look up calories before you eat something, and and get nervous during dinners with friends.

Again, temporarily underrating is NOT anorexia. It’s dieting. There’s a massive difference.

Anorexia is arguing that your dinner of chicken and vegetables isn't 200 calories, and is instead the same as the other poster that had chicken, vegetables, and pasta for 400 calories.

It is highly unlikely that chicken, pasta, and vegetables = 400 calories. Look at the calories in pasta alone. It all depends on portions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

What does someone else's obesity problem have anything to do with your diet? This is what happens when you don't eat enough calories - you make illogical arguments like this.

1200 to 1300 calories is undereating. If you're doing it temporarily to lose weight, it means you know it's less than what your body needs to maintain itself. I bet you constantly think about food, look up calories before you eat something, and and get nervous during dinners with friends.

Again, temporarily underrating is NOT anorexia. It’s dieting. There’s a massive difference.

Anorexia is arguing that your dinner of chicken and vegetables isn't 200 calories, and is instead the same as the other poster that had chicken, vegetables, and pasta for 400 calories.

Breakfast - coffee

Lunch - 2% fat Greek yogurt with almonds and blueberries (a full container of berries, about 2 handful of nuts, chopped, about half a large container of yogurt)

Snack - 2 apples with chunky peanut butter (I add extra nuts to the peanut butter, which reduces the caloric impact, I’m not sure by how much)

Dinner - large salad with nuts and goat cheese, 8 oz cooked chicken or 4 oz steak, 2 cups cooked veggies (right now I’m roasting veggies with olive oil and different spices)

Dessert - no sugar cheesecake (from Whole Foods), 2-3 times a week

Every week or so I do a fast and I do an hour of yoga every day

54 year old woman, in best shape of my adult life and feeling really healthy. I gave up starchy carbs like rice and pasta and bread and potatoes about 6 months ago and went from 125 to 115, but more importantly I have real muscle tone and increased strength, which I attribute to replacing starchy carbs with more protein and fat. Also I replaced the occasional glass of wine or cocktail with an edible or joint.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

What does someone else's obesity problem have anything to do with your diet? This is what happens when you don't eat enough calories - you make illogical arguments like this.

1200 to 1300 calories is undereating. If you're doing it temporarily to lose weight, it means you know it's less than what your body needs to maintain itself. I bet you constantly think about food, look up calories before you eat something, and and get nervous during dinners with friends.

Again, temporarily underrating is NOT anorexia. It’s dieting. There’s a massive difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

It might not be anorexia but it is a sad way to live.

Maybe for you. But others might put a higher value on looking and feeling thin and less of a value on food (especially excess calories that give 30 seconds of satisfaction).

You can have both. Just lift weights and be active. I easily maintain at over 2000 calories and I am a size 2-4 at 5’6”

Age?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All you people accusing other posters of eating disorders are absurd. America has an obesity problem and it's largely because of the view that we need thousands upon thousands of calories when we simply don't. A 1200 or 1300 calorie diet is not anorexia. Get a damn grip.

It might not be anorexia but it is a sad way to live.

Maybe for you. But others might put a higher value on looking and feeling thin and less of a value on food (especially excess calories that give 30 seconds of satisfaction).

You can have both. Just lift weights and be active. I easily maintain at over 2000 calories and I am a size 2-4 at 5’6”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2
11:00 1/3 cup cream of wheat (no milk, just boiled water to make it) or low fat plain Greek yogurt with homemade unsweetened granola and a teaspoon of honey
Afternoon snack - fruit, nuts, 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheeses, boiled egg white, or baby carrots
Dinner - 4oz chicken or fish and veggies

This is called anorexia

Hahaha I wish. I’m 174 pounds! That’s called a 52 year old perimenopausal woman with low iron, borderline cholesterol, and skirting the low end of overweight.

That’s 1,500 - 1,800 calories.

And a sad sad way to live. Do you exercise at all? I’m also a 52 year old in menopause and eat way more than that but I workout 5-6 days a week. Intense workouts most days not just walking. Normal weight. Id rather be fat then eat this way.

And she would rather eat this way than be fat. Why do you care?

She’s eating this way and IS FAT. Yes, that’s a sad life.

lol. I’m not fat. I’m just over 5’ 11” tall and wear a loose size 10/medium and am focused on my diet because it did creep up over the past 2 years and cholesterol was trending the wrong way. The dr said focus on diet, I could lose 5 pounds to get back to ‘normal’ weight range and bring weightlifting into my running routine. I’d ideally like to get to 165 and a size 8, but life’s too short to not drink wine and eat chocolate.

Again, pp, you’ve got some weird hang up.