To ask for your low calorie meal ideas

[lordofthepies22]

Desperately trying to shift some weight after several failed attempts. I just love food and I'm so greedy. I binge eat on processed food and snack a lot on crisps and sugary stuff.

I'm going to treat sticking to a calorie deficit of 1600 a day. I'm about 12 stone and for my height I think that's about right.

But I really do struggle to feel full on that and also totally run out of ideas for low calorie meals. Lunchtime is usually a sandwich, crisps and a biscuit which in itself is often about 600 calories. Evening meal tends to be hello fresh which is calorie controlled and generally healthy ish. But I need lunch and breakfast inspiration really. Any ideas so so appreciated.

Porridge made with water and a square of 90% dark chocolate is fairly low calorie and fills me up far better than yoghurt/fruit type breakfasts.

Vegetable soup, no idea on the calories but I just chuck in everything that is left in the fridge every weekend!

Salad with cheese, boiled eggs and cold chicken for protein, if I put in crunchy stuff like celery it takes so long to eat I get bored before I've finished it! I don't like salad dressing, I eat it all plain ... appreciate I am probably in the minority.

You would feel fuller for less calories if you had a big bowl of vegetable & lentil soup with your lunchtime sandwich. I’m not saying never have crisps or biscuits, but you’d shave a couple of hundred calories off you lunch if you skipped them.

If you like something sweet, Kvarg is a low calorie/high protein yogurt that might satisfy your cravings. Aldi also do a high protein yogurt that’s low calorie.

For breakfast you could have a two egg omelet or Greek yogurt with a few nuts/seeds or porridge and a banana or baked beans on wholemeal toast with no butter.

I’ve always found that the more biscuits and sweet stuff I ate, the more of them I needed. Like I literally couldn’t fill myself. Once I started cutting them out I didn’t actually crave them.

Prioritise protein! I think if I'm in a calorie deficit and I'm getting enough protein I still feel pretty satisfied but if i've not had a lot of protein I'm very hungry and tend to eat lots of crap. I aim to eat as an absolute minimum 100g of protein a day.

So for lunch I'd tend to choose the sandwich that is eg chicken and sweetcorn rather than cheese and tomato, they have similar calories but the chicken sandwich has double the protein. I'd then probably have crisps or a biscuit AND a piece of fruit. Ie one bit of crap and one bit of goodness.

For breakfast I try and up the protein too. So an english muffin with jam will fill me up for about half an hour, and english muffin with 2 bacon medallions and 1 fried egg will keep me going till lunch.

I think it's better to make smaller sustainable changes rather than going straight for a big calorie deficit, it's harder to keep up those big changes and you'll be more likely to stick to something more gradual.

Can you swap out snacks for healthier alternatives for example, or plan lunches in advance with a focus on them being large in volume (keep you feeling full) but low in calories?

Thanks guys some fab ideas. I watch a lot of YouTube and tik tok videos on this and am always surprised about how much people seem to be able to eat on so few calories. I guess I am just not very clued up. I know high protein is really important so I'll try to work on that. I wish I liked porridge but I really don't. And I do like eggs but don't usually have time to cook in a morning. I could hard boil some for snacks and salads I guess.

The likes of oats or boiled eggs for breakfast or could potentially ditch the breakfast with your first meal being lunch (IF) - maybe some chicken breast, rice and veg.

I have either porridge or fruit for breakfast so not much help
lunches at work are soup, sushi, jacket potato, salad, left overs from night before but I do eat a lot of protein and often add to other things
For example I like carrot and coriander soup but will add cooked chicken and some veg like sugar snaps or tender stem broccoli to make it into more of a stew
We only have a microwave and toaster plus kettle at work

all the jamie oliver recipes online have the nutritional value/calories per serving.
just measure your portion size according to what you need.

I dislike oats, soup etc but had great success with high protein meals bulked out with veg, salad etc and complex carbs. I'd recommend bbc good food recipes. I had huel bars for breakfast and for snacks I'd have apples, baked crisps, low sugar dark chocolate and popcorn 😊

Take a look at some of the Fast 800 recipes for some ideas, of course you can eat a bit more if you are going for 1600 calories but the idea is the same, lots of veggies, protein and healthier carbs in moderation.

Breakfasts- Greek yogurt, blueberries and flaked almonds. Pre made baked eggs (whisked up) with some cooked bacon, tomato and mushroom (cook in a muffin tray). Omelette. Fresh fruit smoothie with Greek yogurt and a cup of oats blitzed in.

Snack - Apple and a small piece of cheese. Handful of almonds. Slice of wholemeal toast with nut butter. Quark. Protein shake.

Lunch - large salad with lots of protein tuna, chicken, chickpeas, egg.

Dinner - protein and veg. So salmon and a large tray of roasted veggies. Roast chicken, salad and coleslaw. Fish curry served with kale. Chicken curry served with cauliflower rice, bean chili with brown rice.

Plenty of water.

If you scramble eggs, they don't take any longer than making toast. I usually have porridge made with 2/3 water 1/3 milk, but sometimes have 2 scrambled eggs on half a thin bagel or muffin. Or you can hard boil them in advance and slice or mash them - they are nice mashed with cottage cheese if you really want to up the protein.
For lunch, I often make something like a vegetable dhal or chilli and reheat it at work - I usually find hot food more satisfying than a sandwich. I have a smaller portion than I would for dinner and don't have a carb with it, just some extra veg (broccoli and cauliflower are both filling).
A good swap for your crisps is popcorn. I buy the Proper Corn, which is low calorie and no artificial ingredients. It is more filling than crisps and won't leave you craving more like ultra processed food will.

God, porridge made with water sounds so depressing.

As pp, prioritise protein!

Think avoiding calorie dense stuff and filling up on the calorie light
I know MN hates the "massive salad" people but if you look how much salad leaves you can eat for the calories! The add cucumber, spring onions, celery, grated carrot, cherry tomatoes, gherkins... and your protein
Volume eating basically

One I always end up having is fried rice - not a traditional recipe but basically half a pack of micro rice fried with stir fry veg, egg, chopped chicken sausage and some soy sauce

Aldi chocolate protein mousse is a big tub for not many calories

Have you got Instagram? Search volume eating

https://www.instagram.com/p/CG63ZXHMtxo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZCgIgAIgTT/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Loads of calorie stuff here

https://instagram.com/livthepositivefooodie?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The rice recipe

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKRV5IpBu7k/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Sorry I keep thinking of stuff!!

So I wanted tuna in a sandwich, but to add to the bulk and fill me up more I did
Tuna
Light mayo
Lemon juice
Then chopped up tomato, red onion, pepper, gherkins and stored it all in a tub
I'll add lettuce and put it in a sandwich. The veg adds bulk without calories

Or if you want cheese then do a cheese savoury - grate cheese, onion, carrot, add light mayo salt and pepper and salad leaves

Basically if you try to hit 10 veg a day with a couple of those being fruit and concentrate on protein, you're full!

I had to lose some weight for a trip, I’ve fallen off the wagon now though 🤦‍♀️

I stopped having snacks/pastries:biscuits etc. Drank lots of water and most meals were veg heavy with protein. Cut out carbs almost completely. No bread and very small amounts of pasta or rice.

Eggs for breakfast then chicken/beef/fish for lunch and dinner with either steamed or roasted veg. Fruit for dessert but no toppings.