To ask for calorie deficit meal ideas

[whattheef]

I've worked out that in order to lose weight I need a calorie deficit of about 1600 per day. This doesn't feel like a lot for me and I need ideas that will help me stay full and not snacking. This is where I end up using most of my calories.

I'm thinking protein yogurt, weetabix or eggs for breakfast. Lunch perhaps a wrap or sandwich with fruit. And dinner will most likely be a lower calorie version of what I usually have - so spaghetti bolognaise but using leaner mince and skipping the garlic bread etc.

I will try really hard to track my calories accurately on my fitness pal too. I'm terrible for the odd biscuit and the odd bag of crisps and the odd handful of nuts here and there and this is where I always fail.

If you have a calorie deficit of similar then what do you eat? And are you hungry? Thank you in advance!

How about slimming world? I find it simple to follow and you're not tracking calories, but you'll find yourself in a deficit. I've lost 2.5 stone since January.

Slimming World doesn’t work on a calorie deficit which the OP is wanting to follow.

Identify which of the foods you struggle to not binge on and then do not buy them, basically forbid yourself from eaing them.

Stop eating bread/wraps and switch to ryvita or similar (very filling and not many calories)

Always start the meal with the veggies or a salad and only use a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing. The veggie fiber lines your stomach and slows absorption of everything else you are eating (so some food just might not get absorbed) The vinegar inactivates the amylase in your spit so the starches dont start to break down immediately, again it reduces the potential absoption

When hungry have a cup of tea and wait 30 mins

Eat slowly

Try and re work mild hunger into being a good thing - your diet is working, embrace it as good

If you need a treat, its after dinner only and one small square of v dark chocolate. It works quite well at satisfying the 'I want something sweet' without actually being sweet

I hope you can find a few things that you can put together to work for you. You need to build a plan that fits you and your lifestyle

Of course it does. You don't count the calories yourself, but you end up consuming less. If there was no calorie deficit, no one would lose weight on it. It's based on eating mainly free foods which are low calorie for how filling they are ,so you naturally end up with a deficit.

Things like weetabix, eggs and low fat mince in spaghetti bolognese are classic slimming world meal ideas.

as far as Slimming World are concerned you can eat as much pasta as you like, have as much fruit as you can eat but have to syn a mashed banana or cooked fruit is counting calories? Chicken is unlimited etc etc. nope, that’s not calorie counting. Calorie counting is so different to slimming world.

Protein and volume foods. I use Nutracheck to track my calories and much prefer it to MFP.

I aim for 100 grams of protein a day minimum.

Think about your calories over a week where you average 1600 a day. So maybe 1500 a day then the extra at the weekend. I pretty much eat the same
breakfast and lunch everyday which removes the decision fatigue. You could maybe start your tracking week on a Friday if weekends are more tricky.

Typical day for me on 1600 would be
B: one toast with mashed banana and 3 eggs
L: chicken breast, rice, veg
D: salmon, rice or sweet potato, veg
Snacks: rice cakes, almonds, pineapple, grapes, blueberries, coffee with skimmed milk

For flavourings, I use dried spices etc, a little soy sauce, a dressing mixing soy sauce, chilli flakes and a little sweet chilli sauce. I do lots of veg in the air fryer and I meal prep.

if you have a sweet tooth, Fulfil 40g protein bars especially the salted caramel one are a good chocolate bar alternative but 150 calories and 15g protein.

A good volume desert is mixing one meringue nest, one pot 10 cal jelly, 200ml yoghurt (0% Greek or Lindhals Kvarg) and berries.

Wraps are good for lunch if you use the Weight Watchers or Carb Lite ones. Normal wraps are surprisingly calorific.

I lost 6st recently, by mainly keeping carbs down. Things already mentioned like piling up the veg and omitting the carbs. Potatoes are better calorie value than rice and pasta if you do want some carbs with a main. I do things like make carrot chips with spray oil, salt and spices instead of oven chips. Cauliflower rice isn't great but if you're short of calories and it's a rice-based meal it's an easy switch. Porridge made with protein powder and water, instead of milk, kept my protein intake up. Skyr yoghurt, I found nicer than Greek yoghurt.

And I ate biscuits every single day with my evening cuppa. How many depended on how many calories I could spare.

You need to weigh and log every single thing on MFP. Oh, and take starting photos to compare later. In resonably revealing clothing like vest and cycling shorts, if not underwear. Sometimes you can't see the change until you compare it side by side in photos.

• Eggs for breakfast
• Lunch I like to do a warm salad-like thing where I get a mix of mushrooms, asparagus, green beans, baby corn, sugarsnap peas (whatever I have available). Steam the veg in the microwave for 3 mins, add a teaspoon of butter and plenty of seasoning then tear up some wafer thin chicken or ham and stir it through. The veg is really low calorie, the bits of meat makes it feel more substantial and the butter adds richness.
• dinner I go with meat and veg, pork loin steak with roasted broccoli and cauliflower, beef strips stir fried with ribbons of carrot, bean sprouts, cabbage or bok Choi, soy sauce, ginger and lime juice

I tend to find the more flavour I add the easier it is to stick to low calorie foods, so I might put a small amount of chorizo into my scrambled eggs, with spring onions, or make an omelette with onion, mushrooms and peppers. The lingering food flavours make it easier to not snack.

Any form of weight loss is different to slimming world, it’s like a cult that just ignores the basic rules of science and thermodynamics!

I think it’s fairly clear that OP means she’s aiming for 1600 calories per day. No need for the performative bafflement Basic reading comprehension should provide clarity.

i Have been calorie counting the last few weeks and my daily allowance is 1,400 but I have gone a little over most days.

I have found bulking up meals with more veg helpful. I have also eaten more fruits, specifically strawberries and blueberries as a snack as it feels nice having something sweet.

I have switched to fruit tea for part of the day so I’m not having lots of calories through tea/coffee (and because I want to reduce my caffeine intake too).

I have been eating lots of scrambled eggs for breakfast and have found it so filling it really stops my cravings.

I also love a bit of Greek yoghurt!!

A black coffee is near zero calories?

But I hate black coffee. I have coffee with whole milk and a sugar or caramel syrup 😂 Also I want to reduce my caffeine which got to ridiculous levels!

I lost 2.5 stone last year, the easiest way for me to get a calorie deficit was intermittent fasting 18:6. I still eat in the same pattern now I am at a steady weight.
An unexpected bonus was that it cleared up my bad skin too!

Good for you, OP! I'm doing the same as you are the mo but aiming for 1500. I have 2 boiled eggs for breakfast (plus half an avocado at weekends) - the protein fills me up much more than weetabix, which makes me hungry quite quickly. For lunch if I'm at work I'll have soup/salad/sandwich but not go over 400 calories. If I'm too hungry before lunch I might have a banana for a mid morning snack. If I'm at home I'll have a baked potato with hunmus and salad and tuna (less than 400 calories total). Then for dinner (and I'll have this early to prevent snacking) I'll have something protein based like chicken or fish with calidlower rice and vegetables or salad. Or if I'm being lazy I might have a low cal ready meal (sainsbirys do frozen cottage pie ones that are only just over 200 calories!!). If I feel like I need a snack later, I'll have grapes or yoghurt. That comes out below 1500 calories in total. I've lost more than a stone since January so far (including two blips). Like you, I love junk food. I'm finding this slow but effective - just need to keep it up. I don't feel I'm getting particular hungry so that helps. And I allow myself the occasional treat but try to factor it in- for instance I went to Nandos yesterday but did quite a lot of exercise this morning to limit the damage!

I find eggs great as they are filling. And use low cal dressings/Mayo etc as when you start weighing everything and putting it into my fitness pal you can save yourself a fair bit there and don’t really notice the difference. I also find hello fresh is good as they have a lot of choices that are under 650 calories and it means I’m getting something really tasty for my dinner and I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Plus it’s dead easy to record in my fitness pal as most of them are in there already!
After dinner to stop myself snacking I will also brush my teeth as if ready for bed-helps to put me off eating anything else!

Ditch the bread and wraps most of the time, lots of calories for not a lot of satisfaction really.

I use crackerbreads instead, Ryvita ones, lower carb and lower calories.

Typical days food:

Protein works shake (the extreme diet total meal replacement one i think), half a shake (can't do a full one in the morning.

4 cracker breads
tablespoon philly cheese
half a red pepper
50g hummous
4 slices salami

Home made soup and ryvita thins

4 cracker breads with mean scrape of lurpak and some marmite

Thats around 1300 cal.

Todays:

Shake

Quorn crunchy fillet burger
lettuce, tomato, mayo
two slices toasted warbies seeded batch.

Home made cottage pie
yorkshire puddings x 2
peas
morrisons sticky ginger pudding thing
single cream 50ml

half a banana

1765 cal.

Most days I am sticking to 1000 - 1200 with the occasional day like today (instead of dirty filthy delicious takeaways!).

So it is possible and if unlike me, there are lots of proteiny things you like, a wider variety of veg/pulses etc you can eat, then its less shit. I am very limited by ARFID, diabetes and other health issues.

I was being polite in that post. I’d be banned if if I shared my true thoughts…

@LuckyPaisley what an achievement. Jeezo to lose 6 stone takes a hell of a lot of commitment, bloody well done.

It wasn't that clear to me. I just asked for clarification and then once I received clarification I gave my answer. I wasn't sure if she needed to eat 1600 calories less than usual or 1600 calories.

I have lost a lot of weight since january on an average of around 1500 calories per day.

The first week or two I was hungry but then I figured out what worked for me. Eg some say protein makes them fuller but if I have eggs/omelette for breakfast, I am starving mid morning. If I have a slice of brown toast, I'm fine til lunch with maybe a cracker or two mid morning (22 caloeies each).

For me, I like to eat in the evening when the kids are in bed so I am currently having 4 small meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening meal and low calorie snacks in between. I'm not hungry because whenever I want something, I can have it - I just have a low calorie version or smaller portion size.

The thing I think is really important for me is to not take any guesses with calories - if I cant measure it, I choose something else instead.

I have done slimming world in the past amongst many other fad diets and although SW did work brilliantly for me (I lost about 2 stone in a few months) I quickly realised that it wasn't particularly healthy or sustainable. It definitely messes with your perceptions of food.

Loving these threads as I really need to stay motivated!!!

My tips are double the vegetables halve everything else.

I have been shocked how many calories are in carbs and desserts - it’s really easy to forget.

Also, give up sugar, use honey.

I would not replace good quality bread ( eg homemade , not processed bread) with processed foods like crackers

I suspect the more healthy you eat the more likely you'l feel full and develop long term sustainable eating patterns