Am I doing this right?

[HedgehogintheFog]

Myself and DH need to lose weight (but DH more than me). I am in charge of cooking, and based on something DP's friend told us (I know, not exactly medical advice!) I have been working on just a tea or coffee for breakfast (we have always done this anyway), and then 400kcal for lunch and 600kcal for dinner, plus snacks and drinks of about 150kcal.

However, now I've looked into it, it seems the internet thinks I should eat 1400kcal a day to maintain, so mine seems about right, but surely this is not enough for DH?

The thing is, DH says he does not need more/is not hungry, so now I am worried I am counting calories wrong. I get very confused between raw/cooked weights of things. I post a couple of example days below, so people can reasonably comment.

Example Day 1 1109kcal

Breakfast: 15kcal
Coffee with splash of skimmed milk - 15kcal

Lunch: 385kcal
Salad:
25g Baby spinach: 20kcal
5 large cherry tomatoes: 28kcal
Satusuma: 26kcal
30g blueberries: 17kcal
15g walnuts: 107kcal
100g Reduced fat salad cheese: 163kcal
Dressing:
25ml Maple flavour skinny syrup: 1kcal
2tsp mustard: 6kcal
1tbsp balsamic vinegar: 15kcal

Dinner: 619kcal
Vegan garlic kiev: 328kcal
200g Homemade chips: 154kcal
0.5 tbsp rapeseed oil: 61kcal
100g tenderstem brocolli: 38kcal
1tbsp light mayonnairs: 38kcal

Snacks and Drinks:
1 fibre one cake bar: 90kcal

Example Day 2 1112kcal

Breakfast:
Coffee with splash of skimmed milk: 15kcal

Lunch: 494kcal
0.5 tin chickpeas: 146kcal
25ml sweet chilli sauce: 52 kcal
90g lighter haloumi: 249kcal
72g Roasted Red Peppers: 46kcal

Dinner: 449kcal
50g lardons: 90kcal
30g Parmesan Cheese: 115kcal
0.5 egg: 42 kcal
50g wholewheat pasta: 158kcal
Wild mushrooms 100g: 16kcal

Drinks and Snacks
1 alcohol free beer: 33kcal
1 banana: 121kcal

Absolutely not enough. I lost weight consistently at 200lbs, 5ft 6 eating 2200 calories (along with 10,000 steps a day, no “exercise”)

That's nowhere near enough. There are loads of macro counters online that are very helpful.

Best thing to do is google TDEE calculator.

Put in your and DHs stats, you'll end up with different numbers.

That will give you a decent estimate of how many calories your bodies use every day. Then for a 1lb loss per week which is recommended, you just subtract 500 from your TDEE and that's your calorie target for each day.

My calorie target as a 5ft 8 sedentary woman just under 200lb is about 1550. If I stick to that I usually actually lose about 2lb a week, if I eat less then I get really hungry and sluggish and then end up bingeing on crap.

I need to drop to 1200 calories to loose weight but my husband is currently on 2200 calories and is loosing weight. Have a look for a TDEE calculator online, there are a few, it will tell you for your height, weight and lifestyle what you need to drop to in terms of daily calories to loose weight.

Ive also found an app called Nutracheck really useful, I prefer it to my fitness pal, it's very clear about cooked/uncooked foods including vegetables

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

Best thing to do is google TDEE calculator.

Put in your and DHs stats, you'll end up with different numbers.

That will give you a decent estimate of how many calories your bodies use every day. Then for a 1lb loss per week which is recommended, you just subtract 500 from your TDEE and that's your calorie target for each day.

My calorie target as a 5ft 8 sedentary woman just under 200lb is about 1550. If I stick to that I usually actually lose about 2lb a week, if I eat less then I get really hungry and sluggish and then end up bingeing on crap.

As someone very short with just a small amount to lose, that would put me at 900kcal a day, which I don't think I could do!

DH would have a much more reasonable 1,600, so I think it would be easiest if he were to start having breakfast and an evening snack, in addition to the meals we're sharing - assuming I am counting those correctly!

Those meal plans look really delicious and full of healthy foods, will they keep your husband full though?

I tend to find that I need to have loads of green low carb veg like green beans, brocolli, asparagus and load my plate with those, but then I need to have fats and plenty of protein or I feel hungry. Low fat/reduced calorie alternatives are often a false economy as I end up needing to eat more of them to not be starving all the time.

You have homemade chips on the second plan, potatoes are starchy and high calorie, so you'll end up with a tiny portion, would he be more satisfied with a giant portion of roasted greenbeans instead for half the calories and then a bit more meat?