Tuesday, December 13, 2011

1,200 Calorie A Day Menu Plans

Tip of the week: Diet and menu plans often call for something different each day. This isn't very practical on a budget and will break the bank in no time. What are you going to do with the rest of the loaf of bread or box of cereal that appears only once or twice? There's nothing unhealthy about having the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day or every other day. In fact, it actually helps you to overcome cravings and adds to a more simple lifestyle. You're more likely to stick to something if you don't need to make a huge project out of it and complicate things. Make your variety in your suppers and some snacks that you can buy in individual amounts, such as fruits, that won't waste the rest of a package or make you feel like you need to eat all of it so as not to waste.

Breakfast - 440 calories

My coffees, since I have to have my cream and sugar, account for 200 calories here! I'm having to take a really good look at whether I really need 2. I was sort of fudging my calorie count for the day, but had to be honest about how much cream and sugar I was adding. Still working on this. One little luxury I'm not quite ready to give up.

2 coffees with cream and sugar and 1 Boost - High Protein - make note to occupy self for a few hours because that's not a super heavy breakfast. A salad starts to sound really good around 10-11:00

Lunch - 460 Calories - yes, you read right - 460 calories! This one does fill you up though. Plus, there's pineapple juice.

Salad of sweet baby lettuce (1 serving size) 1/2 oz. mixed nuts, 1 serving raisins, sesame ginger vinaigrette (any dressing with 100 calories per serving) Reese croutons - (1 serving was just 25 calories) and 1 6 oz. Dole pineapple juice

Dinner - 272 calories

Tilapia, mustard greens and 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt with 1/2 c. blueberries

(I found a good recipe for a curried tilapia on All Recipes and tweaked it a little. I put 1 TBSP of Safflower oil in the pan, heated to medium high, then mixed 1 TBSP of the safflower oil with 1 TBSP curry powder, about 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, about 1/8 tsp each of cardamom, coriander and ginger. I rubbed the fish with the oil and seasoning blend, then pan-fried on medium heat for 3 minutes on each side. I used the tilapia loins. It turned out excellent I thought. And I actually forgot about getting to have my yogurt and blueberries, but was full on just the fish and greens, so I had a green tea with the dinner and had the yogurt and berries a little later to tide me over for the night.

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