1000 - 1200 Calories

[kirsty_baird_26]

Hi All,
A little bit of background i have been following slimming world since September and managed to lose a stone i never managed to get under the stone with much luck, constantly gaining and losing around the stone mark so decided to go back to what i know best calorie counting. A few years ago i managed to lost 3 1/2 stone by eatting 1000 calories a day for 5 months slowly upping it to 2000 and maintained this for about 2-3 years before my thyroid problems began again.
I have a borderline underactive thyroid which i am not being treated for (Doctors believe if i get thyroxine i will just need to continually up the amount as it steadys out) and i have PCOS therefore i struggle greatly to lose weight.
The 1000 calories has been given the go ahead with my gp as iv done it before and seems to be only way i can properly successfully lose weight.
I walk at least 2-3 miles a day (Power walk 2 of these and about a mile with dog), also attend Zumba and spin classes each week.
Does anyone have any dinner ideas for around 500 calories? Iv lost my old food diary from first time i did it!
Also thanks for reading my long post just wanted to fill in with details
I will post a food diary up also!

Kirsty

 

[Fattack]

Whilst I'm not going to go against the advice of your GP as you clearly have medical concerns, I am going to sigh heavily that he/she has agreed to put you on a 1000 calorie diet with what seems to be no approval from a nutritionist and no guidance to ensure you are meeting all your nutritional requirements (which is very, very difficult to do at 1000 calories). Nutrition is a specialised area of medicine, and not all GPs are fully trained in it. You are also very active, and I do worry that you may make yourself ill on so little food - spinning and zumba are quite intense workouts that will burn at least 500 calories at your weight.

That aside, you can do a lot with 500 calories! Small portion of wholewheat (try to stick to wholegrains, as, like me, you have PCOS and are therefore benefit from complex rather than simple carbs) pasta, some meat and some stir in sauce. Fajitas made with a wholewheat wrap are delicious, I also like a wrap with houmous, some shredded meat (usually chicken or ham) and some 1-cal fried veg.

Best of luck to you, and do try to seek help from a nutritionist if you can so they can keep an eye on you, I'm not confident in your GP advocating 1000 cals a day for an active woman.

 

[kirsty_baird_26]

Whilst I'm not going to go against the advice of your GP as you clearly have medical concerns, I am going to sigh heavily that he/she has agreed to put you on a 1000 calorie diet with what seems to be no approval from a nutritionist and no guidance to ensure you are meeting all your nutritional requirements (which is very, very difficult to do at 1000 calories). Nutrition is a specialised area of medicine, and not all GPs are fully trained in it. You are also very active, and I do worry that you may make yourself ill on so little food - spinning and zumba are quite intense workouts that will burn at least 500 calories at your weight.

That aside, you can do a lot with 500 calories! Small portion of wholewheat (try to stick to wholegrains, as, like me, you have PCOS and are therefore benefit from complex rather than simple carbs) pasta, some meat and some stir in sauce. Fajitas made with a wholewheat wrap are delicious, I also like a wrap with houmous, some shredded meat (usually chicken or ham) and some 1-cal fried veg.

Best of luck to you, and do try to seek help from a nutritionist if you can so they can keep an eye on you, I'm not confident in your GP advocating 1000 cals a day for an active woman.

Hi,
Thanks for your reply and concerns but i have seen a dietician and nutritionist before beginning my 1000 calorie diet previously, i had to attend for a few months once a month and take sample of what i had been eating each month. They were both happy along with my Gp with what i was eating and the only concern was the lack of red meat in my diet *I hate anyfoods with bits of fat or gistle on them turns my stomach* but i have began having some red meat now so there doesnt seem to be any worries.
Also on days of Zumba etc i add an extra few hundred calories. I am mostly eating about 1100-1200 a day if im honest but sticking between 1000-1200 calories. I am just going to add my food diary perhaps you wish to take a peep and see that i am eating quite alot.

Thanks again

 

[The Moog]

Yes, I've had much the same response on here. I'm on a low cal diet/exercise prog supervised by my GP, physio and nutritionist and it's working beautifully. You have to do what works for you.

You can have loads of things for 500 cals. There's a great website 200-400 calories recipes - Recipes - BBC Good Food that does meals between 200 and 400 cals, which I use quite a bit.

I tend to eat fresh foods a lot. Fish is generally very low in calories and it's easy to have with veg and stuff. You can even do paella for the sort of cals you're looking at (although you've got to steady on a bit with the rice!).

As far as red meats go, is it worth trying duck? Best of luck with it all. Sounds like you've got it planned very sensibly to me.

 

[Emmaline]

Hi Kirsty, Well done on your loss so far.
Just to let you know - be prepared for lots of the 1000 cals. lectures, they are interminable!
I have been doing 1000 since April 2010 and have not had any bad experience from it.
I find that plenty of veg and about 4oz meat plus a peice of fruit is about the 500.

All the very best to you..

 

[happyhealthy]

Hi Kirsty, Well done on your loss so far.
Just to let you know - be prepared for lots of the 1000 cals. lectures, they are interminable!
I have been doing 1000 since April 2010 and have not had any bad experience from it.
I find that plenty of veg and about 4oz meat plus a peice of fruit is about the 500.

All the very best to you..

In the nicest possible way, they're not 'lectures'. People like fattack aren't taking time out their day to offer a bit of educated advice, she's saying it because she's in the know and is kind person who wants to give a reply that will, hopefully, help someone out I think that's really wrong of you to call them 'interminable', like it's a broken down record player they should be over looked. I don't want to cause conflict but maybe it was your choice of words. People are only trying to help - you should try not being so dismissive.

 

[The Moog]

In the nicest possible way, they're not 'lectures'. People like fattack aren't taking time out their day to offer a bit of educated advice, she's saying it because she's in the know and is kind person who wants to give a reply that will, hopefully, help someone out I think that's really wrong of you to call them 'interminable', like it's a broken down record player they should be over looked. I don't want to cause conflict but maybe it was your choice of words. People are only trying to help - you should try not being so dismissive.

Yes, she's taking time out of her day and yes people do appreciate it. But it's not always appropriate.

In the nicest possible way, it does stop those of us who are on lower calories from posting because we don't want to deal with the fall-out. I agree with Emmaline. It's on virtually every thread.

The OP has a valid reason and suitable support for a lower cal diet. There's no reason to make an issue out of it.

 

[Tol116]

Hi Kirsty,

If you take a look at the slimming clubs thread and look for the Rosemary Conley thread, there are quite a few low fat/cal recipes in there. I actually bought a couple of her recipe books and I find them quite easy to cook, quite normal food dishes, like curry, shepherds pie etc and the portions are quite good as well.

 

[happyhealthy]

Yes, she's taking time out of her day and yes people do appreciate it. But it's not always appropriate.

In the nicest possible way, it does stop those of us who are on lower calories from posting because we don't want to deal with the fall-out. I agree with Emmaline. It's on virtually every thread.

The OP has a valid reason and suitable support for a lower cal diet. There's no reason to make an issue out of it.

If a lower calorie diet seems to be working for you then I fully take my hat off to you and congratulate you on finding a diet that works for you That isn't the issue though. You might not agree with a point someone is making but you can't just brush it off as an interminable lecture. As a side point, generally the case IS that 1200 is the minimum calories - however for folks like yourself with different circumstances this clearly isn't suitable. But in GENERAL 1200 is the recommended minimum, so when fit, healthy adult women ask "How many calories?" then it is assumed that they are a typical person with typical needs (ie. they don't have special circumstances like yourself) so people are completely right to recommend 1200 calories to them because 1000 calories wouldn't be right for them.

I'm not judging anyone's diet by any means, I just think that the dismissivness was quite unfair so someone who was only trying to help.

And like I said, the last thing I want is conflict So no hard feelings at all.

 

[The Moog]

Yes, but it wasn't helping the OP... She didn't ask 'how many calories' and she knows what she's doing.

I think a bit of live and let live is needed. Maybe a little more tolerance? I know if I hadn't been established here before all this started, I'd not have stuck around. Surely the whole point is mutual support, not condemnation?

 

[happyhealthy]

Yes, but it wasn't helping the OP...

I think a bit of live and let live is needed. Maybe a little more tolerance? I know if I hadn't been established here before all this started, I'd not have stuck around. Surely the whole point is mutual support, not condemnation?

Exactly! We shouldn't condem each other, hence why I gently pointed out to Emmaline that it was a little bit unfair saying that it was a lecture.

 

[The Moog]

Lectures only happen when someone goes on and on and on about something.

It's not intended, but you might want to look at just how often this comes up and in how many threads. Then ask yourself why some of us don't comment on threads any more.

OK - I have work to do. Sorry to the OP for taking it off topic. Hope the BBC link helps though - it's an excellent source for easy and varied meals

 

[Tol116]

I've been a member of this site for a couple of months now and have read various threads and can see that everyone has a different approach to how they are dieting. I read Moogs diary every day with interest and I'm also interested in Fattack's wisdom.

But what both of them have achieved, even if their approaches have been so different is a very high weight loss. Which says to me that both approaches can work, depending upon individual circumstances.

As much as I try, I struggle to follow Fattack's advice, ie 1200 a day and eating back exercise calories, not because I don't want to listen to her advice, I just find it difficult for me to do and yes with better planning, I might be able to do it. But on the other hand I may equally find some good advice from those who are on lower calorie dieting and find it interesting to read how successful or not they are doing.

 

[Fattack]

Apologies to the OP if my post seemed offensive, I simply assumed (which makes an ass out of me, to coin the ole adage) that as OP was asking for meal ideas that she was not being advised by a nutritionist as to what was optimal.

Moog - OP did state that she was eating 1000-1200 calories daily, so I felt it would be redundant to ask how many calories she was eating. Unless you are referring to my unsolicited advice - in which case, yes, I will happily step in and check that somebody is aware of the general amount of calories, as again, OP did not mention a nutritionist, nor a formulated diet, just that her GP approved of (note: OP didn't say that her GP assigned her a 1k cal diet - that would have changed the entire tone of the post and inferred that she was being monitored), and my interest is in general well-being. People such as yourself have valid reasons for doing their diet and are doing so very well with support, and that's fine, and I would never argue with you knowing that - in fact, I find your posts above rather rude, especially considering that I have supported your diet and actually referenced you in a couple of posts regarding VLCD.

Regarding the "lecturing", I state in every single post I make regarding low calorie intakes that I am talking about the AVERAGE female presuming that they do not have extenuating circumstances that affect either mobility or metabolism - the latter of which applies to OP, and my concern was not that she was on a 1000 calorie diet, but that she was a) not being supported appropriately by her health care team on this (which she is, hoorah) b) possibly eating around 500 net calories on certain days, which by any sensible medical practioner's viewpoint is dangerous - it can take a serious toll on the heart. Both of which, given the detail offered in the post, were very valid assumptions (but again, I shouldn't assume!). Please bear in mind that whilst I am not a qualified nutritionist, I do take it very seriously, which is why I am studying a nutrition module alongside with my personal training qualification - so I do have an inkling of what I am talking about. I'm simply trying to help people who are possibly endangering their health, or doing themselves no favours in the long term - I'm not here to "lecture", I'm here to give (mostly) informed advice where asked for it in a public forum, and I'm not offended if people ignore my advice but I do resent the attitude coming from the "less than 1200 calories is fine" club as much as my "lecturing" appears to be getting on people's nerves If people feel so offended as to post less, then they shouldn't. If you're mobile and healthy and are still on a VLCD that isn't monitored, then maybe the reluctance to post is due to the fact that what you're doing defies medical advice, not simply because of people like me.

Tol - It can be really hard. On days where I do long workouts I struggle too (but I've been "gifted" with a voracious appetite... which amusingly isn't what made me fat - I used to have a teeny appetite, but ate teeny amounts of calorific junk!), I find planning my days in advance really helps and eating lots of natural, wholefoods and avoiding "diet" stuff (it's loaded with additives anyway!).

Happyhealthy - you're an absolute sweetheart, and I agree with pretty much everything you've posted.

 

[The Moog]

Apologies to the in fact, I find your posts above rather rude, especially considering that I have supported your diet and actually referenced you in a couple of posts regarding VLCD.

You have never supported me. You have, however, criticised regularly. You aren't medically qualified (funnily enough, I do have a nationally recognised formal medical qualification) and have been both rude and overly-assertive.

Not my problem, at the end of the day. Sorry if you feel I've been rude, it wasn't intentional - but you do need to know that you're hurting others. It's up to you what you do about it from there.

 

[Fattack]

17th April:
VLCDs like Cambridge are only medically recommended for 12 weeks at a time, and they are only recommended because the sachets are formulated to provide all your nutrients and vitamins. Eating the same number of calories as doing something like Sole Source yourself is very, very different and will result in deficiency. It's very difficult to meet all your nutrient goals under 1200 calories, unless medically supervised (The Moog has had help from a nutritionist to make sure she/he meets everything, and is doing very well).

23rd March:I'm glad you're seeing a doctor - being on a low amount of calories can be very dangerous unless very specifically guided (like Moog is) - not simply for your 5 a day, but because of all the other wonderful nutrients and vitamins your body needs that can come from more calorific sources!
I won't advise you at all, because I don't know the depths of your medical situation, but I'll just say good luck with your appointment and let us know how you get on.

23rd March: (to you) I don't know your personal medical situation, but you have access to an array of experts that some people do not have access to in their NHS area (OP even went to a nurse who clearly wasn't very helpful) and are losing weight without being unhealthy, so you are obviously doing fine and being supervised, so that's fantastic and well done

Now, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but above are both referencing and support (or if we want to be pedantic, praise) - sometimes in one fell swoop. I'd like to see you provide a post where I have been "rude" or specifically "criticised" you, after knowing that you were on a medically supervised diet - I acknowledge that at first I did the usual post about you being on very low calories and then you informed me that you had extenuating circumstances. I never stated to be a medic, simply that I do a lot of reading around nutrition as I am studying a nutrition module. I have an English degree from Oxford, it's about as far apart from medicine as you can get... however most of what I say is regurgitated nutritional theory and widely accepted. Moreover, I know people with medical degrees who didn't really study nutrition in-depth at all, which is why not all GPs give great advice regarding diet, but some are fantastic.

 

[The Moog]

You specifically criticise the diet I'm on almost every time you post. You have been abrasive towards me since the first time I objected to the "everyone must eat a minimum of 1200 cals" - which to be fair, you then amended to include the bit about about "medical conditions."

There's no point discussing it with you. As I said, your pinned topic is excellent advice, but we don't need to read it all the time. It really is awful to be facing this every day. You may be able to imagine someone criticising your diet every day and the negativity that would make you feel?

I also think this is inappropriate on the OP's thread. She's asked for menu advice for meals of 500 calories. That's what this thread should be about.

 

[Fattack]

Oh, responding to your edit, where you removed your point about me being "abrasive and rude" and added that I was hurting others -I do not see how what I am posting is hurtful - it's factual and I don't use any form of adjectives against anybody that people could possibly take personally. We're all in the losing weight battle together, and the last thing I would want is to make people feel ashamed or isolated, as many of us have experienced that from the outside world. I don't feel that I'm attacking anybody, and I apologise if people view my posts as such.

I've decided that I will no longer be posting on this sub-forum in order not to offend the VLCDers (although there is a separate forum for that, by the way). Those of you who correspond with me on MFP or in Healthy Eating / Fitness and Exercise can continue to do so there, and my sticky about how many calories you should eat in a day can remain in all its "glory" as a testament to my "rude and abrasive" and "hurtful" attitude

Add: the reason I post it is because, although not the topic, it is a relevant point, and most of the topics that I'm responding to are entitled "How many calories should I eat? / Am I doing it right". That alone is testament to the fact that people do not read the stickies - I don't enjoy repeating myself.

 

[The Moog]

Get a grip! No one's asking you to stop posting. You do good as well, you know.

Just be a little more sensitive to others?

 

[Fattack]

I know nobody's asking me to stop posting, however I fail to see how my posts are insensitive - I try to cover all my bases and if anything I was concerned about OP (which I felt was fairly obvious from my post - which was also coupled with Low GI advice as she has PCOS like me, and meal ideas), and therefore think it would be best for all involved, as this is upsetting me quite a lot. It's my prerogative not to post here and if people want to read my posts they can seek me out elsewhere, that way I don't run the risk of inadvertently offending people more than I already do.