Macros in pic 2, cooked 1lb chicken with 1-2 tablespoons avocado oil so I’d round up to 300 cals per cheesesteak to be safe. All cooked weights.. pretty filling but with no sides (oven baked fries) I probs would’ve had 2 servings
I’ve been on a caloric deficit kick for a few weeks (~1,500 cal/day) and wanted to share the breakfast/snack routine I’ve been using so far.
Right now it’s pretty simple:
7 almonds — about 50 calories
1 Larabar Mini — about 110 calories
So around 160 calories total.
I like that it’s easy to repeat, quick to grab, and doesn’t make me feel like I’m overthinking breakfast. That said, I know it’s pretty small, so I’m curious what others here would add or swap while still keeping it simple and calorie-friendly.
Would you add more protein, more volume, fruit, yogurt, eggs, or something else? I’m trying to build something I can actually stick with, so simple suggestions are welcome.
This is part of a pre-workout routine.
I know this sounds bad and unhealthy but I’m going to Japan with a bunch of my friends for our grad trip in about a month and Im already planning to eat everything in sight because how often does one get to visit japan?
I’m basically cutting to the extreme to make up for the weight I’ll gain later on. I know this doesn’t sound healthy but I genuinely feel relatively normal the only things I would say have changed are:
Getting dizzy when I stand up too quickly
Hungry
Weaker (slightly)
I know that this isn’t healthy but all the repercussions I feel are relatively minor can someone please inform me of other consequences.
I’ve been consistently loosing 0.5-1 pounds a day, sometimes 1.5 pounds and have gone from 185\~ to 158, most of this has been pure fat, but some of it is muscle atrophy, not cause I’m starving but because I’ve stopped going to training for my sport because high school is over. I still work out mostly upper body and that hasn’t atrophied at all in fact I’ve gotten stronger in my upper body. It’s also summer break so i just bed rot all day hence a lesser caloric spending and lower metabolism.
Something I’ve noticed with extreme fasting is that I’m unable to eat nearly the same amounts of food as before, context: me and my friends went out to an all you can eat place and I started ordering like I usually did before the cutting and was only able to consume like 30% of what I used to like I was 150% full and still couldn’t eat as much as before. I gained three pounds from that one meal when I checked at night.
I only eat one meal a day around 10-11am that’s usually around 7-10 eggs plus some fruit and multivitamins because I don’t wanna catch scurvy. I would say that a huge difference has been eating at night vs day, when I ate the same calories except I did it at night I would lose much less weight.
Mine include:
Luckily still at a place where I can have a little wiggle room with things like this. 30F, 5'6, lightly active. 148lb current weight and 12lb down so far over the last 7ish weeks. Budgeting 1500-1600/day.
Total calories: 170 calories
I usually have this as a snack when I am craving something sweet.
Total calories: 289 calories
doing the 1500 thing for a while now and its been going pretty well on days I'm active but on rest days? omg I'm starving constantly.
like I'll hit my calorie goal and still feel empty. even when I load up on protein and veggies it's so annoying.
I've been adding some light movement on those days just to distract myself just some stretching and a bit of time on my pilates reformer. it's not burning heaps of calories or anything but it helps keep my mind off food.
plus it gives me something to do other than stare at the fridge lol.
anyone else feel this way? what do you do on rest days to stop the hunger pangs? I'm genuinely curious if it's just me.
Sorry in advance for the length. My mind is blown, and I want to give as much detail as possible to learn if I'm getting something wrong here.
I've always been led to believe that eating healthy is difficult / you don't get to eat good food. Always been overweight. Didn't even feel like I ate that badly (like quality, don't do much fast food/soda/junk food), I just ate a lot. Big appetite.
Learned a little while ago that it's as simple as calories in vs calories out. Yes, there are other important things, but just down to basics, if you're in a deficit, you will lose weight. It's worked pretty well for me, down about 15 pounds in three-ish months w/ no exercise (can't, injury/surgery, getting back to it soon). Learned some ways to eat a large quantity of food but for lower calories. Guess that's "volume eating," but I don't go crazy, just enough to feel full. And often eat a whole box of lettuce with a little GHughes w/ most meals lol.
But with new cooking there were still types of meals I haven't been able to replicate well. A lot of my meals are ground chicken + some starch (potato, rice) made in a bunch of different styles. Also mixing in Nature's Promise grass-fed 10 oz steaks and Heritage shaved rib-eye (both cheat codes). But doing 2 meals of chicken for every 1 meal of red meat to not go crazy with cholesterol. Anywayyyyyy, been making some crazy stuff lately that all feels too good to be true. Is it?
Also, important to note imo, I really value the effort-to-goodness scale. Love stuff that tastes good, is filling, and takes me like 15-20 minutes start to finish. Like, for example, the first pic, might be better if I made my own sauce from scratch using cottage cheese or something like that ... or I can just use this jar that's tasty and low-ish cal.
Pic 1: Ground Chicken gnocchi w/ vodka sauce. Ingredients:
Pic 2: Ground chicken smash burgers and lemon pepper fries (air fryer). Ingredients:
Pic 3: Shaved steak on a big ole potato. Ingredients:
These three are common ones in the rotation. Well, the last two are. Just made the Gnocchi yesterday and will be making it again tomorrow because it was so good and so filling. I'm especially blown away by that one, I mean, it's vodka sauce pasta! Not a small serving either! I'm Many other meals in the rotation, too. Often do this, too (not pictured). Usually once a week.
I generally eat one big meal per day. I've been eating a ton of egg drop soup for lunch (weird thing to fixate on, but it's so good and easy to make) that I make for about 275 calories per bowl. And I have a nice selection of healthy snacks:
And then I bought myself a Ninja Creami. I make pints that all end up at roughly 250-300 calories, but when adding up I just count them all as 300. Don't eat them every night, but 2-3 nights a week.
And, lastly, started drinking diet soda. Wasn't even a soda drinker before, not because I didn't enjoy it but cause I knew it was bad. But gave up on the "fear" of artificial sweeteners I'd been taught cause apparently you're only in danger if you have a cartoonish amount. Use it as a way to satisfy "cravings" for sweet stuff or general snacks throughout the day.
So, for example, here was yesterday:
I'm (M) 6-1 about 272 rn, at my peak hit 291. I'll usually eat between 1400-1800 a day, most of the time closest to 1500 or 1600. This feels like it's working. Especially happy cause I've done zero exercise with this. AND I've had days like once a week where I'll eat like crap. Go to Buffalo Wild Wings and demolish some boneless, stuff like that. I'm not even being super strict and it feels like it's working. But like, what am I missing? Always told that if it feels too good to be true, it usually is. This feels too good to be true.
TLDR: Found a way to eat good food for good calorie numbers, including pasta w/ cream-based sauce and stuff like that. Is this too good to be true?
Hey Everyone,
I have recently started being on a caloric deficit. Hardest part for me is the time after 10 pm where I get strong cravings to order some junk or snack on something. During the day it's rare, but even if they come it goes away with coffee.
I used to drink and have junk after 10 regularly before so could be out of habit. Any suggestions on how to divert my mind?
Hello everyone,
I'm a 21-year-old male, 172.75 cm (5'8") tall.
Here's my timeline:
March: I weighed 90 kg on a hospital scale. After that, I started losing weight by counting calories (CICO), averaging around 1,500 kcal/day. About a month later (April): I weighed 87.5 kg, so I had lost about 2.5 kg.
After that, I had university exams, so I stopped tracking calories and stopped weighing myself. I wasn't intentionally dieting anymore—I just ate what I considered a normal amount.
Around June 18: I finally weighed myself again on a hospital scale and was shocked to see 83 kg, even though I hadn't been tracking calories during that time.
After seeing that, I started CICO again (again averaging around 1,500 kcal/day) and also started walking every day.
30th June: I weighed 80 kg.
So overall I've gone from 90 kg to 80 kg in about 3.5 months.
I don't have any concerning symptoms like tiredness, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, night sweats, or loss of appetite. I feel completely normal.
My questions regarding this timeline are,
a) Does this rate of weight loss seem normal based on my timeline?
b) Is it possible I was still in a calorie deficit during my exam period without realizing it?
c) Even though I've lost 10 kg, I don't feel like I can clearly see the difference in the mirror. The only change I think I've noticed is that my belly sticks out less when I look at myself from the side. Is that normal to feel this way?
d) When can I expect to notice "real" Changes in my appearance and at what weight range?
It sucks cause, I didn't take progress photos from the beginning, so I don't have anything to compare with.
I'd love to hear from anyone who's experienced something similar or has any advice!
At this point, I feel like this is a classic. I prefer sour cream to cottage cheese :)
May be too high for some ppl but I only eat 2 meals a day
Healthy Black Bean Brownies
I made these fudgy black bean brownies as a higher-fiber, higher-protein ”snack”.
Ingredients — makes 12 brownies
Method
Blend everything until completely smooth. Pour into a small lined baking dish and bake at 175°C / 350°F for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition, approx. per brownie
Calories: 1,627
Protein: 144g
Fat: 36g
Carbs: 188g
Fiber: 22g
Breakfast has me in a chokehold - oatmeal cooked with egg whites, topped with chocolate protein glaze, and warmed blueberries.
Lunch: Shrimp cocktail, g Hughes sweet chili sauce, cowboy caviar, sugar snap peas, peach, sourdough
Dinner: 1/2 roasted purple sweet potato, air fried green beans, chicken tenders, G Hughes honey mustard
Morning Snack: White Cheddar Cheese, Corn Crackers
Evening Snack: Brownie Drizzalicious, Jello Yogurt Fluff topped with Sugar Free Cool Whip and sliced almonds
Drinks: PreWorkout, Creatine, Homemade latte less
sry it tastes better than looks, but down ca 12 pounds 😄
#Ingredients
Reduced Fat Baybel
Oatflour
Fat free milk
Italian bread crumbs (added: garlic powder, black pepper, and oregano)
#Recipe
I don't like the taste of reduced fat Baybel, but I didn't want to throw it out, so I made them into this. And WOW!!! I don't regret it!!! I will absolutely buy more now just so I can keep on making these!
To season the Italian bread crumbs to make it tastier, I used garlic powder, black pepper, and oregano.
I coated the baybel balls with oat flour after unwrapping it. You ONLY need to do this once.
I didn't have eggs, so I used milk, and it worked out just fine.
I dipped the coated baybell in the milk and then dipped it in bread crumbs. I did this step twice.
I placed all the balls in a bowl, leaving a gap!!!! I then froze it for 2 hours uncovered. Covering it up is optional if your freezer smells.
I used an air fryer, 375F for 7 minutes. Every air fryer is different, so keep an eye out on your balls. I didn't use oil, but you can mist it lightly with oil to make the outside crispier.
#End Result
TASTY AND CRISPY YUMMMYYYYY
It's lower calorie than most mozzarella sticks/balls with more protein too! This has very little fat, obviously. So the cheese pull isn't like a standard mozzarella stick/ball. It remains kinda chewy in certain moments, so be aware of that. But I'm not complaining too much as this definitely beats store bought ones!
This is my favourite low cal meal around 180 calories, sometimes I'll add hardboiled eggs and make it a dinner. Any suggestions for similar 200-300cal vegetarian meals?
Farm boy Lebanese style hummus
Cedar pindjur
Roasted cherry tomato's
Mini dill pickles
Air fried frozen falafel
Today’s meals largely came from my meal prep-
I'm going to try it in the morning, does this look okay? I've never tried it before :)
Only one weekend outing, no events. Was able to have a delicious meal at Red Robin for less than 500cal. Been on a Smartpop kick (2.5 cups only 160cal is crazy). Pepperonicis and pickles as always, protein oats/smoothies/puddings, turkey taco salad and quesadillas with the leftovers, frozen sour grapes, butcherblock chicken sausage (110cal for 3), and too many sandwich wraps to name. It was a solid week! Cheers!
Hello! currently on a 2000 daily calorie limit, are these calories correct? i expected a lot more in a large pizza.