Thread: need meal ideas for a 1500 calorie diet

First, look for some things in your daily diet that contribute the most calories. Your calorie count app should help you with that. Where are you consuming the MOST calories? When I was doing this, I realized that I was getting too many calories from peanut butter (very high in calories). I thought I was doing good by eating it. And I was but I was just eating too much of it. 2 tablespoons is 210 calories. I looked for other areas and another one was milk and half n half (coffee creamer). I switched to skim milk and nonfat half n half for my coffee. This significantly reduced my caloric intake. So the first step is looking at what you're currently eating and seeing what you can do to reduce that. Then the next step is look for low cal items to replace. Vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, edemame, turnips, cabbage, spinach )are great low calorie foods. Stay away from white breads, white flour, and sugar. They are a waste of your calories. Try things like navy beans cooked in a slow cooker. Buy the dry beans, not canned.

And keep in mind, the more you exercise, the more calories you burn and then you can afford to eat a little more than if you're not exercising.

Hi im not sure how to post a new thread, sorry im honing in on your thread Im looking for an axcountabilitu partner to help me stay motivated to eat helthier, workout regularly, and lose weight ans get in shape! Would anyone be willing to help me with this???? For meal ideas i would check out clean eating cookbooks, the ones by tosco reno i heard are great. Good luck!

banthony22 - there is a "Post New Thread" button at the top of each forum. WIth that said, there are Fitness Challenge threads posted in the Fitness section where several women are doing exactly what you've described. They are a wonderful support system. Please consider joining in.

bathony22 i would be more than glad to be your accountabliliy partner if you'd like that is, i'm not great at all this stuff but i would love to have someone to talk to once a day or whatever to keep me motivated and accountable durring this journey. But i would like to second what Beauitful Disaster said about there being a very nice group of women doing a monthly fitness challenge. i did novembers and decembers and found it to be a lot of help. there will be a new challenge starting sometime tonight or tomorow. you should totally join

Thank you! I will check that out

gibson8026...i would like to take you up on that. I think my biggest hurdle is support. With that i can do somuch more i think. Please email me at banthony71gmail.com, so we figure out how we can help eqch other i will also look for those challenges you guys mentioned. Thank youuuuuu. My name is Bett by the way!

i'm assuming there was suposed to be an sign before the gmail? if so i just e-mailed you

Hi gibson- I've found that the easiest way to stay full, but keep calories low is veggies. And like Beautiful Disaster said, pay attention to where you're consuming the most calories and if it's really worth it. But veggies are the best bang for your calorie buck. I'm not much on raw veggies- except salads, where i use a tiny amount of olive oil and then lemon juice and red wine vinegar as my dressing. I love lemon on everything, and I've found it is the perfect thing to cook vegetables in to add flavor, but not calories. I just squeeze about half a lemon in the pan (add some water if you want to dilute it, or a teensy amount of olive oil, or even some hot sauce if you like spicy stuff) and put in any number of vegetables: kale, spinach, onions, mushrooms, carrots, squash, zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, garlic in, cook them on medium for 5-10 according to what and how much I've got in there. Once it's cooked, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top. Mmmm.

This is my go-to, and I make at least half a plate's worth. Then I like a fish fillet of some kind (frozen tilapia is easiest, but I also love salmon and tuna). I just sprinkle a little olive oil, lemon, and garlic on top and put it in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 min.

If you have to have some carbs, quinoa is all the rave these days- lots of protein. I cook it in lemon and/or low-sodium chicken stock to give it some flavor. I have a great recipe with raisins, nuts, curry, cumin, and cinnamon if you want to spice it up a bit.

I honestly don't know the exact calorie count, but I'd bet it's around 500-600 depending on the size of your plate and how much quinoa (higher in calories) versus fish and veggies (much lower) you do.