Nutritious 1,200 Calorie Daily menu plans

1200 Calorie A Day Menu Plan

2012-02-01T12:49:00.001-02:00

Today's feature: The wonderful dandelion! Take the time to look up the wonderful benefits of the dandelion. On it's own, you might find it bitter, but mixed in a salad, you'll never know it's there. Dandelion tea is a different story though and is nothing like the greens. It has a wonderful and enjoyable taste. Dandelions are a great diuretic (French equivalent piss-en-lit = wet the bed) and a liver cleanser. Packed with vitamins. Look up this great green and look to incorporate it into your diet to help lose weight.

BREAKFAST - 357 CALORIES

OVALTINE AND 2 COFFEES WITH CREAM AND SUGAR

SNACKS - 150 CALORIES

V8 AND DRIED APRICOTS

LUNCH - 339 CALORIES

SALAD- BABY GREENS AND 1/2 CUP DANDELION GREENS, 1/2 C. BLACK BEANS, 1 SERVING RAISINS AND SWEET AND SOUR DRESSING

DINNER - 342 CALORIES

PLAIN POACHED CHICKEN

COOKED BROCCOLI

WINTER SQUASH

PAT OF BUTTER

1200 Calorie A Day Menu Plan

2012-01-28T19:49:00.002-02:00

Ok, this day was about 1,228 calories. It gets a B+ report card grade on Calorie Count. I'm not too pleased with that, preferring to see A's, but we'll go with it. Still better than fast food right? And, honestly, I fudged a few things, it was really about 1300-1400 calories because I put a couple pats of butter on my broc and potato.

BREAKFAST - 388 CALORIES

2 Coffees with cream and sugar

Rich Chocolate Ovaltine

LUNCH - 321 CALORIES

About 3 oz slow cooked roast beef w/ gravy and Stove Top Stuffing

SNACKS-150 CALORIES

California dried apricots for afternoon snack and V8 for evening snack

DINNER - 369 CALORIES

1 chicken thigh

cooked broccoli

baked potato

Nutrition info

CARBS 116%, PROTEIN 109%, FAT 75%, S. FAT 100%, CHOL. 50%, SODIUM 145% (that was the gravy's fault)FIBER 50%, SUGAR 299%, VIT A 131%, VIT C 271%, CALC. 83%, IRON 67%, PTSM 77%

1200 Calorie A Day Menu Plan

2012-01-05T11:07:00.001-02:00

BREAKFAST - 380 CALORIES

2 COFFEES WITH CREAM AND SUGAR AND 1 HIGH-PROTEIN BOOST

LUNCH- 276 CALORIES

1 HIGH PROTEIN BOOST AND COOKED KALE FROM A BOBBY FLAY RECIPE I FOUND WHICH WAS ACTUALLY QUITE NICE

DINNER-287 CALORIES

1 CHICKEN THIGH - SLOW COOKED

1 CUP RAW BROCCOLI

1 SLICE TOASTED RYE BREAD WITH A PAT OF BUTTER

SNACKS - 205 CALORIES

A BANANA AND A SERVING OF SUN-MAID DRIED PEACH HALVES

This plan was lacking in fiber and potassium, but was great in most other nutritional aspects and got me through a busy day.

CALORIES - 1,149

CARBS - 113%

PROTEIN - 96%

FAT- 76%

SAT. FAT - 76%

CHOL. - 30%

SODIUM - 72%

FIBER - 54%

SUGAR - 357%

VIT A - 412%

VIT C- 353%

CALCIUM - 93%

IRON - 78%

POTASSIUM - 59%

1,200 Calorie A Day Menu Plan

2011-12-20T22:08:00.000-02:00

This is a near perfect 1,200 calorie diet nutritionally for my needs according to CalorieCount.com. anyways.No special dietary needs such as diabetes. There's 129% carbs, 61% protein, 55% fat, 48% sat. fat, 8% chol.,100% sodium, 102% fiber!, 340% sugar, (ok, can't have everything!), 299% vit. A, 163% vit. C, 92% calcium, 89% iron, 90% potassium. I was very busy today, so didn't miss the lunch. The swiss chard is a bit hard for me to choke down, but it's so beneficial that I just get it over with. Everything else was tasty enough and filling. Not everything we eat for body fuel has to be a gourmet treat. I consider it as self-discipline. I know there's someone out there that probably loves the stuff.Stand up and take a bow whoever you are.

BREAKFAST - 327 CALORIES

2 Coffees with cream and sugar and 1 Rich Chocolate Ovaltine with 8 oz. 2% milk

LUNCH

Didn't have lunch, but did fill up with a bunch of healthy, filling snacks throughout the day.

SNACKS - 430 CALORIES

1 SERVING SUN-MAID DRIED PEACH HALVES, 1 SERVING LOW-SODIUM V-8, 1 SERVING PISTACHIOS, 1 SERVING CALIMYMA FIGS

DINNER - 319 CALORIES

BLACK BEANS AND RICE (1/2 CUP SERVING OF EACH SEASONED WITH CURRY, CORIANDER AND CARDAMON) RAINBOW CHARD AND A STALK OF CELERY

1,200 Calorie A Day Menu Plans

2011-12-13T14:51:00.001-02:00

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.

1,200 Calorie A Day Meal Plan

2011-12-11T15:19:00.001-02:00

BREAKFAST 423 calories - Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal - 1/2 c. raspberries - 1/2 c. 2% milk - 2 coffees with cream and sugar - Note: you can use 1% or skim to save calories there and if you're not a coffee drinker or drink yours black, there's room for another easy 150 calorie snack at the end of the day.

LUNCH 312 calories homemade pumpkin soup - Low in calories, inexpensive and packed with nutrition. There's lot of online recipes for a good, low-cal pumpkin soup. Crunchmaster Original Multi-Seed Crackers - 1 serving which was 15 crackers - 1/2 c. Dannon Low-Fat vanilla yogurt

SNACK 50 caloriesLow-Sodium V-8

DINNER 548 calories Quinoa Stir-Fry and a hot chocolate made with 1 c. of 2% milk and 1 serving of Cool-Whip

Now the original recipe for the Quinoa Stir-Fry came from Prescription for Dietary Wellness- Using Foods to Heal by Phyllis A. Balch C.N.C. and James F. Balch, M.D.. I did tweak the recipe based on what I already had on hand rather than buying the listed ingredients helping it to fall into my nutritious but inexpensive range. It makes a lot. 6 one cup servings. So, if you're the only one eating it, it can be the next day's breakfast or lunch and the next day and the next day! But seriously, it is very tasty even cold.

Quinoa Stir-Fry

2 c. cooked quinoa

2 TBSP sesame oil

1 c. mushrooms - I used shitake mushrooms

1/2 c. celery, sliced

1/2 c. carrots sliced

1 small onion sliced

1/2 c. green zucchini squash

1/2 c. yellow zucchini squash

2 TBSP stir-fry sauce (or teriyaki or soy sauce)

1/2 orange bell pepper diced

1 c. snow pea pods

3 cloves garlic minced

1/2 c. mixed nuts - The recipe called for 1/2 c. sliced almonds and 1/4 c. sunflower seeds, but I only had the mixed nuts on hand

Instructions: Chop up your vegetables. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. While quinoa is simmering, sauté vegetables (add pea pods last as they need the least amount of cooking time) and garlic in sesame oil. Add the 2 c. of cooked quinoa to the vegetables, add the nuts and stir-fry sauce. Stir all together and serve.

The original recipe called for broccoli and cauliflower, but I used the zucchini instead. So, just use what veggies you have on hand in around the same proportions.

1,200 Calorie a day meal plan

2011-12-06T15:15:00.001-02:00

What started out as an attempt to lose 10-15 pounds turned into an obsession with finding the perfect diet. I'm a huge fan of Calorie Count.com. I use it almost daily. It said if I wanted to weigh x pounds by this date, I'd have take in just 1,200 calories a day based on my lifestyle and other factors. No easy task! Sure, I can skip breakfast and just have my two cups of coffee, a cheap McDouble for lunch, (who can do that without the pop and fries?!) and then that would leave room for a fairly decent-sized dinner. My problem was looking at the nutritional info when I input what I was eating. Road to health disaster! I wasn't even coming close to the iron, calcium and potassium needed. That would explain a lot of my health conditions right there. So, in short, I'm sharing some of the menu plans I've come up with. Ever tweaking them, always looking for better combinations and always loving others input.

I use a rotation for dinners to simplify planning. I try to get 2 fish dinners, 1 red meat, 1 poultry, 2 vegetarian and 1 "other" type such as soup and sandwich or "cheat day".

So...here's what I'm eating today.

Breakfast was 2 coffees with cream and sugar and 1 BOOST - High Protein

morning snack was 1 8oz. Low-sodium V-8 and 7 Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers followed by an herbal tea

Lunch was 1/2 c. of Dannon vanilla low-fat yogurt, 1/2 c. blueberries, 1 salad of 2c. sweet baby lettuce, 1/2 of an orange bell pepper, 1/2 package of shitake mushrooms and 1 TBSP of sesame oil (sometimes I'll use the Wishbone Italian Salad Spritzer)

afternoon snack 1 banana

dinner 1 chicken leg, 1 c. of zucchini and 1 piece of dry toast

If you're not a coffee drinker, or drink yours black, your in even better shape as you'd be able to have another evening snack.