new- need help

i was browsing around threads and was surprised to see people needed advise on how to add more calories to their daily recommended intake.. i on the other hand is having difficulty keeping my calories to 1200..  i am very new to this so if someone can take the time out and let me know..

1) sample menu for 1200 a day.. ?

2) i have to start cooking for myself and i am new to cooking as well.. so receipes for absolte beginner?

3) how should i schedule my meals.. when should i eat.. how should i space out my meals and snacks.. and when to work out?

4) what should i keep track of on nutrional labels..  i only look at how many calories it has ,.. but judging by posts theres alot more to those labels.. what should i keep track of??

thank you.. i guess those are all the questons for now but i am sure more will arise.. thank u in advance for any replies..  

1. My planned meal for today is around 1200, but I don't know if it'll keep me hungry. I'll post it in my journal tonight if you want to check back.

2. Sorry, no help there

3.  I don't really try to "schedule" my meals. I try and keep my meals/snacks 3-4 hours apart, but if I'm hungry within 2 hours, I'll ea then.

4. This site keeps track of most everything for you. Calories are the big one, having a good ration, sodium, fiber. One of the big things this site doesn't track is sugar, so you might want to watch.

Check out Choice Menus By Margorie Hollands and Margaret Howard. It  is desigened for weight loss and diabetes. It breaks down all your meals and snacks,giving you a calorie choice between 1200 -2100
cals. It includes several easy to follow recipes,and everyday foods.There are snack choices from 75 cal-300. It is great for beginners because everything is broken down for you and has the recipe page numbers right beside the menu list. Try and hook up with ix on the forums she is a wealth of info .I think somewhere she posted a whole lot of info on healthy info will try and find it for you.There are several things people look for in the nutritional labels  such as protien ,fat, carbs, sodium and sugars to name a few. I would start out slowly as not to get too overwhelmed,slow and steady wins the race. Good luck to you on your journey!!!  Alison

It doesn't have to be complicated.  You just eat all you want of green & yellow vegetables to fill up at each meal.  Use your log and analysis tool to help you track the calories.

First log in 3 servings of low fat or non fat dairy products (or soy if you are vegetarian), then 3 servings of fruit (a half cup to a cup), then 3 servings of lean protein (about 3 oz each) and 3 servings of whole grain products.  Log in your all you can eat, low cal veggies.  That should be enough food for you to have 3 small meals and 3 small snacks, spread evenly out over the day.  If the calories are not up to 1200, add a tablespoon of peanut butter or a little olive oil or soft margerine to get the totals up there and improve your fat ratio too.

Most important: Keep it simple.

1. Buy small kitchen scale which is accurate in grams/ounces and set it up on either one you can relate to. With most things you have to watch amount.

2. Consider what fat, sugar and starches you can eliminate from what you normally eat  i.e. no/less mayo, fried food, bread or sweets...This means you can try to keep whatever you like to eat, but try to cut down on those. Some foods you will have to give up if you are very overweight and if you cannot control your intake.

Then try out entering some of the foods adjusted as above you are normally eating and see how you will do with calories. Weight your individual items and enter them  so you don't have to look for them again. After while you will have a list your usual food.

Be always on look out for healthy low calorie foods and you will be surprised that you will find some you will definitely love - especially if they will be guilt free.  You don't have to be chef, you just have to know values of different foods and enter it in.

Good luck.

At the beginning, don't worry about anything else but calories. Keep it simple. Good idea is to watch the chart/graph of fat/carbo/proteins and see if it in proximity of 56% carbo, 21 % protein, 23% fat.  It seems that opinions on this differ, but similar ballance will do.  Also see markings A,B,C by the listed foods and try for A's only. Every day you will be marked on results of your choice.

At the beginning you will find all bit time consuming, but just imagine that you are doing it INSTEAD of eating and that is good. After a while you will get into routine and will do well. I found that counting calories and entering EVERYTHING I eat helps me to manage many things I was avoiding.  Now if I calculate it in I am still doing well in weight loss.

Keep it simple - eat just the way it is convenient for you, if you were eating regular meals. If you were not eating breakfast, you have to have it. Rest is up to you how it works out for your lifestyle. It is not accurate to say that you are not allowed to eat after certain hour. It is TOTAL calorie intake what counts for the day - so whichever way you will divide it will be fine.

Welcome aboard!  Some easy dinner meals would be veggie salads with 2-3oz of meat/protein on top, maybe an ounce of dried fruit or nuts (watch for fats in those), and some low fat dressing (try for 2TB or less, or stretch out with water, vinegar, etc, since most tend to have high sodium and the fat/cals add up.  Also, a baked potato with steamed veggies and a little (say an ounce) of cheese or beans or a little meat on top is a good meal.  Baked fish or chicken (3-4oz, which is about the size of a deck of cards or a small fist) and veggies make a good meal.  Brown rice with some veggies and lean protein (same amount as above, but you could use tofu or half a dozen shrimp or very lean beef or pork) stirfried with a TBL of olive oil and garlic and/or ginger and tastes yummy, and you could add a tsp of low sodium soy sauce to make it taste a little like Asian food. 

What do you like to eat now?  If you give us some suggestions, I'm sure someone can help you make it healthier and suited for your goal calories.  :)

I've been having antipasta salads for lunch lately. Low fat or non fat cottage cheese is good too. I eat it with pepper & tomato or cucumber slices for some solid texture. For something sweet, I'll chop up about 5 strawberries, 1 nectarine & 1 peach, maybe sprinkle with tbsp granola.

It took me a couple wks to figure out what I could eat & still enjoy the taste but it was worth the wait! Don't get discouraged!

1. For sample menus you can check out these threads:
   http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/9457 .html
   there was another one, but I can't find it- I think it was made by salome190 so maybe she'll come in and give it to you
2. you can cook pretty much anything... I recommend simple chicken and just put some BBQ sauce, or use ketchup lol
3. I recommend eating every couple of hours
4. I put everything in, but mainly looking at calories- of course- the percents of fat/carbs/protien and fiber.

Take care.

if you are really new to the kitchen you might find these "cooking demos" interesting:

http://www.whfoods.com/cookdemo.php

there is also good info there about choosing the healthiest foods.

i hope you find cooking to be as much fun and adventure as i do!  good luck!!

Through searching around on this site, I found another site, where this guy who claims to be both an MD and a chef has come up with a meal plan that might be easy for you to start with.  The site is:

http://www.drgourmet.com/eatthisdiet/index.sh tml

Otherwise, another book I recommend is "Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You)".  It is chock-full of easy recipies that are tasty and healthful (check out the potato and leek soup--yum!).

To learn how to cook, the best way is to get in that darn kitchen and do it.  Some nights will be "more interesting" than others, but you'll always learn something!

Good luck! :)

I've posted a lot of really great information and useful tips in this thread:

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/8532 .html

I have recently discovered that I have an allergy to SUGAR!!!!  Can you believe it?  After all these years of suffering miserably from life changing migraines, I can finally live migraine free if I only eliminate sugar from my diet.  The only problem is...that means more than just candy and cookies.  Sugar is in absolutely everything we eat!  Don't believe me?  Go open you pantry right now!  Especially the fat free stuff...when they take fat out of foods they actually ADD more sugar!!!  Help!!!  1 single gram of sugar instantly gives me a raging migraine!  What I need is recipe ideas if anyone has any of SUGAR FREE foods that I can eat.  It would be an added bonus if I could feed the same to my family because it is exhausting and expensive to make 2 meals for every meal time.  If anyone has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it!  This has been such a learning experience for me.

On the upside, over the past 6 weeks I have lost nearly 30 pounds and Lots of inches by mearly eliminating sugar from my diet!!!!