SOOO MAD.... Went Over Limit!!!

Geez...... I have a 1300 cal limit and it seems like I have to starve to be able to maintain it that low. I read some threads where people are looking for foods to raise their cal amount! I'm soo jealous! The only way I can stay at 1300 cals is to skip breakfast. If I try to eat breakfast and lunch then I have no calories left for dinner and I"m starving. Seriously what do people eat to keep calories sooooo low? I really would like some insight please. I only have about 10lbs until I reach my goal weight of 100lbs and I'm worried I wont be able to reach it, I feel hungry alllllll the time!

I think a lot of the key to it is in WHAT you choose to eat.  Replace some of the higher calorie things in your plan with things that are lower calorie and you can eat more.

For instance, I love chips.  Its a crunchy thing I think.  However, the other day I replaced my bag of chips with a bag on sliced zucchini.  WAAAYYYY more food.... and WAAAYYYY less calories.

It really just takes the time to evaluate what you're eating and determine if there are thing you can get rid of and replace with something better.

Thanks for the advice. The thing is I'm in Boston right now so 1. the kitchen is shared  and 2. I will be leaving in 2 and a half weeks so I dont want to waste too much money on food I will have to throw away. Another thing is , raw veggies arent exactly my thing so its going to be hard to replace my chocolate chip cookies and chips for carrot sticks! But I will definetly try to go to the grocery tomorrow and buy some fruit and yogurt and give my cookies away to my neighbor :-(

'badgal83'

whate are you eating?

I eat about 6 meals a day... totally full... and still rarely go over 1300. They are other options out there. maybe i can help if i hear what u are eating

its easy to stay under 1300 cals- you just have to eat the right foods. forget about all processed junk, i.e. chips, cookies, cake, chocolate, soft drinks,... snack on fruit and veggies instead! it's hard at first if you're used to eating unhealthy food but you get used to it and after a while you won't even feel like eating junk anymore. also, if you take a look at the ingredients of some processed foods, you'll never feel like eating them again. :P plus, you can really have fun experimenting with different fruits and vegetables and you'll learn to love and appreciate their unique taste and healthiness!

It is all about proportions and what you choose to eat.
I've had a VERY bad weekend (Ate 2000 calories on Saturday AND Sunday *frown*), but usually i eat 1300 and have to eat a little more.
For breakfast, i have one weetabix with half a cup of soy milk (I know it doesn't sound like much, but after awhile your stomach shrinks! plus i never used to eat breakfast so I'm easily satisfied in the morning).
Adds up to 121 calories.
For lunch... I usually have some form of stew-ish looking thing.
Vegetables with a can of crushed tomatoes.
Or one wrap with lettuce, mayo and tomato... or what ever else you want, without cheese... avoid cheese.
Then for dinner, if you have one crumbed fish fillet, a salad (Consisting of Cucumber, cherry tomatoes and red onions with mayo) and a cup of mashed pumpkin (Throw in some spices or garlic if you don't like the taste of pumpkin), and it ends up being under 400 calories.
Then in between meals, snack on baby carrots (cut into strips to make it seem like more!) and air popped pop corn.
I have a air popping pop corn maker thingy mick bob, so that's handy.
1 heaped tablespoon of pop corn kernels makes a cup of pop corn which is only 31 calories!
Oh and a baby carrot is only what, 6 calories?
Slice them up in the morning, only grab one stick every time you go into the kitchen to eat or if your feeling really hungry.

...Anyway, it's just about what you eat and the portion sizes :)

i eat about 1200 cals a day and its really not that hard. you just have to take the foods that you like and replace them with lower calorie foods. you also have to learn that life is not about food. food is fuel not for pleasure. of course you should enjoy what you eat but don't eat because you're bored or because that cake just looked good. replace your bread with 50 cals a slice Natures own sugar free bread, use dannon light n fit yogurt, use la tortilla factory 50 cals tortillas, use egg beaters, fat free cottage cheese, fat free cheese and oscar mayer turkey for sandwiches. of course i mainly survive on salads loaded with vegetables, chicken included with dinner. your body is getting used to this new way of eating thats why you feel so hungry. just ignore it. it's by no means easy but it is possible

I second what vstar said.

like, you can either have 1 egg for around 80 calories..

or 6 egg whites for around 100!

and I eat a whoooole lot of veggies and fruits, so I'm always full without keeping my cal count too high [though I might've been one of those posters you said were looking to up their cal amount, teehee]

Thanks everyone for your advice, I really needed it. I usually try to eat breakfast so I usually have 1 cup skim milk with a cup cereal ( rice krispies, cheerios, honey bunches of oats.. etc). Then for lunch I cook it myself so I usually try to include a lot of veggies and try to sautee them and since veggies alone dont fill me up I have them with some garbanzo beans, lentils or chicken. I really cant buy too much food becuase like I said before I share a fridge with a lot of people on my floor so theres not a lot of room, especially since I buy mostly fresh fruit and veggies ( i live in the chinatown part of boston so theres plenty of fresh produce). I like cooking things form scratch versus prepacked foods, I guess I got that from my mom. However when I convert my recipes it seems like that alone is like 300-400 cals ! PLus I have problems measuring out proportions. I have never really put any thought about my nutrition before so I'm really new at this. And it doesnt help that I am used to using food as a comfort for crappy days.

peachy.... I would really appreciate if you could help me plan out some meals or any help would be greatly appreciated..:-)

I found that I could eat mostly the same things, just less portions. For example: I didn't need a cup of milk for my cereal, I just needed .75 cup. And of course, I used skim. Then with the chicken: instead of a whole breast, just a half would be good for me. Or use the tenderloins. And I found that chopping my protein up in my stir-fry would help me eat it slower. :)

Thnx digdig, I actually used less skim milk but I still felt hungry . However, i used advice from everyone here and I now eat several times a day but snack on strawberries, watermelon, baby carrots and other fruit with some dannon light'n'fit yogurt and eat a big salad for lunch so now i'm not so hungry anymore:-) YAY! Thnx everyone for your support and advice... it really helped!

Also, the more you exercise, the more you can eat! I have found that to be a great motivater to get me up and moving.

Logman67, that's wonderful advice. If your calorie intake is too low, you can workout and eat back those calories and still lose weight b/c you are speeding up your metabolism while improving how your body looks!

vmcbutterfly said: "you also have to learn that life is not about food. food is fuel not for pleasure."

Although I agree that life is not about food I have to disagree that food is merely fuel and not for pleasure. You can eat a healthful diet and still savor every bite. Indeed, food is and can be for pleasure. We are gifted with our taste buds and really should use them to our benefit. Eating is one of the most pleasurable things we can do as humans, we just need to learn how to channel the pleasure in the right direction. Eating a healthful diet can truly taste good.

badgal83, I am glad that with some slight modifications to your eating you can get a filling 1300 calories in. As you must know by now, eating 1300 calories or less isn't EASY but can be done by increasing fiber rich foods and decreasing simple carbohydrate loaded foods such as breads, rices, cookies etc. If you are still dying for those chocolate chip cookies there are 100 calorie packs of cookies available which might take the edge off on days you just cannot resist. I suggest you also read the Food forum on this site, it's filled with nutritious ideas of how to keep your calorie counts low.

I also want to say that occasionally going over the limit won't ruin your diet and I have found mixing up your calorie intake can actually accelerate weight loss. Don't let one or two "bad days" take away your motivation.

It's hard for me as well. I love french fries, chips and Taco Bell. Luckily, you can find some replacements - no-fat refried beans (black beans rock, refried) but alack, no diet fries. I eat fruit and cucumbers all day long - if you snack throughout the day, you don't feel such a need to eat hearty at dinner. Also, cutting out all bread, pasta and crackers after 2pm has really helped me control myself.

logman:  Its sooooo true that the more you excercise the less guilty you feel about eating more. Its just confusing because for the expenditure they don't have a have a choice for a person who sometimes doesn't do much on some days and other days is running around like crazy at work, so I dont know if the amount of calories allowed is right for me. Anywho thnx for the words of advice :-)

nycgirl: Hey  I'm a New York City girl 2!!!!:-) You especially should now how hard it is to try to avoid such good, greasy and delicious food around every corner in the city..lol I guess i'm lucky right now because I'm in Boston and I cook almost all my meals and avoid the only fast food joint in the 5 block radius....Micky D's. The place where i'm staying at also has a gym in the basement so now I workout everyday. I will be back in NYC soon and I hope I can keep up my activity and good food choices, it'll be hard but hopefully with some motivation from you guys and the progress that I have made so far I just might be able to do it.

csthomas: I also snack all day long on fruit. I was able to cut out breads, pasta and rice for a while but I just had a craving for a turkey sanwhich so I gave in :-( I'll try your trick, definetly try to limit bread until 2pm. Thanks for the tip.

I eat that much everyday and feel full. Here are a few things I eat a lot of:

-eggbeaters omelette with mushrooms and olives
-kashi crunch cereal with fat free milk
-light yoplait
-rice cakes
-gortons fish fillets (not breaded)
-lean cuisine
-peaches
-homemade chili (high protein and sooo good)
-triscuits