How To Begin A 1200 Calorie Diet
If you are thinking of going on a 1200 calorie diet, there are few things you need to consider:
First, remember to not drop your calories below 1200 calories (for women) or below 1400 calories (for men) unless you are being monitored by a healthcare professional. If you drop your calorie intake too low, your body will think there is a famine and will go into “starvation mode” and begin to burn less and less in an effort to keep you alive until the end of the “famine.”
Secondly, be certain that you drink a minimum of 64 ounces (2 liters) of water per day…in addition to any coffee, tea, diet soft drinks, etc. As you lose weight, you will need to remove waste products from your body as rapidly as possible. Drinking water helps that process.
Thirdly, If you are going on a 1200 calorie diet in an effort to lose weight, remember that exercise along with reduced calorie intake is the best way to keep weight off once it is lost. You may be able to lose the weight on diet changes alone. However, almost no one can keep it off without exercise, too.
The easiest way to cut down calorie intake is to reduce fat intake since fat has more than twice the calories of carbs and protein. However, you need some fats to feel satisfied. So do not cut them out altogether.
Another thing to think about is this: If there are certain foods that you “just cannot live without”…then, find a way to include them in the 1200 calories…otherwise, you will stray from your meal plan sooner rather than later.
So what can you eat on a 1200 calorie diet?
It is best to spread your calories out through the day. Here is an example of eating three meals plus a bedtime snack:
For breakfast, you may have 1 boiled or scrambled egg, 1 slice of whole grain toast with 5 – 7 sprays of buttery spray, 1/2 cup of (light syrup or own juice) canned or fresh fruit, coffee or tea or water.
For lunch, large green salad made with spinach, lettuce, shredded carrots, celery, onions, fresh broccoli, etc. with one ounce of cheese shredded on top, 2 ounces of shredded or chopped chicken breast, fat-free, calorie-free salad dressing, with 6 small (or 2 – 3 large) crackers. Drink water, tea, or coffee. One serving of fresh fruit or 1/2 cup of fruit in sugar-free gelatin for dessert.
For the evening meal, grilled chicken breast (about the size and thickness of the palm of your own hand), 1/2 cup of corn or peas or sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup of green beans, side salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with vinegar dressing. Baked apple with brown sugar sucralose or stevia sauce for dessert.
Bedtime snack of slice of cheese and two small crackers or a 8 ounce glass of fat-free milk.
This is simply an idea for one day. You can use a website such as the Diet Solution to track your actual intake and to mix and match foods of your liking to make a 1200 calorie diet palatable and varied. Variety of choice of foods is the key to not getting bored on a 1200 calorie diet. Eat and enjoy!
Low Calorie Recipes
Low Calorie Recipes Can Be Delicious And Healthy
Low calorie recipes don’t have to be without flavor and can be quite delicious if prepared correctly. Most people associate low calorie as being bland or lacking in taste. With the use of spices, you can dress up just about any meal without adding calories.
You can take almost any low fat cut of meat and make it taste as thought it was cooked by a five star restaurant simply by using a creative combination of spices. Bay leaves are a common additive and will work with almost any type of meat. They are often used in soups and stews, but can also be used topically on a steak or London broil. Garlic is commonly used in many meals to provide an extra kick and wake up the senses. Oregano, sage and thyme are all good spices to bring out the flavor in the meat and make the meal taste better.
Meat and Spice
There are some spices that work best with specific types of meat. Whether you’re cooking lamb, chicken or steak will determine which of these spices work best. For Chicken, you might want to add dill, ginger or celery leaves. Each of these spices brings out flavor that is specific to chicken. When cooking lamb, you should consider adding mint, rosemary or cinnamon. Fish also benefits from the addition of dill as well as lemon juice or dry mustard.
Veggies
You don’t want to forget to spice up your vegetables. Vegetables are extremely important to low calorie recipes in that they can be eaten in large amounts without adding many calories. This helps by filling you up and providing you with much needed fiber. You don’t want to offset their low caloric benefit by smothering them in butter.
When cooking squash for instance, the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg or onion can give it quite a bit of flavor. Green beans can become much more appealing by simply adding some basil or marjoram. There are no set rules when it comes to spices and you could even try your own combinations to suit your own personal tastes.
Controlling Sugar
One of the biggest challenges with weight loss and eating healthy is in sugar control. We are often tempted by sweets that although heavenly to eat, are spiking our blood sugar before we can burn it off. This causes our bodies convert it to fat for use later on. Unless you’re extremely active, this is going to result in weight gain.
Cinnamon has been proven to help control blood sugar and can be used liberally on fruit to add zest to just about any snack. Nutmeg is also a great additive when trying to come up with creative ways to make low calorie recipes for dessert.
Proper Portions
Another key aspect of low calorie recipes is in portion control. With our “Super Size” mentality, we often forget that it doesn’t matter how low calorie a recipe is, if you eat enough of it, you’re still going to gain weight. A good way to control how much you eat is to drink water right before and during your meal. This helps to signal the brain that you’re full and will help cut down on the amount of food that you’re tempted to eat.
Eating low calorie does not mean that you have to eliminate foods that you enjoy, it just simply means you have to change the way they’re prepared. Most of what we eat today involves a meat, starch and a vegetable. If you prepare them differently and consider the size of your portions, you will start losing wait without really trying. The key to cooking low calorie recipes is to change your mindset of one where you consider alternatives to the way you currently prepare food.
Although having low calorie recipes is convenient, some of the best meals are found simply by experimenting. Think outside the box when preparing your meals and you may find that you can come up with some delicious alternatives to the high calorie meals that you previously enjoyed. Even though a particular spice or ingredient may not seem to make sense, add it anyway and you could be surprised.
Food Prep
One of the biggest challenges in preparing low calorie recipes is the prep time. With a busy schedule, many don’t have time to prepare food that is healthy. This is why fast food and processed foods have become so popular. 
Although convenient, they aren’t the best solution for your waistline. That’s what makes spices so powerful. They take very little time to add while you cook and they add a lot in the way of flavor and taste. Instead of frying chicken, you could either broil or bake with the addition of some spices and end up creating a very tasteful dish.
Before you give up on your diet because you feel you’re depriving yourself of good tasting food, start experimenting with the various spices and things such as onion and garlic. Choose low fat cuts of meat in reasonable portions and use vegetables as a way to fill yourself up. Using low calorie recipes will help you maintain your waistline as well as provide additional health benefits such as lowering your blood sugar, blood pressure and benefiting your heart.
Recipes Summary
Your new way of cooking will not only benefit you but your whole family as well. Establishing good eating habits is extremely important for children and is a habit that will help later in life. If your children only know a healthy way of eating, it’s very likely that they will actually prefer it to the fast food habits that are such a part of family life today. Don’t let high sugar and high fat eating become a way of life for your children.
Low calorie recipes don’t need to be bland or hard to make. Using a little ingenuity and experimentation will have you cooking meals that are both healthy and delicious for the whole family. Everyone will be eating healthier and maintaining a good weight and you’ll feel better knowing that you’re instilling good eating habits that will last well into the future.
Low Carb Diets
Low Carb Diets Maintain Blood Sugar and Weight
Low carb diets are a natural way to keep your blood sugar at consistent levels. For those who are diabetic or at risk for diabetes, keeping your blood sugar from spiking is key in its prevention.
Diabetes is currently being diagnosed in ever increasing numbers. There is belief that this is due to the overall change in diet that has occurred over the last 30 years. What we eat on a daily basis is nothing like what our parents ate when they were children. The family dinner has become a thing 
of the past with family members eating on their own and on the go. This has resulted in a high consumption of processed foods and fast foods that are high in fat and carbohydrates. Type II diabetes is on the rise, and there are usually things that you can do to prevent it.
Although there is a genetic component, you are not doomed to be diabetic if you start eating like one. A condition called insulin resistance occurs when your body is unable to use the insulin you produce to lower your blood sugar. When the blood sugar is at higher levels, the brain continues to signal the pancreas to produce more insulin. Since the body is unable to metabolize this insulin, this creates a condition of hyperinsulinemia or too much insulin in the bloodstream.
In simple terms, the body has to produce twice as much insulin to get the job done because the cells of the body aren’t sensitive to the insulin you produce. Over time, insulin resistance leads to diabetes because the pancreas gets to a point where it can no longer produce enough insulin to keep blood sugars at normal levels.
The key to keeping blood sugars in check is to follow low carb diets that center on low fat meats while keeping carbohydrate consumption to a minimum. When you eat simple carbohydrates, the blood sugar rises quickly and your body is unable to keep up with the demand. When you eliminate these fast acting carbs from your body, blood sugar levels remain consistent and your body is able to maintain consistent blood glucose levels.
Besides helping to maintain healthy blood sugar, you will lose weight quite easily. Carbohydrates are used by the body for fuel and when the fuel is not needed as when we are sedentary, they are converted to fat and stored for later use for when food is scarce. As you can imagine, doing this on a daily basis will only contribute to consistent weight gain. When you start minimizing your carbohydrate intake, there is very little being stored in fat.
Many make the mistake of eating low fat high carb foods in an effort to lose weight. This is counter productive and will only contribute to difficulty in losing weight unless you’re extremely athletic and have a need for a large amount of high octane food. Remember, carbs are for energy and shouldn’t be indulged upon.
The Basics Of A Low Carb Diet
The general rule of thumb in most low carb diets is one of eating meat with a vegetable side dish. Not all vegetables are equal however, and care should be taken when choosing which vegetables are appropriate. You can tolerate higher carb content if the food you are eating is high in fiber. This is because fiber helps to move food more quickly through the digestive process so fewer carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood stream. This is where the term “net carbs” comes in to play.
Net Carb Calculation
Many foods will boast a low net carb total, but doing some simple math reveals that they are not quite as good as they say. The American Diabetes Association indicates that you cannot perform net carb calculations on foods that contain less than 5 grams of fiber serving. This is because any food that has less than this is not offering any real benefit by way of high fiber.
When you do a net carb calculation, you’ll take the total number of grams of fiber per serving and subtract it from the total number of grams of carbohydrates per serving to come up with your net carb total. If the total number of grams of fiber per serving is less than 5, then you won’t need to perform this calculation and you’ll simply use the total number of grams of carbs. As a general rule, you’ll want to keep any food you eat below 35 grams of net carbs per serving. You also need to make sure that you’re not eating two or three helpings of carbs that will put the total number of carbs over the top.
- When considering food to plan your meals, of course meats are extremely low carb and can be eaten without too much thought other than you want to avoid high fat content.
- Most green vegetables are going to be safe to eat and again you won’t have to worry about high carb content.
- Fruit on the other hand can be abused because many make the mistake of thinking that fruit is natural and therefore is healthy and can be eaten freely. Although it’s true the fruit is healthy, there is still a high number of carbs in a lot of fruit. Berries are best and offer the most fiber and lower carb benefit. Bananas, grapes and most citrus have a high fructose content and can be just as dangerous to your diet as eating a piece of cake.
- In fact, many diabetics who are adjusting to insulin administration will often use pure orange juice to quickly raise their blood sugar when they’ve had a significant drop. You don’t have to eliminate fruit all together, but you should use caution when eating it.
In days past, all of the food we ate was prepared fresh and we knew exactly what we were eating. In today’s society, we are often eating food that looks nothing like what it’s suggested to be made of and the cooking and packaging process is robbing what we eat of vital nutrients.
Diet Summary
Low carb diets are great way to stave off the onset of diabetes and to lose weight. Making simple changes to the way you eat and think about food, and you will have long lasting benefits to your overall health.
1200 Calorie Diet
The 1200 Calorie Diet Requires A Change Of Mindset
The 1200 calorie diet is simply one of eating no more than 1200 calories per day. This is believed to be the safe number of calories that can be consumed per day and still lose weight consistently.
One of the biggest challenges to weight loss is understanding just how many calories are in the food you eat each day. You might not be eating that much, but the food you’re eating could be high in calories and undermining your weight loss. There are some fast foods that you can eat that will go over the 1200 maximum in one sitting. This is why so many people don’t understand why they are gaining weight or are not losing weight. You might only eat 3 meals a day and no snacks, but those three meals could be a 1000 calories each which is putting you well over the 1200 calorie maximum.
How To Begin A Low Calorie Diet
The best way to approach a 1200 calorie diet is to think high volume with low calories. This way you’re able to eat larger amounts where you’re getting full and feeling satisfied. If you like vegetables, you’re already ahead of the game because vegetables are high in fiber and low in calories and you can eat them in large amounts to help yourself feel full. Salads using leafy green lettuce are a great way to get a lot of fiber and nutrition without stacking up on calories. You want to make sure that any dressing you use is low calorie and you don’t want to drench the salad in it.
This is where people get off track. They think they’re eating a healthy salad, but it’s so loaded down with calories by way of dressing and other toppings, that it quickly becomes as high in calories as a fully loaded hamburger.
The Trade Offs
Another way to eliminate calories from your diet is to bake and broil the food instead of frying it. You can make some delicious meals that can replace the fatty fried foods you enjoyed before. As an example, you could bake French fries that are cut from potatoes instead of frying them or using pre-packaged French fries that are high in carbohydrates.
You want to look at your diet with the mindset of anything that you prepare yourself is going to be much better than something that is made for you. Not only are foods you prepare yourself using your own ingredients more healthy for you, you’re going to find that in a lot of cases the flavor is much better because the food hasn’t been frozen.
Another place that a lot of calories are hidden in is soft drinks. You might not be eating that much but what you drink has just as much impact on your waistline as what you eat, particularly when you’re drinking a lot of soft drinks. The sugar content in your average can of soda is more than what you should be consuming in an entire meal.
Water is the best way to quench your thirst and keep yourself hydrated, however this admittedly not the most appealing drink all of the time. The nice thing about water is you can dress it up with a little bit of fruit juice and a little low calorie sweetener. Light lemonade is very refreshing and you can make yourself a glass simply by taking a few lemon slices and soaking them in a glass of water and then adding some sweetener to it. Lemon has properties that actually promote weight loss. You could try this same method with other types of fruit juice as long as you take care in the amount of juice that you’re adding to the water.
Surprise!
One of the biggest surprises with the 1200 calorie diet is that many don’t realize that you don’t have to deprive yourself of everything. Moderation is key and as long as you think about what you’re eating and look for a better alternative, you’re going to be successful. As an example, if you absolutely have a craving for chocolate, then a handful of peanut M&M’s is a better option than eating a piece of chocolate cake. The peanuts help to add fiber and limit the amount of chocolate that you’re actually consuming.
Thinking for a moment before you act will go a long way in making mistakes that cost you in the long run. A lot of people will start a diet like gangbusters and then get burned out and feel deprived by eating bland food that doesn’t satisfy their appetites.
Sticking To Your Diet
Another good way to stick to your 1200 calorie diet is to do something else for five minutes. If after five minutes you still crave a particular food, then you can reward yourself by having a small sized portion. Often, all it takes is simply getting your mind off of food for even a minute to stamp out the craving. More often than not, the craving is a symptom of boredom or some other emotional issue that is driving you to eat.
Taking a “time out” from food for a few minutes can help to reprogram your brain to associate that unpleasant thought with a more worthwhile activity. Do something that you can’t do while you’re eating and involves the use of your hands. You can get satisfaction in the form of a clean house or a nice brisk walk.
One of the best ways to stay on your diet is to experiment. Have fun with combining low calorie foods with seasonings to see what you can come up with. You’ll probably find that you can create a dish that you absolutely love and that is good for you at the same time. However, pay close attention to portion control as eating low calorie doesn’t do you any good if you’re eating five servings of it. This is where many people go wrong. As a general rule, the meat portion of your meal should be no larger than a deck of cards. Vegetables can usually be eaten freely because they contain very little calories. However, don’t load them up with butter or some other high calorie topping as this negates their caloric benefit.
Diet Summary
When dieting, you need to change your mindset of food for entertainment to one of food for nutrition. When you start looking at food for what it is, a way to nourish your body, you’ll realize that you might be using food as something to do rather than a way to maintain your health. The 1200 calorie diet gives you a total that you can work towards while making healthy choices.
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The Truth About A Low Calorie Diet
Eating better for a healthier body.
There are all kinds of diets out there for people to use. Along with diets, you can also buy about a million types of work out videos. The true way to lose weight and you don’t have to jump onto the diet roller coaster, is by eating better. With the right type of low calorie diet, you can lose weight and you will feel much better. Most people don’t understand the concept of eating less calories, then you are burning. That is the key to losing weight. When you eat less then you burn, you will lose weight.
Part of the problem with people that lose and gain and lose and gain, is that they don’t stick to anything. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you have to permanently change your eating habits. When we age, our metabolisms slow down. We just can’t eat the same things that we did, when we were 17 years old. A good low calorie diet, will help you live better. Another thing that people get wrong when they try to diet, is that they stop eating all together. You have to eat to lose weight. When you are starving, your body stores fat.
A low calorie diet, doesn’t mean that you are going hungry. Believe it or not, most healthy foods are low in calories. Things like vegetables and most fruits, have very low calories. When you start eating correctly, you may actually feel like you are eating more but you aren’t. You are learning to eat better. The key to losing weight and not gaining it back, is to eat right and exercise with little breaks. If you live your life that way, you will be a healthier and happier you.
Most diets are temporary and that is why they are bad. You don’t want to temporarily be healthier. If you truly want to lose fat and feel better, then you need to start a low calorie diet and stay on it. Eating better should become a way of life. That doesn’t mean that you can’t ever have the food you love, ever again. It just means that you have to eat better 90 percent of the time and you can still have treats sparingly. Learn to eat better and lower your calorie intake and you will become a healthier you.
Low Calorie Diet Foods
Choosing and Cooking Low Calorie Diet Foods
Believe it or not, but just because a food is called a diet food doesn’t mean that it’s a food that is low in calories. Many diet products are low in fat but high in calories.
The problem is that you need to reduce your calories as well as your fat intake if you want to have a healthy diet and lose weight in the process. If you want to ensure that you are getting the best low calorie diet foods, then you may need to forgo store made foods and focus on making your own meals instead.
Here are a few low calorie diet foods that you can use to create delicious recipes:
- Beans
- Broccoli
- Yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Chick peas
- Fish
These are just a few of the many low calorie diet foods that you can eat and not feel guilty about. As with any food, the way you prepare these low calorie foods is important if you want them to remain healthy.
For example, if you combine yogurt with fruit that has been soaking in sugar, then you are going to increase the calories in your yogurt exponentially. Instead, combine your yogurt with fresh fruit without sugar. While some fruit can be high in calories, there are plenty of options that are lower in calories and can be used to dress up your yogurt.
If you have ever prepared beans, then you know that there are many ways to use them. However, you want to avoid recipes that are going to cause the goodness of your beans to be negated. For example, BBQ baked beans are high in calories and in fat. Keep the recipe simple and consider options such as black beans and whole grain rice. This is an excellent meal and low in both fat and calories!
Fish is another example of a very healthy food that can be turned into something unhealthy when you cook it. Avoid frying your fish or using butter if you plan on grilling or baking the fish. There are many wonderful marinades that are fat free and even calorie free for you to consider.
The bottom line is that eating healthy is easier if you take the time to create your own meals. Just keep in mind that they way you cook your low calorie diet foods is just as important as as choosing the right foods in the first place.
Low Calorie Alcoholic Drinks
Alcoholic Drinks That Won’t Kill Your Low Calorie Diet
When you’re dieting, it often seems that everything you like has suddenly become off-limits. You probably realize that alcoholic drinks contain more calories than you should have in a beverage, but you may not be aware of just how much damage they can do to a diet. Once you’ve thought about it, you may despair of ever finding any low calorie diet alcoholic drinks.
Beer has a well-deserved reputation as a high-calorie beverage. A dark beer can contain as much as 210 calories in a 12-ounce bottle. Thanks to well-publicized research, many people think wine is the best liquor to drink, and is even essential to good health. But a glass of wine still packs in calories, as much as 185 calories for a four-ounce glass of Ruby Port. Cocktails can be the worst offenders; some mixed drinks have many more calories than most desserts. For example, a Long Island Iced Tea usually contains 780 calories per drink.
However, if you’re careful and do some planning, you can enjoy low calorie diet alcoholic drinks. The first thing to remember is that the higher alcohol content in liquor equals more calories. Then, as you do when you’re eating, look at the portion size. Think about how many ounces of alcohol go into the glass you’re using; measuring is always a good idea. If you’re at a bar or restaurant, ask the bartender or waiter how many ounces the glass holds. If you’re drinking beer, go for the light varieties. The white wines such as Chablis or white zinfandel are among the best choices, with 80 to 85 calories per four ounces. When it comes to mixed drinks, it’s important to consider the mixer as well as the alcohol. Lower alcohol content and lighter mixers such as orange juice or cranberry juice are preferable to sugary, high-calorie mixers and syrups. You also may be able to find some low-calorie versions of mixers and syrups.
If you’re watching your carbs as well as your calories, low calorie diet alcoholic drinks can be beneficial. The typical liquors, including gin, rum, vodka and whiskey have zero carbs. White wines contain one carb per 3.5 ounces, and light beer has 4.5 carbs per 12 ounce bottle. You’ll have to balance out the calories and carbs, but with a bit of advance preparation, you can enjoy low calorie diet alcoholic drinks that won’t kill your diet.
