What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like?

those look like delicious meals. Especially the first breakfast and the chicken. I agree with the people who mentioned this, portions these days are very distorted

The food portion pictures are great! We all eat way to much of everything we eat. I found the "Univ. of Kentuky SHAKE DIET" In this weeks WOMENS WORLD worth looking at. The more you can eliminate the thought process of what to eat..the easier it is to stick within a calorie range.
I fight the hunger problem by having fruits and vegetables all ready prepared in my frige. If it's handy you will usually eat it. (that's why potato chips and cookies get top billing!)

Debbie said:
The breakfasts are okay. But the meal with the baked potato (#3) was unappetizing to me. There are hardly any meat dishes; I really don't see this as more than a breakfast and occasional lunch/dinner kind of thing. Only 300 calories at every meal will leave you hungry unless you eat a lot of snacks. But that's a personal preference. I couldn't see [...]

Hi, you know at first it is hard to shrink your stomache and watch what you eat, especially if yo are a woman who is going through pms and needs to consume salt, sugar, chocolate two weeks before menstruation, but eventually your body does get used to it. In less than six months I hae lost about 35 pounds, all natuarally, I walk four miles a day, I wake up at 4;30 am to do this because I do have a full time job, a fiance, step daughters and my own teenage daughter, a one and one half hour comute to and from work, and I still am sacrificing to eat well and excersice. I feel great and am turning heads now!!! So maybe you have not tried to stick with less calories for long enough, I assure you, try it longer, your body will change, and you will wonder why you have not ate that way before. Good luck!!!!!

Nice visual... and I agree with the butter issue. Real or nothing, not even margarine. It's all in quantity and portions. Whole eggs, bacon, toast and butter didn't do a thing to my grandparents who both lived into their late 90's. They ate dinner for lunch, so no chips and cookies w/a sandwich, it was veggies at dinner and supper. Processed foods hardly existed. They were thin and active with no major health issues. Butter is a real, whole food, straight from the cow babeee. Why eat things that you can't pronounce? You're plate needs to be full of color...veggies & fruit and some protein...easy diet and you can still have a guiltless treat, just don't over indulge or eat late. Eat to live, not live to eat. Cut out the sugar drinks too.

WOW!

it takes self discipline to make it work. eating high protein, low cal meals will make you less apt to snack throughout the day. you will feel full. i rarely am left feeling hungry after a high protein, low cal meal. it works for me, i have lost a lot of weight pretty fast and feel better than ever! always know what's in it before it goes in you!

sorry to just jump out of nowhere, but Dave, yes, fruit and salad will make you full, especially when you're not used to eating 1,000 calorie meals, due to the large amounts of fiber present in fruits and vegetables. Your 800 calorie meal of white rice, a bran muffin, and milk is not healthy...a better option would be whole grain or brown rice, skimmed or soy milk, or even 1% milk, and some bran cereal. And just to add in, even that can gethealthier if you add a fruit and some vegetables to that.

But I would never eat a dinner of even 300 calories, because I'm not a runner, I'm a ballerina, and I can't eat that much all at once because guess what, I get full from 100 calories worth of protein and fiber filled foods.

I think the only thing you guys have proved here is that there is not one diet, one amount of calories, or one exercise routine to follow in order to gain/maintain/lose weight, but that it's different for each and every person.

Chicken Girl is right in that in order to maintain a healthy weight and/or lose weight you need to combine a good diet and exercise.

Dave, if I lived off of 5,000 calories a day I would gain a little less than 3lbs per week, maybe 4. I can't just be more active, because all my time is spent either studying or at ballet.

So yes, some people can eat 5,000 without gaining weight, some people can even lose weight on it, but so many other people can't. There is also something called a metabolism...

I suggest you re-examine your defenition of healthy because, I'm sorry, but what you call a healthy meal still bugs me.

Anyways...good luck running, losing weight, etc.

I've just started my weight loss journey 8 days ago , I've already lost 6 pounds doing what im doing right now which is more or less what this plan is , the only difference is i eat around 3 "larger" meals breakfast around 400-450 calories, lunch is usually around 600 tops dinner is around 700-800 and a small piece of fruit (usually an apple) for dessert , if i'm still feeling a little deprived around 3 ish i eat another piece of fruit. And i drink lots and lots of water .

Nobody mentioned that the plates the food is on are very small. Not dinner plates! You really have to watch for the illusion that it looks like much more food than it really is. The best way to lose weight is and has always been PORTION control and EXERCISE for the rest of your life.

hey guys i currently weigh 270 i want to get down to 170 any tips to get me started?

I love the atkins style diets and they work like a dream but they are not sustainable. IE they are too expensive the types of food I must eat just cost to much. Veggies I love. I can sit down and eat several pounds of broccoli or green beans or a salad (very little dressing though I must have dressing it takes very little to please me) without batting an eye :-)

but again they are expensive :-(

Would love any suggestions on a VERY effective diet or dietary guidance (nothing funky or special I want it to be sustainable IE a way of life kind of thing)

My cardiologist says that you can pretty much eat all the veggies you want, and lose weight. You have to remember that potatoes and grain-based products are not veggies.

--EMT_Hawk
From 275# To 190# and still losing.

i just had surgery but cant exercise and i just put on 14 pounds since i been home . how can lose the weight without any exercise in my life for now. i want to lose some weight .

Jenny, have you talked with your surgeon? It depends very much on the exact surgery, but there should be some things you can do. And, convalescence is usually best with some exercise.

Best wishes to you.

if you eat healthy meals in the right portions you dont need 2000 calories.also 2000 is just an average everyones needs are different.

all these people saying they eat 3 to 4000 calories a day are fooling themselves.you are eating junk if you are because healthy food is not calorie dense you are talking a ton of food noone could eat.im a 200 pound competitive bodybuilder i stay between 1500 and 2000 calories a day eating 300 calorie meals and its hard to get that down some days.chicken is 120 calories and 30 grams protein.one serving of a complex carb and a veggie or fruit and you are there.if you are going to eat fast food all the time or drown your food with fattening sauces and gravies then no wonder you cant lose weight.stop making excuses about these small portion meals and start eating healthy and watch what happens to your shape but be patient you didnt put that weight on overnight and you wont lose it overnight.yahoo me at rep4666 ill be glad to help you

Ashlyn said:
READ THIS PLEASE!!!!![...]

i feel so bad for you and i may not be big but alot of my friends are and they tell me stories about them struggling with diets, i am also 16 and i am sorry that you have to struggle with that.

sincerly lillian,
lillian.tessier@yahoo.com

Fish (non fried)/Chicken (non fried), rice kongee (1 mid size bowl), baked beans (1 small bowl) and green tea with 1.5-2 hrs of sweatful exercise & when supplemented with a gallon of pure water everyday, when followed for 90 days leads to 10% weight loss.

These look like good portions if you're going to eat 5-7 times per day. If you're an average guy, you may want to eat a bit more.

My mom cooks better than you, These meals look soo nasty!!!!

This is a great resource to see what a 300 calorie meal looks like.

I changed my eating habits after constantly being hungry between lunch and supper (about 6 hours between each).

So I took breakfast and lunch and divided it into about 3 parts. Now I eat mid morning (9ish), a little after noon, and around 3ish and I don't have to crave a snack.

I'm also a big guy, so I know that these portion sizes really do work.

Every time I look at a post like this, I instantly get depressed. The food looks so bad. When I eat food like this- it actually makes me want to cry.

why does the food look bad? is it because it's not drowned in fat- and calorie-laden "goodness" like butter, creamy sauces and dressings, and sugar? is it because fresh fruits and vegetables are featured?

people need to change their perception of what food is and what it's supposed to be. i think this post is an excellent guide for those who are trying to rid themselves of bad eating habits.

I'm surprised that some readers actually think that the authors intend for people to only eat three 300-calorie meals a day. I'm fairly certain they only mean for this to be a tool for the health and diet conscious consumer to use for gauging their portions. I think it's a nice resource.

Perhaps one should eat six of these 300 calorie meals a day. Or six 400 calorie meals. Whatever it takes to get the nutrition in.

I have lost a lot of weight by sticking to approx. 300 calories per meal. Then I can have a glass of wine or a treat and that makes up all the calories I need per day. Think about it, if you are fairly sendentary, you don't need to take in a lot of calories. Looking at how many calories I REALLY needed was the first place I started before losing weight.

Fantastic post. Thank you very much!

The servings in these meals are great and that looks like the amount you should eat. I don't have time to read though all of the replies, but I have seen people saying that eating more then 3 meals a day is not possible. Eat 2 snacks during the day and you have your 5 meals. When they talk about more then 3 meals a day they usually leave out the snacks. Snacks help keep your blood sugar normal and help to keep your hunger from getting to you.

My tip, don't go more then 4 hours without eating something.

Nice information - What do you recommend stop carbs at all can help ?

Thanks for taking the time to post- its hard to make ANY food look appetizing- let alone "diet" food :-)

Well that s nice and variety of foods but No one is much tempting like the Paronda 's here we have in India great delicious but it has more calorie than usual one but totally healthy

I am a petite 5'2" woman and have lost weight many times in the past. I am currently 149 pounds, but my ideal weight would be around 125 or so. My highest weight was around 160. However, since I am 41 years old, I can maintain around 130-135 pounds (a healthy BMI) if I eat around 1600-1800 calories and exercise daily.

I eat three small meals and two snacks every day, and these meals look about right. However, I definitely have some protein at each meal, and some fat too. I actually eat around 25-30% fat every day, 20% protein, and 50% carbs. When my weight is up, I have diabetes. However, when my weight is at a healthy BMI, my blood sugars are perfect. I also find that even before I reach a healthy BMI, my sugars are almost perfect when I spread the meals out like this and eat smaller, more frequent meals. My body is very happy processing food this way, and I can eat fewer calories and still not feel hungry (1600-1800 daily). I am apple shaped, so I think it is important for people, especially women, like me who gain weight in the midsection to attain a healthy weight. Looking better is just one of the fringe benefits.

I do not eat "diet" anything. I actually use real butter occasionally, and even whole milk plain yogurt. I factor it into my day to end up with 25-30% fat calories.

Thanks for the great information.

You didnt include tofu.It's still protein but has fewer calories.There were many choices for breakfast but not too much for lunch or dinner.Please include choices for pork or beef since I love them.You can still eat pork and beef right,even if one is dieting but the portions should be smaller though.Definitely no steaks!!!

Those breakfasts look way to carby and too much sugar.

I love, love, love the photos! What a great page.

I just have one reservation...

Sorry if someone already mentioned it and I hope you don't mind me being nitpicky, but I think it's misleading to say that "the average American consumes around 3,800 Calories per day." From what I read on the page you linked to (and assuming it's true), it seems like that is just the average number per capita.

Although the usage of the term "average" does vary, in this case the average *person* does imply something different than the average *number*. The former makes it appear that the typical person takes in that much, and is therefore likely to gain about a pound a week or so. As bad as things are, I just don't see that happening. Of course, the reality seems to be scarier, that some people are taking in much, much more than that.

Here's what the page says, "In 1961 Americans consumed 2883 calories per person. By 2000 this had increased to 3817." I'd still like to see the exact study they used to get those numbers, but that's something they should have provided.

www.mypyramid.org is a fabulous website that has many recipes and can recommend how many calories you should eat a day based on your activity level, age, gender, etc.... its awesome!

my bad --- i mean mypyramid.gov

I just bought the "Cardio Free Diet" book. It recommends 300 calorie meals, then 3 100 calorie snacks. I found your site looking for more examples of 300 calorie meal, as it seems really low. Your examples were helpful! Thanks.

Jackie

I am hungry too. This look like healthy meal.

At least not in the sense that most people think of them. "I'm on a diet" is what people say as they count calories or follow some set of rules that they think will let them shed their weight so they can then go back to eating "normally". Do you know why this won't work? Because eating "normally" should be eating healthily and prudently!

http://healtyblog.blogspot.com/

Be healthy, stay healthy!

All the best,
Maikel