Pinning and Planning Our Dinner Menu – 1200 Calorie Meal Plan

So, I know you are all wondering how I managed on the 7-Cabbage Soup Diet. Well, I survived and lived to tell about it!

Two days into the diet, I woke up with a horrible metallic taste in my mouth and I felt achy. I knew that was my body detoxing and suffering from sugar withdrawals. While I don’t eat a lot of sugar, I do drink A LOT of alcoholic beverages, which of course is my diet downfall. On the first few days of this diet, I felt like an alcoholic experiencing the DTS. It was pretty bad, but thank goodness for a banana filled day to help combat the aches and sugar withdrawals.

As much as I love bananas for breakfast or post-run, six bananas was a bit of a stretch for me on Day 4. However, I found an enjoyable way to survive the strict banana & milk day with a banana milkshake I concocted. Basically, I blended two bananas with a cup of milk and two cups of ice until it was smooth and creamy like a milkshake and it was DELISH. I drank one in the morning, one a lunch, one for an afternoon snack and one after dinner for dessert.

As thrilled as I was to be eating meat again on Day 5, eating only beef and tomatoes was a bit tough; however I substituted the beef for leftover grilled chicken from Sunday’s dinner and  I also found these amazing Applegate turkey burgers in the freezer section at Publix which I ate with sliced tomatoes as a bun. So delicious! I also ran out of soup and Iron Chef Allan made me a second batch but he substituted the green bell pepper with a jalapeno pepper for some heat, ‘cause mama loves her heat!

On Day 6, I was glad to be balancing out the meat and tomatoes with some other veggies, although I really wanted some fruit again which I’m sure is a sugar craving again. Today is Day 7 and I’m permitted to eat brown rice, fruit and veggies. This morning, I made a brown rice cereal with some milk and cinnamon which fooled my brain into thinking it was oatmeal. For dinner this evening, I’ll eat some more brown rice.

For the record, I did not workout at all last week due to still recovering from a stomach bug and following this very low calorie, very restricted diet. Tomorrow I will weigh myself to see the results, but I promised myself not to get disappointed with the numbers since I’ve been struggling for months to lose weight. I’m not expecting miracles! Having said that, I feel a whole lot lighter and less thick around my middle, if that makes sense. So for that result alone, I feel pleased. Plus, this strict diet forced me to give up alcohol for a week, which I will continue this week to keep my calories under control.

Overall, the 7-Day Cabbage Soup Diet is totally doable but I do not recommend doing it more than a week out of pure boredom.  I also learned the importance of meal planning. While I do, plan out my family’s dinners every week, I pretty much wing it for breakfast, lunch and my snacks. Through this process, I realized the importance planning out what to eat for each meal. I mean, I do eat fairly healthy for the most part, but I really need to be more careful about my portion sizes and limiting my carbs.

So on that note, I’ve been really giving a lot of thought about my next course of action to lose weight and I devised a 1200 calorie meal plan. After taking drastic measures with this diet to kick-start my metabolism, I feel like now I have a good baseline to start.

While I’m no nutritionist or dietician, there are plenty of resources out there to help devise a decent meal plan, such as the Doctor Oz Total Choice 1200 Calorie Diet or the Good Housekeeping 1200 Calorie 7-Day Diet. In fact I have a whole new Pinterest board full of 1200 Calorie Meal Plans and Weight Loss Tips. However, for me with all my allergies, I can’t follow many of the diet plans so closely and I have to swap certain meals. Given that, I crafted my own 7-Day nut-free, egg-free 1200 Calorie Meal Plan which borrows some meals from a variety of different meal plans.

The good news is that my husband is on board with this plan and will join me in trying to lose a few pounds. I’m so glad to have his support through this process! (For men, this meal plan should be bumped up to 1800 calories.)

7-day 1200 Calorie Meal Plan

Run DMT’s 7-Day 1200 Calorie Meal Plan

Sunday

  • Breakfast ½ cup brown rice with ¼ skim milk and a tsp of cinnamon
  • Snack – 1 grapefruit
  • LunchCabbage Soup
  • Snack – Roasted Broccoli
  • DinnerRoasted Veggie Kabobs with ½ cup brown rice
  • Snack- 1 cup of mixed berries

 

Meatless Monday

  • Breakfast ½ Old fashioned oats with ¾ cup skim milk
  • Snack – 3 Tb hummus with 2 stalks of celery
  • Lunch – Cabbage Soup
  • Snack – Apple and 2 Tb sunbutter
  • DinnerLasagna Rolls (1 roll) and a mixed greens salad
  • Snack- 1 cup of mixed berries

 

Tuesday

  • Breakfast – Sliced of Seed Your Soul Bread with 2 Tb sunbutter and ½ sliced banana
  • Snack – 3 Tb hummus with 2 stalks of celery
  • Lunch – 1 Leftover Lasagna Spinach Roll
  • Dinner – Ground Turkey Taco Wraps (1/2 cup of meat with 2Tb sp of Reduced Fat Sharp cheddar)
  • Snack –1 cup of mixed berries

 

Wednesday

  • Breakfast – 1 cup non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt with Strawberries
  • Snack – 3 Tb hummus with 2 stalks of celery
  • Lunch – Leftover Ground Turkey Taco Salad (1/2 cup of meat with 2Tb of Reduced Fat Sharp cheddar, chopped tomatoes on mixed greens)
  • Snack – 1 small apple and sunbutter
  • Dinner – Chicken Caprese ( 1 – 4 oz chicken breast, sliced tomatoes, 1 mozzeralla slice, basil)
  • Snack – 1 cup cubed watermelon

 

Thursday

  • Breakfast – Sliced of Seed Your Soul Bread with 2 Tb sunbutter and ½ sliced banana
  • Snack – 3 Tb hummus with 2 stalks of celery
  • Lunch – 1 Leftover Lasagna Spinach Roll
  • Snack – 2 slices of Applegate Turkey with Cucumber wedges
  • Dinner – Vegetti & Ground Turkey Italian Meatballs
  • Snack – 1 cup cubed watermelon

 

Friday

  • Breakfast – 1 cup non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt with Strawberries
  • Snack – 3 Tb hummus with 2 stalks of celery
  • Lunch – Cabbage Soup
  • Snack – 2 slices of Applegate Turkey with Cucumber wedges
  • Dinner – Homemade pizza (2 slices) and 1967 Salad
  • Snack – 1 cup cubed watermelon

Pinning and Planning - Run DMT What’s on your meal plan this week? What low calorie healthy recipes are you pinning and planning for dinner this week? 

 Follow Run DMT on Pinterest for more 1200 calorie meal plans, kid-approved healthy recipes and healthy living tips.

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