Im doing the 1200 diet i think its fine as long as your eating plenty of foods and veg!!
Ive lost a total of 3 stone so here are my own tips from experience:
An important thing (for me!!) is to track down all my food..whether its down on paper or on a word document...anything... because sometimes you don't realise how much your eating and how calorific the food really is...everything adds up so thats my number 1 piece of advice! If your looking for a calorie counter i use a brilliant one on
www.makemyplate.co that counts up all your calories on plates in a visual diary. Its great because you can interact with other users and get inspirations off of them. Also it tells you how much you should lose and you record everything you eat in a diary!!
So tip number 2: Fill up your plate with as much veg as you like. Veg is full of fibre vitamins and minerals and is extremely low calorie. Because of this you will feel satisfied and not binge on other foods. A flapjack has about 400 calories and a big tuna and egg salad has 300....which one will fill you up more??
Tip 3: Snack on FRUIT. Its the best snack you can ever munch on. Apples particularly as they fill you up no end, if you eat one 15 minutes before your meal they say that you eat 20 percent less than normal. Also low calorie and packed full of vitamins and minerals.
Tip 3: Balance your plates with proteins carbs and veg. Whether the protein is from nuts meat or eggs etc, its a must in your diet to stop you craving other foods and giving you that energy boost. For example eggs for breakfast is great as it keeps you full till lunchtime. Sugary cereals on the other hand leave you craving foods all morning making you lose concentration!!
Tip 4: Portion size is important. I always said that its not what you eat to a certain extent but how much you eat. Theres nothing wrong with a packet of crips or a chocolate bar its if you have 4 of them!! If your restricting your calories its fine to have a cake every now and then but write it down... don't go over your calorie intake of the day and your fine!!
Tip 5: Forget the processed stuff stored in supermarkets/shops, its full of additional salts and sugars that will leave you unsatisfied...and normally are packed with unnecessary calories and lack of fibre..
Tip 6: THINK NATURAL....nuts, fruits, fish, chicken, vegetables... forget the additional sauces.. for example mayo (1 teaspoon) has 100 calories..whats the point? You may as well eat a kitkat instead!!
You'll lose weight if what your eating is less than 1500 cals approx..check it out on
www.makemyplate.co. you can put all those foods on plates in your diary and it will count how many calories and nutrition exactly in your entire day. Then you can find cool alternatives to what your eating and check up if its good for losing weight...
Good luck and hope that helps!!!!