1200 Calories Meal Plans

Whether you're working full time, studying at school or uni, or constantly busy with the stress of completing your never-ending to-do list, it can become really tough to keep track of what you're eating, let alone count calories. For this reason, I have constructed a set of possible interchangeable meal plan ideas, all of which total 1200 calories or less. Each meal is designed to be quick and easy to prepare, while fitting inside a tight budget. Despite being very low calorie, the meal plans still allow for controlled portions of guilty pleasures such as chocolate or cheese in order to make the plans enjoyable to follow, rather than brutally restrictive.


Meal Plan 1

Breakfast
2 slices of Hovis Nimble Wholemeal Bread with 15g Flora Light Butter
1 mug of green or flavoured green tea (or instant coffee with 20ml skimmed milk, +10 cals)

Snack
1 Sharon Fruit

Lunch
1 Sainsbury's Cheese and Ham Chicken Kiev
Handful of Rocket Salad

Snack
1 Mini Mars Bar (18g)

Dinner
1/4 pack Sainsbury's Smoky Chorizo Raviolini
125g Dolmio Bolognaise Sauce with Extra Mushrooms and Garlic
30g Sainsbury's Basics Smoked Mackerel

Snack
Mango and Banana Shake (Half a mango, half a banana, 150ml Alpro Unsweetened Almond Milk, 1/2 tsp cinnamon)

Total Calories: 1150
Carbs: 145g
Fat: 48g
Protein: 52g
Sugar: 51g

Meal Plan 2

Breakfast
1 slice of Hovis Nimble Wholemeal Bread
30g Philadelphia Light cream cheese (any flavour)
30g smoked salmon
1 mug of green or flavoured green tea (or instant coffee with 20ml skimmed milk, +10 cals)

Snack
1 pack crisps in the under 99 calorie range (e.g. wotsits)

Lunch
150g chicken breast fillet stuffed with 25g Sainsbury's basics Mozarella and 1tsp wholegrain mustard (oven bake for 22 mins at 200C)
Handful of iceberg lettuce and 6 cherry tomatoes

Snack
100g Rachel's organic low fat vanilla yoghurt (or similar)
100g Sainsbury's Basics Blueberries

Dinner
1/2 pot Sainsbury's Carrot and Coriander Soup
1 slice of Hovis Nimble Wholemeal Bread with 15g Flora Light butter
1/2 can drained tuna in sunflower oil

Snack
Strawberry and Banana Shake (6 basics strawberries, half a banana, 150ml Alpro Unsweetened Almond Milk)

Total Calories: 1131
Carbs: 134g
Fat: 43g
Protein: 89g
Sugar: 68g

Meal Plan 3

Breakfast
40g Sainsbury's Red Berry Balance Cereal
150ml skimmed milk
1 mug of green or flavoured green tea (or instant coffee with 20ml skimmed milk, +10 cals)

Snack
Carrot batons
1/4 pot Be Good to Yourself Hummus

Lunch
1/4 Sainsbury's Bacon and Cheese Quiche
Handful of Rocket

Snack
1 slice of Hovis Nimble Wholemeal Bread
30g Philadelphia Light cream cheese (any flavour)
30g chorizo/salami
1 sweet pickled gherkin

Dinner
150g salmon fillet oven poached in lemon juice and dried herbs (20 mins at 190C)
1/2 pack Tilda egg-fried rice

Snack
Peach and Raspberry Shake (100g fresh/frozen raspberries, 100g frozen peach slices, 150ml Alpro Unsweetened Almond Milk)

Total Calories: 1200
Carbs: 166g
Fat: 45g
Protein: 72g
Sugar: 53g

I hope you enjoy trying out these meal plans, please do let me know what you think in the comments.

Brief disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or a health specialist, this blog is merely advice based on what has worked for me in the past - over the past few months I have steadily lost weight by following these plans roughly. Equally I am not paid to promote any of the products mentioned in this blog - they are my recommendations based on price and quality.