Eating below calorie allotment, what would you do?
justcindy59
Posts: 904 Member
I have been a compulsive over eater for many years. I never ate a balanced meal, I didn't like most vegetables and my favorite proteins were processed meats. I preferred junk foods and sweets.
Now for the last 5 weeks I have been eating a normal diet, I make sure I have my starch, protein, fats, vegetables and a fruit. My problem is getting in all the calories I'm suppose to eat.
I'm very satisfied with my choices and feel comfortably full. I don't have any cravings for the junk foods and that surprises me. I'm actually afraid of eating the chips, candy, cakes and fries. Being that I am also a food addict.
Things I hear often here is: Don't restrict your self, there are no bad foods, eat what you want as long as you don't go over.
I'm am done eating for the day but my calories are over 300 under my allowed amount. I worry about it. It's not intentional and I just don't know what to add to make the 1560. Of course it is too late for adding more today. I guess I need to work harder on my choices but it is so hard to stay within the fats and sodium allowed. Any way it would be nice to have some feed back on this. Thank you.
Now for the last 5 weeks I have been eating a normal diet, I make sure I have my starch, protein, fats, vegetables and a fruit. My problem is getting in all the calories I'm suppose to eat.
I'm very satisfied with my choices and feel comfortably full. I don't have any cravings for the junk foods and that surprises me. I'm actually afraid of eating the chips, candy, cakes and fries. Being that I am also a food addict.
Things I hear often here is: Don't restrict your self, there are no bad foods, eat what you want as long as you don't go over.
I'm am done eating for the day but my calories are over 300 under my allowed amount. I worry about it. It's not intentional and I just don't know what to add to make the 1560. Of course it is too late for adding more today. I guess I need to work harder on my choices but it is so hard to stay within the fats and sodium allowed. Any way it would be nice to have some feed back on this. Thank you.
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Replies
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Add in calorie dense foods. It's not a problem to go over your macros and still be in a deficit--most people observe their fat/protein goals as minimums, in fact.0
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I'd start weighing food to ensure you are actually logging correctly, and then add calorie dense foods to meet calorie goals.
also.. how is it too late to add more food? I've been known to finish my cals for the day as late as 1am. your body don't care.0 -
I nibble on slightly salted cashew nuts in the evening, or sometimes at the office. They have protein and healthy fats, and 150 calories in just a small amout (28g).0
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I'd start weighing food to ensure you are actually logging correctly, and then add calorie dense foods to meet calorie goals.
also.. how is it too late to add more food? I've been known to finish my cals for the day as late as 1am. your body don't care.
I'm type 2 diabetic and have to make sure my sugars go down after my meals. It would mess up my testing.0 -
Are you weighing your food? I noticed some "generic" entries in your log, these can be fairly inaccurate. Entries like "medium potato" can be off too - was that potato exactly 150 grams? I'm just bringing that up to say you might not be as short of your goal as you think!
Also, does this happen every day, or was this just one time? It's okay to be under some days, it makes up for the days you go a little over
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justcindy59 wrote: »I'd start weighing food to ensure you are actually logging correctly, and then add calorie dense foods to meet calorie goals.
also.. how is it too late to add more food? I've been known to finish my cals for the day as late as 1am. your body don't care.
I'm type 2 diabetic and have to make sure my sugars go down after my meals. It would mess up my testing.
in that case try simply eating more food at each meal. If you know you have about 1600 cals to eat, then you can easily divide that up into even amounts per meal if you'd like. I can easily eat half of my calories in one meal fi I wanted to, since I don't feel full until I've given it all time to digest. But then I can still eat the rest of my calories later in the day just fine. and choose higher fat options in order to meet calorie goals more quickly.0 -
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If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
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Are you weighing your food? I noticed some "generic" entries in your log, these can be fairly inaccurate. Entries like "medium potato" can be off too - was that potato exactly 150 grams? I'm just bringing that up to say you might not be as short of your goal as you think!
Also, does this happen every day, or was this just one time? It's okay to be under some days, it makes up for the days you go a little over
Yes it has been most days, not always over three hundred though. I do weigh most food. The potato I have most nights are not weighed so I say one and a half even though it's one. I will start weighing them though.0 -
If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.0 -
If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.0 -
justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry! 0 -
Hi there cindy... I'm diabetic too. T2, and hating it because i just had to have my endo put me back on metformin (i've been crabbing about it for a couple of days). My glucose is whack right now. Kudos to you on your BG numbers, it looks like you are seeing some new low fasting numbers.
It also looks like you are paying close attention to spreading your intake out as evenly as possible. Do you take medications like metformin/insulin, etc.? Just curious. Your average calorie intake over the last 7 days or so is around 1330. One thing to consider, when thinking about adding in some extra calories is what will have the smallest impact on your overall glucose levels. Dialing down just a few grams of carbs throughout the day, and perhaps adding in some additional fats might be helpful on both fronts (glucose and calories). I see you seem to like peanut butter. Me too....all nut butters really. Just a TBSP or two at night will bump your calorie count right up...and, the extra protein may help somewhat with those fasting numbers if you have morning fasting issues like I do. Just make sure you measure it, so you don't over do. i'd also take it right off the spoon...vice putting it on fruit or crackers...because then you'll just be adding more starch/carbohydrate. I buy skippy naturals in the little go cups. it has less sugar and carbohydrate than most, and I can eat half a little cup one night, half a little cup the next if I want, or I can eat the whole thing...which is what usually happens...
But, its measured...so there is that.
Sometimes a nice mellow post-meal walk can help bring that BG down after eating too.
You sound pretty satisfied with your food choices, overall. Best of luck to you!
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justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry!
Being diabetic I have to keep carbs less than 45 per meal so the fats were helping with the added calories. I'm doing my best on the veggies for now . I know I have got to add more variety but I still don't like the ones I'm eating now. I will keep trying to work this out. Thank you for taking so much time in trying to help me. I see I have a lot of work to do and keep trying to get it right.0 -
justcindy59 wrote: »
Being diabetic I have to keep carbs less than 45 per meal so the fats were helping with the added calories. I'm doing my best on the veggies for now . I know I have got to add more variety but I still don't like the ones I'm eating now. I will keep trying to work this out. Thank you for taking so much time in trying to help me. I see I have a lot of work to do and keep trying to get it right.
You are doing great. Don't worry too much. You've established yourself a nice framework, and you can build on it from there. Variety isn't necessarily all its cracked up to be. Get yourself steady, so that you can more readily recognize what a 30g Carb meal or a 60g carb meal looks like. then embellish. If you see a BG spike, look at food first, but not as a sole source culprit. Stress can impact glucose big time, as can illness and other factors. Adding full fat dressing or olive oil to your lunch salad will help too!0 -
This is fantastic.justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry!
"Don't ask the doctor. Listen to me! And my advice to you, the diabetic, would be to eat more fruit."
What could possibly go wrong there.
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justcindy59 wrote: »justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry!
Being diabetic I have to keep carbs less than 45 per meal so the fats were helping with the added calories. I'm doing my best on the veggies for now . I know I have got to add more variety but I still don't like the ones I'm eating now. I will keep trying to work this out. Thank you for taking so much time in trying to help me. I see I have a lot of work to do and keep trying to get it right.
Many veggies are pretty nutrient-dense, aka not carb-heavy. I often do an omelet for breakfast, with 2 eggs and 2 egg whites, some cheese, adn then some spinach and mushrooms. My carbs only exceed 45g if I also do things like oatmeal and yogurt and cereal and fruit. I'm not a huge fan of eating most veggies just as-is myself, usually I mix them into things or just eat larger quantities of the veggies I do like a lot. A large salad with lots of protein at lunch though would probably still keep you below 45g for instance. You could even increase your protein intake, otherwise if you find that the higher fat route is what works best for you you could incorporate more oils and butters. So if you have a bit of a veggie, slather some oil and seasoning (or butter) on them! Or fry up an egg and some sausage, this would be great for fat and protein in the morning. I don't personally find fat from these types of sources to be as filling as sources of fat that contain protein as well, so this might be something to consider.
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This is fantastic.justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry!
"Don't ask the doctor. Listen to me! And my advice to you, the diabetic, would be to eat more fruit."
What could possibly go wrong there.
Which I did not notice at first, and actually forgot about in subsequent replies after posting in other threads and doing other things. I have made other recommendations in light of this.
I realize that you dislike me, but there is no reason to be petty, especially in a reply in which the response in no way offers suggestions to the OP.0 -
Here is a cool site cindy....I forgot to post it last evening. Lots of good info on here, if you've not been to it before, give it a go!
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php
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Start weighing your food and consult with your doctor.0
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Add peanut butter to your diet
Protein bars
Greek yoghurts
Cottage cheese
Nuts
Avocado
Protein shakes
Make a fruit smoothie
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Here is a cool site cindy....I forgot to post it last evening. Lots of good info on here, if you've not been to it before, give it a go!
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php
I love this site, lots of information. Thank you0 -
Dislike you? I don't dislike you. I don't even know you!
This is fantastic.justcindy59 wrote: »If you don't weigh solids and measure liquids, your estimates will be less accurate.
Everyone on a weight loss journey should visit a doctor, for sure. Discuss your daily calories with the doctor. If he's okay with the 1200 and you feel healthy and strong and can exercise...what's the problem?
You may find that some days you get hungrier. I'm always hungrier the day after a big (or new) workout. So I eat less some days and more others. It averages out. I'm good with it.
Considering the majority of doctors are not well educated on this topic, seeking advice from a doctor is not required unless you are considering being very stupid with your intake and not approaching weight loss sensibly. OP, simply calculate your estimated maintenance needs, deduct 10-20% from that, monitor progress, and up the cals if losing more than 4lbs a month.
But eating more and less on different days is totally fine. The weekly average is what matters, so OP if you need to make up for lost cals, just do that tomorrow.
Thank you for all the advise, I'm trying so hard to do it right this time. I never ate because I was hungry I just ate because I needed to stuff feelings. Eating this way I always feel full and never hungry when the next meal comes around. That didn't matter when I wasn't eating to live. I had no problem stuffing myself then.
Looking at your diary, you are eating a lot of fat just in terms of percentage of your calories, so that could be contributing to the full feeling. I'm eating way more than you and still eating a similar amount of fat, which for me is still a healthy minimum though. I do find more fat can reduce hunger for sure. So actually, my recommendation would be to try maybe eating foods lower in fat. Something like more fruits and veggies every meal would be worth trying. e.g. you could add a large bowl of spinach at lunch and make a salad. So this would be food added on top of what you already eat in order to reach your goals. And if you find that this makes your fullness even more pronounced, then you can easily do the opposite and eat higher calorie foods. So pretty easy to adjust your intake until you find what works well for you for example, I have to have a balanced breakfast for my macronutrients, otherwise I'm hungry earlier. But this doesn;t bother me during the day for whatever reason. I also need at least 500 cals every meal or I get super hungry!
"Don't ask the doctor. Listen to me! And my advice to you, the diabetic, would be to eat more fruit."
What could possibly go wrong there.
Which I did not notice at first, and actually forgot about in subsequent replies after posting in other threads and doing other things. I have made other recommendations in light of this.
I realize that you dislike me, but there is no reason to be petty, especially in a reply in which the response in no way offers suggestions to the OP.
You give bad advice - dangerously bad advice - while encouraging people to listen to you instead of seeing their doctor. I think you should stop that. You, obviously, do not. So, we disagree there.
But I don't dislike you.0 -
As people have suggested some healthy fats might be a good way to go
-handful of nuts
-avocado added to your dinner or lunch
etc0 -
michaelachallis wrote: »As people have suggested some healthy fats might be a good way to go
-handful of nuts
-avocado added to your dinner or lunch
etc
Avocado! Awesome idea!! I love those little green buggers.0 -
justcindy59 wrote: »Here is a cool site cindy....I forgot to post it last evening. Lots of good info on here, if you've not been to it before, give it a go!
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php
I love this site, lots of information. Thank you
You are more than welcome! Jenny has put much time and effort into her research and sharing of information.0 -
michaelachallis wrote: »As people have suggested some healthy fats might be a good way to go
-handful of nuts
-avocado added to your dinner or lunch
etc
When it comes to fats (healthy or otherwise), just remember to be VERY nitpicky about how you log. Fat is much more calorie-dense, meaning that a small amount of food yields a lot of calories. So if you have a food scale use it for everything and be very precise with how you weigh and log those calorie-dense foods so you are not over-eating!0
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