Looking for advice on Nutrition

Holly92154

I posted this on my news feed and got a lot of negative feedback via messages. I am actively losing weight (down 49 pounds, another 30 to go) and training for a triathlon. I exercise a lot but not in excess. Today for example- wake up and do 60 minutes of yoga/stretching, lunch- 30-45 minute dog walk, 6pm- 20-30 mile bike ride, cool down walk-10 minutes. I intend to end my year with an half or full IRONMAN and I've been progressively adding distance/time to each week. My problem is on the nutrition side. I am struggling to eat my minimum net calories 1,200 plus what I burn from exercise. On a typical day my total intake is between 2,000 and 3,000. If I make it to bed time and am still behind I change my "goals" to lose 2lbs a week so I can at least make my MINIMUM requirement. I am trying to stop eating bad foods at the end of the day (I used to eat a whole box of mac & cheese, I know... horrible

A typical day=
8 am Breakfast- 3 eggs, miracle whip, two pieces bread, cranberry juice
11am Brunch- 4 oz turkey, medium banana, 8 oz whole milk
2 pm Lunch- 2-4 oz tuna (every other day), miracle whip, bread (optional)
5 pm Dinner- 4 oz chicken breast, 1/2 c rice, .5tbs butter
Snacks- 1-3 servings peanuts, supplements
Post Workout- smoothie (muscle milk, kale, spinach, banana, apple, berries) apx 450-500 cal

Protein- 100- 130 every day

I am looking for any suggestions on how to add calories without making my stomach explode. I struggle to remember to eat during the day (I'm always full) and a lot of the time I end up eating a LOT of peanuts right before bed to give me a calorie bump at the end of the day.

And please don't suggest NOT exercising. Lol I've heard enough of that today.

sofaking6

The obvious advice is have some bacon with your breakfast.

Then (random ideas)
Add any carbs to lunch (crackers, veggies, popcorn)
Add vegetables to dinner
Replace miracle whip with avocado
Scoop of peanut butter in the smoothie

gmallan

Cheese, nuts, avocado, olive/coconut oil, chia seeds, dark chocoalate, nuts/nut butter, cream/coconut cream

MKEgal

1 - I'm seeing very little in the fruit/vegetable category. You need those micronutrients.

2 - You don't need to eat back your exercise calories, unless you're very hungry or losing weight too fast (with only 30 lb left, 0.5 to 1 lb per week is good).

3 - How tall are you, that you're only allowing 1200 calories? That's for someone who's very short, so that 120 lb would be a healthy goal weight.

4 - Healthy sources of extra calories: nuts (including peanut butter), avocado, fatty fish, beans/lentils (including hummus), olive oil, cheese (don't go overboard), full-fat dairy (yogurt, for example).

RodaRose

It is easy to add calories by taking two tablespoons of olive oil -- 120 calories for each spoonful.

Holly92154

MKEgal wrote: »

1 - I'm seeing very little in the fruit/vegetable category. You need those micronutrients.

2 - You don't need to eat back your exercise calories, unless you're very hungry or losing weight too fast (with only 30 lb left, 0.5 to 1 lb per week is good).

3 - How tall are you, that you're only allowing 1200 calories? That's for someone who's very short, so that 120 lb would be a healthy goal weight.

4 - Healthy sources of extra calories: nuts (including peanut butter), avocado, fatty fish, beans/lentils (including hummus), olive oil, cheese (don't go overboard), full-fat dairy (yogurt, for example).

1- I 100% agree. I genuinely dislike veggies and need to work on adding more. I do eat fruit- mixed berries, 1-3 bananas a day, one Apple and on occasion I eat half an orange.

2- My understanding is that your NET calories should be 1,200 or above. I do my best to stick to that rule. For example, if I eat 1,300 calories and 'burn' 1,400 I'm in an unhealthy deficit so I have to eat additional calories to bring the total net back to at least 1,200.

3- I am 5'4 and live a sedentary lifestyle. Unless I'm working out I'm sitting down. I do very little walking or standing which is why I make an effort to schedule walking. I use a HR monitor so I can track all of my extra activities. 1,200 is my minimum number.

4- great suggestions! I'm going grocery shopping tonight so I'm trying to get ideas before I go

ana3067

MKEgal wrote: »

1 - I'm seeing very little in the fruit/vegetable category. You need those micronutrients.

2 - You don't need to eat back your exercise calories, unless you're very hungry or losing weight too fast (with only 30 lb left, 0.5 to 1 lb per week is good).

3 - How tall are you, that you're only allowing 1200 calories? That's for someone who's very short, so that 120 lb would be a healthy goal weight.

4 - Healthy sources of extra calories: nuts (including peanut butter), avocado, fatty fish, beans/lentils (including hummus), olive oil, cheese (don't go overboard), full-fat dairy (yogurt, for example).

she's using MFP-generated numbers. yes, she is supposed to eat back her exercise calories, as that is how NEAT method works. Please stop providing this advice to people using MFP-generated calorie goals, and only for people following TDEE method if for some reason they don't already realize that exercise is included in their calorie goals.

lemurcat12

MKEgal wrote: »

2 - You don't need to eat back your exercise calories, unless you're very hungry or losing weight too fast (with only 30 lb left, 0.5 to 1 lb per week is good).

She's saying she's doing 800-1800 calories of exercise/day, which seems quite possible if she's training for a half or full ironman. For example, a 30 mile bike ride, with the intent of adding miles. (A half ironman is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run, and the usual training plan for that or a full ironman involves tons of cardio, unsurprisingly.) Given that, I don't think the answer is "don't worry about exercise calories."

That said, for longer cardio (like long runs and especially bike rides) I think calories can be overstated since you have to consider the burn during that time if you were just living or walking around. I've never eaten back my full burn from long runs or bike rides and didn't lose way beyond the expected. (I did eat back a decent portion of it, though, and think it's bad advice to tell someone to ignore the burn from something like a 10 mile run.)

3 - How tall are you, that you're only allowing 1200 calories? That's for someone who's very short, so that 120 lb would be a healthy goal weight.

You don't need to be very short for 120 to be a healthy goal weight, but she didn't say she was eating 1200. She said she didn't want to go under her exercise burn plus 1200.

Anyway, I basically agree with others--nuts, dried fruit, full fat dairy, maybe chicken with skin instead of turkey/chicken breast, salmon instead of tuna, avocados, salad with olives and cheese and olive oil based dressing plus the protein (I know salad is low cal and filling, but just think of restaurant salads).

Holly92154

ana3067 wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

she's using MFP-generated numbers. yes, she is supposed to eat back her exercise calories, as that is how NEAT method works. Please stop providing this advice to people using MFP-generated calorie goals, and only for people following TDEE method if for some reason they don't already realize that exercise is included in their calorie goals.

Exactly! I don't think anyone on my friends list understood that there is a difference. I set my activity level to sedentary because in all honesty, I am. Unless I am working out, my biggest event for the day is walking upstairs to my bedroom. I use a heart rate monitor to track any extra activity- walking, yoga, cycling, running, swimming, etc.

Thank you! I was beginning to doubt that I was doing it correctly! I got a lot of private messages from people telling me that I was going about things completely wrong ie- exercising and eating too much. I was a bit surprised because I did a lot of reading before I started training (almost) two months ago.

Holly92154

lemurcat12 wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

2 - You don't need to eat back your exercise calories, unless you're very hungry or losing weight too fast (with only 30 lb left, 0.5 to 1 lb per week is good).

She's saying she's doing 800-1800 calories of exercise/day, which seems quite possible if she's training for a half or full ironman. For example, a 30 mile bike ride, with the intent of adding miles. (A half ironman is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run, and the usual training plan for that or a full ironman involves tons of cardio, unsurprisingly.) Given that, I don't think the answer is "don't worry about exercise calories."

That said, for longer cardio (like long runs and especially bike rides) I think calories can be overstated since you have to consider the burn during that time if you were just living or walking around. I've never eaten back my full burn from long runs or bike rides and didn't lose way beyond the expected. (I did eat back a decent portion of it, though, and think it's bad advice to tell someone to ignore the burn from something like a 10 mile run.)

3 - How tall are you, that you're only allowing 1200 calories? That's for someone who's very short, so that 120 lb would be a healthy goal weight.

You don't need to be very short for 120 to be a healthy goal weight, but she didn't say she was eating 1200. She said she didn't want to go under her exercise burn plus 1200.

Anyway, I basically agree with others--nuts, dried fruit, full fat dairy, maybe chicken with skin instead of turkey/chicken breast, salmon instead of tuna, avocados, salad with olives and cheese and olive oil based dressing plus the protein (I know salad is low cal and filling, but just think of restaurant salads).

Thank you! Exactly! My main goal is fitness (weight loss is a nice byproduct) and training has really put that in perspective for me.

You brought up a good point, I never thought about factoring in exercise burn plus normal calorie expenditure. I guess it is a good thing I do eat back most of my burn.

I was just looking for general advice and some tips on changing my shopping list. I buy in bulk and pre package most of my meals for a two week period. I've gotten into such a habit of eating the same things I went blank making my shopping list. Hence, the question.


Everyone had some great advice, thank you!!!