Portion size, healthy eating and control

andyluvv

Hello!
I've been on a maintain/gain cycle for a bit now and although I tend to plan my days around 2000 calories, I always end up getting a bit more as I try to get my 10k steps everyday.

I eat a LOT of fruit and veg and use fruit as my main carb/fibre source. So I have tons of leafie vegetables and high water ones. Staples for me are cucumber, peppers, carrots and so on.

Not sure if it's because I train 3 times a week but I tend to feel hungry every 2 hours (which is when I reach for fruit). I do have big portions of salad and two friends today said "you have huge portions!". Which made me worry/wonder about portion control - does that mean my eating is out of order or what? It just made me feel extremely self conscious.

Anyone out there in the same boat? What do you do?

syl20rochon

If I may, I'll tell you what I've been told by a trainer and it has worked for me so far. He told me to avoid fruits (yes fruits because of their sugar content), dairy all together, breads, pasta. He said to eat like a caveman ( they were not fat). 2 sources of good carb, baked potatoes and brown rice. So this is what I do daily and since July 3rd, I lost 25lbs and I'm always under my 1810 calories per day. Breakfast is one envelope of oatmeal, at 10am I have green peppers, celery and broccoli...around 1.5 cup each. For lunch, I have 1 chicken breast with half a cup of brown rice. Remember that I took lots of veggies at 10am so I'm not hungry and kind of full and the best part is that it's worth around 600 calories. I have no snack in the afternoon, don't need to... Diner is a piece of meat (chicken, steak, ham, pork...what ever meat I want), one large baked potato no add on, plain potato with a very large salad with lots of veggies and 2oz of dressing of my choice. This adds up all together to around 1200-1500 calories for my day...I never eat past 7pm. 30 minutes after diner, I walk on the treadmill for 35 minutes at 4mph burning 350 calories. After I rest. I also drink 4-6 32oz bottles of water. This is my daily routine. I dont feel hungry often but when I do, i tell myself that I'm burning fat and it keeps me away from additional food that I don't need. Hope it gives you ideas.

rosebarnalice

I love huge "ton-o-lettuce" salads with lots of raw veggie bulk and few calories. I also love veggie-based soups that are mostly veggies and water because I LIKE TO FEEL FULL.

What business is it of theirs what you eat, any way? Next time you get a comment about your salads just say, "meh--at least it ain't the breadsticks!" and change the topic.

Unknown

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sardelsa

Just a question OP... are you trying to maintain/gain on 2000 cals? That seems rather low to me for a male unless you are very short. Also don't worry about what other people say about your eating.. just do what you have to do

Azuriaz

Assuming you're vegan, from my short past life as a vegan (cost too much, not enough appetite control for me): I did better with potatoes and sweet potatoes, nuts and seeds (got to log those, calories add up fast!), colorful peppers, dark greens, and coconut oil. Much more filling. I still ate more often than I preferred (hey, I hate doing dishes!) but it wasn't every two hours.

CoffeeNBooze

Are you monitoring your protein and fat intake as well? I am not very familiar with vegetarian diets, but I think adding in more protein and fat will help keep you full longer. I would never be full if I was working out and sufficed on mostly fruit and veggies. As for people commenting on your portions, try not to let it get to ya! I wish people would refrain on commenting about what others do and don't eat.

andyluvv

Hi everyone sorry for the delay!

rosebarnalice wrote: »

I love huge "ton-o-lettuce" salads with lots of raw veggie bulk and few calories. I also love veggie-based soups that are mostly veggies and water because I LIKE TO FEEL FULL.

What business is it of theirs what you eat, any way? Next time you get a comment about your salads just say, "meh--at least it ain't the breadsticks!" and change the topic.

SAME. And I find it very hard to feel full - which is why I tend to eat quite frequently

If you're on the smaller side (in comparison to them), they might be just trying to convince you're "lucky" and just have a "fast metabolism". [/quote]
Well funny enough I've been having a hard time putting on weight - one because I'm probaly scared of overdoing it (I joined MFP when I was quite overweight). A friend of mine is one of the gym trainers I go to and she always says "You have a very fast metabolism..you should be eating 3000 calories or more!"
This is a friend who is small but muscular and he said "We're the same weight, but you eat such huge portions!"
It's something another person said when I was working a while back "...for someone so small, you do eat a lot".

sardelsa wrote: »

Just a question OP... are you trying to maintain/gain on 2000 cals? That seems rather low to me for a male unless you are very short. Also don't worry about what other people say about your eating.. just do what you have to do

I'm trying on 2400 which is the sedentary setting - I tend to end my day eating close to 3000 calories or more after exercise calories are consumed.

Azuriaz wrote: »

Assuming you're vegan, from my short past life as a vegan (cost too much, not enough appetite control for me): I did better with potatoes and sweet potatoes, nuts and seeds (got to log those, calories add up fast!), colorful peppers, dark greens, and coconut oil. Much more filling. I still ate more often than I preferred (hey, I hate doing dishes!) but it wasn't every two hours.

I have been adding them up to my diet, but I try to leave some space for fats and protein (I LOVE protein) as I have a harder time reaching them.

Azuriaz

My pescatarian sister swears by Quinoa for protein. Makes me hungry, but works for her. For fats, nuts and olive oil maybe?

Francl27

Your diary looks good to me honestly. If anything, I'd say you seem to be eating back too many exercise calories (I doubt anyone can burn 1000 calories a day in exercise unless you spend 2 hours at the gym doing something very intense).

Personally though... I'd ditch the 3 scoop shake in the morning and eat real food instead, and limit yourself to 2 or 3 servings of fruit a day and eat more protein and fat instead. Replace them with Greek yogurt, cheese or nuts, and maybe have some fattier cuts of meat once in a while too.

I have huge servings of veggies too though so I get it (I had 350g of veggies last night, for example).

sardelsa wrote: »

Just a question OP... are you trying to maintain/gain on 2000 cals? That seems rather low to me for a male unless you are very short. Also don't worry about what other people say about your eating.. just do what you have to do

Quite sure he means pre-exercise.

andyluvv

Francl27 wrote: »

Your diary looks good to me honestly. If anything, I'd say you seem to be eating back too many exercise calories (I doubt anyone can burn 1000 calories a day in exercise unless you spend 2 hours at the gym doing something very intense).

Personally though... I'd ditch the 3 scoop shake in the morning and eat real food instead, and limit yourself to 2 or 3 servings of fruit a day and eat more protein and fat instead. Replace them with Greek yogurt, cheese or nuts, and maybe have some fattier cuts of meat once in a while too.

I have huge servings of veggies too though so I get it (I had 350g of veggies last night, for example).

sardelsa wrote: »

Just a question OP... are you trying to maintain/gain on 2000 cals? That seems rather low to me for a male unless you are very short. Also don't worry about what other people say about your eating.. just do what you have to do

Quite sure he means pre-exercise.

I live by some rules - I do my 10000 steps a day everyday, I take the stairs, never the lift (unless I'm late) and I work at the 4th floor of a building. So I do walk about a LOT - mfp and fitbit are both set to gain 0.25 kg a week so I think that's where it all comes from. Apparently 2400 calories are just enough to maintain my weight if I were a sedentary individual (Which I'm far from!).

So today for example - my walk to the gym is 30 mins, another 30 mins to work...and then I walk a good 40 minutes home and a bit more as I try to find some good bargains at the supermarket. Just as an example @Francl27 - today I did my steps, got about 45 minutes of heavy (and quick!) weightlifting, had an unplanned cardio session (I was running late for work - literally, running). It's 15:00 and I've already burned 2000 calories according to my fitbit...
and I haven't even yet done my walk home (or counted the weight lifting!)

Lots and lots of walking...I could honestly be a postman!

And yes, those are pre exercise
Funny thing is - still eating as much as I do I still lost 1 kg last week! Cray cray metabolism -.-

jemhh

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

andyluvv

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

jemhh

andyluvv wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

It's fine to limit refined carbs and sugars, if you want to, but don't get too frenzied about avoiding them. At a certain point it is really hard to fuel your body, especially with increased muscle mass, without those foods.

cmtigger

syl20rochon wrote: »

If I may, I'll tell you what I've been told by a trainer and it has worked for me so far. He told me to avoid fruits (yes fruits because of their sugar content), dairy all together, breads, pasta. He said to eat like a caveman ( they were not fat). 2 sources of good carb, baked potatoes and brown rice. So this is what I do daily and since July 3rd, I lost 25lbs and I'm always under my 1810 calories per day. Breakfast is one envelope of oatmeal, at 10am I have green peppers, celery and broccoli...around 1.5 cup each. For lunch, I have 1 chicken breast with half a cup of brown rice. Remember that I took lots of veggies at 10am so I'm not hungry and kind of full and the best part is that it's worth around 600 calories. I have no snack in the afternoon, don't need to... Diner is a piece of meat (chicken, steak, ham, pork...what ever meat I want), one large baked potato no add on, plain potato with a very large salad with lots of veggies and 2oz of dressing of my choice. This adds up all together to around 1200-1500 calories for my day...I never eat past 7pm. 30 minutes after diner, I walk on the treadmill for 35 minutes at 4mph burning 350 calories. After I rest. I also drink 4-6 32oz bottles of water. This is my daily routine. I dont feel hungry often but when I do, i tell myself that I'm burning fat and it keeps me away from additional food that I don't need. Hope it gives you ideas.

Cavemen weren't fat because they were hunters/gatherers and only barely got enough to to survive when averaged over the year. They also died at incredibly young ages because of the hardships of their lives.

Francl27

andyluvv wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

Oh man hormone therapy. That's probably it. If it's anywhere like the hunger I feel when I have PMS, I seriously sympathize for you.

About your activity though - if you use fitbit, you shouldn't even log your exercise because fitbit takes it into account. And you should use the sedentary setting.

andyluvv

Francl27 wrote: »

andyluvv wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

Oh man hormone therapy. That's probably it. If it's anywhere like the hunger I feel when I have PMS, I seriously sympathize for you.

About your activity though - if you use fitbit, you shouldn't even log your exercise because fitbit takes it into account. And you should use the sedentary setting.

I don't log it - I let it do it all by itself and it is on sedentary setting.
Like I said MFP set my maintenance calories on sedentary to 2400

And my mum said the same thing - when I told her how hungry I felt most of the time (specially in the beginning) she laughed and said "AHA! Now you know what WE go through on a regular basis!"

Francl27

andyluvv wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

andyluvv wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

Oh man hormone therapy. That's probably it. If it's anywhere like the hunger I feel when I have PMS, I seriously sympathize for you.

About your activity though - if you use fitbit, you shouldn't even log your exercise because fitbit takes it into account. And you should use the sedentary setting.

I don't log it - I let it do it all by itself and it is on sedentary setting.
Like I said MFP set my maintenance calories on sedentary to 2400

And my mum said the same thing - when I told her how hungry I felt most of the time (specially in the beginning) she laughed and said "AHA! Now you know what WE go through on a regular basis!"

Yeah so you're doing everything right, IMO. It's just going to suck big time. Seriously I feel bad for you. I have it one week a month and it's hell as it is. Keep on eating a lot of protein, fat, and veggies.

andyluvv

Francl27 wrote: »

andyluvv wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

andyluvv wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing a good job of eating at your goal. If that means you eat big salads, go for it. Veggies tend to be less calorie dense than other sources of carbs, like bread/bagels, because they are lower in fat. 1 g of carbs = 4 calories and 1 g of fats = 9 calories. It makes sense that you'd need larger portions of fruits/veggies than somebody who eats bread-type carbs.

Thanks guys - I just feel a bit embarrassed especially since I tend to have the constant munchies.
I've been trying to drink plenty of water too - it was so easy before. I also had to start hormone replacement therapy and I sometimes wonder if that has to do with it. When I mentioned it to my endocrinologist he said that one of the side effects of therapy is an increase in muscle mass and more muscle means more energy needs.
His advice was "just stay away from refined carbs and sugars!".

Which is why I live on the greens...I worry that my hungry stomach will sabotage my diet haha

Oh man hormone therapy. That's probably it. If it's anywhere like the hunger I feel when I have PMS, I seriously sympathize for you.

About your activity though - if you use fitbit, you shouldn't even log your exercise because fitbit takes it into account. And you should use the sedentary setting.

I don't log it - I let it do it all by itself and it is on sedentary setting.
Like I said MFP set my maintenance calories on sedentary to 2400

And my mum said the same thing - when I told her how hungry I felt most of the time (specially in the beginning) she laughed and said "AHA! Now you know what WE go through on a regular basis!"

Yeah so you're doing everything right, IMO. It's just going to suck big time. Seriously I feel bad for you. I have it one week a month and it's hell as it is. Keep on eating a lot of protein, fat, and veggies.

I've been managing by eating mostly greens and fruit since it's low calorie so it's hard to overdo even when you do (I mean, 3500 calories extra - even from fruit alone would take a LOT of effort!). I just try to remain active but it's a bit harder on days when I'm off work (like tomorrow). But it's got to be done, I think. I'm guessing that's why I even lose weight eating so much. Could be worse, I guess!