Trying to figure this out...

Anna_Joys_Journey
Anna_Joys_Journey Posts: 253 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started at 235 and weighed in yesterday at 218. In the last month I dropped 17 pounds and 9.25". Ultimate goal weight is 145, but for now I'm aiming for ONEderland.
I've been making sure to stay under 1400 calories/day and haven't once gone over. In fact I struggle to eat enough most days! The more I read about this BMR/TDEE thing, the more it makes perfect sense to me. If I did everything correctly, I should beating more like 2090 calories a day. (I averaged light and moderate activity levels) I already struggle with getting 1400 in, how in the world will I eat 2090???
I don't want to eat food just for the calories...I want it to be something to fuel my body through workouts and keep me going...
Help???

Replies

  • awise19
    awise19 Posts: 154 Member
    I would try smoothies! So you can kind of feel like your snacking! & Lean Shakes are amazing and 200 calories a shake!
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Calorie dense foods: Peanut Butter, Cheddar Cheese, Whole Milk, Whey Protein, Butter, Olive Oil, Fatty Beef
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Calorie dense foods: Peanut Butter, Cheddar Cheese, Whole Milk, Whey Protein, Butter, Olive Oil, Fatty Beef
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.
  • ChangingAmanda
    ChangingAmanda Posts: 486 Member
    Agreed with the calorie dense foods. Avocados are also calorie dense and "Healthy". Smoothies with frozen fruits, leafy greens, yogurt, almond milk, whole or 2% milk, peanut butter are great as well since you can "snack" on them for a longer time.

    Also, try and get into your mind that unless you have underlying health issues, no food is a "bad" food, there are just bad portion sizes. I eat ice cream or Oreos most every day that I work out so I can hit my calories. I also have them because if I didn't, I'd end up bingeing on them at a later date. They're not a trigger food for me - meaning, I can stop at the portion I need to eat verses if I have 1 I have to have the whole bag/box. Now, Krispy Kreme donuts are a trigger food for me, if I have one I have to have 3 and at 300+ calories a pop, wowzers!
  • Ducey99
    Ducey99 Posts: 26 Member
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.
  • SteveStedge
    SteveStedge Posts: 37
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.

  • Anna_Joys_Journey
    Anna_Joys_Journey Posts: 253 Member
    But if I'm trying to lose weight, don't I want to stay away from full fat things? Don't I want skim milk rather than whole, and PB2 rather than peanut butter, and low fat cheese rather than regular? How is eating more fat going to make me lose my fat? I'm so confused...
  • Anna_Joys_Journey
    Anna_Joys_Journey Posts: 253 Member
    Wait...MORE calories keeps my metabolism up? I thought metabolism just burned what we ate. Why is it better for it to burn more? I feel like such a dummy...sorry!!
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.

  • SteveStedge
    SteveStedge Posts: 37
    But if I'm trying to lose weight, don't I want to stay away from full fat things? Don't I want skim milk rather than whole, and PB2 rather than peanut butter, and low fat cheese rather than regular? How is eating more fat going to make me lose my fat? I'm so confused...

    WHOOAA! Low fat is a scam, a lie, a complete fleecing of consumers. You need full, healthy fats like (mono unsaturated fatty acids mofas) they are very healthy and let you feel full.

    Disclaimer: I'm NOT a fitness professional but there are tons here.

    Brief history of skim milk-when consumers started demanding lowfat milks because of deceptive marketing strategies, milk producers were overjoyed! Getting the same pay for a crap-quality product? It's a huge win. The fat is what is valuable. They thought it would die-off as the diet fad it was, but amazingly consumers are still duped into paying fullprice for crap product thinking it's healthy!

    I used to work for a cheese plant (technically pizza topping, not cheese) and first thing they'd do is throw the milk in a centrifuge, remove the "sweet cream" and sell it to hershey's to make ice cream. With the 2% milk leftover they would make cheese. Through the magic of processing, they would extract the fats from the leftover whey (they used to just chuck whey) and add back into stream to get some fat content in.

    Also, the remaining whey is vaporized by fire and turned into powder, and there is your WHEY protein concentrate. Yep, they used to give the when to farmers for feed now it is where the profit is as they add this to make protein shakes, bars, etc. The plant sells 50 lb bags for 2 bucks, and when you pay 15-30.00 for a pound or two at the store..thats a lot of profit.

    Basically-lowfat is bull****,.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
    But if I'm trying to lose weight, don't I want to stay away from full fat things? Don't I want skim milk rather than whole, and PB2 rather than peanut butter, and low fat cheese rather than regular? How is eating more fat going to make me lose my fat? I'm so confused...

    It's not about eating *more* fat. We all need fat in our diet. Our problem, (the human race) is that fat is too easy to lay hands on so we eat too much.

    It's just, if you eat the full fat stuff, you need to make sure you don't eat too much.

    You're not a dummy - people do qualifications at Uni to be dieticians and nutritionists! That's their career, so let them do all that. All you need to worry about is keeping the balance between calories consumed and calories burned at a level that keeps you losing weight.

    As I undersstand it, if you eat too few calories, your body panics and thinks there's a famine and starts storing energy to keep you alive, so it's a kind of false economy to exercise like mad if you can't or don't want to make up the calories you burn. If you end up with too much of a calorie deficit, you could exercise less to make the deficit less.
  • Anna_Joys_Journey
    Anna_Joys_Journey Posts: 253 Member
    Whoa! I'm feeling like the world doesn't even make sense right now! Haha!
    Fat is good for losing weight? I'm not sure I understand. I mean, okay...I get what you explained about the making of the cheese...but won't eating more fat make me more fat??

    WHOOAA! Low fat is a scam, a lie, a complete fleecing of consumers. You need full, healthy fats like (mono unsaturated fatty acids mofas) they are very healthy and let you feel full.

    Disclaimer: I'm NOT a fitness professional but there are tons here.

    Brief history of skim milk-when consumers started demanding lowfat milks because of deceptive marketing strategies, milk producers were overjoyed! Getting the same pay for a crap-quality product? It's a huge win. The fat is what is valuable. They thought it would die-off as the diet fad it was, but amazingly consumers are still duped into paying fullprice for crap product thinking it's healthy!

    I used to work for a cheese plant (technically pizza topping, not cheese) and first thing they'd do is throw the milk in a centrifuge, remove the "sweet cream" and sell it to hershey's to make ice cream. With the 2% milk leftover they would make cheese. Through the magic of processing, they would extract the fats from the leftover whey (they used to just chuck whey) and add back into stream to get some fat content in.

    Also, the remaining whey is vaporized by fire and turned into powder, and there is your WHEY protein concentrate. Yep, they used to give the when to farmers for feed now it is where the profit is as they add this to make protein shakes, bars, etc. The plant sells 50 lb bags for 2 bucks, and when you pay 15-30.00 for a pound or two at the store..thats a lot of profit.

    Basically-lowfat is bull****,.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    But if I'm trying to lose weight, don't I want to stay away from full fat things? Don't I want skim milk rather than whole, and PB2 rather than peanut butter, and low fat cheese rather than regular? How is eating more fat going to make me lose my fat? I'm so confused...

    I started here at 232lbs in Feb. I have lost 27lbs since then with TDEE-25% (1880cals/day - MFP's NEAT method has me at 1440cals/day + 300-500 exercise cals, so it evens out). And I eat full fat food, cottage cheese for breakfast, apples w/PB for snacks, whole milk for my protein shakes. Besides, low fat foods usually have more carbs (fillers, additives to make it taste good) than the full fat alternatives. And full fat dairy is loaded with protein, which is more filling, as is the real PB.
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
    Wait...MORE calories keeps my metabolism up? I thought metabolism just burned what we ate. Why is it better for it to burn more? I feel like such a dummy...sorry!!
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.


    The belief is that if you're not getting enough calories, your body at some point will decide to hold onto fat because it thinks you're starving. There are a lot of opinions about this out there and I'm not trying to start a debate. I know that I have better luck using the TDEE method than I have with any low calorie, low fat, low carb, etc. diet in the past. I eat healthy but I don't stay away from sweets or anything else if it fits into my calorie goal for the day. If I want an extra special treat (say, a banana split), I make plans to do something VERY active that day to compensate for it, or treat it as a meal so it doesn't blow my calories out of the water.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Is what you're doing working for you right now? Then keep doing it.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
    Whoa! I'm feeling like the world doesn't even make sense right now! Haha!
    Fat is good for losing weight? I'm not sure I understand. I mean, okay...I get what you explained about the making of the cheese...but won't eating more fat make me more fat??

    Only if you eat so much of it that you eat too many calories a day. It's not the fat that puts the weight on, it's the calories. The fat does other bad things if you overdo it - clogging up your blood, increasing your risk of heart disease, stuff like that.
  • shirleygirl910
    shirleygirl910 Posts: 503 Member
    Don't just eat to make calories. Research macros. You want a certain percent carbs, protein and fat. If you have an excessive amount of one of these components to fill your calories it's not healthy. Carbs should be veggies and fruits, not a lot of starches. Protein should be lean, and fats should be only the good fats. Each meal needs to be in this combination or close to it. I try to keep to 45% protein, 35% carbs, and 20% fat.

    Also, this may be a head game too. For me when I finally decided to get on track I was so set on acheiving my goal weight I didn't want to eat much because I wanted to get there as fast as possible. I wasn't hungry because I was determined to get to goal. I lost a lot of hair and people said my skin was gray, my eyes were dull. and I had no energy. I lost weight, but I was getting malnutricioned. Your head plays alot of games along the way. Just try to be healthy, eat as clean as possible, and exercise. Don't cheat yourself.
  • DiamondRubyMom
    DiamondRubyMom Posts: 147 Member
    Eating fat does not make you fat. Eating excessive calories makes you fat. Some vitamins are "fat soluble" which means you can only get them by eating fats. Fats also help you feel full longer. So yes some full fat items are better than their low fat counter parts.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Wait...MORE calories keeps my metabolism up? I thought metabolism just burned what we ate. Why is it better for it to burn more? I feel like such a dummy...sorry!!
    If you're not hungry, feel good and are losing weight why would you change anything? Keep doing what you're doing.

    It can be confusing at first with all of the conflicting information on the forums but here's an excellent series of posts from the Eat, Train, Progress discussion group to get you started and keep you on the right track. Just start at the top and work your way down and it'll answer all of your questions and clear up any confusion. Good luck. :)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

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