Trying to learn to eat again

Carnhot

I am meant to be maintaining but I am having trouble reaching my calories now I have shed my bad habits - mainly excess chocolate. Any ideas? I don't want to lose any more.

chaosbutterfly

This is a good problem to have lol.

I don't know what your current diet is like (that information would probably help you get more helpful responses lol) but off the top of my head, I would just add or increase the things that are still clean and pretty nutrient-dense, but a little higher in calories than vegetables. So brown rice, whole wheat pasta, legumes, sweet potatoes, whole wheat breads, nuts, eggs, pineapples, grapes, mangoes, etc.

If you're looking for something that will replace chocolate specifically, I would recommend looking into grain-free baking, as I have found that these types of goods were not as calorically dense as classic baked goods so they were easier to fit into my macros, but they still hit that need for sweetness that I was looking for.

You may also want to try eating more meals or snacking a bit more. So if you normally eat one or two meals, try eating three but make them a little smaller than your two, so you don't gain. Or up your snacks.

I usually plan out my meals for the day based on what I have in the house, and if I can tell it's not gonna be quite enough initially, I just add a handful of nuts to my lunch or a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter after dinner. Something so I can get some extra calories without ruining my day.
It's actually really easy to tuck a few calories here and there. Much easier than cutting them out lol.

seltzermint555

Nuts, nut butter, your favorite fruits & veggies (although those only go so far calorie wise)...or maybe an extra tortilla or slice of wheat toast with meals.

Panda_brat

Similar problem here, adjudging to maintenance instead of loosing. I have a Promax LS protein bar. Many people here enjoy quest protein bars. You get some extra calories, and they are not empty calories.

RoxieDawn

Can you do it by adding 50 calories a day for each week until you reach the new goal.. You can customize MFP for now until you get to the magic number..

I second the advise on nut butters, if you want to add some calories adding a a tablespoon of this will do it every time. Any other types of nuts if you do not like nut butter will do it too..

Get creative with what you eat and may be just add more grams of the stuff you already eat until you reach the extra 50? calories or so.

Boy do I wish I had this problem.. LOL

nxd10

Toast and oj are 500 calories. A handful of nuts. Fat is calorie dense - add butter or sour cream.

BurnWithBarn2015

Same here but what i started to do is....

Ditched all the skinny products that i wanted to ditch such as...skimmed milk is full milk again...non fat yogurt is full yogurt.
Now i use a lot of PAM spray ( and yes i calculated even calories for it..so no zero products here) but for some things i use now 14 gram of butter again....
Your calories will fly up believe me.

Than the quick fix for me late in the evening when i ate everything i wanted....some graham crackers with some ( lol 19 grams) of peanut butter and bamm 300 calories right there! Or just off the spoon hehehe
Extra ice cream or chocolate etc etc Just a bit more of these portions make it go up fast.

So it is a bit of learning but i didn't want to eat differently when i was not losing...when i was losing weight and now that i am in maintenance.
So the adjustments i made in the "skinny" products are the ones i swapped back first or i really like a product. Give it some weeks you will find your way.

LivingtheLeanDream

It is a good problem to have
I find peanut butter is great for getting in those calories, my favourite is a spoonful of Nutella mixed with Peanut butter - delish!! and for a tablespoon just over 100 cals

Carnhot

Thanks all. I am having friends round for supper tonight and am planning to consume enough to make up for several days' under eating

fiddletime

I find I go over my 1200 calories a day if I eat both a banana and and orange, plus an occasional snack like 3 cups of popcorn or Cost-co's rice rollers (45 cal each). Nice problem you have....can't wait to have that one!

Carnhot

Yes, 1200 was tough. Take heart; it doesn't last forever.

pinkteapot3

When I reached maintenance I had 500 extra cals per day compared to when I was losing. I reached it by:

1. Increasing portions. Eg - breakfast went from 30g of cereal to 40g. Dinner carbs went from 75g dried weight of rice/pasta to 100g. I ate the same meals, just a bit more of them.
2. Having an extra snack or two per day. I have a small chocolate bar (~100cals) each day. Everything's fine in moderation. If you don't trust yourself to stick to small portions of bad things, or if you've simply lost your taste for them (good for you!), then healthy snacks like nuts, seeds, dense fruit like bananas... Whatever you like really.

The extra cals aren't actually that many if you slightly increase each of your main meals, and add a snack.

Carnhot

I am opening my diary because, 2 months on, I am still losing. My trainer says "eat more", and it should be that simple, but it isn't.

richardgavel

I'm dealing with the same issue, especially since now the volume of food is more than I used to eat. At some point, I didn't want the meals to get any bigger, so I added snacks. Quest bars, fibre one bars/cookies are good. I now have a small bowl of cereal as a night time snack when I'm short of calories, which is often. Just build the calorie count gradually instead of trying to hit your goal all at once, depending on the size of the gap.

Scamd83

Eat more chocolate.

Carnhot

This weekend, Easter weekend, that is far from being a problem! I am WAY over but it doesn't matter because I have built up such a buffer. It is normal life that I have to get a grip on.

perkymommy

That is definitely a good problem to have. No advice because the last time I met my goal I kept losing as well. I found it hard to maintain and not keep losing back then.

Carnhot

One solution would be chocolate and alcohol, but somehow that doesn't seem like a healthy long term fix (though I have been enjoying guilt free for the past few days:) )

bkstein40

I am having the same problem in maintenance, I lost another pound, so this week I am increasing my net calories by 100. I have actually been eating 200 over MFP recommended net calories too. I was doing really good maintained for 4 weeks & then at next weigh in I was down another pound. Sometimes I feel that at the end of the day I am throwing in an extra snack to meet my daily goal. Usually make my own fruit salad orange, strawberries, banana's etc. Except now my son is starting to do the same, so I guess I will have to buy more fruit.

mommarnurse

Carnhot wrote: »

This weekend, Easter weekend, that is far from being a problem! I am WAY over but it doesn't matter because I have built up such a buffer. It is normal life that I have to get a grip on.

You may find your peace by the weekly maintenance calculation method. Let it all balance out with higher calorie days to negate your less-than days. It sounds like you exercise since you have a trainer. If you want to see fitness gains then you really do need to be at maintenance or close to it. I'm in the same boat now, it feels like I'm eating all sorts of things I wouldn't in maintenance yet I still have a deficit almost every day. So still losing a bit but it's slowed so much. I enjoy an occasional caloric surplus when going out with friends and what not. But I run which burns a lot of calories. So anyway I guess what I'm trying to say is that for YOU instead of trying to hit a consistent daily calorie #, have more days like Easter lol

Carnhot

I think you are right, mommarnurse. It's all a learning curve, and it's good to be on this rather than the other side of it! bkstein, your son is learning good habits from you. That's a win!

Francl27

What's wrong with a bit of chocolate? You bet that if I have extra calories at the end of the day, I'll have a piece of chocolate...

Carnhot

The problem is keeping it at a "bit" of chocolate. The rule now is that I may not buy MYSELF chocolate; chocolate bought for me, or by me for groups of which I am a part, is fair game. It's a nice distinction but it works for me.

Francl27

Carnhot wrote: »

The problem is keeping it at a "bit" of chocolate. The rule now is that I may not buy MYSELF chocolate; chocolate bought for me, or by me for groups of which I am a part, is fair game. It's a nice distinction but it works for me.

I had to buy chocolate, or I'd destroy a whole box in a day when someone gave some to me. Now that I can have some anytime, I can eat it in moderation.

I guess you have to find what works for you, but I'm happier this way.

Carnhot

I think I am there; it's taken 5 months, but I think I now know how to maintain. Phew!