Making my calories last all day.

jmac4263

I am having issues still with making my calories last all day. I am up at 3 am to gym, yesterday I had a 400 calorie breakfast. 2 snacks and lunch before I got off work at 3pm. Got home by 4 and was starving ate way more than I should and went over on calories. I trained myself a long time ago to eat every 2 to 3 hours but in doing so I'm really having a hard time with my hunger and making my food last. What I didn't log yesterday was the food after I got off work.

2 weeks from now I will work 3pm to 11pm and I tend to do better not stuffing my face at 11pm but I'm always hungry. Any advice on more filling foods? Maybe it would be beneficial to get off my eating schedule and only eat every 4 hours. I have made a terrible routine of this and it's really hindering my weight loss because I am consistently eating over

tinkerbellang83

Play around with your eating schedule and find something that works for you, planning food in advance and pre-logging can make it easier. Tweaking your macros & micros can also be beneficial to find a split that makes you feel fuller longer. I find for me eating more protein and fat helps me feel more full, others find that increasing fibre and water intake can help.

RodaRose

You can untrain yourself to eat three times a day.

jmac4263

I had someone suggest to me to take a fiber powder. I was doing higher fat and protein and ended up eating too much cheese. I pack my snacks and meals everyday. I do find even with a bigger breakfast at 530 am I'm hungry by my break at 9 but my last break is 1 so maybe I should skip that snack if I know I'm consistently eating when I get home at 330

jmac4263

And I guess I have done the every 2 to 3 hours bc I have heard it helps your metabolism

seska422

Always log everything that you consume. That's your data that you can look back through to see trends and what worked and what didn't. If you don't record everything, your data isn't nearly as useful.

I drink hot tea between meals. That keeps my mouth and hands busy and I can stretch out the time between meals.

seska422

jmac4263 wrote: »

And I guess I have done the every 2 to 3 hours bc I have heard it helps your metabolism

Nope. Weight loss is about energy balance. You want to consume fewer calories than your body uses over the course of the day. It doesn't matter when those calories are consumed. Some just eat one meal a day and still lose weight because they are eating at a calorie deficit.

Meal timing is down to preference and what keeps you more satiated. Some do better with a large breakfast and some prefer to save most of their calories for later in the day.

MaddMaestro

There are multiple ways to combat that. Plan for several small cal meals, eat meals with more fat and protein, or drink more water in between meals. Just a few suggestions.

deannalfisher

maybe your calories are too low/weight goal too aggressive and you could ease up a bit?

noirelb

you are 17 lbs away from your ultimate goal right? (according to what I see on your profile. Are you at 0.5lbs/week loss or more? and do you eat your exercise calories back?

slinke2014

I found that I had to cut out snacks in general and stick to my three meals. I also like to have a big meal at the end of the day so my breakfasts and lunch tend to be quite small and then I can have the big filling meal I always crave. Finding some balance like this may help you. It certainly helps me!

bribucks

What is your calorie goal? How many lbs/week?

Eating higher protein will help keep you feeling full longer. Personally, I have found that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day for my weight loss. Meaning that I eat low calorie for breakfast (but not skipping!) to I have a bigger "allowance" for the rest of the day. I always do a protein shake for breakfast - I use SunWarrior chocolate warrior blend, mixed with water/almond milk. It's only 100cal and keeps me pretty full. What are you eating for your "in between" meals/snacks? Some great lower calorie snacks are fruit, yogurt, or veggies & hummus.

Regarding the protein, if you think about it, of course 140cal of a chicken breast will be way more filling than 140cal of pretzels, for example.

kristen8000

Pre-log. Plan EXACTLY what you'll eat when you normally eat and eat that. That way you know you have calories for the whole day. If you don't eat normally, worst comes to worst, you have left over calories.

You may need to plan easy snacks so you don't get overly hungry.

jmac4263

noirelb wrote: »

you are 17 lbs away from your ultimate goal right? (according to what I see on your profile. Are you at 0.5lbs/week loss or more? and do you eat your exercise calories back?

I started trying to count macros so it gave me 1787 calories a day. I work out 5 to 6 days a week. I'm active at my job as well. My fit bit says my average daily burn is right at 2500 which I think is high. If I do my fitness pal calculation I think it give me alot less calories if I remember right
I'm 5'4 right at 163 and my goal is like 145ish

jmac4263

kristen8000 wrote: »

Pre-log. Plan EXACTLY what you'll eat when you normally eat and eat that. That way you know you have calories for the whole day. If you don't eat normally, worst comes to worst, you have left over calories.

You may need to plan easy snacks so you don't get overly hungry.

I do prelog in the morning all my stuff through the day but don't for after work I will have to start doing my whole day and see if that helps me

noirelb

jmac4263 wrote: »

noirelb wrote: »

you are 17 lbs away from your ultimate goal right? (according to what I see on your profile. Are you at 0.5lbs/week loss or more? and do you eat your exercise calories back?

I started trying to count macros so it gave me 1787 calories a day. I work out 5 to 6 days a week. I'm active at my job as well. My fit bit says my average daily burn is right at 2500 which I think is high. If I do my fitness pal calculation I think it give me alot less calories if I remember right
I'm 5'4 right at 163 and my goal is like 145ish

Hmmm that's difficult... I eat 1600 calories with a desk job and about 1800-1900 calories on work out days but I'm 5'10'' and have 40 lbs more to lose. Clearly you can't reduce your calories since you are hungry so definitely more snacks on hand that are quite filing at low calories or high fiber like eggs for breakfast and raw veggies throughout the day to add more snacking? I eat huge salads with lower calorie dressing. Have you tried eating 2000 calories a day for over a week to see if you still lose? It might keep you satiated enough not to eat so much once you are home and give you a slower loss but at least a loss. Maybe you actually do burn 2500 given that you are hungry at almost 1800 calories and so active!

cwolfman13

jmac4263 wrote: »

And I guess I have done the every 2 to 3 hours bc I have heard it helps your metabolism

Nope...

deannalfisher

jmac4263 wrote: »

noirelb wrote: »

you are 17 lbs away from your ultimate goal right? (according to what I see on your profile. Are you at 0.5lbs/week loss or more? and do you eat your exercise calories back?

I started trying to count macros so it gave me 1787 calories a day. I work out 5 to 6 days a week. I'm active at my job as well. My fit bit says my average daily burn is right at 2500 which I think is high. If I do my fitness pal calculation I think it give me alot less calories if I remember right
I'm 5'4 right at 163 and my goal is like 145ish

are you eating back workout calories?

2500cal isn't necessarily high if you have an active life/job - I sit around 2200 (5'3", 148 and I'm at a desk most days)

steveko89

Things to try:
- Adjust macros if you're on the default settings. I find the default is way too carb-rich for me, which doesn't leave me feeling satiated... protein>carbs anyway... all the tasty animals
- Schedule changes take time, think about how long it took to adjust to eating every 2-3 hours. Also, this doesn't help your metabolism. I.F. folks will say it does the opposite.
- I'm on the second week of trying a TDEE spreadsheet I found on reddit.com/fitness and I've seen better results with it than calculators and heart rate monitors that I'm not convinced any measurement is accurate enough. Log calories and weight every day and it adjusts what your estimated TDEE is based on the scale fluctuation. It's only as good as the data you put into it but I'm down 2lbs since last monday, at a 2.3:1 fat to muscle ratio per my skulpt.

JeromeBarry1

I'd try to look at your diary but you've already said you don't log the food you are ashamed of.

First, learn to own your food. Log all of it. We won't laugh.

I suggest you have a protein-dominant small meal after your workout. Maybe a single-serve pack of tuna fish or something like a Quest bar, just don't let this be more calories eaten than your workout burned.

For the rest of the day, use your calorie budget to plan your meals and perhaps even plan a small snack late in the day if you think that will help.

jmac4263

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

I'd try to look at your diary but you've already said you don't log the food you are ashamed of.

First, learn to own your food. Log all of it. We won't laugh.

I suggest you have a protein-dominant small meal after your workout. Maybe a single-serve pack of tuna fish or something like a Quest bar, just don't let this be more calories eaten than your workout burned.

For the rest of the day, use your calorie budget to plan your meals and perhaps even plan a small snack late in the day if you think that will help.

I work out in the morning before work my meal after work out is a dose of protein with eggs or a protein shake. I go by what my Fitbit tells me for calories burned which is normally 300ish. I lift weights and do 30 mins cardio daily.

Diary is open to my friends, not really ashamed of what I eat it's normally not like fast food or anything just the amount is over. I know that

jmac4263

So I changed it to a pound a week loss and 1800 is my calories, I tweaked the macros to 162g protein, 116 carbs and 80 or 90 days ( I'm going off memory here) I made carbs lower at the 30 percent bc it was recommended by my gyno to eat less carbs bc of slight insulin resistance I have. I'll work with this and see where I can get focusing mostly on my calories in and out

rybo

It may seem counter intuitive to what you have been doing and thinking was correct, but try eating fewer meals and/or holding off as late as you can before eating breakfast. I found that I was far less hungry throughout the day when I stopped eating breakfast.

Need2Exerc1se

rybo wrote: »

It may seem counter intuitive to what you have been doing and thinking was correct, but try eating fewer meals and/or holding off as late as you can before eating breakfast. I found that I was far less hungry throughout the day when I stopped eating breakfast.

This is true for me as well. It's 1:52 p.m. here and I'm just now starting to think about eating for the first time. I typically only eat 2 meals a day. One small one in the afternoon and a large one in the evening/night. But I don't workout in the morning so not sure if that schedule would work if I did.

jmac4263

I have tried fasting and not eating until later in the day that lasts for a few days and then I end up being weaker at work outs my schedule is really messing with me it looks like this....
Week 1...work out 3 am, work 7a to 3p
Week 2...work out 3am, work 7a to 3p
Week 3...work out 8 am, work 3p to 11p
Week 5....work out 8 am, work 3p to 11p

Repeat month after month. I've been doing this for 2 years now and I still have trouble adjusting each time I switch to when to eat, when to work out ect bc I've tried several combos. I have the work out schedule down mostly it's just the eating times