Under eating/lack of food ideas under diet

silviaclairdeluna
silviaclairdeluna Posts: 4 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
Im not supposed to have too many carbs, sugars, dairy and so on. Ive only been dieting for 3 days but i want to establish healthy habits and not undereat but when i basically have just meat and veggies im finding it hard to reach my calorie goal each day. I start the day with a protein shake and have almonds, cheese sticks, broccoli or cucumber as snacks and chicken salad for lunch then variations for dinner but my calorie intake is under. Any advice for better meals and so on?

Replies

  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    I agree with the previous poster, unless due to a medical condition you can lose weight eating carbs, sugar and dairy. Enter your stats in MFP and set to lose 1lb per week and eat within those calories. Some days you may go over on sugar, others protein and that is fine.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Besides the calorie restrictions mentioned by the above posters... are you using a food scale?

    Maybe open your diary???
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    Replace the cucumber with more calorie- and nutrient-dense vegetables roasted in olive oil (sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower), or things like tomatoes and artichokes in a balsamic vinaigrette. Use hummus and guacamole as dips for your veg. put hollandaise sauce on things if it's not too much dairy. Eat bacon, filet, roasted skin-on chicken, and other higher calorie, fattier meat cuts. If you are going low carb, you really need to ensure you boost the fats.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    What do you mean by "too many carbs, sugar dairy and so on"? Do you have a medical situation that precludes you from eating these things? Or do you mean that you are supposed to keep them to reasonable levels in order facilitate good health? If it is the latter, realize that eating at maintenance level and below can easily accommodate such limits. That is to say that if you are eating a well rounded diet that is at a calorie level to maintain or lose weight, you will be eating those things in sufficient moderation.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    What about peanut butter or higher calorie salad dressings? Higher fat beef is also a good option. You said you had (??) to limit dairy, which seems odd unless there is a health issue at play... but dairy can be a great source of of all kinds of calories and nutrients.

  • Calichusetts
    Calichusetts Posts: 100 Member
    1 pound of chicken with 1/2 pound of veggies
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    silviaclairdeluna wrote: »
    Im not supposed to have too many carbs, sugars, dairy and so on. Ive only been dieting for 3 days but i want to establish healthy habits and not undereat but when i basically have just meat and veggies im finding it hard to reach my calorie goal each day. I start the day with a protein shake and have almonds, cheese sticks, broccoli or cucumber as snacks and chicken salad for lunch then variations for dinner but my calorie intake is under. Any advice for better meals and so on?

    I'd be curious what the "and so on" parts of your dietary retrictions are before getting into specific food ideas that may or may not work. I understand if you don't want to share too much, but I'd hate to chase suggestions that can't work for you. You might find some generic ideas here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Nuts, nut butters, oils and fats...

    Fat is good for you.
  • KelGen02
    KelGen02 Posts: 668 Member
    depends on why you are restricting your diet, is it for medical reasons? Hard to really give you meal ideas not knowing if you have a medical restriction or just that you feel that those things are considered "bad"... Healthy fats, nuts, avocados, olive oil are usually a staple for me and are higher in calories. I don't like drinking my meals so I usually take my protein powder and mix it with plain Greek non fat yogurt (my preference) and top it with a trail mix or some fresh berries. Or I make egg pies, I scramble them up with all kinds of veggies and or bacon/sausage. those are easy to make and store well for easy prepping and reheat nicely. Lunch is usually tuna fish or hard boiled eggs with a side of veggies and hummus, portion size of ages cheese and a fruit. Or I usually make a soup or turkey chilly in the crock pot on Sundays and take that for lunch. Dinner, I like to look up easy recipes that don't take a lot of time as by the time i get home from work its already late... some of things I have found and that have been a big hit with my husband is Spaghetti Squash taco boats- i make mine with ground turkey but they can be made with ground beef as well. Stuffed Buffalo chicken peppers is another go to... I put chicken breast in the crock pot in the morning before work, shred it when I get home add hot sauce, black beans and jalapenos then stuff the peppers with the chicken and bake it. I sprinkle on shredded cheese and drizzle ranch on top... I also stuff them with ground turkey, cauliflower rice and diced onion. I make steak bowls which I do over brown rice or spinach with sliced tomatoes, steak, black beans, avocado. I also like to roast veggies such as asparagus, eggplant, peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes I have it with a protein and a big green salad. I am forever googling recipes to make new stuff... try new things stick with what you like and leave what you don't. Have fun with it and enjoy all foods within moderation... Healthy is a lifestyle change, not a diet. Good luck!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    What about peanut butter or higher calorie salad dressings? Higher fat beef is also a good option. You said you had (??) to limit dairy, which seems odd unless there is a health issue at play... but dairy can be a great source of of all kinds of calories and nutrients.

    the dairy thing must be specific because she also said she snacks on cheese.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Peanut butter
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Healthy habits starts with real information and healthy attitudes. What does "not supposed to", "not too many", and "so on" mean? MFP lets you set nutritional goals and track intake, and this is a good platform to build healthy habits on. Fuzzy, non-specific and arbitrary rules are usually not helpful, and don't work well with how MFP is designed.

    If you cut out many foods and food groups, you'll have to eat more of what you still eat, in order to get enough calories. A healthy diet is varied. And a boring diet is hard to stick to. So it's really important that you don't cut out anything without a legitimate reason.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    hmmmm. wish OP would come back and interact with her thread. Lots of questions.
  • silviaclairdeluna
    silviaclairdeluna Posts: 4 Member
    Sorry i wasnt that clear and i feel im a bit misinformed. Im trying to loose weight and deal with my PCOS so i looked at various diets and found low carb diets work with PCOS but to tone it down on dairy so ive been using almond milk in my smoothies. I think ill have to try the diet with dairy though. Cheese seems to be an important source of protein and fats, i dont really drink milk in the first place. Its only day three and ill have to rethink my diet because its too restrictive.
    As for sugar restriction im pre-diabetic and thought avoiding sugar would be better to prevent diabetes. So far from your guys' advice (thank you!) i see im supposed to have more fats in my diet but i wonder what carbs i would be fine eating on a low carb diet? And are blueberries okay? I think ill switch my breakfast to eggs and ham? Im kind of worried about too much protein because ive overgone my protein goal so far.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    silviaclairdeluna wrote: »
    Sorry i wasnt that clear and i feel im a bit misinformed. Im trying to loose weight and deal with my PCOS so i looked at various diets and found low carb diets work with PCOS but to tone it down on dairy so ive been using almond milk in my smoothies. I think ill have to try the diet with dairy though. Cheese seems to be an important source of protein and fats, i dont really drink milk in the first place. Its only day three and ill have to rethink my diet because its too restrictive.
    As for sugar restriction im pre-diabetic and thought avoiding sugar would be better to prevent diabetes. So far from your guys' advice (thank you!) i see im supposed to have more fats in my diet but i wonder what carbs i would be fine eating on a low carb diet? And are blueberries okay? I think ill switch my breakfast to eggs and ham? Im kind of worried about too much protein because ive overgone my protein goal so far.

    You would have to define "low carb" in order to determine that. Low carb is typically anything less than 130 grams which is pretty manageable in regards to eating most carbs, just not huge amounts of them. Something like keto is ultra low carb (less than 50 grams) and very restrictive to the point of limiting you to mostly vegetables.

    So it really depends on what you're defining as "low carb"
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    Are you logging your food? Don't worry about what foods, just work on staying within your calorie goals.

    It's fine to be over on protein or fats. If you're attempting a lower carb plan, you have to be over on fats and/or protein...

    I think if you are on a doctor recommended lower carb plan you should ask your doctor for a referral to a dietician. You sound kind of lost. ((hug))

    Either that or set your macros and just work at it by eating what you like and studying your food page.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    silviaclairdeluna wrote: »
    Sorry i wasnt that clear and i feel im a bit misinformed. Im trying to loose weight and deal with my PCOS so i looked at various diets and found low carb diets work with PCOS but to tone it down on dairy so ive been using almond milk in my smoothies. I think ill have to try the diet with dairy though. Cheese seems to be an important source of protein and fats, i dont really drink milk in the first place. Its only day three and ill have to rethink my diet because its too restrictive.
    As for sugar restriction im pre-diabetic and thought avoiding sugar would be better to prevent diabetes. So far from your guys' advice (thank you!) i see im supposed to have more fats in my diet but i wonder what carbs i would be fine eating on a low carb diet? And are blueberries okay? I think ill switch my breakfast to eggs and ham? Im kind of worried about too much protein because ive overgone my protein goal so far.

    Low carb diet as in LowCarbHighFat diet or just a moderately lower carb such as 100-125 carbs a day?

    Also if you are not weighing your food intake this current stage, I might suggest to get a food scale. This way you can weigh out your food, have an accurate measure on your macros (i.e. carbs) and fill in the rest with foods you plan add outside of what you outlined.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Hi & welcome :)

    It sounds like you have some health concerns but are not under a Dr's direction/supervision. Losing weight is the main thing you need to do to get most health markers under control, including your blood sugar. This does not necessarily require particular attention to your sugar or carb intake. If you have set up your profile on MFP and selected a reasonable weekly weight loss goal (2 lbs a week is only for people who are very overweight), you can simply focus on staying within the calorie allowance MFP has given you with the carbs/fats/protein as general guidelines. What typically happens is, you will quickly discover the foods that "cost" too many calories for how much they fill you up (often this will be carbs like bread, white rice, sweets, but not always) and start swapping them out for things that are more filling for the calories. I wouldn't worry about fruit at all except as to whether it fits in your calorie allowance. Most berries get you a lot of bang for your calorie buck.

    I can't speak to the PCOS, but if you have found some dietary guidelines from reputable sources to help with that, that's fine. You might do a search for threads/groups for PCOS here on MFP. Wish you well! :)
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Low-carb IS good for PCOS, so if you can deal with the restrictiveness, it may work well for you.

    I'd suggest checking out these communities on Reddit, especially the first one, as it's pertinent to women and there are quite a few posts about PCOS.

    www.reddit.com/r/xxketo
    www.reddit.com/r/keto
    www.reddit.com/r/ketorecipes
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Nuts, pasta, chocolate,butters etc. Pretty easy to get that calorie count up with a handful of almonds or some icecream.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories