Struggling to eat enough

lisajames925

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

kommodevaran

You want to lose weight? If so, you've eaten more before, right? What's different now? Are you weighing everything? Don't eat back all your exercise calories. Are you losing weight faster than expected?

serindipte

An apple with a big spoon of peanut butter (the real kind) can give you another 400-500c.
On days you know you're going to be bumping your calorie allowance up with exercise, maybe try eating a better breakfast & lunch. At the very least, add in a good handful of nuts.

fr33sia12

Looking at your food diary you don't do this everyday so I wouldn't worry about if for just the odd day. If you want to eat more calories eat more calorie dense foods like nuts. A slice of toast with nut butter will add a few calories.

NovusDies

I am having a lower calorie day today. I am just not hungry. It isn't a big deal. I have days like this but I do set a personal minimum of calories to eat. I don't force myself beyond that because as long as I don't have an ED I feel like listening to my body is a good thing.

lisajames925

Not tried peanut butter before , may gave it a go

peaceout_aly

lisajames925 wrote: »

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

Don't feel like you *need* to eat back the exercise calories. In fact if you're simply looking to lose weight, it's often times suggested that you don't eat that back..unless you're working to build muscle in which case you wouldn't want to be at a deficit.

peaceout_aly

If you are trying to build muscle and want to hit that number, I suggest a protein shake, especially after a work out it can be really beneficial.

serindipte

peaceout_aly wrote: »

lisajames925 wrote: »

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

Don't feel like you *need* to eat back the exercise calories. In fact if you're simply looking to lose weight, it's often times suggested that you don't eat that back..unless you're working to build muscle in which case you wouldn't want to be at a deficit.

What is suggested is to eat back 50-75% of the calories based on the fact that the estimates are often inflated.

serindipte

Btw! A medium Dairy Queen, Butterfinger Blizzard is 520 calories.
Nothing wrong with using your extra calories with a treat.

kimny72

peaceout_aly wrote: »

lisajames925 wrote: »

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

Don't feel like you *need* to eat back the exercise calories. In fact if you're simply looking to lose weight, it's often times suggested that you don't eat that back..unless you're working to build muscle in which case you wouldn't want to be at a deficit.

If you are using the MFP calorie goal, you do "need" to eat back at least some of your calories, that's literally how it's supposed to work. If you use an outside TDEE calculator you get a higher goal and don't log exercise and eat back more calories.

OP, if this is a one time thing, don't worry about it. If it happens a lot, double check that your logging is accurate and then eat some more calorie dense, low volume stuff to eat back at least some of them.

peaceout_aly

kimny72 wrote: »

peaceout_aly wrote: »

lisajames925 wrote: »

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

Don't feel like you *need* to eat back the exercise calories. In fact if you're simply looking to lose weight, it's often times suggested that you don't eat that back..unless you're working to build muscle in which case you wouldn't want to be at a deficit.

If you are using the MFP calorie goal, you do "need" to eat back at least some of your calories, that's literally how it's supposed to work. If you use an outside TDEE calculator you get a higher goal and don't log exercise and eat back more calories.

OP, if this is a one time thing, don't worry about it. If it happens a lot, double check that your logging is accurate and then eat some more calorie dense, low volume stuff to eat back at least some of them.

People suggest not eating back the full amount all the time because MFP overestimates exercise burns. I wasn't saying to not eat it back constantly, but if you don't obtain it a few days it's *literally* no big deal.

kimny72

peaceout_aly wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

peaceout_aly wrote: »

lisajames925 wrote: »

The days I do exercise I struggle to eat enough calories. Eaten loads today (see diary) but still so many left as done so much exercise .

Don't feel like you *need* to eat back the exercise calories. In fact if you're simply looking to lose weight, it's often times suggested that you don't eat that back..unless you're working to build muscle in which case you wouldn't want to be at a deficit.

If you are using the MFP calorie goal, you do "need" to eat back at least some of your calories, that's literally how it's supposed to work. If you use an outside TDEE calculator you get a higher goal and don't log exercise and eat back more calories.

OP, if this is a one time thing, don't worry about it. If it happens a lot, double check that your logging is accurate and then eat some more calorie dense, low volume stuff to eat back at least some of them.

People suggest not eating back the full amount all the time because MFP overestimates exercise burns. I wasn't saying to not eat it back constantly, but if you don't obtain it a few days it's *literally* no big deal.

I agree with this. That's not what you said in your post I quoted though, that's why I chimed in. It sounded like you were saying you don't need to eat back exercise calories unless you don't want to be in a deficit. Considering OP has a very low calorie goal, I thought it was important to be clear that she should eat back at least some of them.

NovusDies

lisajames925 wrote: »

Not tried peanut butter before , may gave it a go

If you like it and you have days like this you need to keep it as a staple item. It is the easiest and probably most delicious ways of making up calorie gaps. I eat my biggest meal at lunch and if I screw up and don't eat enough it is really easy to add a piece of pb toast or 2 to dinner.