Using up calories difficult
trokey2110
Posts: 25 Member
Anyone else finding it hard to use up calories?im allowed 1500 but go to the gym for an hour daily so it readjusts the calories so I’m finding it hard to use the full 1500
2
Replies
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Peanut butter6
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Nope, eating my calories has never been a problem for me.
Try eating some calorie dense foods if you can't manage more volume, things like oils, nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocado or there's always chocolate
I'd also ask if you're guessing portion sizes and maybe underlogging? A lot of people wildly underestimate what they are eating and so it appears they are struggling to eat their calories when in actual fact they aren't.3 -
If you are trying to lose weight, you must have been eating more calories than that at some point. What were you eating then that you aren't eating now?
Also, many people think healthy has to be low fat. Just choose healthy fats: olive oil, avocados, nuts...3 -
Exercise calories can be a bit inflated. What are you doing at the gym and how many extra calories is it giving you?
Also make sure you are logging accurately, as a male 1500 is the absolute minimum and should not be difficult to reach
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p11 -
1500 calories isn't hard to reach...you're here to lose weight, so obviously you were eating much more than that at some point. This issue is usually do to cutting out a lot of dietary fat from the diet...eat more calorie dense things like nuts, nut butters, cook with good oils, etc.4
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oh man I wish! haha. i could easily eat much more (not that i am hungry, i just COULD eat much more)
but maybe you are eating foods that are too low calorie filling you up. if you have a hard time eating quantity, chose foods that are high in calorie density (so more calories in less quantity). almonds and nuts are terific but here is a longer list of options:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
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Right0
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TavistockToad wrote: »Peanut butter
And ice cream!2 -
No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps1
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trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
What do you think is an unhealthy food? No one food is inherently unhealthy only an overall diet. I'd say step back and get out of the diet food mentality, it's where most people end up failing.6 -
trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
Would you be willing to temporarily make your diary public? Maybe if we could see what you are filling up on we could make better suggestions.5 -
Unhealthy food like high saturated foods like chocolate crisps pizza etc6
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@trokey2110 It seems unusual that you'd claim difficulty at consuming so much as 1500 calories.
For those foods you describe, simply having 2x the yoghurt for that meal looks like it would get you the rest of the way to 1500. How old are you?1 -
I’m 471
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trokey2110 wrote: »Unhealthy food like high saturated foods like chocolate crisps pizza etc
These aren't unhealthy when eaten in moderation. You can work foods like these into a healthy diet, and they'll probably help you meet your calorie target.9 -
I would share my profile but not sure on how to do it ?trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
Would you be willing to temporarily make your diary public? Maybe if we could see what you are filling up on we could make better suggestions.
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trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
Eat bigger portions of that stuff then.2 -
trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
A serving of pasta with that chicken and veggies. Plus +/- 300 calories. If you're eating just one serving of Alpen, eat 2. If your soup only includes low calories veggies, throw in a cup of beans (plus 230 or so calories)…1 -
trokey2110 wrote: »I would share my profile but not sure on how to do it ?trokey2110 wrote: »No I weigh everything I eat and track calories burned I don’t eat unhealthy foods I eat Alpen for breakfasts and peanut butter sandwich for dinner then I’ll eat homemade soup for dinner followed by Greek yoghurt and blueberries and dinner I will eat chicken breast with veg if that helps
Would you be willing to temporarily make your diary public? Maybe if we could see what you are filling up on we could make better suggestions.
Settings... diary settings... Change it to public, and then you can change it back to private whenever you want.0 -
Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD37 -
Thanks I do anyway 👍Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD
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Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD
If OP is struggling to eat enough calories, why do you think his problem is junk food?
It's also irresponsible to tell someone whose stats you don't know to eat the bare minimum of calories for the smallest of men and ignore exercise calories. Undereating is a thing, and can be dangerous.16 -
I mean.. junk food is acceptable only because humans usually have difficulty going without it for such a long time, dont let it be a vice or a guilty pleasure or any of that stuff lol. if youre struggling to reach caloric goals on a regular basis, you dont need slices of pizza- typically 300 cal a slice. lots of fat and oils in that too. 1-2 chocolate chip cookies isnt filling and its roughly 140 calories, and a ton of sugar. consider that. friend me, OP. for your statuses take pictures of your meals, i wanna see the portions. Also, you can buy measuring cups even at the dollar store to correctly portion your meals. thats the best dollar you can spend.34
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There are plenty of nutrient dense foods that are also calorie dense that you can add to your meal plan.
There are also plenty of foods that can be eaten for enjoyment, in moderation, that do no active harm to your body, and as such are not inherently “unhealthy”.
If you are eating a varied, primarily nutrient dense diet, there’s no extra credit for restricting foods that you deem “unhealthy”. If you have difficulty moderating certain foods then yes that can be a reason to limit those. Otherwise, if you have room in your calorie budget there is no reason you can’t enjoy a serving of ice cream, pizza, etc.10 -
Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD
Experience - lost 61lbs in less than a year eating JUNK FOOD.16 -
Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD
Experience - lost 61lbs in less than a year eating JUNK FOOD.
<nods> I lost 20 lbs and have kept it off for two years... eating some junk food. :drinker:5 -
I mean.. junk food is acceptable only because humans usually have difficulty going without it for such a long time, dont let it be a vice or a guilty pleasure or any of that stuff lol. if youre struggling to reach caloric goals on a regular basis, you dont need slices of pizza- typically 300 cal a slice. lots of fat and oils in that too. 1-2 chocolate chip cookies isnt filling and its roughly 140 calories, and a ton of sugar. consider that. friend me, OP. for your statuses take pictures of your meals, i wanna see the portions. Also, you can buy measuring cups even at the dollar store to correctly portion your meals. thats the best dollar you can spend.
Actually a food scale would be the best use of one's money. Cups especially for solids are horribly inaccurate. Also unless one plans on cutting 'junk food' out for the rest of their life there's no merit to cutting it out while losing weight. Might as well learn to snack responsibly.13 -
Avoid junk food! its caloric.. cause alot of the time its sugar. sugar is *kitten* for your body. natural sugars excluded. even then, chill on that. dont trust the machines and what they say about burning calories, they'll always say ridiculous numbers, dont get impatient but part of the weightloss journey, to your favor will be trial and favor. eat at 1500 calories a day and let the exercise be the extra punch against your excess weight. For some reason i think you mean youre trying to eat at 1500 calories, but since the calories take away from 1500 it makes it harder- you need to eat 1500 regardless of the exercise, and dont kill yourself working out.
Experience- lost 75 pounds in less than a year. Ive been through all this, AVOID JUNK FOOD
Suggesting OP eat 1500 cals and doesn't eat back exercise calories is irresponsible when you don't know their stats.16 -
There are a number of questions that you should be asking yourself.
1. What did you eat that led to you getting overweight?
2. Is the diet you are currently on one you intend to stick with for the rest of your life?
No one knows your behavior better than you, but you may be blind to the habits and behaviors that lead to health and those that do not. The key is balancing these in a sustainable manner.
You're in a very motivated place currently and looking at this as a matter of pride, but motivation fades over time. This is when you need a long term strategy to maintain. If you don't start looking at this as a series of behaviors this will lead to yo-yo dieting.6 -
I mean.. junk food is acceptable only because humans usually have difficulty going without it for such a long time, dont let it be a vice or a guilty pleasure or any of that stuff lol. if youre struggling to reach caloric goals on a regular basis, you dont need slices of pizza- typically 300 cal a slice. lots of fat and oils in that too. 1-2 chocolate chip cookies isnt filling and its roughly 140 calories, and a ton of sugar. consider that. friend me, OP. for your statuses take pictures of your meals, i wanna see the portions. Also, you can buy measuring cups even at the dollar store to correctly portion your meals. thats the best dollar you can spend.
Your responses seem to suggest that you are misunderstanding. OP is having trouble eating ENOUGH calories not struggling with eating over his calorie goal. Telling someone who is finding it hard to eat enough food to cut out food options is irresponsible.12
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