Female needing help hitting 2000 calories a day w/out junk

gunnshannonm

I train 6 days a week lifting weights with sprinkled in metcons or HIIT circuits after weight training. One of those days is sprints, bike, or rower work. I weigh 137 pounds currently after taking a week off from training but am typically at 140. Im lean and very muscular and i know i should be consuming around 2000 cal a day to maintain muscle and fuel workouts. I dont consistently log lately because i have an idea now of what i need to do but when i do log im no where near my goal and ive just accepted the fact that 2000 cal is impossible. I feel full and am usually eating 3 large meals a day plus snacks and supplement with a scoop of protein just to hit my protein goal but most protein is consumed via food. I do liquid carbs to fuel training and eat an additional 120g of carbs but my logs are hitting max 1600 cal a day and i feel like ive eaten all day. Helathier foods dont carry much weight in the calorie dept and without processed garbage i cant hit my goals. Does that seem to be the mistake im making? Not eating some sort of high calorie processed food to hit my numbers? Im 400 calories away and eating a 4th meal is insane to me because im not hungry for it. Ive logged my food today and havent had dinner yet but im sitting at 1400 cal. HELP!!

RAinWA

How long have you been at around 1600 calories and how much weight have you lost in that time? (not counting the last week where you took off training)

Teabythesea_

Peanut butter, avocado, nuts, rice, chocolate, granola, etc. You're only a few hundred calories away from your goal which can easily be attained by eating a relatively small portion of any of the foods I just mentioned. I mean if you absolutely have to theres nothing wrong with a couple servings of peanut butter that can be eaten in just a couple bites. When you say liquid carbs are you referring to juices? If so then try getting your carbs from more calorie dense sources like whole wheat bread, rice, etc. Use whole fat dairy in your shakes if you aren't already. So much can be done to give you an extra few hundred calories with very minimal effort.

Edited to add: I don't know what you consider to be "junk" or "garbage" food but I can assure you that it's okay to eat it, and some people even find it necessary to meet their calorie goals.

jjpptt2

It's also, like, 3 scoops of peanut butter.

But bigger picture... what do you have against "junk"?

Add in some full fat dairy, fattier cuts of beef/fish... nuts/beans/legumes. Have a bit of dark chocolate (dipped in peanut butter, even)... there are so many ways.

jjpptt2

Why are processed foods not healthy?

quiksylver296

Once you meet your nutrient requirements for the day, you don't get bonus points for eating more broccoli. Have some ice cream.

jelleigh

I say nuts. Fats. They add up quick. Cheese. Eat more cheese!

Chef_Barbell

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Once you meet your nutrient requirements for the day, you don't get bonus points for eating more broccoli. Have some ice cream.

This this this!

kimny72

First, if you have a nutritious foundation to your diet every day, I can't imagine why a few hundred calories of whatever you are considering "junk" would hurt, and I would caution that you might be defining "healthy food" far more narrowly than you need to.

Second, there are plenty of high calorie foods that aren't junk food: nuts, nut butters, whole grains like rice or barley or oats, full fat dairy, some nice homemade guacamole, a bit of butter or olive oil to cook or dress what you're already eating, some fruit, etc.

I would also double check that you are logging accurately, because as an active adult woman with average stats, there is no way you should feel full on 1400 cals, unless you are eating a metric ton of fibrous veggies. Check out this thread when you get a chance:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

And good luck!

deannalfisher

took a quick look at your diary - some thoughts - you could easily make up those calories, just by boosting your servings

i.e. you have 2x 112g servings of ground beef - bump that up to 150-200g
you have 2oz sweet potato noodles - have 3-4oz
you list 3 eggs - make that 4 or add some more egg whites
have 2 slices of cheese instead of 1

also notice you don't have a lot of starches - aside from your sweet potato noodles - why not have some rice, or another grain (unless you have a medical need to avoid them)

janejellyroll

I suggest you rethink some of your assumptions about food, specifically the one that has you dismissing a whole bunch of perfectly valid and healthful foods as "garbage" (while you're also consuming calories through processed drink mixes throughout the day).

When I need more calories, I'll usually add things like avocados/guacamole, coconut, dark chocolate, nuts/seeds, and potatoes to my day. I also don't worry about eating foods like pasta, oats, plant oils, tortillas, or muffins because I know that these can be part of a healthful diet.

gunnshannonm

deannalfisher wrote: »

took a quick look at your diary - some thoughts - you could easily make up those calories, just by boosting your servings

i.e. you have 2x 112g servings of ground beef - bump that up to 150-200g
you have 2oz sweet potato noodles - have 3-4oz
you list 3 eggs - make that 4 or add some more egg whites
have 2 slices of cheese instead of 1

also notice you don't have a lot of starches - aside from your sweet potato noodles - why not have some rice, or another grain (unless you have a medical need to avoid them)

The 13th was a true log

jjpptt2

Just looked at the 13th... To start, I'd...

- swap out teh egg whites for whole eggs
- swap out the 93% lean ground beef for 85%
- swap out 1 serving of blueberries for a banana (or apple) with peanut butter

gunnshannonm

janejellyroll wrote: »

I suggest you rethink some of your assumptions about food, specifically the one that has you dismissing a whole bunch of perfectly valid and healthful foods as "garbage" (while you're also consuming calories through processed drink mixes throughout the day).

When I need more calories, I'll usually add things like avocados/guacamole, coconut, dark chocolate, nuts/seeds, and potatoes to my day. I also don't worry about eating foods like pasta, oats, plant oils, tortillas, or muffins because I know that these can be part of a healthful diet.

One scoop of iso whey protein is hardly a horrible choice when you are eating 1gm of protein per pound of body weight which is 140 gms for me and only supplementing with 25gms. So im doing good there. I look at macros also so i dont want to eat a bag of nuts or tons of fats just to hit my goals. Appreciate your feedback you mistook the word garbage since i primarily eat a variety of healthy foods all day long and still fall short. Guess i have to keep shoving my face and get over it.

Teabythesea_

gunnshannonm wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

took a quick look at your diary - some thoughts - you could easily make up those calories, just by boosting your servings

i.e. you have 2x 112g servings of ground beef - bump that up to 150-200g
you have 2oz sweet potato noodles - have 3-4oz
you list 3 eggs - make that 4 or add some more egg whites
have 2 slices of cheese instead of 1

also notice you don't have a lot of starches - aside from your sweet potato noodles - why not have some rice, or another grain (unless you have a medical need to avoid them)

The 13th was a true log

I see some changes that can be made...
- Whole egg instead of egg whites
- Fattier meats instead of 93% beef and 99% turkey
- Whole fat cottage cheese instead of low fat cottage cheese
-Actual pasta instead of sweet potato noodles

I also see measurements such as .75 of a medium avocado and 1 cup measurements of your produce. Are you weighing your foods? If not then you could be eating more than you think and that's why you feel so full.

jjpptt2

gunnshannonm wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

I suggest you rethink some of your assumptions about food, specifically the one that has you dismissing a whole bunch of perfectly valid and healthful foods as "garbage" (while you're also consuming calories through processed drink mixes throughout the day).

When I need more calories, I'll usually add things like avocados/guacamole, coconut, dark chocolate, nuts/seeds, and potatoes to my day. I also don't worry about eating foods like pasta, oats, plant oils, tortillas, or muffins because I know that these can be part of a healthful diet.

One scoop of iso whey protein is hardly a horrible choice when you are eating 1gm of protein per pound of body weight which is 140 gms for me and only supplementing with 25gms. So im doing good there. I look at macros also so i dont want to eat a bag of nuts or tons of fats just to hit my goals. Appreciate your feedback you mistook the word garbage since i primarily eat a variety of healthy foods all day long and still fall short. Guess i have to keep shoving my face and get over it.

Why do you consider nuts garbage? What is not healthy about them? What's wrong with fats? I get not wanting them to come from Oeros, but something like nuts or avacado or eggs or... ?

It might be helpful if you clarified what makes something healthy vs not.


Taking a step back... if you want to stay low on fats, which it sounds like you do... it's going to be a bit of a struggle. What about more liquid calories? Fruit juices (if those are ok to you), milk, etc. Doesn't have to be soda and gatorade necessarily.

janejellyroll

gunnshannonm wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

I suggest you rethink some of your assumptions about food, specifically the one that has you dismissing a whole bunch of perfectly valid and healthful foods as "garbage" (while you're also consuming calories through processed drink mixes throughout the day).

When I need more calories, I'll usually add things like avocados/guacamole, coconut, dark chocolate, nuts/seeds, and potatoes to my day. I also don't worry about eating foods like pasta, oats, plant oils, tortillas, or muffins because I know that these can be part of a healthful diet.

One scoop of iso whey protein is hardly a horrible choice when you are eating 1gm of protein per pound of body weight which is 140 gms for me and only supplementing with 25gms. So im doing good there. I look at macros also so i dont want to eat a bag of nuts or tons of fats just to hit my goals. Appreciate your feedback you mistook the word garbage since i primarily eat a variety of healthy foods all day long and still fall short. Guess i have to keep shoving my face and get over it.

Exactly, it isn't a horrible choice at all. Neither are some other processed foods. That's my exact point. You can choose from the entire world of foods, processed and non-processed, to meet your nutritional needs.

Nobody is telling you to eat a "bag of nuts" or "tons of fat." There are lots of foods that can meet your needs if you're willing to consider them.

Frankly, it's kind of offensive that you equate meeting your nutritional needs with "shoving your face," but who am I? Just someone who is maintaining her goal weight and running marathons while meeting her calorie needs. I'll just get back to "shoving my face" with "garbage" and leave you to it.

It's 2019, it's ridiculous that women have hangups about eating what they need. It makes me angry and it makes me sad. I understand we're too often victims to it and we don't freely choose it and it's hard not to reflect the messages we're given, so I'll wish you good luck.

JessAndreia

You said you're eating 3 large meals a day plus snacks, but your dinners that you logged are very low calorie. Only one of them even hitting 300 calories, which is still on the low side for a dinner.

gunnshannonm

The 13th was a full log. I slacked on the other days and didnt complete

Chef_Barbell

If you're not logging accurately in the first place, how do you know how much you're eating? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Teabythesea_

gunnshannonm wrote: »

The 13th was a full log. I slacked on the other days and didnt complete

Even on the 13th there were small changes that could be made to get you to 2000 calories, easily. It seems like your restrictions as far as what foods are good and bad are what is holding you back, and that can only be fixed with a changed perspective. You've gotten plenty of suggestions, but ultimately its up to you to apply them.