Trouble meeting caloric intake
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gadudega
Posts: 13 Member
I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
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Replies
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I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
I'm assuming you're trying to bulk? Not getting enough calories to bulk is counterproductive to those goals. Most people would be hard pressed to eat a "clean" diet and hit 4,000 calories on the regular. Consuming more calories in this scenario is far more important than consuming more lettuce. Meet your nutritional needs...then eat some pizza. You don't get extra credit for more broccoli.12 -
I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
Food is not good or bad. Food serves a different purpose depending on your goal. You are not going to get to 4000 calories eating chicken and broccoli all day. Higher calorie foods like pizzas and pastas and burgers and things that others may consider "bad" for them if they are trying to lose weight, are good for you because you need their calories. So have some veggies and chicken but also endulge and enjoy things that are more calorie dense. If I had 4000 calories I'd be eating pizza pretty much every day (which is actually very nicely macro-nutritionally balanced).8 -
Great advice above. Just wanted to add this thread for more advice/food options
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p12 -
I'm eating 3000 a day and it's all clean. I can understand how it's hard but it's definitely possible. Consider adding olive oil for fat, steel cut oats for carbs, and egg whites for protein.3
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I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
Hey I had the same issue when I first began bulking. I began taking 2 different bulking proteins with high calories. One was optimum nutrition 1250 calories for one serving. Their instructions were over exaggerated and wanted you to consume 2-3 a day.
No room for actual food. Then I switched to GNC performance pro, high protein and calories 700 calories per serving and 50 grams of protein. Great results .. gained 12 pounds. 4 months3 -
What was wrong with the Optimal nutrition one? It had more calories. Why switch to a lower calorie one? Thanks1
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I'd look into mass gainers (not repping GNC, just giving you examples);
https://www.gnc.com/protein/mass-gainers/
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Justin_7272 wrote: »I'd look into mass gainers (not repping GNC, just giving you examples);
https://www.gnc.com/protein/mass-gainers/
Ditto that as well. When I was in the military I had a really hard time keeping weight on even eating high calorie "junk food" quite a bit...I needed the mass gainer just to maintain weight.0 -
giancarlov1191 wrote: »I'm eating 3000 a day and it's all clean. I can understand how it's hard but it's definitely possible. Consider adding olive oil for fat, steel cut oats for carbs, and egg whites for protein.
Why would you eat egg whites instead of the whole egg when you're trying to get more calories and struggling to do so? That makes zero sense whatsoever.
Steel cut oats are also great and I eat them regularly...but white rice and pasta are going to serve you better in a bulk due to the insulin response, particularly after a workout.6 -
Food is food. Eat what you need to achieve your desired goal...3
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I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
Hey, I might be able to help. Although, there's already some great advice here.
However, I'm wondering about your current stats, and what your goals are.
Age, Height, Current Weight, Goal weight, How many days lifting, what does you lifting look like? Cardio, if any?
How long have you been at this? What have your results been like thus far?
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cwolfman13 wrote: »giancarlov1191 wrote: »I'm eating 3000 a day and it's all clean. I can understand how it's hard but it's definitely possible. Consider adding olive oil for fat, steel cut oats for carbs, and egg whites for protein.
Why would you eat egg whites instead of the whole egg when you're trying to get more calories and struggling to do so? That makes zero sense whatsoever.
Steel cut oats are also great and I eat them regularly...but white rice and pasta are going to serve you better in a bulk due to the insulin response, particularly after a workout.
I was suggesting easy additives to supplement what he's doing already. Thanks for sharing how you feel.2 -
It would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
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I guess I mean fast food for the most part I considered bad. I figured out that all the vegetables I was eating wasn’t helping me. Less veggies and more carbs. Peanut butter is a life saver when I can’t seem to eat anymore. I usually drink three or four gold standard whey shakes a day with some fruit and Greek yogurt mixed in. I lift four to five times a week about 130mins. I was doing alternate 4 to 5 sets 25 reps for about a month and a half then 12 reps then 6-8 reps for heavy. Mostly compound with some burnouts at the end. Now I have switched to push pull heavy two days light two days. Now I have gained about 8 pounds so something is working. One big thing was I wasn’t focused enough on my legs once I fixed that it seemed like the weight started coming. I’m still struggling to plan out my meals but I will get that down. Flax seed oil helps raisins help. It’s all these small things coming together. I appreciate everyone’s help though. Sound advice1
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It would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
I think maybe all the veggies I was eating was counter productive to my current goal. You have to understand too that I have no idea what I am taking about. So everyone should keep that in mindIt would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
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tawnyabigger wrote: »What was wrong with the Optimal nutrition one? It had more calories. Why switch to a lower calorie one? Thanks
I think the answer is in his aside that the instructions for the higher calorie gainer meant that 1200 calories was achieved over multiple shakes and he's trying to lower volume so he can physically fit the food into his stomach. So the 700 calorie shake turned out to be more efficient, because it was only one shake. (I've also had to do that math and have a couple annoying powders that say "x calories/protein!" on the package and then you look and you have to make 2 shakes to get that amount and one shake is, in fact, only 3/4 the calories/protein of one scoop of your other product.)1 -
I am currently shooting for 4000 calories a day but I also switched what I ate. I am now eating more green vegetables lean meat. Healthy I am eating a lot of food and I’m still struggling to meet my caloric goal. I know I could eat stuff that was bad and meet it easy but that seems counter productive. Am I missing something? I’m I not eating enough healthy food?
Food is not good or bad. Food serves a different purpose depending on your goal. You are not going to get to 4000 calories eating chicken and broccoli all day. Higher calorie foods like pizzas and pastas and burgers and things that others may consider "bad" for them if they are trying to lose weight, are good for you because you need their calories. So have some veggies and chicken but also endulge and enjoy things that are more calorie dense. If I had 4000 calories I'd be eating pizza pretty much every day (which is actually very nicely macro-nutritionally balanced).
I'm not a "clean" eater. I love some junk food occasionally, but there are plenty of reasons, other than calories, to avoid processed foods. I can think of a huge one that is particularly relevant to those of us in the United States, sodium. That *kitten* is literally slathered on all our processed and restaurant foods. And even if your blood pressure isn't elevated, typically the main reason to avoid a high sodium diet, there are other reasons to avoid sodium. I had a bout with kidney stones a few years ago. I'm sure it was primarily due to not properly hydrating with all the running I was doing at the time, but another contributing factor for kidney stones is sodium intake. Pretty sure there are other even more generally applicable reasons to avoid high sodium as well, those are just the two I'm aware of.
So the whole "food is neither bad nor good" thing isn't generally true.
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Weight gain or loss for that matter comes from total caloric intake in relation to your TDEE, not certain lifts or rep ranges. Certain lifts and rep ranges would have more to do with your gains/losses being fat or muscle. Meaning what your body might use the calories for.I guess I mean fast food for the most part I considered bad. I figured out that all the vegetables I was eating wasn’t helping me. Less veggies and more carbs. Peanut butter is a life saver when I can’t seem to eat anymore. I usually drink three or four gold standard whey shakes a day with some fruit and Greek yogurt mixed in. I lift four to five times a week about 130mins. I was doing alternate 4 to 5 sets 25 reps for about a month and a half then 12 reps then 6-8 reps for heavy. Mostly compound with some burnouts at the end. Now I have switched to push pull heavy two days light two days. Now I have gained about 8 pounds so something is working. One big thing was I wasn’t focused enough on my legs once I fixed that it seemed like the weight started coming. I’m still struggling to plan out my meals but I will get that down. Flax seed oil helps raisins help. It’s all these small things coming together. I appreciate everyone’s help though. Sound advice
Any weight gain attributed from solely resistance training alone is going to be temporary water weight.
Perhaps you are doing less resistance exercise? If it's a significant amount less than your TDEE would be lower which might cause some weight gain over time.1 -
It would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
I think maybe all the veggies I was eating was counter productive to my current goal. You have to understand too that I have no idea what I am taking about. So everyone should keep that in mindIt would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
Yes. This is why we need more definitive data on what your history, currently doing, and goals.
Stating you are eating healthy/unhealthy doesn't tell me much.
Saying you are...
1.Eating 3800 calories on average daily
2.Burning approximately 400 caps daily
3.Started lifting weights 6 weeks ago without a template
4. Weighing foods with a food scale
5. Etc...
Gives me a much clearer path of suggestions to pick from my brain garden. 4 -
It would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
I think maybe all the veggies I was eating was counter productive to my current goal. You have to understand too that I have no idea what I am taking about. So everyone should keep that in mindIt would be nice if you would define what is healthy or clean foods to you so we can give more specific answers.
Even why some are counter productive would be interesting to hear.
Yes. This is why we need more definitive data on what your history, currently doing, and goals.
Stating you are eating healthy/unhealthy doesn't tell me much.
Saying you are...
1.Eating 3800 calories on average daily
2.Burning approximately 400 caps daily
3.Started lifting weights 6 weeks ago without a template
4. Weighing foods with a food scale
5. Etc...
Gives me a much clearer path of suggestions to pick from my brain garden.
It’s hard to give you everything that you need because I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time so here goes. I have been eating 3500 to 4000 for about two months before I had my goal set for 3200. I have no idea how many calories I burn daily. I do try not to do to much except for lifting. I have been lifting and learning for about five years. I had some injury’s that forced me to stop. So on and off I have had a template that I created. It was a bro split lol I have found out. Shoulders, chest, back, legs rest rest recently changed to a push pull full body . Heavy compounds heavy compounds light compounds light compounds rest start over . I was trying to weigh foods with a scale and I couldn’t get the hang of it. The math made my tiny brain hurt. I thought I eat as much as I can maybe I would be ok. I would love to answer the etc ? But again I have no idea what I am doing most of the time. I appreciate the help thank you2
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