Eating too little

tera43

Now that I am counting my calories I'm having a hard time eating enough. I'm at 850 and it's 7pm. I have been trying to eat healthy things and don't want to "waste" my calories and then end up not eating enough.

I know I need more protein but I'm not much of a meat eater but am trying!

Any healthy snacks you love and don't feel guilty about? Or have you dealt with this? My diary is public if anyone has input.

Nony_Mouse

To start, you're not using a food scale, so chances are you're underestimating your calorie intake (example, my weighed half avocado yesterday was 25 cals more than what you have using a generic entry based on size, which is very subjective).

Second, you appear to be concentrating on foods that you think of as healthy, rather than just, well, food. No food is inherently unhealthy in and of itself, unless you're allergic to it. Weight loss is about calories, and there is no need to feel guilty about eating things that fit within your calorie allowance (or even if they don't). It's just food.

Your fat intake seems pretty low (as is your protein, as you've already noted). There's no need to eat meat to get higher protein. I'm vegetarian, and even excluding my nightly protein shake, I easily hit 100g a day - dairy and eggs mostly, plus what comes along with vege.

So, first thing is to establish how many calories you are actually eating by using a digital food scale (they're pretty cheap). Then, concentrate on increasing fats and protein.

jeagogo

Well, you already have a apple for a snack often - maybe add some protein to that snack by adding some almond butter, peanut butter, or cheese. Almonds will get you a bit of protein and are quite calorie dense for a small serving.

Do you have any meals when you feel like you could handle more food? Your meals are pretty small, so if you feel like you could eat a bit more, a serving of healthy protein would be a good addition to any meal. Some fish, chicken, beans, tofu, whatever. I have a similar problem with protein and found that I needed to just double the serving of protein for at least one meal a day.

If you have time, you might also want to consider meal prepping a bit so you can plan out your meals in advance to help you to your target.

tera43

Thank you both for your thoughtful replies.

I do think a food scale is a good idea! Interesting about the avacado. I do measure things that can be measured but weighing would be more accurate. Thank you for the reminder food is just food.

Good idea on adding something with that apple. I have been shying away from peanut butter because of the calories. I like the idea of doubling the protein. I've gotten stuck on serving sizes. I would have had some turkey deli meat with dinner but was out. I seem to not eat it fast enough and it gets gross. Doubling up protein servings would help that too.

Meal prep is an interesting idea. I could pre enter everything to see how I'm doing.

snickerscharlie

tera43 wrote: »

Thank you both for your thoughtful replies.

I do think a food scale is a good idea! Interesting about the avacado. I do measure things that can be measured but weighing would be more accurate. Thank you for the reminder food is just food.

Good idea on adding something with that apple. I have been shying away from peanut butter because of the calories. I like the idea of doubling the protein. I've gotten stuck on serving sizes. I would have had some turkey deli meat with dinner but was out. I seem to not eat it fast enough and it gets gross. Doubling up protein servings would help that too.

Meal prep is an interesting idea. I could pre enter everything to see how I'm doing.

I recommend getting the food scale, getting used to weighing everything (and make sure you're using the proper nutritional values) before adding more calories. As was mentioned, chances are you're consuming more calories than you think right now.

Talan79

I also think a food scale & meal planning is a good idea. You can log a generic apple, and it will give you 80 calories. However, if you cut out the core and weigh in grams, you can end up with 120 calories. So your calories on one entry alone can be off by 40 calories. I give this as an example bc I saw the difference bn logging in grams vs just logging.

apullum

Talan79 wrote: »

I also think a food scale & meal planning is a good idea. You can log a generic apple, and it will give you 80 calories. However, if you cut out the core and weigh in grams, you can end up with 120 calories. So your calories on one entry alone can be off by 40 calories. I give this as an example bc I saw the difference bn logging in grams vs just logging.

To illustrate this: tonight I made simple salads--greens, balsamic vinegar, and apple. I put half an apple on each salad; the apple was what I would consider "medium." It was not one of those huge apples, just...you know, a standard apple.

The entire apple without the core was 162 grams, for a total of about 84 calories. That's pretty close.

However, yesterday I ate an apple of a different variety. I'd say it was a little bigger, but not much. But when I weighed that apple (without core) it was 241 grams, 125 calories. That's 50% larger than the other apple. I would definitely not have expected that much of a difference just by "eyeballing it."

And if you think that's dramatic...just wait until you weigh peanut butter.

Priasmama416

Protein shakes will help. They give the protein, plus other nutrients that you need. This good if you're not eating a lot of calories, but are not hungry enough for another meal.

tinkerbellang83

Priasmama416 wrote: »

Protein shakes will help. They give the protein, plus other nutrients that you need. This good if you're not eating a lot of calories, but are not hungry enough for another meal.

Protein shakes don't often have much in the way of other nutrients, are you perhaps talking about meal replacement shakes?