Cant reach my calories!! Help!! (and counting calories)

Ashli333

Hey everyone,

I need a bit of advice, I am on 900 calories a day, and cant seem to reach 900! Im eating 3 meals a day at least and am definitely working everything out right. I know we "shouldn't" be on less than 1200 calories, so I'm trying to push myself to my 900 limit so Im not too ridiculously under the recommended amount. But I'm just not hungry. Any advice?

Also, I've noticed that some foods on here are strange, in the sense that (for example) a 'chicken breast, meat only, cooked' is 231 calories but then further down the list it will say ' chicken breast, grilled' is 110 calories and I've found this with a lot foods. So is it better for me to just go by the closest calories to the one on the food packaging?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!!

Thanks :happy:

kspeach

Hey everyone,

I need a bit of advice, I am on 900 calories a day, and cant seem to reach 900! Im eating 3 meals a day at least and am definitely working everything out right. I know we "shouldn't" be on less than 1200 calories, so I'm trying to push myself to my 900 limit so Im not too ridiculously under the recommended amount. But I'm just not hungry. Any advice?

Also, I've noticed that some foods on here are strange, in the sense that (for example) a 'chicken breast, meat only, cooked' is 231 calories but then further down the list it will say ' chicken breast, grilled' is 110 calories and I've found this with a lot foods. So is it better for me to just go by the closest calories to the one on the food packaging?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!!

Thanks :happy:

1) Make sure you eat ENOUGH calories or you will gain/store fat, not lose it.
2) I ALWAYS go by the packaging or the website. Even if I eat out, I go to the website, or in the case of a few, like Houlihan's, I'll email them for calories on things that aren't included on their website.

VeryKerri

I can't look at your food diary so I can't really say for sure what you should or shouldn't be eating, not that I would anyway. I eat 5-6 small meals a day so that I am able to get all my 1500 calories in. Maybe you can try eating more often? You could also eat more calorie dense foods. A good one that I like is Banana and peanut butter for a snack in the P.M. This is roughly 290 calories and is very filling and quick. I try to make my breakfast around 250-300 calories. Lunch should ideally be 400-450 calories and dinner should be 400-500 calories with total snacks totalling 300 calories for me. This is for a 1500 calorie diet of course but you could modify it to meet your needs. Hope this helps.

bellanean

Why are you eating so little calories? How long have you been doing this for, has it been working? Lets see your diary, we can help better that way.

jrich1

I would like to see the food diary, there are tons of healthy foods that would make it very easy to reach at least 1200

sweetn3ss

To meet your calorie goal have a serving of peanut butter. PB is usually really high in calories. Try eating smaller more frequent meals (this may allow you to get in more calories). Regarding the food in the database, 99% of the foods are member submitted. When I am cooking at home I will search for my name brand and verify the info. If it is not correct I will edit it to be correct. For example tonight I made Great Value B-less S-less chicken breast. They are 110 cal / serv - serve = 1/2 a breast.

jennylynn84

Why are you eating so little calories? How long have you been doing this for, has it been working? Lets see your diary, we can help better that way.

I'm glad someone asked this other than me. I didn't want to start anything, but I am curious as to why 900 is the maximum here.

As for hitting your calorie goal, what happened to me is in the beginning I went overboard and bought low fat, low cal everything and only snack on carrots. It was so drastic, that I eventually did have to learn how to eat more and still be on a diet. The best thign for me is snacks. I have a hard time sitting down and downing a lot of my allotted cals at once, so I toss in snacks throughout the day including fruit, vegetables with dip (hummus is good or I also make ranch dip with hidden valley powder and low fat sour cream), yogurt, etc.

But take a look at all your labels. Usually regular yogurt is better for you than low fat anyway. If you're eating low fat, change to original.

A look at your diary would definitely help as far as suggestions.

Ashli333

Thank you for your help so far. Im going to make my diary public so check back in a few mins to see if you can help me please.

Im doing so little calories because I need to lose weight a little quicker than 2 lbs a week.

I like the snacking idea. But I feel as though I'm eating non stop if I snack too!!! And in my head I believe that the weight loss wont work. A few people have suggested peanut butter to me. I like the banana and peanut butter idea. But how much peanut butter is how many calories? And does it matter whether its crunchy or smooth??

ladysw357

I rarely meet my calorie goals; however, mine is 1600, not 900! I used to only eat around 800-900 calories a day, however I was gaining weight. What I learned was that, even though I was not hungry, because I had done this long term my body was in starvation mode. It was holding on to everything that I ate.

A dietician advised me to start adding calories slowly, so as to not excellerate weight gain. I started adding 50-100 calories a day per week by adding fruits and nuts. I have made it up to between 1200-1300 a day now and am finally starting to lose weight.

I hope you find this helpful.

jamie1888

Eating too few calories will actually make you store fat instead of lose it!

bellanean

Thank you for your help so far. Im going to make my diary public so check back in a few mins to see if you can help me please.

Im doing so little calories because I need to lose weight a little quicker than 2 lbs a week.

I like the snacking idea. But I feel as though I'm eating non stop if I snack too!!! And in my head I believe that the weight loss wont work. A few people have suggested peanut butter to me. I like the banana and peanut butter idea. But how much peanut butter is how many calories? And does it matter whether its crunchy or smooth??

You are simply not eating enough. Eating 900 calroies will only work for so long. Your also not getting enough nutrients in. This is not a good way of living. You really need to think about changing it up.

jrich1

Thank you for your help so far. Im going to make my diary public so check back in a few mins to see if you can help me please.

Im doing so little calories because I need to lose weight a little quicker than 2 lbs a week.

I like the snacking idea. But I feel as though I'm eating non stop if I snack too!!! And in my head I believe that the weight loss wont work. A few people have suggested peanut butter to me. I like the banana and peanut butter idea. But how much peanut butter is how many calories? And does it matter whether its crunchy or smooth??

I lose more weight when I eat closer to my goal

jamie1888

Also, adding the snacks into your day.... going so many hours between meals keeps your metabolism low. You speed up your metabolism by eating more frequently. Faster metabolism means you burn more calories. You'll see this alot around here: You have to eat to lose!

jrich1

I looked at your diary and you are starving yourself, you need to eat!

bellanean

I looked at your diary and you are starving yourself, you need to eat!

you said it perfectly !

jamie1888

Nuts, avocado, peanut butter... all calorie dense! I would eat them all day long if I could! YUM!

Ashli333

How am i starving myself ?!?! I honestly dont feel hungry enough to eat more!!! I'm not intentionally starving myself I promise!!
Please give me good snack ideas and tips.

So shall I change my calorie intake to 1200? and if so how many lb's a week should I be losing on that?!?!

Thank you again guys!!!

melodyg

Thank you for your help so far. Im going to make my diary public so check back in a few mins to see if you can help me please.

Im doing so little calories because I need to lose weight a little quicker than 2 lbs a week.

I like the snacking idea. But I feel as though I'm eating non stop if I snack too!!! And in my head I believe that the weight loss wont work. A few people have suggested peanut butter to me. I like the banana and peanut butter idea. But how much peanut butter is how many calories? And does it matter whether its crunchy or smooth??

Eating too few calories is not going to help you lose weight faster. Unless you have been advised by a doctor to do otherwise, I'd eat 1200 at the least. A healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.

Looking at your diary... the first way to up calories is to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner plus at least one snack a day. Ways to increase calories at those meals -- peanut butter, as others have said (more on that in a minute), healthy oils like olive oil (saute veggies in, put in oatmeal or smoothies, etc.), higher fat dairy products, lean proteins (turkey, chicken breast, beans), complex carbs like whole wheat bread or brown rice. I would also keep your fat around 20-30% of your daily calories.

Peanut butter: 1 TBSP = 95 calories, either crunchy or smooth. This is an average and your brand may vary.

jennylynn84

Thank you for your help so far. Im going to make my diary public so check back in a few mins to see if you can help me please.

Im doing so little calories because I need to lose weight a little quicker than 2 lbs a week.

I like the snacking idea. But I feel as though I'm eating non stop if I snack too!!! And in my head I believe that the weight loss wont work. A few people have suggested peanut butter to me. I like the banana and peanut butter idea. But how much peanut butter is how many calories? And does it matter whether its crunchy or smooth??

I decent sized banana by itself would actually run you (depending on the size) around 100 calories and make a decent addition to your calorie goal. My husband eats them to help fill in calories too, because his goal is quite higher than mine (men, lol).

I always go by the container as far as calories. When you go to purchase, check out the labels on all of them. Be wary - the low fat ones can pack a higher calorie or sugar punch (or even sodium) than just getting regular.

While it may SEEM like eating way fewer calories to lose weight quicker is the best way to go, that's not always true. When my calorie intake dropped to 800 when I first started (trying to lose quick to win a competition), my loss halted after about a week. I upped it to the 1230 MFP was telling me I could eat and I started losing again. Your body will store fat if you eat too little. Not to mention the side effects of not eating enough, including lack of energy, depression, irritability, and general malnourishment.

It looks like you're trying to get in veggies - maybe aim for a little more protein. A boiled egg is also a good way to go. For about 70 calories its a fairly quick snack (so you don't have the constantly eating feeling).

The more you eat, the more you will find yourself hungry. Your metabolism adjusts to what you give it.

I definitely do feel like I am eating all day. I have ziplock bags of snacks I cart around to work and unload into the fridge when I get here, lol. No one says anything though, because it's definitely been working for me.

bellanean

How am i starving myself ?!?! I honestly dont feel hungry enough to eat more!!! I'm not intentionally starving myself I promise!!
Please give me good snack ideas and tips.

So shall I change my calorie intake to 1200? and if so how many lb's a week should I be losing on that?!?!

Thank you again guys!!!

Look at some of our diarys, it should give you some great insight :-)

bellanean

I definitely do feel like I am eating all day. I have ziplock bags of snacks I cart around to work and unload into the fridge when I get here, lol. No one says anything though, because it's definitely been working for me.

I do the same thing! I always wonder what my co-workers think but I dont really care, just curious haha.