calorie increase advice...

mr_mitch

So I made the classic mistake of being on 1200 which I did for about a moth, before I realised how much of a bad idea it was for a male.

I was told to gradually increase my cals, so I changed the setting from 2lb a week to 1lb a week (eventually I need to be on 0.5lb a week) because I only have a small amount to lose.

But after 1200 for a month (some days <1000) it's actually not that easy to suddenly increase to 1580.

Yesterday I did nothing but eat and still had over 250 cals left over. (And yes that's weighing everything)

I still want to eat "clean". Fruit & veggies, chicken breast, cottage cheese, eggs, natural yogurt, soups, whole grains, skimmed milk. Are what I've mostly been eating. And tonnes of water.

I try to avoid anything processed / junk as much as possible.

Some ideas I've had so far are cheese and nuts.

warrio1010

Forget about eating 'clean'. It is a concept which has little to no meaning in reality.

Eat protein.
Eat fats.
Eat fruits and veggies.
Fill the rest of your calories with your preferences.

mr_mitch

Yeah that's why I put "clean" in quotes!

But surely there must be many benefits to eating real food rather than processed junk / e-numbers, etc

lioness803

You can still eat clean, you just need to add a few calorie dense things to your diet. Cheese and nuts are great ideas! You could try switching to full fat milk, or if there any treats you miss, find a cleaner version of them to eat-if you like chocolate, you can get good quality organic chocolate, if you like ice cream, you could try the coconut milk ones, or Talenti gelato is pretty clean. Good luck!

warrio1010

Yeah that's why I put "clean" in quotes!

But surely there must be many benefits to eating real food rather than processed junk / e-numbers, etc

Maybe but if you're struggling to eat enough then there's no harm in eating a chocolate bar for an easy 200 calories and things of that sort.

I think the poster above me has made some suggestions more to your taste.

mr_mitch

You can still eat clean, you just need to add a few calorie dense things to your diet. Cheese and nuts are great ideas! You could try switching to full fat milk, or if there any treats you miss, find a cleaner version of them to eat-if you like chocolate, you can get good quality organic chocolate, if you like ice cream, you could try the coconut milk ones, or Talenti gelato is pretty clean. Good luck!

Thank you. Yes I love cheese! (And it then *****es at me for eating too much cholesterol?!) And nuts are good.

I'm mainly a savoury person, but if I can find a food quality chocolate then that's all good!

I'll probably find that once I get my head around it, and up the cals, I'll wonder how I ever managed on 1200!

It probably doesn't help that I do not, cannot and will not do breakfast ( I generally don't wake up in time ) ... So I have to compensate for this throughout the day.

lioness803

For good chocolate, I would recommend the Endangered Species brand.

mr_mitch

I've not heard of that one, not sure if its available in the UK!