Eat when hungry or to fill macros/calories?

alodiaa

Hi!

I'm a pretty light eater (unless junk food is involved) and wondered if people thought it was more important to eat when hungry or to ensure I fill my nutrition goals for the day? I drink water throughout the day and workout once or twice a day but can't seem to breach 600kcals/day unless I don't exercise and treat myself. I'm worried that I'll get to my GW and be unable to stay at it because of the relatively tiny amount of food I have been eating - but I'm genuinely not hungry!

I suffered pretty badly with anorexia and bulimia when I was younger and don't want my body to look like it did then, nor do I want to be that tired! I was ridiculously hungry then however whereas now I honestly struggle to meet 3 meals a day.

Does anybody have any thoughts/tips?

Hannah

TL;DR struggling to net over 600kcals/day, should I stuff myself to meet nutrition goals or simply eat when hungry?

bajoyba

Has your diet changed drastically from the way you were eating before you decided to lose weight? I ask this because many times when people want to lose weight, they start restricting and eliminating foods from their diet and eat a variety of foods consisting mostly of low-calorie, high volume, "healthy" foods.

Whole and "healthy" foods are awesome and an important part of a balanced diet, but if you're eating so much lettuce/watermelon/baked chicken/etc. that you're unable to meet your body's caloric and nutritional requirements, then you definitely want to reconsider your approach.

Hunger signals are not always dependable in telling us what our bodies actually need, and 600 calories a day is not enough for your body to stay healthy. Regardless of how full you feel, your body still needs you to meet its minimum macro and micro-nutrient levels. You should strive to eat in a way that you want to eat for the rest of your life. If you're planning on changing your eating habits once you reach your goal weight, you should be incorporating some of those "normal" foods into your diet now. I can't see your diary, so I don't know what your diet actually looks like, but a general starting suggestion is to add more calorie-dense foods to your diet - things like avocado, nuts and nut butters, seeds, olive/coconut oil, and dairy products, cheeses, and full-fat foods as opposed to "light" or "low-fat" items.