Reassure me, please

PokeyBug

I started off about 35 lbs overweight, because I used to have HORRIBLE eating habits. I ate junk pretty much constantly, and I just suddenly decided to lose all this weight I've been carrying around and to actually eat food that is good for me. I've started doing things like eating breakfast, eating GREEN VEGETABLES, etc., and I've seen pretty decent results thus far. My problem is that the recommended calorie intake for me just seems like too much. Mayo Clinic's website advises 1,700 calories per day for my height and my goal weight, 1850 for my current weight. When I eat healthy, I can't do it. I just can't eat that many healthy calories, lol..

This is what I had today:
Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs (made with about a tbsp of milk) w/ a handful of spinach
Lunch - Joseph's Lavash, with chicken and greens
Dinner - Chicken and Broccoli with Madras sauce
Total calories: 877

It doesn't look like much, but I'm not hungry in the least. Some nights, I do find that I need a little snack, so I grab a smaller grilled chicken salad or even just a piece of grilled chicken. That still doesn't raise my calorie intake to 1,000. I feel happy, energetic, etc., and I am absolutely not hungry. I do work out. Because I have a rod in my leg and a plate in my arm (long ago car wreck), I can't run or lift weights, so I walk and do Callanetics. My workouts are obviously not very intense, lol, but you do what you can, right?

The only way I can see not forcing myself to eat and raising my calories would involve me eating food that I see as junk. My husband's theory is that my body will tell me that it needs more food than I'm giving it, and he tells me not to fret. And maybe I will see that I need a larger helping of kale or spinach or meat in the near future. I'm not trying to do the starvation diet thing, but I totally suck at trying to eat when I'm not hungry. Am I fretting too much over nothing?

Jewlz280

You can eat 'healthy' foods to boost your cals. One thing, if you aren't cutting dairy, is to add some dairy. Such as cheese to your daily eggs or even on top of you chicken. Also, cook with oils or butter. You can add some avocado to your meals and have a snack of some nuts in there. All healthy options. The reason why your cals are so low is because often when people think 'healthy', the first thing they do is cut fats making their overall cal intake too low. You don't need to do that! Fats are good and in small doses throughout the day can boost you where you need to be. Going too low on cals can cause your cycle to stop, flimsy nails, hair loss, and other yucky stuff. Boost the cals with some healthy fat cals that won't be too much food and BAM! Right where you need to be. :bigsmile:

terbusha

I would say that you need to eat more. The problem with eating that low of calories and doing low intensity cardio is that your body is going to reduce your metabolism to a point where you're going to hit a plateau. Then, you'll have nowhere to cut from to get things moving again. Check out this video on the subject.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk

Allan

SezxyStef

are you weighing your food? Doesn't sound like it...

If I ate what you eat the eggs (3 eggs) 210 calories, add in a slice of toast with butter and bacon sprinkle with cheese.
Lunch chicken ? how much? 100grams? 150grams...my norm is about 150 grams put some cheese salsa and sour cream on it or wrap it up in a pita or flat bread and grill it with cheese and avocadoe....*drools*
Dinner again about 150grams of chicken with lots of veggies with butter

Chocolate bar at night with an ice cream bar and a Timmies coffee after lunch.

bam 2000 calories...easy peasy.

kefryar

I doubt that you need to eat 1700 calories, but you need to eat at least 1200. Otherwise you're going to gain your weight back anytime you want to eat a slice of pizza or bowl of froyo.
It's not realistic to think that you'll never eat anything unhealthy again.
Try adding healthy fats, like olive oil, avocado, nuts. They pack a lot of calories, but they're healthy calories and your body needs fat. That should get you to 1200 daily.

TheDingBat

I'd also suggest adding fruits and a variety of veggies. While not especially calorie-dense, they can bump your calories a bit and also give you more nutrients, some of which it seems like you're missing out on. Leafy greens like kale and spinach are great, but you need more than iron and a couple of vitamins. The broccoli is a nice start, but in terms of vitamins and minerals, its content is remarkably similar to the leafy greens you're already eating.

365andstillalive

We would need to know your height, weight, age and activity level to really give you a good idea, but the Mayo clinic is usually pretty legit. I'm 5'6.5, 170, 22 years old and fall between the lightly-moderately active range, which means that my BMR (the base of what you should be eating, which I'm guessing is what the Mayo clinic has given you) is right around 1600. My TDEE however is anywhere between 2200-2400 cals, which means that if I just ate my BMR (NET, so eating back exercise cals) I would be creating a 600-800 cal a day deficit, which is more than enough to lose weight.

You are definetly eating too little now and 100% not hitting your macros. You're not getting the protein or nutrients you need based on what's there and that will affect your over all health, even if eating so little allows you to lose weight. Basically, what you're doing is unsustainable in the long term and will have major effects on your body over time -- when you're undereating, muscles is just as fair game as fat for loss and do you know what's made almost entirely of muscle? Your heart.

Eat calorie dense foods and work your calories up to a reasonable spot. Add a piece of toast to breakfast, throw some cheese and other veggies in those eggs, make a wrap for lunch to get the extra cals, up the amount of chicken you're eating, munch on some nuts in the afternoon (good protein, good fats, not extremely filling), etc

PokeyBug

Thanks for all your help. A lot of suggestions to go through, and it's looking like I'll have to actually be less lazy about meals, lol. I hate cooking, which used to mean eating a lot of TV dinners and pasta. These days, it means grilling a bunch of meat on Saturday and combining it with raw veggies and sauces to make dinners and lunches throughout the week.

For those who've asked: I'm 5'2", around 150#, 42 years old, and light-to-moderate activity (elementary teacher).