What would you do with 550 more calories?

jchapman1957

Ok, here's my question. If you were given 550 more calories to eat, what would you add to your diet? The reason I ask is that today I readjusted my goals and weight down to only wanting to lose 1/2# per week and MFP gave me 550 more calories. Would you add to your portions or add something else to your diet?

boobee32

WELL, If you werent really going hungry now and wanting to add alot of more food, I would opt for some sort of nut.

rherrin5

If I had an extra 550.... I would add an extra snack during the day I have granola bars with a cup of yogurt thats around 300. Then for the other 250 just increase your lunches and dinners with a peice of fruit and call it good.

trigrrl

mostly larger portions
but there would be much more chocolate cake overall

barbsus1991

Maybe increase each meal by 100 so you dont end up snacking on un healthy foods to make up the calories, and/or have things like normal mayo instead of the lighter brands, or normal cheese not reduced fat cheese, semi skimmed milk not skimmed etc etc. Nuts are also good =]

GURLEY_GIRL3

My question would be where u hungry on the diet before ur calories increased?? and the reason u only want to lose 1/2 lb a week?

Dencrossgirl

Eat that big fish. Sorry couldn't help it. Have something you really like, that is really healthy, don't go for sweets or chips it will make you crave more crap. 550 calories could be a pretty big meal if you play your cards rught.

jmy1975

I agree with nuts, but I would specifically add some almonds which would give you about 200 calories. I would also add maybe 100 calories more each to breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the form extra vegetable for about half and then maybe extra protein and carbs to the other half. Skip the sweets though.

Trovan

I'd pound a couple of Twinkies.



Mmmm...Twinkies....

dshalbert

three words - Red Velvet Cake. But that would just be for an ocaasional 550 surplus splurge. If I had that every day i'd go into diabetic shock :-P

MaryDreamer

Probably at protein bar at least for a snack.

dshalbert

On a healthier note, I'd probably add a larger portion of fish or pasta.

GinoATC

A six pack

GinoATC

or some pasta. I think thats the hardest thing for me to cut back on.

reepobob

If it was me, I would try to spread those out and have a snack between breakfast and lunch, another snack between lunch and dinner, and use about 100-120 calories for a Casein Protein drink for overnight protein absorbtion while you sleep (if you are doing any kind of strength training). Casein is a great protein for long term absorbtion for slow muscle repair. The two snacks (for me) would be 150-200 calories of nuts and/or fruit and/or granola. Keep your present meal schedule intact...

Just my two cents if someone gave me the gift of calories...LOL.

kdrew11

WINE!!

charityateet

Booze..........lo. Just kidding (kinda).

I have to agree with the extra "padding" on exisiting meals, bfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack.
You can pad each of those, just be careful to not eat "too" much or too many calories in one sitting.

jsheph1

More fried stuff

PirateJenny

Raw almonds and whole grains are both beneficial ways to add calories. Whole grains are generally calorie and protein dense and almonds are nutrient rich with healthy fats.

I do agree with people who recommend spreading it out, adding calories to your full meals and supplementing a snack after a workout.

550 sounds like quite a bump, what were you at before and are you going to modify your activity level?

MzBug

The first thing to go would be any "low cal" "low fat" "no fat" etc. stuff in the house. Then any artificial sweetners. If I HAD to eat more calories I would go for nuts and seeds.

boognish1972

Drink more beer.

reander

I agree with an extra snack and larger portions. Sometimes i'd love a little bit more of something but know I don't really have the cals for it. The same goes for snacks, sometimes there's just not enough to feel satisfying.

jchapman1957

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Some of these made me laugh so hard. Trovan, I loved your suggestion of pounding a couple of Twinkies. Actually the 6 pack sounded pretty good too, but that's what got me here in the first place. To answer the question as to why the increase and why do I only want to loss 1/2#/week, to date I am down 101.6 pounds from about 30 weeks ago. I may be wrong, but my thinking is it's a little too fast so I thought I would slow down for a while. I have been averaging between 1500-1900 calories for most of the time to get a 2#/week loss based on MFP's calculations. In reality I have been averaging over 3#/week. When I re-entered the weight loss goal and my current weight, MFP calculated 2450 calories, up from 1900 before. Another item that enters into this is that I know the last 45 pounds are not going to be as easy as the 1st 100, so there is going to have to be some exercise involved. I have already started the exercise side of this with acquiring and using an elliptical (check out my photos for the new arrival) to go along with our recumbent. If anyone has some suggestion for help with the last 45 pounds, I open for them.