Getting cals in when you are short on them

Newfiedan · April 2011

I have noticed that a lot of mfp members seem to be having trouble when they are getting their regular cals in then workout and have a huge number to eat post workout, I am posting this little tidibit to help those add in those cals quickly, healthy, and easier than you may think. So how do I do it? Well the simple answer is planning, it takes some planning ahead and yes even on some days I do manage to find myself in this sort of a dilemma, but there are easy healthy ways to make it up and here is how I do it.

1) Obviously plan ahead for workout days and eat more cals with each meal, not a ton more but say around 20% of so, even add in some extra fruit to help. One of my favorite go to foods are almonds, a handful can = 350 - 450 cals. You can not go wrong with adding these into the diet, they are a great cal make up food. Of course there is also oatmeal, cal dense, healthy food.
2) Smoothies, even if you are full most of us can drink more and these help a lot. I love my protein smoothies as they are convenient but not necessary you can eat the protein through meats and what not but I like them for the simple convenience. For example post workout last night I had a huge number of cals left over and rather than head for junk I made this one:
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 med banana
1.25 cups almond breeze almond milk original low sugar
1 tbsp flax seed
0.5 tsp cinnamon
2 scoops protein powder
Total cals 554, this made up a load of cals I needed to meet my goal. It was easy to drink and delicious. This was to make up for poor planning. So despite my setup I still managed to get that in there and so can you, it just takes some creativity and finding which foods/drinks you like that are calorically dense, but healthy to make up the deficit. I hope this helps you out with your needs to fill those cals with some good nutrition.

Onesnap · April 2011

Amazing tips--thank you!

I have a good smoothie recipe for you all:

2 ice cubes, blend in blender until chopped up
-add a handful of frozen blueberries
-add a banana
-add a touch of honey (optional)
-add a splash of low fat milk
-add in a serving of Trader Joe's vanilla yogurt or Stonyfield farm banilla yogurt
*blend until smooth and enjoy!
(I also use all organic products)
This also works well with frozen peaches.

FaithandFitness · April 2011

what a great recipe, sounds like a great solution!

SarahJaneDeschamp · April 2011

Bump

so grateful for this im buying some protein powder 2moro

x

myvenus · April 2011

where and what kind of protein powder do you get? does it have lots of sugar in it?

Newfiedan · April 2011

I looked around and wanted to find a cost effective one ended up getting body fortress 100% whey from walmart, cookies n cream flavor, low sugar, lowerish cals (about 130ish/scoop) I mix that with fruit to spike the blood sugar and promote protein uptake. Its around 25 bucks for around 3 weeks worth. (1 scoop a day normally) I do not like a lot of sugar unless it is from a natural source and that is why I chose that one.

therealangd · April 2011

Thanks Dan. I had one of those days yesterday. Nuts would have certainly solved my problem.

Mustangsally1000 · April 2011

Thanks! I could have used that advice yesterday. I had over 900 calories left over, and uneaten. I think I had almonds in the pantry too! Nuts! LOL

deannarey13 · April 2011

Great suggestions!!! Thank you so much!

smith18aj · April 2011

Thanks so much! I gotta look into the smoothie thing. I'm on a budget though and I don't know if i can swing $25 for just me that's an 1/8 of our monthly groceries budget. I don't know how healthy this is but I like to do subway on my big exercise calorie days. I love the Italian bmt but I can't have that during a normal day so I add lots of veggies and get the meats I like.

myvenus · April 2011

thanks for the suggestion about the protein powder at Walmart..

DeenaSteelerGirl · April 2011

Going to walmart tommorrow. will look into protein powder. Thanks a bunch.

Hootsmamma · April 2011

bump

scaryfairy81 · April 2011

I use the Body Fortress Whey Protein too, in the vanilla flavor! After I read this post I was craving a protein shake lol, so I made one with some frozen mango, frozen blueberries, a little mango juice, a little vanilla light soy milk, and a scoop of protein. Yum!

donnaeve8 · April 2011

Thanks for the tips. I have been having problems not getting the daily net calories when I work out (even though I thought I was!) I'm definitley gonna give that smoothie a try.

Atlantique · April 2011

Nuts and nut butters are great for getting some extra calories in. I'd highly advise weighing nuts though, as a 'handful' is going to be very different for each of us and is pretty inspecific. When I buy nuts, I go right to my food scale with a stack of 'snack sized' ziploc bags and weigh out and bag portions. Then they're ready to go and portable, too!