eating 1800 calories really??

Just1forMe

A lot of people actually find they have problems getting enough calories in when they switch to healthier foods. Some good ways to add calories without feeling overstuffed:

Snack on Nuts
Add Olive Oil when cooking
Switch to (or back to) higher or full fat cheeses, condiments, milk, etc.

Sometimes it's easier to drink calories:
Fruit juice (with pulp if the option is available)
Fruit smoothies
Protein shakes
Fruit/Protein smoothies

Took the words right out of my mouth! I will add Lima beans & avocado to that list...I love Lima beans with a little butter & parmesan cheese, but they have quite the high calorie count

Angela_MA

go to your goals and change your nutrition; you need more protein; especially if you are doing P90x. My friend is on her second cycle of it ( she lost 20ilbs her first cycle). Uping your protein will help repair your muscles. As another post said, scale back on the carbs and go for more protein. I do a 40/30/30 ratio (carb/fat/protein), but you may want to do more protein or what ever fits your lifestyle. I do more cardio then weight training, so I like to have a little more carbs to help give enegery to support my cardio fitness.
Here is a great website that has helped be find what I need; a ton a tools to help you find what you need for your diet.


http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

jbconnelly

I don't think a shake is a bad idea. You get a lot of nutritional value out of them. If you continue with the shakes just add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, there's 200 calories right there.

kailyamie

Two things from checking out your profile and diary:

1) You put on the weight somehow, right? Unless you're very short, I'd say from your pics that you're what, 250? It takes roughly 2500 calories, consistently, to be that size. I know, I was over 250 for a while. My point is that no way in hell is 1800 calories too much to eat. You've been eating that much or more for a while, so don't tell yourself you can't do it - tell yourself it's a joke, it's actually way less than you're used to, and you absolutely CAN do this.

I don't think that this is a necessarily fair assessment. Often times the problem is WHAT you are eating, not necessarily HOW MUCH. If you decide to go healthy, and you're eating healthier foods in the same quantities as before, you may NOT be able to figure out how to make the 1800 calories. Junk food jacks up the calories really fast.... cut that out, and ya, it is entirely possible to be at a loss for how to make up the 1800.

lizzil0

I'll send you all the egg yolks I keep throwing out after I use the whites!

sweet_lotus

Fat is not the enemy.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fat/NU00262

From your mayo clinic citation:

"When choosing fats, pick unsaturated fat over saturated or trans fat...Saturated fat is a type of fat that comes mainly from animal sources of food. Saturated fat raises total blood cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, which can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fat may also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes."

Whole milk is high in saturated fat.

Better high fat choices would be nuts and nut butter, seeds, avocado, hummus and other spreads (baba ghanoush, red pepper, bean, roasted garlic. etc) fattened with olive oil, vegetables with olive oil based vinaigrettes.

sweet_lotus

I'll send you all the egg yolks I keep throwing out after I use the whites!

haha don't throw them out, put them in a covered, microwave safe dish and cook them for your little dog. My dogs LOVE them.

seansquared

Two things from checking out your profile and diary:

1) You put on the weight somehow, right? Unless you're very short, I'd say from your pics that you're what, 250? It takes roughly 2500 calories, consistently, to be that size. I know, I was over 250 for a while. My point is that no way in hell is 1800 calories too much to eat. You've been eating that much or more for a while, so don't tell yourself you can't do it - tell yourself it's a joke, it's actually way less than you're used to, and you absolutely CAN do this.

I don't think that this is a necessarily fair assessment. Often times the problem is WHAT you are eating, not necessarily HOW MUCH.

False. It is always "how much"; 2500 calories is more than 1800 calories, junk food or not. I wasn't trying to be mean or "unfair", I was saying to the guy "hey, guy, obviously this ain't a problem because you gained weight." I didn't say that to be mean, I said it because I've been there. I used to think "wow, 2,000 calories is so hard to get, how did I get this big?!" The truth is I was fooling myself. After a few months it becomes easy as pie to watch your intake.

If you decide to go healthy, and you're eating healthier foods in the same quantities as before, you may NOT be able to figure out how to make the 1800 calories. Junk food jacks up the calories really fast....

You could eat 1800 calories of junk food and still lose weight if your body requires 2500 calories per day to maintain. People advocate for whole, clean foods because they are healthy all around, not because they have more or less calories than junk food does.

hewhoiscd

hahahahaha...sorry man, I HAD to laugh. When I was in the middle of P90X I was eating 3200 to 3600 total cals per day. Sometimes I did 900 cals just for breakfast It was hard to get the *healthy* calories, still is even though I am "only" eating about 2800 total calories now. I wish I only had to eat 1800 + exercise cals, would be a breeze!

Key is to have as large of a healthy breakfast as you can. I drink a meal replacement shake as part of my breakfast for the vitamins and other good stuff in it, but I also eat other stuff with it.

Eat healthy snacks every 90 minutes or so, never more than 2 hours between eating something.

I recently started logging my food on MFP again, check out my food diary if ya like. You can also go back a couple months and see what I was eating back then to get my cals in.

gp79

Same here, feel free to look at my diary. Right now I'm eating 2100 - 3300 calories per day depending on exercise or not. Get comfy in a grocery store. It's choc full of ingredients...just learn how to combine a few simple ones into meals that work for you throughout the day.

For example, every Sunday night I whip up a batch of my pancake batter that I use throughout the week in the mornings. I store it in a protein shaker and pour out a portion as needed. It's nutritionally balanced for me, by me. Start with equal parts cottage cheese, oatmeal and egg whites (or whole eggs)...blend with a few berries and top with a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Same thing goes for other meals. Cook up a bunch of chicken breasts on the grill. Make a big pot of rice and pair it with beans. A big bowl of tuna salad, enough for a few sandwiches though the week. Chop up some veggies to make it a little more nutritious.

If this sounds like a chore, spending time in the kitchen is a necessity to keep you from going to microwaved meals. Learn to use the kitchen creatively. When I was a young soldier I'd prepare my meals in a barracks room with a George Foreman grill and microwave only.

It may seem overwhelming in the beginning so start small. Replace only one meal with something you prepare yourself. In time you'll have the recipe memorized and it will be part of your daily / weekly routine. From there, replace another meal etc. Everything should be small steps which you can sustain over time.

Also, you seem to be a big guy...1800 calories seems very low for you but maybe you are short / stocky? When I started at 290 I was eating 2600 calories per day and losing weight. I'm 230's now and eating 2100 prior to exercise. Be careful not to stoop too low on the calories or you could be doing more damage than good for yourself.

deathtaco

I have to force myself to STAY at 1800. I can easily eat 4k calories if I let myself...and that's of healthy foods lol.

chrisdavey

agree with seansquared.

Eat more than 6-10 almonds at a time! 23 almonds per oz. Eat 46 and there is 330 cals right there (I don't know how you could only eat that many! :P)

Remember you need to fuel your body for workouts.

Myssrenee

Would it be safe to manually lower the amount of calories for the daily goal?

jeepzilla

Two things from checking out your profile and diary:

1) You put on the weight somehow, right? Unless you're very short, I'd say from your pics that you're what, 250? It takes roughly 2500 calories, consistently, to be that size. I know, I was over 250 for a while. My point is that no way in hell is 1800 calories too much to eat. You've been eating that much or more for a while, so don't tell yourself you can't do it - tell yourself it's a joke, it's actually way less than you're used to, and you absolutely CAN do this.

2) Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too little protein in your diet and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many carbs. You aren't an athlete, you don't need 50% of your calories from carbohydrates. I'm guessing you used the MFP default which is fine, and you're down 30lbs so it's obviously working - as caloric deficit does - but it would work way better if you got the protein and fat up and dropped the carbs. Maybe 40/30/30 in some mix.

Some other thoughts:
* Fat is not the enemy! Unsaturated fats are good for you!
* Protein is not the enemy either. At a protein deficit, your body can and will go after existing muscle tissue for its daily protein needs meaning you will actually get weaker over time.
* Since you brought up milk: milk is spectacular for both weight loss and weight gain due to the mixture of macronutrients and rapid (liquid) delivery system.

Im 5'9" right now I weight 195.0 I started at 225.5 .. I do try to eat a lot of protein that is one of the reasons for the meal replacement shakes they were full of protein... I am right now in my second phase of p90x and I run 2-4 miles on my cardio days...

jeepzilla

I'll send you all the egg yolks I keep throwing out after I use the whites!

lol I hate egs... I guess I'll have to try and eat them ugh...

jeepzilla

Two things from checking out your profile and diary:

1) You put on the weight somehow, right? Unless you're very short, I'd say from your pics that you're what, 250? It takes roughly 2500 calories, consistently, to be that size. I know, I was over 250 for a while. My point is that no way in hell is 1800 calories too much to eat. You've been eating that much or more for a while, so don't tell yourself you can't do it - tell yourself it's a joke, it's actually way less than you're used to, and you absolutely CAN do this.

I don't think that this is a necessarily fair assessment. Often times the problem is WHAT you are eating, not necessarily HOW MUCH.

False. It is always "how much"; 2500 calories is more than 1800 calories, junk food or not. I wasn't trying to be mean or "unfair", I was saying to the guy "hey, guy, obviously this ain't a problem because you gained weight." I didn't say that to be mean, I said it because I've been there. I used to think "wow, 2,000 calories is so hard to get, how did I get this big?!" The truth is I was fooling myself. After a few months it becomes easy as pie to watch your intake.

If you decide to go healthy, and you're eating healthier foods in the same quantities as before, you may NOT be able to figure out how to make the 1800 calories. Junk food jacks up the calories really fast....

You could eat 1800 calories of junk food and still lose weight if your body requires 2500 calories per day to maintain. People advocate for whole, clean foods because they are healthy all around, not because they have more or less calories than junk food does.

See that's were i'm at I want to continue to lose weight and also learn to eat healthy I dont want to get to my weight then keep eating crap that will blow me up again although I though I was eating pretty good no junk food ... I think I need to sit down and make me a two to three week meal plan. with lots of veggies,fruit,chicken,tuna,and anything that I can eat the will aid my weight loss and be good to eat..

deathtaco

Take caloric intake - 500-750 for caloric deficit.

1g/lb Bodyweight = Protein intake
50-70g = Fat intake
Fill rest in for carbs

BAM. Weight loss and healthy eating.

chrisdavey

Take caloric intake - 500-750 for caloric deficit.

1g/lb Bodyweight = Protein intake
50-70g = Fat intake
Fill rest in for carbs

BAM. Weight loss and healthy eating.

I prefer to put fat at 30% rather than specific grams but yes otherwise agree with those macros.

Thing is, you can still obviously pick a lot of unhealthy choices to make up those macros (although the limit on fat does help).

SoCalSwimmerDude

Lots of good suggestions, but I have 3 words for you that I live by: MEXICAN FIESTA NIGHT!!!!

If you have 1 stuffed burrito (or 2!) just think of the possibilities... but this is my own personal mexican fiesta that takes me forever to make from scratch, but its a good one. Homemade salsa/pico, homemade guacamole (load this on there for all that is good and holy within avacado land), black beans, and seasoned chicken. I usually saute some minced spinach w/ the meat to get even more iron. The ONLY slightly negative in there is the tortilla. Just think about all of the GOOD calories that are in that thing. For a full (big) meal, add a side of black beans and healthy rice of choice.

I wish every night were mexican fiesta night.

deathtaco

I prefer to put fat at 30% rather than specific grams but yes otherwise agree with those macros.

Thing is, you can still obviously pick a lot of unhealthy choices to make up those macros (although the limit on fat does help).

Yeah. 50-70g is generally 20-30% for most people. The great thing about macro/calorie watching is that you can "cheat" without cheating. You can fit a poptart with nutella, or a bowl of sugar free ice cream or something like that every now and then, and you don't even feel guilty.

I mean, I understand Paleo and "healthy" eating. But in the end, there's plenty of things in this world that contribute to weight gain; if having some ice cream makes me overall keep a better diet, damn well better believe I'm gettin' me some ice cream!!!!!!