Diet Questions

jxessxy

I have decided to try to start eating more (going up from 1200 cal to 1400 cal as suggested with the resting tool from MFP). This is my first day of it and I am already confused.

I feel incredibly full and I feel like I went way over my amount of needed calories. I can't tell if today is a healthy day or a bad day and I did several tricks today including: smaller plate and lots, lots of water, and more filling food.

I feel as if I can't trust the calories from the database on MFP because I feel so full. One of the reasons why I have decided to increase my calories is because I am constantly hungry and have become a little obsessed with food to the point where it's almost all I talk about. So because I feel like I can't trust the calories I up the portion sizes on foods that I am not 100% sure about. I do this a lot and it's all very confusing. Also I have no idea how to figure out a portion size of what I'm eating without measuring it by cups and teaspoons. I have a lot of trouble determining the portion sizes of food.

Also I have lost almost 30 lbs and am about 1 lb away from my goal weight. I plan to lose more weight but because I am getting towards the end it has become more difficult.

If anyone can help me or give me advice that would be great. Thanks!

psuLemon

I have decided to try to start eating more (going up from 1200 cal to 1400 cal as suggested with the resting tool from MFP). This is my first day of it and I am already confused.

I feel incredibly full and I feel like I went way over my amount of needed calories. I can't tell if today is a healthy day or a bad day and I did several tricks today including: smaller plate and lots, lots of water, and more filling food.

I feel as if I can't trust the calories from the database on MFP because I feel so full. One of the reasons why I have decided to increase my calories is because I am constantly hungry and have become a little obsessed with food to the point where it's almost all I talk about. So because I feel like I can't trust the calories I up the portion sizes on foods that I am not 100% sure about. I do this a lot and it's all very confusing. Also I have no idea how to figure out a portion size of what I'm eating without measuring it by cups and teaspoons. I have a lot of trouble determining the portion sizes of food.

Also I have lost almost 30 lbs and am about 1 lb away from my goal weight. I plan to lose more weight but because I am getting towards the end it has become more difficult.

If anyone can help me or give me advice that would be great. Thanks!

First off, congrats on reaching your goal. Second, anytime you increase your calories it is going to take time for your body to adjust. Even when I increased my calories from 2400 to 2500 I found it harder. I would suggest just making one extra meal. If you normally eat 5 times a day, then add another snack. This way, you spread out the calories which should make it easier.

bizco

Buy a digital food scale and measure everything in grams. They only cost $20-30 and it was the best investment I made when beginning this lifestyle change. I bought the Biggest Loser kitchen scale made by Taylor from Walmart.com, delivered to the store for free. Make sure you buy one that has the "tare" feature. It's awesome!

When it comes to the foods listed in the database, I always click on the "nutritional info" and double check the accuracy. However, if dozens of other MFP members have already confirmed it, you could skip this step. Also, I use this site to look up and confirm MFP's database: http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Enter the food you're looking for in the upper right corner, select the correct food group from the drop down menu.

ejmcam

You body has become used to the foods you eat so it will take time to get used to eating more. Also, the combo of eating more, plus more filling foods (Im assuming you mean higher fiber types of foods, etc...) will make it seem worse. I know what you mean about becoming obsessed, I feel like I talk about it alot also, and I am starting to annoy my friends....lol. try to ease int the 1400 calories....100 a day for a few days, then up it to 150, and so on....hope that helps!

mursey

Sometimes I think that there are things beyond our control- hey maybe one day I am really hungry because I am stressed or tired, maybe one day I'm not hungry as much because I was busy. Your level of hunger could be attributed to so many things, the timing of your meals, mood, stress, sleep, sickness or health. ... sometimes I think I am hungrier the day AFTER a workout, not that actual day. Who knows? Maybe just shoot for anywhere in between your former goal and current goal and listen to your body a little now that you have been eating healthy and are probably no longer addicted to sugars or carbs or processed food or whatever.

Maybe to think that we would need an exact same number of calories every single day is unrealistic, but oyu can set a goal of "x" as a ceiling, on other words, "let me eat anywhere from 1200 to 1500 cals" or something like that.