I don't get it... "hard to make calories"?

koosdel

I'm on year four of maintaining a healthy weight, and eating.. umm.. better. At first, it was difficult. I have no idea how much I ate before. I could easily eat an entire pizza, a box of bread sticks and a two liter of Pepsi for dinner. Not counting the three or four hot dogs for lunch, dozens of Mountain Dews, and donuts.

Now, I have somewhat healthier foods. Defnatly more balance in my diet. My stomach has shrunken, my tastes have changed. I feel full longer after eating and have much more strength to push the plate away.
My calorie needs for today are near 3,000. There is no way I can eat that much.. unless I dig into a bucket of fried chicken. Which isn't going to happen anytime soon. I just can't allow myself to go back to what I was. I've worked way too had for this.

I hope you guys do well, I really do.

koosdel

Hmmm..... these are alll interesting thoughts. Thanks everyone!

I am not a big fan of working out though, and when I do I usually burn about 300 and I am sweating buckets. So maybe that's where it is hard for me. I don't have a lot of exercise calories to "eat back", if any.

I am also flabergasted at some people's calorie burning ability! 700 - 1000 calorie workouts?? What are you doing? How do you get such a high calorie burn??

I used to think my 450 cal burns were good. At least until I saw the cyborgs on here.
My advice; heart rate monitor, determination, and patience.

Janworkingitout

I'm still waiting for the day that I have a hard time eating all my calories :laugh: I just wish those people who have a hard time eating them all, could give me some of theirs!

reddcat

I recommend Zumba and 30 day shred. Both burn a lot in a short amount of time. Plus, Zumba is a lot more fun than hanging out on a treadmill half the day.

LimeyTart

I have a hard time making my calories frequently. I can't ever get anywhere close to getting through my exercise calories either. I eat a LOT of fruits and veggies with lunch and dinner. So I'm stuffed, but my meal total might be 300 calories. I could eat less produce I suppose. But I don't really like much outside of produce, cheese, chicken and salmon. I try to avoid processed foods/carbs, so that restricts me even more.

Divabonita88

i pretty much Sike my mind by increasing my calories to about 1400-something on the mfp profile.. and now i'm always closer to the 1200 range...it's worth a try

christine24t

My BMR is 1957 calories, and I usually reach it every day or go over - I'm not sure why some people have trouble meeting it. I'm guessing it's because they eat lightly in the morning and then it's overwhelming at night to have to eat a lot of calories. That's why I try to eat a lot of fruit or sides of veggies with my meals to add in those calories.

abalicious

lol I'm at 1500ish and its so easy to hit! but sometimes, especially eating back exercise calories, I find it hard to reach the full 1500

capricorn144

I'm on year four of maintaining a healthy weight, and eating.. umm.. better. At first, it was difficult. I have no idea how much I ate before. I could easily eat an entire pizza, a box of bread sticks and a two liter of Pepsi for dinner. Not counting the three or four hot dogs for lunch, dozens of Mountain Dews, and donuts.

Now, I have somewhat healthier foods. Defnatly more balance in my diet. My stomach has shrunken, my tastes have changed. I feel full longer after eating and have much more strength to push the plate away.
My calorie needs for today are near 3,000. There is no way I can eat that much.. unless I dig into a bucket of fried chicken. Which isn't going to happen anytime soon. I just can't allow myself to go back to what I was. I've worked way too had for this.

I hope you guys do well, I really do.

I so want to be in that long term maintenance place and not blow it this time. [Where I go back to old large portion habits.]
congrats on your success and determination.
:happy:

stefraab

I always question those posts... if you find it hard to eat 1200 calories, why are needing to lose weight anyway? If you ate like that all the time (provided it was healthy food) you'd be skinny as a rail!

But I guess if they're exercising a TOOOOON - like 800 calories - it'd be a bit hard to eat that all back. I guess. I can eat 2000 cals pretty easily.

melsinct

I need to hit 1700 calories a day. On days like today, I entered all of my meals and have 500 calories and 13 grams of fat leftover and I am not sure how to fill that void. The easy thing to do would be to pound a Snickers bar, some ice cream, a few glasses of wine or beer, but I am trying to eat healthy. That's where the difficulty comes in for me. I know of plenty of foods/drinks with empty calories I can fill that hole with but it is tough when you are looking for quality calories.

Just for the record, this happens to me once every few weeks or so. By no means do I struggle finding enough to eat daily! Also, I thought the same thing as many of you when I first started MFP, but I was also only eating 1200 calories a day and (literally) starving. Live and learn!

TourThePast

I entered all of my meals and have 500 calories and 13 grams of fat leftover and I am not sure how to fill that void. The easy thing to do would be to pound a Snickers bar, some ice cream, a few glasses of wine or beer, but I am trying to eat healthy.

If you're after "Quality" calories (love that term by the way) how about a handful of brazil nuts? Packed full of calories, but also high in protein, healthy fats and micronutrients.

Or maybe a snack of hummus with carrots and celery?

fsugirl26

It drives me crazy when people post something like "I can't eat my 1200 calories" because obviously, none of us got to this point by not being able to eat enough food. I think subconsciously people force themselves to believe they're not hungry so their weight loss is more aggressive. I can't imagine a 200+ lb person having difficulty eating at least 1200 calories a day; even when I was over 200lbs, I was always hungry when I had that much of a deficit. Obviously it's different for someone who is smaller and has less weight to lose, then I can understand how 1200 could be hard to reach on some days...

graysmom2005

I think I am just jealous... but I see lots of people on here saying that it is hard for them to get up to their 1,200 calorie goal for the day because they just aren't hungry enough or they have already eating a large volume of food.

I don't get it. It's hard for me to stay under 1,200 calories let alone get up to 1,200 calories....

Am I alone here???

I hear you...and I'm one of those annoying people. :-D Now I LOVE food, and think about it constantly. Let's get that out of the way. 1200 calories alone would starve me. I workout though...in fact after losing the weight I became an instructor....so netting 1200 is a ton of work. Because it can't be yummy junky food...or lots of carbs (wish it was! LOL!) Today I'll burn over 1000 calories, so I have to eat at least 2200 calories. And it can't be candy or fries. So it actually is challenging...crazy as it sounds. I could eat all that with a big Thai take-out, but the sodium/fat etc would be hurtful. It's such a crazy balance. Exercise is key...not the amount I do, but in order to not be eating like a mouse it's the only way to give more wiggle room and still lose weight. :-)

TourThePast

obviously, none of us got to this point by not being able to eat enough food.

For some of the people on this site, "this point" is a life threatening eating disorder, and yes they did get to that point by not being able to eat enough food.

stefraab

I think I am just jealous... but I see lots of people on here saying that it is hard for them to get up to their 1,200 calorie goal for the day because they just aren't hungry enough or they have already eating a large volume of food.

I don't get it. It's hard for me to stay under 1,200 calories let alone get up to 1,200 calories....

Am I alone here???

I hear you...and I'm one of those annoying people. :-D Now I LOVE food, and think about it constantly. Let's get that out of the way. 1200 calories alone would starve me. I workout though...in fact after losing the weight I became an instructor....so netting 1200 is a ton of work. Because it can't be yummy junky food...or lots of carbs (wish it was! LOL!) Today I'll burn over 1000 calories, so I have to eat at least 2200 calories. And it can't be candy or fries. So it actually is challenging...crazy as it sounds. I could eat all that with a big Thai take-out, but the sodium/fat etc would be hurtful. It's such a crazy balance. Exercise is key...not the amount I do, but in order to not be eating like a mouse it's the only way to give more wiggle room and still lose weight. :-)

See this makes sense...

rebelontherun

Sometimes I have a hard time with hitting 1200, but a lot of times it's hard to stay under 1800, it all depends.
Usually if someone isn't hungry enough, chances are their metabolism is really slow. About 4 years ago, I was able to go about my daily routine and literally not have my first meal until 4pm. But my metabolism was absolutely screwed up.

Now I eat every few hours, so it's about normal right now.

I noticed that most of the time, getting 1200 NET calories is hard, because I tend to do double time at the gym at night, and I don't want to have to eat over 600 calories at 10pm, so some people may be talking about situations like that, although I have seem some that just don't eat 1200 overall calories.

Definitely not something to be jealous of though

llkilgore

I always question those posts... if you find it hard to eat 1200 calories, why are needing to lose weight anyway?

I needed to lose weight because I'd been eating way too much insulin spiking refined sugar and flour and other processed foods, because I often snacked mindlessly when I wasn't hungry, and because I hadn't worked out in years. It isn't difficult to exceed 1200 calories on a diet that allows liberal access to snack cakes and cola. It was only after I not only changed my eating and exercise habits, but became habituated to the changes, that I began to sometimes have some difficulty eating all of my calories. I don't feel like I'm on a restrictive diet anymore. 1200 calories plus another 100 - 200 exercise calories is plenty of food now that I've blunted my sweet tooth and weaned myself off the junk.

sbwood888

NOPE! You are NOT alone! I struggle each and EVERY day...and many times I fail. I just love to eat and I guess I am not content eating a truckload of vegetables everyday. I like food waaaayyyy too much! :sad:

dmaciejewski

I'm with you.!!! If everyone posting on here had a hard time eating....why are they needing to lose weight.
I am always thinking about food....I can easily meet my 1740 calories.....

I wish I never thought or enjoyed food so much!