<3 support group for women eating 2000+ calories per day <3

kamora1986

Hi Ladies!
I was trying to do the 1,200 calories a day thing, but really wanted to make a life change instead of just a quick diet fix. I run 6 days a week and strength train so consider myself fairly active. I've gotten used to eating low calories and am scared to increase my calories but I feel like it would be a lot more healthy life choice and better for my training. I'd love to be part of a supportive group and have friends like you ladies to learn how to eat 2000 calories without them being unhealthy calories or feeling guilty because I'm actually eating, haha.
And no, I was never overweight or ate a lot of greasy fast food, I just want to get in better shape and be more athletic, possibly with a half-marathon in my future!
Thanks

dawnemjh

Maybe we could have a recipe thread? "Healthy and nutritious food for active people" or something?

Anyway, I need your help!! I have a PUMPKIN sitting in my kitchen! What on earth do I do with a pumpkin?? I've never prepared one before... (I know I can google, but I don't even know if I need to peel the thing or not, and what is inside it and can I eat all of it??

HELP...

You can make pumpkin soup or pumpkin bread also, but it also depends what kind of pumpkin you have. SOme are beter for jack o laterns and cooking pumpkins are better for eating. Not sure what the diff. is. though. I have had some awesome pumpkin peanut butter soup. The pumkin is cooked like any winter squash, (i usually bake winter squash and then cut in half and scoop out the insides. )

stronger_faster

*This may have been discussed already, so apologies if it has*
But I was wondering, how do you ladies get enough calories and maintain a reasonable sodium level? I've recently been trying to pay attention to how much sodium I'm consuming and I'm finding it harder to stay around my goal on the days that I eat more due to working out and even on normal days. I try to stay away from overly processed foods (no one is perfect!) but I'm finding that my beloved dairy products and even eggs contain quite a bit of sodium...help!

jkuhn71

What a fantastic thread!

I'm thinking I need to start working my way up to about the 2000 calorie per day range. I'm currently eating around 1600, but started NROLFW a few weeks ago and I really started to notice this week that I'm hungry!!! I knew I was going to need to start eating more, but I was scared to make a jump and way overcalculate what I should up my calories to! Anyone want to take a stab at what they think I should be eating? I'm 40, 5'4" tall, weigh 136, and last body fat check had me at 22.8%. I do my NROLFW workouts 3x per week & typically add 30 minutes of cardio those days as well. I do either a 55 minute class at the gym (Les Mills' BodyCombat or BodyStep, typically) or a comparable workout at home (courtesy of my ever growing DVD collection) 3 other days of the week. And I take one day as a rest day.

I have a few other questions for you ladies. Did you gradually up your calories or just take the plunge and do it all at once?
Also - with weight lifting, I've heard that HRMs are NOT good for calculating your calories burned. From reading through the thread, I see a lot of you have the BodyFit or BodyBugg. Are they more accurate for weight lifting?

Thanks in advance for your input!
Jess

psych101

you can buy canned pumpkin?! Wow, New Zealand is waaaaaay behind in terms of food! hehe
I never buy the big grey pumpkins because I'm always worried that I'm going to chop my fingers off, but I love the butternut ones....mmm cut up and put into a curry mmmm

I've never had my diary open to anyone, I keep little notes in it, but the more that I think about it, the more I wonder whether I should just open the blimmin thing. I mean whats the worst that could happen, maybe I might convince my super low calorie MFP friends to eat more! Sometimes I look at my diary compared to others and mines like a page longer lol!! I'm also restricted as I use the iPhone app mainly so I can't spread it out to show Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack - I have to have Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks on my iPhone so my total snacks for the day are always an ENORMOUS amount of calories!

It peeves me off when people have "so and so was under thier calorie goal" and everyone cheers them on, so i check their diary and they hit about 700 calories for the day (total). Why encourage behaviour like that?! Maybe I need some new friends lol

The 1200's who can't reach their calorie goal really do annoy me, but I think its more a matter of not being educated enough in what kinds of food are both nutrionally and calorically dense - they just see the calories in a tablespoon of peanut butter and freak out! I also think that for many of them, eating whole foods enables them to feel full and not feel like continuing to eat for the first time ever - I think they want to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.

Thanks for the great comments about finally getting my A into G and enrolling for the nutrition course I'm super excited but nervous at the same time!

So today is a rest day for me, I completed some great speedwork during my run last night and was drenched when I was done. Aiming for about 2100 today woohoo for food!

SatelliteCrush80

I'm totally in for a recipe thread. I love to cook, but most of my recipes wouldn't fly for a lot of people on this site, too much real food in them, too many calories, etc. Haha

Hahaha, I know what you mean. I went back to 2% milk to help increase cals AND I use half and half in my coffee. *gasp*

tameko2

Jess -- Go gradual, add 200 and give it a couple weeks to see how you do, BUT if yuou're still hungry after the 200 I'd say go ahead and ahve 200 more anyway. Worst thing that can happen is you'll gain a pound one week right? Big deal, you can lose it.

Strength training makes me HUNGRY - I don't need extra food after cardio (just water) but strength training leaves me hungry for a day or two.

And I don't actually eat 2k every day - I'm not that big or that active and I'm not in maintenance yet. I'm set to 1680 before exercise. I'm just here because I prefer talking to the ladies who EAT.


STronger -- I don't bother with it. I just keep my water intake up on high sodium days to flush out the extra salt. I could care less if I gain a pound or two of water weight and I don't have high blood pressure or anything so it doesn't matter to me.

caveats

Lull at work today (thank God) ...

No, I don't have my diary open. At first, it was because I didn't think people would care to look. Now that I've read the forums more and I see that people will randomly look, it's more of I don't care to explain the food choices I make. I eat a wide variety of food -- everything from healthy, organic, locally sourced whole food (I love supporting my local farmers) to fast food (as in McDonald's, the worst of the worst, I have a weakness for Mickey D's fries that I give in to every once in a while). If anybody did care to look, I'm sure it'd confuse the heck out of them.

No, I don't generally look into other people's diaries. When I first started, I looked a few times out of curiosity to see how people were coming in under their calorie limits. That was often an exercise in confusion and depression. So I stopped. Besides, I'd rather engage in the forums.

I have a few other questions for you ladies. Did you gradually up your calories or just take the plunge and do it all at once?
Also - with weight lifting, I've heard that HRMs are NOT good for calculating your calories burned. From reading through the thread, I see a lot of you have the BodyFit or BodyBugg. Are they more accurate for weight lifting?

Took the plunge. I was tired and hungry at GROSSING 1200/day (while exercising. Geez.) I willfully and joyfully surrendered at all once. These days, I land around 1800/day on weekdays and 2200/day on weekends, but it's not really a product of planning, per se, as much as it's a product of aiming for 130g protein/day. The calories kinda just fall in line around those ranges when I'm trying to eat/drink all that protein and manage my macros.

I don't own a BodyFit/BodyBugg or any other type of HRM. Gotta pay off those student loans. Plus, I'm not convinced their usefulness is worth their price tags -- at least, for my personal goals. I'm "winging it" and doing fine; I can see the difference in the mirror as well as via tracking tape measurements, and I didn't have a lot to lose to begin with (mostly doing a combo of build strength/lower BF%; overall weight loss will come as a result of that).

Oishii

My diary is open to friends, but I accept all friend requests because friends can be deleted :laugh:

I think the recipe thread idea is great. In the UK, fortunately, we don't have half the cr@p in those ridiculous recipes. It takes me forever to find recipes with proper ingredients and I'd love to share them.

I'm finding it hard to eat enough healthy food while I'm off school. School food is excellent, but away from school I have to work harder at it.

jomatho

Thanks for the diary open/unopened input. You guys gave me some good insight and I agreed with all of you (for and against)! I am still on the fence, but I guess I will leave it open for now but change the stupid setting that alerts everyone that I completed it and I stick out like a sore thumb because I go over on a lot of days and no one else does. Very good points about low calorie friends, I have a hard time with this also, but thinking about leading by example is great.
Got in a great burn today. Someone posted a link to an article earlier, sorry can't remember who, and from that article it got me thinking about my weight lifting and that I still need to lose fat, but want to keep my muscle, so I googled weight lifting for fat loss and came across some good routines, one of which I tried today called the 2 day Intense Fat Loss and Muscle Toning Routine. Not sure it was put together by anyone certified to do so, but it looked fun so I tried it and it really kicked my butt. Here is the link if anyone is interested:
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/2-day-intense-workout.html
There was also a nice collection of all kinds of workouts here:
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/main.html
The one I did was under "workouts for women". So whoever posted that link earlier to the article, thanks, you spiced up my workouts for a little while!
So I have been under eating a little on purpose the last couple days (if you call 1600-1800 NET under eating, lol) to try to bust through this weight I have been at and I plan to jump it back up closer to the weekend, sort of zigzagging, I guess. I am also planning ahead since TOM is expected soon and I get ravenous right before that! I hope it works out okay, so far so good. I didn't plan on my burns being so high the last couple days though, Monday it was 3700 and yesterday 2800. I probably picked the wrong days to go lower, now my body will be stingy. I think the more I try to plan, the more I struggle.
Hope everyone is having a great day, gotta go eat !

stubbysticks

Personally I've been averaging 2000-ish since I started my weight loss last May. Only this past week have I decided to drop my calories, & that was mostly in response to an unexplained decrease in appetite that started a couple weeks ago. I felt like I was force-feeding myself to get to 1900 some days.

I'm giving the Spike Diet a go. I keep my workout schedule the same - lift 3 days alternated with running 3 days, 1 full rest day - but I have specific calorie targets that are staggered. The running days are my low days, 1350 calories, & the lifting days are the high days, 1850 calories per day. I'm shooting for 144-175g of protein on all days, then eat whatever else I want to get me to the target. Then one day a week I have Spike Day, where I eat/drink a minimum of 3600 calories to create a surplus & reset my metabolism. Been doing the spike day thing every weekend for a while, but am trying out the lower weekday calories to see how it goes. So far so good.

I don't track food here, I track it elsewhere & I honestly don't have time to go through peoples' diaries. However, I did go low carb for a while & on the other site I would occasionally go through my Atkins friends' food diaries to get ideas for stuff to eat.

PUMPKIN - I have a friend (from NZ, incidentally) who will put a whole pumpkin in the oven & roast it for several hours, THEN make the flesh into pumpkin soup. I imagine it's much easier to cut into that way.

I wear a Bodymedia Fit & to me the cost is justified because I keep very detailed records of everything I do. By have a relatively accurate record of what I'm burning each day & comparing it to my intake it helps me figure out what's working & what isn't, especially at times like now when I'm implementing changes to my routine.

spoiledwife12

My diary is open to my friends (feel free to add me- I need more like-minded friends). I don't really care who looks at it, though. I'm sure I shock a few people with the length of my entries. I eat a lot of fresh foods and homemade things.

I also don't care for the " under her calorie goal" feature. I have to concentrate on the big picture and not worry about red numbers.

I love this thread. It keeps me grounded. I admit, sometimes I'm tempted to cut calories thinking it will speed things up, but I know I shouldn't.

By the way, I just discovered Emerald cocoa-roasted dark chocolate almonds!! Heaven!!

robin52077

My diary is open to the public.
I eat what I want and don't give a crap who sees it. I complete it whether I am under or over, and I usually have some sort of explanation in the notes section if something was odd that day.

I also hate with a PASSION when people give a WTG on a diary that sucks. If it is under 1200, no congrats. And I hate people who say WTG or good job when my diary clearly sucks that day, like a huge 3000 cal greasy splurge.....
One time I was sick and had about 800 calories, half of which I probably threw up. Notes section said I was sick and dying (felt like). REAL friends said "I hope you feel better". The ones who said "way to go" just because it was "under" are no longer my friends. Either read it or don't bother to comment.

robin52077

By the way, I just discovered Emerald cocoa-roasted dark chocolate almonds!! Heaven!!

LOVE these. I had some today actually.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

*This may have been discussed already, so apologies if it has*
But I was wondering, how do you ladies get enough calories and maintain a reasonable sodium level? I've recently been trying to pay attention to how much sodium I'm consuming and I'm finding it harder to stay around my goal on the days that I eat more due to working out and even on normal days. I try to stay away from overly processed foods (no one is perfect!) but I'm finding that my beloved dairy products and even eggs contain quite a bit of sodium...help!

my sodium is through the roof..I add salt to everything. literally. I'm sure with dinner alone, a homemade meal, I have 125% of my daily sodium plus my other food and I'm likely at 300%. I just don't really concern myself with it but that's not a great answer. sorry i couldn't be of better help. I try to drink enough water to stabilize my sodium levels though.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

My diary is open to friends, but I accept all friend requests because friends can be deleted :laugh:

I think the recipe thread idea is great. In the UK, fortunately, we don't have half the cr@p in those ridiculous recipes. It takes me forever to find recipes with proper ingredients and I'd love to share them.

I'm finding it hard to eat enough healthy food while I'm off school. School food is excellent, but away from school I have to work harder at it.

Pack nuts...peanuts are relatively cheap and 2-3 oz will run you 320-480 calories. They're super portable and also quick to eat. Dried fruits with no added sugar are another good choice. With a little planning it gets easier!

I would recommend just purchasing a huge package of nuts of some sort and putting 2 oz in a bag and grabbing one every day...and a banana or apple as well with a few tbsp of peanut butter. You can scoop it onto a plastic spoon and drop it in a ziploc. easy peasy!

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

BUT because I eat more than 1200 calories I can have BOTH junk AND nutritious food. I had a mini snickers 2 days in a row (my coworker brought candy) and that's FINE because I also had things like vegetable soup with sausage, dark leafy salad, etc etc. ..........

By the way I would love a recipe thread that is nutritious but not DIET food - I don't *need* 200 calorie meals so those recipes just annoy me.

I've had candy several days in a row..today were kisses. I had a mini 3 musketeers one day and milky way another .I get it from random people and hang on to it for a craving.

Because I like eating several times a day I actually like the 200 calorie "meals" but to me they are snacks and not meals per se.In any case, I do like getting ideas that are low cal. At the end of the day I still eat 2100+ 95% of the time so it isn't about "diet food" for me but about being able to EAT. I have an oral fixation thing going where i want to eat all the time.

tameko2

Giiirrrls did you see this?!?! Is this the "good" tdee monitor? It is right? Omg I am terribly tempted.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/378241-get-a-bodymedia-fit-link-for-50-off-right-now-exp-10-31

Oishii

Unless you're willing to correct every single entry, it's nigh on impossible for Brits on here to track sodium properly! Too few people can convert the grams our salt is measured in into the mg for mfp, plus some packaging here only has salt content, not sodium, so unless you're willing to convert, no data at all there. So, in answer to the question, I haven't the foggiest!:grumble: :laugh:

tameko2

BUT because I eat more than 1200 calories I can have BOTH junk AND nutritious food. I had a mini snickers 2 days in a row (my coworker brought candy) and that's FINE because I also had things like vegetable soup with sausage, dark leafy salad, etc etc. ..........

By the way I would love a recipe thread that is nutritious but not DIET food - I don't *need* 200 calorie meals so those recipes just annoy me.

I've had candy several days in a row..today were kisses. I had a mini 3 musketeers one day and milky way another .I get it from random people and hang on to it for a craving.

Because I like eating several times a day I actually like the 200 calorie "meals" but to me they are snacks and not meals per se.In any case, I do like getting ideas that are low cal. At the end of the day I still eat 2100+ 95% of the time so it isn't about "diet food" for me but about being able to EAT. I have an oral fixation thing going where i want to eat all the time.

yeah you and I are opposite eaters -you like to put food in your mouth all day long and I prefer a couple big meals.