Struggling to meet my intake goals

Adieux
Adieux Posts: 17 Member
edited October 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I'm new to MFP, looking at losing about 70kg's (about 155 pounds). I've changed my diet completely from what it used to be and I am enjoying it heaps, but what I'm noticing is that I'm struggling to meet my calorie intake as defined here on MFP.

For example this is what I had yesterday (and the stats for the day before were lower than this too):
Breakfast - 2 pieces of Helga's Mixed Seed toast w/ margarine and vegemite
Snack - Teriyaki chicken sushi
Lunch - Chicken salad w/ rice, lettuce, capsicum (peppers), grated carrot, olives, onion
Dinner - Rice w/ ham, capsicum (peppers), grated carrot, olives, onion
Supper - Yoplait Forme Vanilla flavoured yoghurt

TOTAL - CALS 1,187 | CARBS 153 | FAT 21 | PROTEIN 95
GOAL - CALS 1,820 | CARBS 250 | FAT 61 | PROTEIN 68

My intention was to have grilled pork with the salad for dinner but my gosh, there is no way I could have fit it in. And I know that the above isn't that varied in terms of food but I haven't done a grocery shop in 2 weeks so my options were limited (with the sushi being from a place near my work and the salad - minus the rice - made on the spot at Foodworks). However I've now done a little grocery shopping and have planned my meals for the day and it looks like this:

Breakfast - Muesli with low fat yoghurt and blueberries
Snack - Almonds
Lunch - Subway 6" beef and salad on wheat, no cheese + banana (was going to double the beef because I need the iron)
Snack - Nectarine
Dinner - Pasta (whole) w/ olive oil, sundried tomatoes, olives, four bean mix, onion, herbs, tomato paste and shredded turkey breast (I made this up so the calorie count/fat content may not be entirely accurate but it is very close)

TOTAL - CALS 1,308 | CARBS 183 | FAT 40 | PROTEIN 64
GOAL - CALS 1,820 | CARBS 250 | FAT 61 | PROTEIN 68
Note that I could only carry 2 large bags of groceries home so I focused on getting my breakfasts and lunches sorted out more so than dinner. I have chicken breast, pork, pork mince/ground pork, chicken schnitzel and kievs in the freezer from before I made the change so I can use those. I have plenty of rice and pasta and will be grabbing some vege's out today.

So as you can see I'm well under my goals and I'm absolutely full, so I don't know what to do. Getting it up to 1,308 was a struggle in itself. Do I need to be meeting that goal? And if I do what changes can you see being made to get things up to scratch?
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