4000 calories....Not happening

BruteSquad

Preamble: I am 6'5" tall and over 350 lbs. My daily normal goal calories are 2770 and I am usually okay with 2500 or so NET calories. In three weeks I have lost 17 lbs. (For people looking at the numbers instead of percentage, that is less than 5% body weight from start.) I expect as I continue that the pace will slow a bit.

So here I sit at 3:15 in the afternoon. Due to work being crazy physical today and the fact that I will get a workout in when I get home, my net calories are going to be way low. I just cannot get 4000 calories (raw calories, NOT net) of food that I now eat down in a day. Even if I were to push it, I don't know if I can get over 3000 without being uncomfortable and feeling miserable. I won't do that. (Now about 6 months ago might have been a different story.)

I don't see a reason to skip the work out, and I will probably wake up starving in the morning. But I am okay with that. I am also assuming that our bodies, being analog not digital, will absorb a day of very low or very high net calories. As long as we don't string a bunch of them together. In other words, today is an anomaly and I plan to treat it as such.

Anyone else run into this type of problem.

BruteSquad

For those that might wonder, I don't know my exact weight and won't until Friday. I am guessing the neighborhood of 385.

Rae6503

You have a lot to lose, so it's probably not as important that you eat you exercise calories.

zacherybinx

How about 5-10 bananas spread out? They're approx 100 cals/piece give or take and if you need to just make up a few hundred cals that's a way to do it.

shady1987dre

Ice Cream and Cookies?

AmyLRed

How about 5-10 bananas spread out? They're approx 100 cals/piece give or take and if you need to just make up a few hundred cals that's a way to do it.

dont eat 5 or 6 bananas. They can constipate you!

Quasita

I have a similar issue. You have to increase slowly, a couple hundred a day. I adjusted my eating schedule so that I get a quality protein/fiber source every 2 hours because those are the nutrients I fall short on almost all the time. After a couple days, I easily hit my BMR of 2600, and with a workout putting it up around 3500 or more, it makes it easier to just add another 100 calories per snack.
Lots of us that are bigger feel like it would stuff us and make us uncomfy, and it WILL, but the fact is, this feeling doesn't mean you don't need it. I dealt with feeling full all of the time for about 3 days and then I started getting hungry every 2 hours like clockwork. My metabolism boosted so fast that I found myself waking up in the middle of the night needing to eat, the hunger pains were so severe.

Please add me if you like, I like to think I have decent snacks and meals, and it could help you figure out ways to add calories without hurting. I also have written a couple blogs about the subject, as my rehabilitation from eating disorder has taught me a lot.

I promise, if I can go from never feeling hungry at 1800 to eating 2600+ and still being hungry, all while losing more weight than I did at 1800, you can get there!!

jamiem1102

I have the same problem. I workout at night, so I watch my calories during the day. However, after I workout... I'm dropping around 600 - 800 calories, and I just can't put down that many calories after I've eaten an entire day of food. I try, but why do I have to be uncomfortable? It also doesn't seem healthy to stuff your face when you don't want to eat anymore. ...just sayin'.

NakedLunchTime

How about 5-10 bananas spread out? They're approx 100 cals/piece give or take and if you need to just make up a few hundred cals that's a way to do it.

EW, I'd be sick lol

UponThisRock

Don't worry about it. At your size, you can get away with a large deficit.

Also, being 1,000 cal off isn't really as great when you're talking about big numbers. 3,000 is 75% of 4,000. It's a big issue when you're talking about smaller numbers (i.e. 500 is only 33% of 1500). I'm not sure I stated this very clearly, but it makes sense to me, lol.

MB_Positif

don't sweat it at all. It's just one day and if it's a crazy busy day, it happens that we just don't get to eat. Hopefully you won't make a habit of it. Also, like you said, you may wake up hungry tomorrow. There is no reason you can't use up some of the calories tomorrow or throughout the week as well Good luck!

omma_to_3

I could eat an entire jar of mixed nuts in one sitting. Mmmmm......

RoanneRed

It's a rare occurrence, it won't hurt you.

jacksonpt

When I was being really anal about my macros (fats, mostly) I had a hard time hitting my cal goal on heavy workout days. Since then I've become a bit more relaxed about things and don't have any problems. I'm happier not being obsessive about every gram, and my progress has been pretty steady.

janalayn

As long as you don't do this every day you should be fine. I always use avocado as my go to when I need really calorie dense food.

Gazjam_1985

10 bananas??? What kind of monkey do you think he is??

Just take the calorie deficit and move on! You will just lose more weight for it, if it was every day then obviously reconsider but like you say it isnt, so dont sweat it.

lisaidem

I'm kinda in the same boat. I'm on a 2,200 total calorie diet (disregarding exercise calories), and it is hard to eat that much food when it is the food you are SUPPOSED to eat! It's easy as pie (literally) when it's pizza or...pie, but when it's lean meats and veggies, that's a butt-ton of food! Sometimes you just gotta say no, that's it.

Yanicka1

You have a lot to lose, so it's probably not as important that you eat you exercise calories.

What she said. Just do your best and forget the low fat low calories crap

vim_n_vigor

If your calories are low today, and you are extra hungry tomorrow, eat more tomorrow! Like you said, it isn't happening every day.

sarahgilmore

Yup at your current size you can safely get way with a larger deficit.

techigirl78

Yes. I have had days with 2000+ calories. I think making a weekly target for those types of weeks is good. I have days where I go over too, so it is a balance.

Quasita

How about 5-10 bananas spread out? They're approx 100 cals/piece give or take and if you need to just make up a few hundred cals that's a way to do it.

DO NOT DO THIS! Bananas are one of the worst fruits to overdo on. They are deceptively acidic and they are high on the glycemic index. If you wanted to do the increase with fruits, you'll need to do research, or I'd suggest adding them like I did... with babyfood. The fruit purees are free of sugar, taste decent, and a 50 cent jar is 200ish calories.

yesthistime

You have a lot to lose, so it's probably not as important that you eat you exercise calories.

This.

Eaglesfanintn

I wouldn't sweat it too much - and I definitely wouldn't overeat just for the sake of getting to that calorie amount. Just eat properly and count what you do eat. It's better to eat smart and be under on calories than to overeat and end up feeling bad.

fteale

I wish I had that sort of problem!

But as others have said, you have a lot to lose, so that kind of big deficit doesn't matter at this stage. When you get close to goal weight you do need to start paying more attention, I think, but at the moment, I would appreciate the fast weight loss!

amuhlou

Trail mix can be a pretty heavy hitter as far as calories go because the nuts are high in (good) fats and the fruits are high in sugars. Get one with cashews, fruits, and dark chocolate and I think you'd be able to down 500kcal pretty fast.

fteale

How about 5-10 bananas spread out? They're approx 100 cals/piece give or take and if you need to just make up a few hundred cals that's a way to do it.

dont eat 5 or 6 bananas. They can constipate you!

The opposite! Bananas are madly full of soluble fibre and make you poo.


I read a news story once about a man who was caught stealing diamonds and swallowed them as he was caught to avoid detection, and the police force fed him 50 bananas to make him s**t out the diamonds.

HauteP1nk

Eat when you are hungry.

athensguy

I weigh about 160 lbs. Yesterday I recorded 3662. Saturday I recorded 5072, and that was probably low since I was guessing about food from restaurants/outdoor BBQ stand/Beerfest. If I can do it, so can you!

auroranflash

Eat when you are hungry.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

:flowerforyou:

nicole0409

What I do is enter my work out routin in the morning (because I don't work out until after work). I then see how many calories I will have that day and then try and hit in enough meals and snacks to consume the calories. I normally fall short.