meeting my calories

knightreader

please help. i've lost 20 pounds on mfp, and another 20 before that, all since january 1. i had a lot to lose. and some more to go. i am on 1980 calories a day, but should probably recalculate that. my meal routine has been the same pretty much the whole time... an apple or yogurt or mini bagel for breakfast, a salad with cut up grilled chicken for lunch and a decent dinner, with some type of veggie or salad on the side, sometimes big hearty salad for dinner. snacks are wheat thins, fruits or veggies, or mini quakes. i drink anywhere from 8 glasses to a gallon of water a day, and usually nothing else. and i seem to be losing weight for the most part. but i am no where near my calorie goal! then throw in the exercise calories i earn, which i think i believe i should eat back, well, atleast half of them, and i am even further from my calorie goal. way, way under. then throw in sometimes i just don't have time for lunch, or aren't even hungry, like today. so today, i ate like just under 800 calories, wasn't hungry either, barely any snacks, and earned almost 500 exercise calories. should i not exercise on days i don't eat a lot? how do i force myself to eat? it doesn't make sense to me to eat just to get closer to my calorie goal, but if i have to, then what do i eat? i'm not gonna load up on oreos simply to get closer to my calorie goal.and if i try to lead up on healthy snacks, they aren't adding too many calories to my total either. what does everyone else do in this situation? part of me think i have lost 40 pounds so far, so just keep doing what i am doing, but the other part of me wants a life long change and the whole starvation mode thing creeps in. advice?

docktorfokse

I really doubt you're eating that little. Be sure you're accurate with your servings, but I suppose you can't be far off if you're still losing weight. At any rate, try grazing more often between meals to increase your calorie intake. Eat until you're full. Nuts are a great snack that's easy to increase calorie intake with. Also try drinking milk to add calories.

knightreader

i try to over estimate on servings, and have thought of that being part of the problem. but a turkey sandwich for lunch is a turkey sandwich for lunch, tough to over estimate two pieces of bread and three slices of turkey. the only things i don't log are things like ketchup, fat free salad dressing and stuff like that. everything else is accounted for. due to the high volume of water, it suppresses my appetite. thanks for the reminder on the nuts, i haven't been keeping up with my daily almond routine and will start that again. and not much beats a good glass of chocolate milk. thanks for the advice.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'd say: start by eating a REAL breakfast. 300-500 calories.

knightreader

I'd say: start by eating a REAL breakfast. 300-500 calories.

never much of a breakfast person, but what would you suggest? i don't really know what 300 to 500 calories for breakfast would be made up of. i feel as if my two eggs, sausage, cheese on a roll with pepper and ketchup is part of the reason i am counting calories in the first place...but damn, i do miss those.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'd say: start by eating a REAL breakfast. 300-500 calories.

never much of a breakfast person, but what would you suggest? i don't really know what 300 to 500 calories for breakfast would be made up of. i feel as if my two eggs, sausage, cheese on a roll with pepper and ketchup is part of the reason i am counting calories in the first place...but damn, i do miss those.

Real Oatmeal
a couple of eggs and turkey sausage
Yogurt with peanut butter
Whole grain toast with an egg
Whole grain toast with peanut butter and jelly,or a banana.
Something substantial!
A nice european breakfast maybe!

knightreader

never had "real" oatmeal, always been a instant quaker guy, but have thought of trying better quality stuff based on what ive read on mfp. thanks for the advice.

Sabine_Stroehm

never had "real" oatmeal, always been a instant quaker guy, but have thought of trying better quality stuff based on what ive read on mfp. thanks for the advice.

I like steel cut oats the best.