Calorie help - too little? But I feel FULL.

Marillian

While I can't really offer advice about your nutrition, I just wanted to say KUDOS on developing a healthy relationship with food. I was in a similar situation as you, and wow, life is so much better not relying on food for something other than fueling the body. Great work!!

HappyStack

I will say that shakes are usually quite dense and filling. Slow-burning, too, and therefore you might be better off substituting your protein shake for a cooked meal. By the looks of things you'll still get your daily protein.

Also try not to miss meals; a snack of a yoghurt & a piece or two of fruit still constitutes as a meal, albeit a smaller meal (you should be eating 5/6 of these a day; breakfast, 'snack,' lunch, 'snack,' dinner, 'snack' -- something whey based before bed, small portions like a small glass of non-fat milk with whey powder, is a good option).

It takes a while for the body to settle into routine, if you eat at the same time each and every day for a few weeks, your body will start to expect it and your tummy will begin to grumble around those set meal times.

This will happen regardless of whether you're exercising or not, but you do need to add in some good vigorous activity in order for your body to adjust this way and still lose weight whilst retaining lean mass.

At the moment, I'd venture to say the majority of weight you've been losing has been muscle mass (this is a lot easier to tell if you're at your 'ideal' weight and still 'pudgy.') and minimal fat.

maygans

Question: I know you said no sugar, but does this mean no refined sugar or no sugar at all (including fruit)? I ask because some people have different definitions of "no sugar" and will say they eat a no sugar diet, but they really just mean no added/refined sugars. I imagine you mean all sugar sources because you don't drink milk due to the natural sugars, but I figured I'd ask anyway

Tzippy7

The first thing that comes to mind are fats and more calorie dense foods like avocado, fat fish like mackerel and salmon. Do you have any restrictions when it comes to that?

this is exactly what i was going to say ! nuts also!

email4jenp

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the input!

No refined sugar and barely any natural sugar. There are only a few things that I eat that have sugar in them naturally. Every once in a while I will have some peanut butter when I make peanut sauce for my stir fry and any other things usually have with natural sugar usually has less than 1g. I'm very serious about no sugar right now.

Right now, I can't do fruit right now, eventually I will add berries and things back in. Right now I have to be super careful. Once my body gets back to normal, I will add things back in, in moderation, and make adjustments from there.

Again - I really appreciate the input! Gave me some ideas as to how to simply boost calories and I had not given much thought to nuts. And that might be a really easy, simple, on the go, way to help with that!

gp79

Just curious which metabolic disease you were diagnosed with? If any (maybe I misinterpreted your OP).

email4jenp

Fortunately, just Insulin Resistance - I don't have PCOS or anything like that. So what I have is reversible when I lose weight. She did some blood testing and a lot of my vitamins and minerals were severely depleted as well, so she is helping me restore those while I work on losing weight. Once i lose the weight, my body (If I understood correctly) when my body is at a good weight and not loaded down with all the junk, my body will better absorb the natural minerals and vitamins better.

Just curious which metabolic disease you were diagnosed with? If any (maybe I misinterpreted your OP).

suziecue66

Fortunately, just Insulin Resistance - I don't have PCOS or anything like that. So what I have is reversible when I lose weight. She did some blood testing and a lot of my vitamins and minerals were severely depleted as well, so she is helping me restore those while I work on losing weight. Once i lose the weight, my body (If I understood correctly) when my body is at a good weight and not loaded down with all the junk, my body will better absorb the natural minerals and vitamins better.

Just curious which metabolic disease you were diagnosed with? If any (maybe I misinterpreted your OP).

You've got a great doctor. Weight training will improve your insulin resistance too, but you are already doing that I think so that's good.

Kymmu

I agree with the woman who said it would help to open your food diary. But I can tell you this from my own experience. When I ate lots of carbs, I was hungry most all the time and would go over my calories easily and often. When I went low carb, high fat and high protein, I just don't get hungry and it's hard to eat all my calories. Yet I'm full and feel fine. I might add that I only count calories once and awhile. It's not the way I choose to live. But I check up on them from time to time.

When you add fat and protein and cut down carbs, you simply eat better and are more full. There are those who might disagree with that or dislike it. I don't care. It works for me. I wouldn't worry about calories unless they're way too low. You certainly need to eat at least 20 percent over your BMR.

I was going to reply but this says exactly what I feel....

mandylooo

Whilst your weight is still quite high (you said 295lb) , you can get away with eating fewer than 1200 cals/day, but yes, try not to go drastically under and I guess it's not something you wan to get in the habit of as you will need to up your intake as you get closer to goal.

donna_glasgow

I was the same, I struggled even to reach 1200 cals without feeing like I was force feeding myself .(and who wants to do that when your trying to lose weight) ... I added seeds and nuts as they are high in cals and you only need to eat a small amount also I added a few glasses of milk... hope thats helpful