Having Trouble Eating The Required Amount Of Calories

Yes2HealthyAriel

To all you who say add oils, what if the thought of using oils to cook eggs or meat grosses you out? I would rather my food stick to a pan then use oil. Hmm maybe a spray form of some sort.

spray is just oil plus butter flavoring and compressed gases (to do the spraying).

It isnt the flavor of most oils that I cant stand, although I do hate olive oil. It is that I can see it pooling in the pan. It is seeing and knowing there is greasiness that bothers me. I guess to some that is gonna sound weird but it just does. Kinda like all fat has to be trimmed off of meat before I can even cook it. It grosses me out.

HenryIsTheMan

Eat. Breakfast.

Your only a couple hundred down and you can reach much closer to your goal if you just ate breakfast.

2 eggs and toast would boost you an extra 200+ calories.

Just eat breakfast, skipping it is really bad, unstable energy levels and hormones.

ladyraven68

To all you who say add oils, what if the thought of using oils to cook eggs or meat grosses you out? I would rather my food stick to a pan then use oil. Hmm maybe a spray form of some sort.

spray is just oil plus butter flavoring and compressed gases (to do the spraying).

It isnt the flavor of most oils that I cant stand, although I do hate olive oil. It is that I can see it pooling in the pan. It is seeing and knowing there is greasiness that bothers me. I guess to some that is gonna sound weird but it just does. Kinda like all fat has to be trimmed off of meat before I can even cook it. It grosses me out.

You don't need to add anything you don't like the taste of, but to increase calories just switch from Low cal to normal foods, add some cheese, add some nuts, if you eat higher calorie foods you can increase your calories without increasing the volume.

msjersey73

Don't ever force yourself to eat. Just eat slowly, and eat good healthy foods.
If you don't eat all 1200 calories, so be it. That just means that your body doesn't need any more food.
If you have a feeling of fullness a lot, then maybe talk to your doctor; that could be a sign of something serious.

jolinemariem

i wish i had that problem

msjersey73

Eat. Breakfast.

Your only a couple hundred down and you can reach much closer to your goal if you just ate breakfast.

2 eggs and toast would boost you an extra 200+ calories.

Just eat breakfast, skipping it is really bad, unstable energy levels and hormones.

^^^^^Exactly This^^^^^^^^

omanitshann

I think you should spread your meals out throughout the day. Try eating healthy foods that are higher in calories, like nuts. 1200 calories shouldn't be difficult.

essjay76

I am not trying to offend either, but if you're currently at 1200 calories to try to lose weight/pounds, how did you gain those extra pounds you're trying to lose? The guy who originally asked you that meant well, didn't mean to offend you either.

I don't know what your height or weight is, but surely you must have been eating more than 1200 calories a day before in order to gain weight. Perhaps you didn't know exactly how much you were eating when it caused the scale to go up.

It's not hard to eat that many calories. I eat that much before dinner LOL!

Add a little bit of healthy fat and protein to your meals - you'll feel satiated and reach your macros for the day.

AllTehBeers

Mash avocado, mix with salsa, eat with tortilla chips.

~500 calories

Baked beans

~300 calories

2 slices of bread, a piece of cheese and some turkey breast

~300 calories

2 eggs, toast

~300 calories

A full days menu that's over 1200 calories.

ShrinkingShawna

I had a really hard time staying over 1200 calories when I started eating healthy food. I still struggle some days, but I seem to have a routine down. One thing I did was switch chicken for lean beef, which gave me an extra 120 calories (*edit - this is lunch and dinner, so not to confuse). Also, you definitely want to eat breakfast, even if breakfast only consists of a string cheese or something small. Your body will get used to eating in the morning, and eventually you will feel hungry.

Don't force feed yourself. According to my dietitian, it will stretch your stomach. However, there are high calorie small things you can eat. If you can eat nuts, try 10 walnuts, 10 bazil nuts, or 20 almonds. These are all around 100 calories. Peanut butter can save the day some days. 2 tablespoons is 190 calories.

Avoid things that are fat free. Instead eat things that are low fat or light.

Eat your food in an order. I eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs. If I run out of room I've at least eaten the higher calorie food.

****And to those who don't understand how someone can become overweight and not eat a lot, I'm a perfect example. I ate once a day for years. The food I ate was horrible for you (fast food, fried food). I gained over 100 lbs eating like that. It's very hard to eat as much food as it takes to hit 1200 calories when it's all healthy. It's more food than I've ever eaten in my life.****

ShrinkingShawna

By the way, my diary is open if you want to take a look.

Helloitsdan

She should be closer to 2k IMO.
If she doesnt have a lot to lose then she probably wont drop the fat at such a low number.
shakes are a good way of doing this but OP should just start eating healthy foods.

Think 80/20!

80% whole foods and 20% junk.
Youll do just fine.

If you arent lifting weights or working out you probably wont get rid of the fat.
If you arent eating enough to fuel the body you wont get rid of the fat either.
Shoot for 1600 daily and youll do great.

CourtneyHollinger

I was having problems with this also but almost 3 weeks later and I'm eating 1500 calories. You can friend me and view my diary if you like. YAY! Another under eater like me!!!! It will take time but at first I just tried to get up to 1500 calories even if that meant a bowl of ice cream during the day but eating little snacks all day helps. I have lost 15lbs last time I checked almost a week ago in 14 days and I eat all the time drink tons of water and exercise all the time. Also cleaning is an exercise!

littlewitch1973

I have many days that I have a hard time getting my calories in, but that has a lot to do with the fact that I eat clean and healthy, and that makes me fuller longer. I'm not sure what advice to offer, other than to find what works for you. Snaking on healthy snacks might be beneficial - protein bars, veggies and dip, things like that. It will help your body metabolize food better and burn more calories.
Good luck!!

CourtneyHollinger

Oh ya protein shakes with milk will help

tripod271

I had a really hard time staying over 1200 calories when I started eating healthy food. I still struggle some days, but I seem to have a routine down. One thing I did was switch chicken for lean beef, which gave me an extra 120 calories (*edit - this is lunch and dinner, so not to confuse). Also, you definitely want to eat breakfast, even if breakfast only consists of a string cheese or something small. Your body will get used to eating in the morning, and eventually you will feel hungry.

Don't force feed yourself. According to my dietitian, it will stretch your stomach. However, there are high calorie small things you can eat. If you can eat nuts, try 10 walnuts, 10 bazil nuts, or 20 almonds. These are all around 100 calories. Peanut butter can save the day some days. 2 tablespoons is 190 calories.

Avoid things that are fat free. Instead eat things that are low fat or light.

Eat your food in an order. I eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs. If I run out of room I've at least eaten the higher calorie food.

****And to those who don't understand how someone can become overweight and not eat a lot, I'm a perfect example. I ate once a day for years. The food I ate was horrible for you (fast food, fried food). I gained over 100 lbs eating like that. It's very hard to eat as much food as it takes to hit 1200 calories when it's all healthy. It's more food than I've ever eaten in my life.****

Well said. This is absolutely true! Easy to have a high caloric untake when you're eating junk. Takes much more thinking/planning to eat healthy but so worth it! BTW, good-looking Diary!

pichild

I am having to learn to eat and not drink my calories. I have been doing this for about a week and a half and have seen some amazing progress. it has always offended me that people have thought that I just ate my way up to almost 400lbs and in part I did with my food choices. I also had the contributing factor of a tumor on my pituitary gland.

when I got pregnant with my daughter about 3 years ago I did not want to eat. My husband had to force me to eat for her sake. Since she has been here I have been drinking about a 2 liter of mountain dew a day and eating almost nothing. Still was not loosing so when I started this journey at 340 l cut the sugar soda switched to diet and water. I am now at 316 as of my last weigh in. Sometimes particularly when I am not home I have trouble getting to enough calories because I want to make healthy choices and not just eat junk. The reason i am doing this instead of weight watchers is because I could not eat that much food.

so goal 1 loose the soda
goal 2 eat the right number of calories

ShrinkingShawna

Thanks tripod

debnray4ever

I have the same problem. I have been in this for 2 weeks and only eaten one day what I needed to. I find if I eat 6 small meals a day I have more luck eating all I should. I have lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks so I guess it will still work even if you can't get all the food in but I try every day to do so. Adding "good" fats helps with the calories. Olive oil and avocado are good ones. I also count all my condiments rigidly and that helps a lot too. Good luck :happy:

ZugTheMegasaurus

I had the same trouble when I first started as well, but after a couple months, I figured out what worked and now I don't have difficulty. I don't like grazing all day (it makes me feel awful and stressed) so I tend to eat two meals of 500-600 calories per day and find that it's easier to hit that 1200 calories than trying to add up lots of little things.

And here's the answer to the people who inevitably come into these threads with "If it's so hard, how did you get fat in the first place??": not everyone gets overweight from gorging themselves all day. Some people (myself included) are not big eaters, but got overweight eating the wrong things. My entire diet before I started losing weight consisted of Doritos, pizza, sugary soda, and booze. I didn't eat a lot of it, but when things are 300 calories per ounce, it doesn't take a lot. When I switched completely to healthy/clean foods, I ate the exact same volume of food but took in very few calories that way. It took months until I was able to take in a greater amount of food to hit those calories; it's extremely difficult to increase that overnight without making yourself sick.