Falling Under Calorie Goal

AmandaB4588

Hello everybody!

I am new to this site and already love it. My only problem is that I continue to fall UNDER my calorie goal. I eat enough food (or at least I think so) and am wondering what I should do.

My goal is to eat 1200 calories a day, and my normal day is something like this...
Breakfast: Egg whites, turkey bacon, coffee--- 126 calories.
Lunch: Wrap (tortilla, turkey, hummus, and avocado,) and a good helping of fruit or veggies--- 226 calories
Dinner: Various things. Tonight I had a chicken sandwich on portobello mushrooms rather than bread (thanks to Biggest Loser,) a salad, and roasted tomatoes---- 550 calories

This was a bigger dinner for me than usual, and I was STUFFED afterwards. I usually will eat a chicken breast, side salad, and some green veggie. I am busy all day so keep my meals as simple as possible. When I snack, I will eat celery sticks, strawberries, or yogurt. I never reach my calorie, carb, or fat goal but go over on my proteins.

Does anybody have any advice?

toots99

Nuts!

Healthy, and full of "good" fats!

AmandaB4588

Great idea--- I was eating walnuts in my yogurt for awhile with blueberries. This is something I LOVE for a snack or for breakfast, but I freaked when I discovered how many calories they are. What nuts do you think are the best?

toots99

Almonds are my favorite! Just plain old almonds!

jennbarrette

adding a glass of milk is a nice way to add nutrition and a few extra calories. You could also add a healthy snack in like apple w/ peanut butter, nuts, veggies and dip, etc

And if you are under on carbs you could add a piece of whole grain toast to breakfast.

mommy22

I hope I don't get kicked off the site for this, but it sounds like your diet is highly nutritious and if you're sure you're full (without taking appetite suppressants or other medication), not pregnant or nursing, you shouldn't feel like you have to ingest extra calories just to reach 1200, which is a completely arbitrary number based on the average woman's BMR. Isn't the first rule of healthy eating to not eat unless you're hungry?

Try not to worry about it, is all I say. Most likely if you had a little less than your calorie goal one day, you'll feel a little hungrier the next morning and make up for it then. It'll balance out.

BrendaLee

You could switch out the wrap for more calorie-dense bread. You could also opt for the whole egg rather than just the whites.

I also kind of agree with mommy's post above mine- I don't think we should be eating when we're full, but for some of us (overeaters and anorexics) our full signal doesn't know whether it's coming or going, so the 1200 calorie rule comes in handy.

AmandaB4588

I have thought that as well but many times I eat far less than my calorie goal. Also, I do not eat to make up for everything I do in the gym. For instance, I did circuit training and the treadmill yesterday and burned about 500 calories. I should be eating those on top of the 1200 but I still fell below the original goal. I am really concerned about going into "starvation mode."