Struggling to eat enough

mell6355

I have been exercising for a loss of 500-700 calories a day. My Calories to start for the day are 1550. I am having a hard time eating the extra calories for my exercising. Twice a week I am doing extra work outs for around 1200 calories, I can't comfortably get close to eating that much. Do you think that I should add shakes or someother easy to eat foods to get my calories up? I have been trying to eat more in the morning and eat more of a breakfast for dinner, so I could eat more at night but I don't "see" the benefit to that. I feel like I am at the gaining muscle portion of my weight loss rather than the physical fat loss and I don't feel hungry through out the day.

Hopefully that is enough information to get some feedback, if not I will add more!

Thanks for your help!

GauchoMark

what are you eating? Just eat more calorie dense foods.

poeco76

Well, if it helps, I don't eat back all of my exercise calories - and I'm sure there are others who don't as well. Certainly you don't want to starve yourself, and if you're trying to build muscle not eating enough will just take lean muscle from your body (and I'm sure you don't want that either). If your base is 1500 cals, you could probably get away with just eating some of them back. For example, my base is 1400, I burn between 1,000-3,000 cals most days, and I eat between 1750-2200 cals a day. It's probably more important to find out what your BMR is and worry about eating that many calories each day so that you're getting, at minimum, what you need just to stay functional and alive.

As for ways to get more cals, just find calorie dense foods that aren't junk food. Peanut butter comes to mind - you could put it on an apple, or celery. You could have protein shakes too if you think you are lacking protein. There are lots of way to get what you need. Perhaps even a stop in at a local nutrition supplement store could be beneficial.

geekyjock76

How much do you weigh and how many pounds are you trying to lose? 1550 calories may be enough to eat, although I would stop the 1200 calorie exercise days as that is unnecessary and overkill towards the total deficit.

Your TDEE may be 2100 calories (just a guess since I don't know your stats). By eating 1550, you are already establishing a 550 calorie deficit. If you do 1200 calories of exercise, that then becomes a ridiculous 1750 deficit with a possible net of 350 calories.

mell6355

I eat egg/turkey or ham sandwich, breakfast burrito, oatmeal and fruit, something filling for breakfast.
Yogurt and a fruit twice a day for snack.
I eat a chicken something salad with low fat dressing, or a sandwich for lunch.
Cereal, or something low carb for dinner. I looked back and it looks like everytime I just eat a little of what my family is eating I get closer to my "needed" calories. But they eat things that I have eaten for the last 10 years and look where I am! I have 3 kids and they are all very healthy sizes, I make sure that they eat healthy foods with their "hotdogs, cheese sandwiches, waffles" normal stuff. They are all very active and have lovely little people metabolisms!

Maybe there is something healthy that will help me get extra calories in the morning, but not be so much that I can't get it all in! Adding peanut butter to my snack sounds like a good idea, I didn't think of that! I am usually right on the money or a little over the suggested protein.

My 1200 calorie exercise is bike riding, or roller skating nights! I would hate to give those up! I usually feel really good the next day and look forward to them....