Meeting minimum calories

sterlingraptor

Hey everybody,

I'm a 34 yo female, 5'6", and last weigh in about 10 days ago was 191lbs. I have fibromyalgia, IBS and am severely lactose intolerant. This is going to sound like a weird issue but because of what the fibro and IBS does to my digestive system, I hardly ever feel hungry. I lead a very sedentary life, but have added 30 mins of cardio 4/week and some strength/resistance calisthenics (no weights or bands yet) about 3/week. My calorie cap is 1300 which seems low but I seriously am not moving much (being realistic). I'm having a problem meeting a 1200 calorie minimum to prevent malnutrition. My physician got me a consult to a nutritionist and dietitian and I have great dairy alternatives like almond milk, and I know how to cook healthy, but I just can't seem to not end my day with something between 300-400 calories left. I keep getting the "warning" that I'm not eating enough. Any suggestions as I seriously don't want to make myself sick?

Is eating on a specific schedule a good idea whether I feel hungry or not? And about how many calories should a main meal like breakfast, lunch and dinner have? I normally hit 250 for breakfast, 300 for lunch and 500 for dinner. I aim for a 100 calorie snack between meals like a banana or some pretzels...but sometimes, I just am not hungry, can't finish the food, or am nauseated due to stomach issues or meds. My docs tell me to just work through it but I'd rather not get an ab workout from vomiting.

Any ideas?

kprep

I have an extremely hard time meeting minimum calorie amounts as well and my nutritionist gave me a couple of suggestions:
1. stick to a strict schedule and aim for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack
2. try to eat a lot of calorie dense foods
3. even if you feel sick and it's hard to finish meals now, try to keep pushing through it. eventually, that will allow your metabolism to re-adjust to eating more, which will prevent malnutrition and help heal your body

calorie dense foods: nut butter, protein shakes, most breads, avocados, bananas, full fat meats and cheeses, olive oil, condiments, nutritional bars (like clif, luna, etc), cereal, oatmeal, pasta, whole grains, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dark chocolate, yogurt, butter, nuts, beans, salad dressing, fruit juice, eggs, whey

tryclyn

Would drinking your calories (ie smoothies with protein powder) be easier? Can you make your own soups?

sterlingraptor

I will look into smoothies or shakes. I was actually thinking about giving Carnation Breakfast essentials a try. I have a fairly high protein diet, so don't want to overdo it there.

I make amazing soup! I just made a chili with ground turkey that was delicious. I am grateful everyday that I was taught how to cook.

sterlingraptor

Thank you. I plan to try setting up alarms on my phone to remind me to eat. I think something like a luna bar would help too.

Firefox7275

If you are consistently under calories it makes no sense to restrict snacks to 100 cals. IMO spread your calories out evenly through the day if you can eat 500 at dinner then you can surely eat more than 250 at breakfast even if it's only another 50 cals to begin with. It's not a race, hopefully you are changing your eating habits for life so if it takes you a period of weeks to hit your goal consistently so be it.

Hunger is not an early warning system for meal times, it is a sign that we have failed to give our bodies the nutrients it needs, but this system can fail even then. IMO forgot not being hungry and even try to work past being being 'full' if you know you have eaten too little, but certainly don't force food down if you genuinely feel like you could vomit.

If you can add in calorie dense foods like oily fish, nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, coconut or cocoa powder - these are all packed with other nutrients like minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids and fibre so, assuming they don't trigger your IBS, may help improve your overall health and wellbeing.

sterlingraptor

I'm not really limiting my snacks to 100 calories but more trying to not get physically ill choking down food when my stomach is roiling. So far bananas and nuts seem to stay down well but heavier foods don't. Mornings are really rough and it is more than a little hard to force myself to eat, so 250 from skipping breakfast is a major difference for me. I'm really hoping that my body adjusts and this gets easier over time.