Cannot hit 1200kcal most days, help me!

katydee13

I'm 20 years, just under 200lbs but I've never eaten all that much - I just hate exercise. MFP has suggested a daily limit of 1200 calories, but I tend to hang around the 1000-1100 mark, can anyone suggest how to boost calories in a healthy way? I don't just wanna stuff on chocolate!!

Any help would be soooo appreciated, I'm a total noob at this

x

drmerc

if you've never eating 1200 calories why do you need to lose weight?

briznik

Why don't you open up your diary? A lot of people on here could probably help, but not if they don't know what you're eating.

1ConcreteGirl

If you eat 3 PB&J sandwiches per day, you'll probably be OVER 1200 cals. It isn't tough to get those calories, and moreover, you probably need more than 1200 for your body to function efficiently.

djshari

Why don't you open up your diary? A lot of people on here could probably help, but not if they don't know what you're eating.

This, though a quick suggestion would be add a few nuts or something like an avocado in if you haven't already, it won't take much to bump you up.

MaraDiaz

If you are correct in your assessment of what you eat every day you seriously need your metabolism checked. No one should be able to sustain 200 pounds on 1200 calories a day. No one.

DavPul

Drink a tall glass of chocolate milk every night before bed. Instant 400 cals and a tasty treat to boot. Next excuse please

Shabbyrose

What's wrong with chocolate? If you have calories left eat it. Honestly there are loads of posts just like this every day. So forgive people if they seem flippant. It's a newbie mistake to no want to eat. Read the revised roadmap to see why this isn't good for you. EAT GIRL EAT! Skinny people love food just as much as fat people!

slimsummerr

Haha seriously I had the same problem, in fact I posted this same thing not long ago! I had a knee injury a few weeks ago and yesterday was my first chance to exercise. Previous to this I ate around 1000 calories as I wasn't burning or working out so didnt feel i needed more. Right, being a sporty creature, I would definately advise you to start pumping up the jam! Start of small, VERY SMALL, you don't want to be put off or anything. I suggest maybe an hour moderate pace walk after dinner in the evening, or something else low impact. You can also increase this to 2 maybe 3 hours of walking, which you can spread out throughout the day. When i say walking, its not strolling, quite a quick walk and move your arms, alternating your speed to how you feel (maybe 5 mins slower and then 2-3 mins faster). Another exercise I found much better than say running which gives me a headache sometimes is cycling. Just go for a half an hour bike ride, find a nice route take a packed lunch and enjoy the scenery - i promise you will not be disappointed!! On the food, maybe eat a small bowl of soup before lunch and dinner, and then have your dinner and lunch, this would add 200-300 calories, plus if its homemade and healthy it won't be at all bad for you! Increase your portion size, not by much but bulk it up with vegetables and high density foods. With your breakfast I find drinking a fruit smoothie adds some calories in a healthy way too. Just make sure your calories are coming from healthy, mostly unprocessed foods and not crap!
Best of luck with everything! X

Tdacks

if you've never eating 1200 calories why do you need to lose weight?

That is a bit impolite and uninformed, if I may say so. Personally, I gained weight by eating too much bad food, and that takes years to put on and just as long to take off. Now I am overweight. When I eat healthy food and track every single thing daily, I still have trouble getting 1200 calories a day. Especially if I'm trying to get 1200 net, and have exercised that day. Think about a big serving of grilled veggies and chicken, like I had yesterday. It was very healthy, very filling, very tasty, high protein, and low on calories.

For the OP, I have found that saving a healthy low carb snack for about an hour before bed helps me get over the 1200 minimum. For example, I eat 2 servings of lowfat cottage cheese, even if I'm not really hungry right then. The protein and fat keeps me from waking up in the middle of the night from hunger.

Tdacks

Drink a tall glass of chocolate milk every night before bed. Instant 400 cals and a tasty treat to boot. Next excuse please

I love chocolate, but that much caffeine and sugar right before bed would keep me up all night long (and not in the fun way). I'm not the OP, though, so maybe this will work.

sarahstrezo

Drink a tall glass of chocolate milk every night before bed. Instant 400 cals and a tasty treat to boot. Next excuse please

Ditto this ^^^!!! Or.....a turkey sandwich with some avocado. String cheese, nuts, nut butter.
I have a feeling you are WAY underestimating what you eat. I think most people do. Do you weigh/measure? Do you make sure you keep track of all 'extras" like butter and ketchup? How about drinks? Lots of people take in a ton of calories with drinks alone....not even realizing it.

Topher1978

if you've never eating 1200 calories why do you need to lose weight?

^^^^ this.

mtiheartmuscle

#1 - you're probably not eating enough calories. If you don't eat properly, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard it's fat.
#2 - eat often and clean. 5-6 small meals per day
#3 - protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes OR throw a bunch of spinach, banana's, strawberries (feel free to create your own!) throw it into a blender and drink your calories.

lizziebeth1028

Open up your diary for more input!

Eat more calorie dense foods - Nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, avocados, cheeses. There is nothing wrong with a few small pieces of chocolate either. Don't us 'lite' foods or low calorie, fat free foods...eat the real deal.

RawTriGal

Fruits are calorie/vitamin dense, veggies & greens nutrient dense, but low calorie. I used to struggle to get in 1200 when eating clean, high raw but found by starting the day with a green smoothie I was able to easily get it in. I'd plan ahead rather than adding up the day and finding yourself at a deficit. So tonight, plan out tomorrow so that you can ensure you get it in. : )

jjrichard83

If you are correct in your assessment of what you eat every day you seriously need your metabolism checked. No one should be able to sustain 200 pounds on 1200 calories a day. No one.

possibly a gross underestimation of calories eaten? I've done that before...

Eat foods that are dense in nutrition- and avoid all calories that are "empty" (cookies, sugars, etc). Also the other poster Lizz is right. Nuts and some oils are great! It doesn't take many seeds and nuts to add an extra 400 calries so watch out!

Faye_Anderson

Weigh and list ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING you eat and drink in a day and see if it is still under 1200. You'd be amazed how much people underestimate

red_road

if you've never eating 1200 calories why do you need to lose weight?

RachMarie247

if you've never eating 1200 calories why do you need to lose weight?

Exactly. Impossible to be over weight even if you didn't excirsise.

crystalflame

Nuts, oils, avocado, as stated above... Also, drink your calories. The full feeling goes away very quickly with liquids, so it's easy to consume an extra hundred calories just with a glass of juice or milk.

But I also second (third? fourth?) all the comments about you tracking accurately. At your weight, you should be losing pretty rapidly on that few calories. Make sure you're measuring, weighing, and logging correctly - if you are, you really should go see a doctor.

BiohazrD

#1 - you're probably not eating enough calories. If you don't eat properly, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard it's fat.
#2 - eat often and clean. 5-6 small meals per day
#3 - protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes OR throw a bunch of spinach, banana's, strawberries (feel free to create your own!) throw it into a blender and drink your calories.

#1 is a myth, #2 is optional. Frequency or how you space your meals is largely irrelevant. The "eat small and often to keep your metabolism up" is also a myth.

To the OP, you are most certainly severely underestimating how much you are eating. Weigh everything, enter everything, ensure that what you are entering matches your nutrition labels. 90% of entries on this site are bogus, you will think you're hitting your goals when you're several hundred calories over. If you are eating a generic, such as fruit, or meat (chicken, etc), use the USDA to find the nutritional info and verify what you are entering agrees with that information.

Make your macronutrient goals similar to this
Carbs - 100g/day min
Fat - (Daily calorie goal / 4) / 9 - For you: (1200 / 4) = 300 / 9 = ~33g fat
Protein - Whatever you have left over

now_or_never13

Drink a tall glass of chocolate milk every night before bed. Instant 400 cals and a tasty treat to boot. Next excuse please

I love chocolate, but that much caffeine and sugar right before bed would keep me up all night long (and not in the fun way). I'm not the OP, though, so maybe this will work.

Chocolate milk really doesn't have that much caffeine. Drink regular milk than... or juice.... eat a handful of nuts a day... use olive oils when you cook/on salads.... switch to full fat./calorie versions of things... etc.

There are many ways to get to your calorie goal. Ensure you are actually weighing everything you eat and measuring all liquids. Even when you consume an entire package of something as they are not always correct (for example, I had a protein bar today that said 70g on the bar... it was actually 78g). Not properly measuring portions can add hundreds of calories. Use weight with solids, measuring cups/spoons with liquids.

chimp517

If you are correct in your assessment of what you eat every day you seriously need your metabolism checked. No one should be able to sustain 200 pounds on 1200 calories a day. No one.

Correct, could be something like a thyroid issue. Go to Dr. and get physical with bloods. At 1100 cals per day you should lose weight even if your only exercise in the day was preparing your meals.

chocl8girl

mtiheartmuscle

#1 - you're probably not eating enough calories. If you don't eat properly, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard it's fat.
#2 - eat often and clean. 5-6 small meals per day
#3 - protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes OR throw a bunch of spinach, banana's, strawberries (feel free to create your own!) throw it into a blender and drink your calories.

#1 is a myth, #2 is optional. Frequency or how you space your meals is largely irrelevant. The "eat small and often to keep your metabolism up" is also a myth.

Oh, really? I've actually done studies on those items above and the first study I did was only eating 1,200 calories per day (non-clean food, basically anything I've wanted) and only ate 3 meals per day - I gained 13 pounds and lost my abs and muscle. When I went back to my routine of eating clean and often,...well, take a look at my profile picture. That was right in the middle of my test.

alanlmarshall

#1 - you're probably not eating enough calories. If you don't eat properly, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard it's fat.
#2 - eat often and clean. 5-6 small meals per day
#3 - protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes OR throw a bunch of spinach, banana's, strawberries (feel free to create your own!) throw it into a blender and drink your calories.

#1 is a myth, #2 is optional. Frequency or how you space your meals is largely irrelevant. The "eat small and often to keep your metabolism up" is also a myth.

Yes, well said, and protein shakes don't make much sense for someonte who does not exercise.

amydrupert

I started eating healthy to be healthy not to be skinny or count calories. I fill my day with fruits and veggies and started drinking a bolthouse carrot juice or berry juice everyday. I feel full and have been loosing weight. I recently joined a workout class and the instructor has us use our chairs and our bodies during workouts. I never realized that you don't need to have a lot of gym equipment to workout. It's fun. Turn on some music, pull your blinds, and dance or just move around for 30 minutes. You will feel great.

stumblinthrulife

Here's my guess at what's happening -

At the same time as setting your MFP goals, you cut out all the calorie dense stuff from your diet - crisps, chocolate, alcohol, red meat and started eating way more veg than you ever have. The veg is filling you up with bulk, without too many calories.

Because you have had a rapid drop in caloric intake, your metabolism has slowed and your body is storing. That'll slow your weight loss.

Bring the calories up a bit, to around 1600 to 1700 at a rough guess, put some lean proteins back in, don't be too scared of fat. If you can bring yourself to do it, lift some weights 3 times a week to remind your body that you need your muscles, and it's fat you want rid of.

Even better, read and follow this post closely -

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

mtiheartmuscle

#1 - you're probably not eating enough calories. If you don't eat properly, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard it's fat.
#2 - eat often and clean. 5-6 small meals per day
#3 - protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes OR throw a bunch of spinach, banana's, strawberries (feel free to create your own!) throw it into a blender and drink your calories.

#1 is a myth, #2 is optional. Frequency or how you space your meals is largely irrelevant. The "eat small and often to keep your metabolism up" is also a myth.

Yes, well said, and protein shakes don't make much sense for someonte who does not exercise.

You all are comical. Even if you don't workout, your body STILL requires protein! If she's not getting enough calories, protein shakes contain a large amount of calories that could be used to get her to her goal. OH, lord jesus there's a fire!

Rodderick89

Nuts! I have the same problem some days - will only net around 850/900 calories - Asda do little snack packs of nuts (e.g the one I had tonight is full of almonds) and they're about 300 calories a pack.

You could try switching to semi-skimmed milk if you usually have skimmed, little things like that? Good luck!