Can't seem to consume enough to meet 1200 calories... Help!

princessd84

Carbs are not the enemy! I am sick to the back teeth of this "war on carbs" - your body NEEDS a certain level of carbs for energy. Choose low GI carbs - plain porridge, wholemeal bread, brown rice. Potatoes are fine, just watch your portion control as it;'s very easy to convince yourself that a large potato is "small". Sweet potatoes are nutritionally more valuable than regular potatoes, but not everyone likes them.

Enjoy

SkimFlatWhite68

I usually eat 1200 calories by my afternoon snack so I don't see how it's a problem, but I know some days if I eat a lot of protein and fibre and drink lots of water I am really full all day.

Why don't you read other people's diaries who are at your goal and see what they eat?

For breakfast, you could add a piece of grain toast to your eggs.

To the salad, add nuts, cheese, sun dried tomatoes, avocado, all the suggestions given above.

Have a couple of small snacks.

Weigh everything and make sure calories are correct. Your chicken count might be off if you aren't weighing it. I am constantly surprised by what I THINK something might weigh - or what a serving size really looks like.

Drink a low carb/sugar high protein shake. Make pancakes with protein powder, cottage cheese, egg whites and real oats, keep them in snap lock bags and have them as snacks. Check out the recipe threads.

And eat well, don't fill up on junk just to get some extra calories in. Good luck!

HealthWoke0ish

Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhich: That's typically 400 calories right there.

jessa271

Try peanut butter. Just a couple of tablespoons will help.

Walnuts and almonds are also excellent choices & very good for you.

Or treat yourself to a couple of hershey's miniatures as a dessert!

runwmeNC

Dominos is your friend

quiksandy

I must be totally clueless or naive because I have a hard time believing that it would be a struggle to consume 1200 calories...even if you are choosing healthy options.

Get yourself a juicer and juice some veggies and fruit. That way you'll be packing in the macro-nutrients and getting plenty of calories.

Heck, eat an avocado drizzled in olive oil. I mean, I could eat 1200 calories for breakfast alone if I tried. Most of us struggle even with just healthy options to stay within our calories.

TrainSweatEatSleep

Get a digital scale

alishacupcake

Dominos is your friend

Great now I want pizza... and I have nooooo problem eating over 1200 calories.

linda6032

Stay with it! I had that problem. I wasn't losing weight at 1200 calories or even when I cut down to 800 calories a day. So I went to see a nutritionist, who did a metabolism test and told me I should be eating at least 1450 calories a day. (Or more when I exercised) My metabolism had shut down on 800-1200 calories a day. So I did that and voila! I started to lose weight. When you get down to 1200 or fewer calories, you have to watch to be sure you are eating enough. I sneak in a treat every so often to keep the total calories boosted up enough to keep me losing weight. A 3-ounce glass of wine with supper, a mini (50-calorie) York peppermint patty or two, blueberries on my oatmeal, black olives on my salad, toast with a spoonful of honey and cinnamon on it (I read an article about the health benefits of honey and cinnamon), an occasional hot chocolate, etc.

LorinaLynn

My dinner tonight was nearly 1200 calories. And soooooo frickin' good. I had to put the rest of the pan of yeast rolls away, because I could eat all of them. Then I'd have a 2300 calorie dinner. :blushing:

bikinibeliever

I'm just here hoping that problem will rub off onto me....I could only wish!

taylorwaylor

Add healthy fats.... But i think you'll find in a few days that 1200 is not enough..

capriajo

Add peanut butter with your banana and up your breakfast calories with toast, almond milk and a piece of fruit for more balanced meal. Try to eat a card, protein and fat with each meal.

juliec33

Nuts, peanut butter, full fat dairy, oils, avocado, eggs, cheese, food in general. Losing weight doesn't have to be all lettuce and chicken breasts.

yep, this!!!! Try adding some eggs or avocado into your salad. Peanut butter is a great way to get in more calories. Heck, have another slice of pizza - probably not the healthiest choice but it's better than always eating under your calorie goal.

cljabusc

-eat oatmeal for breakfast. or add whole grain toast with natural peanut butter to your eggs, or english muffin. big breakfast fuel you for the day and start your metabolism
-have 2 snacks, one after breakfast and one after lunch
-protein shakes for snacks
-power bars
-whole grain rice
I don't completely cut out high carb foods like brown rice or whole grain bread. they fill me up, are full of fibre and other good stuff, and add much needed calories.

chrisdavey

just ate 2000 ish cals for breakfast. HTH

DebbieLyn63

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the suggestions!

I am not a big salad fan, but when you really only enjoy pasta, breads and lots of mexican food, there isn't much room to consume all of that.

Someone commented on 1-2 tbsp being low for 2 cups of salad.... I was actually really shocked at how much it actually covered. I was quite satisfied. Normally I would drench my salad, but it was cool seeing that it wasn't necessary.

I find that nuts make my face break out (maybe I'm crazy and there is no correlation, but it sure seems that way).

I'm only 3 days into this whole process.... and I want to start on the right foot. I've never been a beacon of healthy and never made really good food choices, either.

If you like Mexican food, buy some Mission Carb Balance flour tortillas. They are just like reg tortillas, but have lots of fiber in them so very low net carbs. Use them for breakfast burritos- scrambled eggs, cheese, salsa, guacamole, onions, etc
Fajitas- grilled chicken or lean ground beef seasoned with taco seasonings, cheese, guacamole, lettuce, salsa, etc.
You can also make great wraps with chicken and salad with ranch dressing.

You can also make quesadillas with them. Microwave instead of fry them if you don't want the fat calories. Or toast them in the oven if you want them crispy. Top with salsa, and whatever else you want.

Take the normal foods you like and just tweak them to make them healthier.

If you like fried chicken, use shake and bake instead.

You will burn out on salads quickly, especially if you don't normally like them. Try various steamed veggies as a side. You can even use a little cheese or cream sauce on them, just look for lower cal recipes. If you like Italian, stew some zucchini squash, mushrooms, onions, carrots, etc in marinara sauce with some chicken, and throw a little mozzarella on top.

Moderation is the key. Making drastic changes all at once will set you up for failure. Sounds like you just need to work on portion control and healthier choices.

StaceySuperfly

Go get yourself new cookbooks for healthy pasta and mexican food! The only way you will lose weight and keep it off is to eat what you like! I go to Subway, Burger King and Pizza at least once a week. I read the web site nutrition before I go so I can fit a whopper with cheese and onion rings into my calorie goals for the day. Stop limiting yourself to salad and eat!

sam_the_girl

Alot of people would love to have your problem of having tons of calores left over! avocados? health shake? A big mac (J/k!!)

Kathy_Noring

I'm just here hoping that problem will rub off onto me....I could only wish!

Bahaha! Me too!

marykpfist

Nuts, peanut butter, full fat dairy, oils, avocado, eggs, cheese, food in general. Losing weight doesn't have to be all lettuce and chicken breasts.

Second on the avocados. They also provide healthy fats that your body needs on a low fat diet.

megsmom2

Ice cream. Tsblespoon of peanut butter. Slice of cheese. Ounce of perfect dark chocolate. Eat something delicious....you're not being punished here, you're living.

onlythetancan

ok so I would do the following

change your breakfast two scrambled eggs with some salmon, spinach and feta cheese


for lunch loose the dominos pizza! have a healthy salad sandwich instead and add a yoghurt or apple


for dinner add some more things to your salad, add some tomato, red onion, cucumber and add some diced cheese instead of parmesan.

Kimmy_927

Chicken and eggs (protein) is very filling. Maybe try replacing those with something else.

Joyjmb

Dairy is helpful. Add a glass of 1% milk to ur breakfast.
Maybe a snack of nuts and cheese - very satisfying.

princess3479

i used to have the same problem. i had a very limited diet but hey it doesn't help that i am a very extremely picky eater!!!! what helped me was switching from fat-free & low fat products to full fat. i always used to eat fat free cottage cheese, recently i switched to the 2% kind, i don't know why i didn't switch sooner the 2% dairy fat cottage cheese tastes 100% better than the fat free one!!! i always thought (eating) fat was the culprit so i ate fat free or low fat for the past few yrs. now that i know its not i pretty much will eat anything if it fits in my macros.

dont just limit yourself to diet foods- don't just eat it because it says its fat free. take a look at the ingredients, diet foods often have ingredients added to them. its much better to eat the full calorie version. if you have a problem with the full calorie version just reduce the serving size. i would do this with peanut butter, only eat a tablespoon but since i have started using pb2 i don't eat peanut butter anymore!!!

i eat eggs, nuts- pistachios are my favorite, cheese, lean protein, peanut butter, cottage cheese, full fat salad dressing & olive oil/coconut oil.

jesz124

just ate 2000 ish cals for breakfast. HTH

You are the devil in disguise. That's just evil. :sad: :laugh:

chriswhudson

It takes 3500 calories BURNED to lose 1lb. for example:
if you ate 2800 cal a day x7days = 19600 calories consumed a week
if you burned 3200 cal a day x 7days = 22,400 calories burned a week
22,400 -19600=2,800 net burned for the week it's not quite a lb lost but it's .8 lost


How do you know what you burn a day? look up BMR and enter your body data. I know all the pills and stuff the world promotes sound great, none of them work, they only increase the amounts of calories burned a day by small amounts and supress your appetite, but if you don't know your basic calorie intake or your basic burn a day, nothing can help you manage the outcome. I explain this to say that I have lost 45lbs in 6 months and I work out roughly twice a week, but walk 3 miles 3 days a week in the summer............hope this helps.................

JessHealthKick

I'm finding it very difficult to reach 1200 calories a day (and I feel like I'm eating a lot!) Any suggestions?

Today I had:
Breakfast:
2 hard boiled eggs (130 calories)

Lunch:
1 slice of Domino's Hawaiian pizza (280 calories)
2 cups romaine lettuce (15 calories)
1 tbsp Caesar dressing (40 calories)
Parmesan cheese 1 tsp (20 calories)

Dinner:
2 cups romaine lettuce (15 calories)
1 tbsp Caesar dressing (40 calories)
Parmesan cheese 1 tsp (20 calories)
Diced grilled chicken breast (100 calories)
Diet Pepsi (0 calories)

Snack:
1 medium banana (84 calories)

Other:
10 calories from crystal light
8 cups of water

The dinner salad was to help consume more calories but I wasn't hungry. I have 463 calories remaining. Help?! As it stands currently, I feel like I am having to force myself to eat more often... and that's rare for me. My diet had been piss-poor, I won't lie, and my calorie intake was probably massive. I would eat once a day and maybe munch on a few things here and there. Perhaps my body is just trying to adjust to 3 meals+ a snack?

Any food recommendations would be fantastic. It isn't healthy to eat less than 1200, and it shouldn't be a struggle to hit that! I am just over paranoid and want to make healthy decisions. I obviously want to lose weight, but I want to do it in such a way that it's 1) healthy, 2) safe, and 3) something I can sustain long-term. There's no need to drop a ton of weight without being able to maintain it once it's gone!

umm, diet coke is 0 calories? Since when? That stuff is poison anyway, should't have it at all!

and are you sure about the serving size of chicken? remember, measurements are important!

Maybe try snacking on some nuts, they have many good things in there for your body and the fats are GOOD fats so don't get scared! Or some more fruit, as long as you don't get toooo much sugar from it. .And I don't agree with others that you should add bread/pasta. Gluten just 'aint that good either so if you don't feel you have to have it, please just don't. Nothing wrong with that

But you need to watch your protein intake, looks like it would probably be quite low which can be a concern :S

Good luck

extraordinarygirl1

OMG WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND JUST POSTED THE SAME DILEMA .