Q: How do I eat the calories when I'm not hungry?

5hellz

I finally have my numbers but I have no idea how I am supposed to eat this many calories? I can't even eat the 1200 calories I had as a goal before let alone the calories I exercised off....any suggestions? Btw: these are my numbers:

Estimated Base BMR: 1313 Calories.
Estimated TDEE: 2035 Calories.
Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1535 Calories

RainHoward

Don't.

nickyrobinson

Eat more calorie dense foods like avocado, nuts and cheese.

StrongAndHealthyMommy

Dessert timee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meg_78

Eat more calorie dense foods.
Eat more Heathy fats.
Skip not fat options.

Example : milk, yoghurt, nuts, nut butters, avocados, olive and coconut oils.

Treat your self to dark chocolate...dried fruit blends...drink some juice.

1ConcreteGirl

Try to slowly increase your calories. Each week, try for 100 more calories until you are at your 1500.

bsharrah

Don't.

Agreed. Listen to your body. If you are not hungry, don't eat.

That said, if those are your true numbers, and you are counting calories properly, the weight should be coming off quite easily. If it is not, then either your numbers are off, you are not counting calories properly, and/or you are attempting to eat your exercise calories back using inflated calorie burn readings.

Some things to consider....TDEE calculators offer rough estimates so be prepared to tweak those numbers based on your weekly weigh ins. Try not to buy in to the BS that the scale is not a good indicator of weight loss.....it is THE indicator. Make sure you are counting calories accurately. Many people just guess and if you are not using a food scale then I guarantee you are eating more than you think. See here for more information: http://www.fitnessfactreview.com/the-art-science-of-calorie-counting. The biggest problem I have seen on this site with their "numbers" is they tend to deduct what they think they are burning and are actually entering an inflated amount. FYI - all those nifty devices people here use to track exercise calories are only offering rough estimates, sometimes very rough, and people end up consuming more back than they eat. In the end, the scale don't lie.

1ConcreteGirl

Don't.

Agreed. Listen to your body. If you are not hungry, don't eat.

That said, if those are your true numbers, and you are counting calories properly, the weight should be coming off quite easily. If it is not, then either your numbers are off, you are not counting calories properly, and/or you are attempting to eat your exercise calories back using inflated calorie burn readings.

Some things to consider....TDEE calculators offer rough estimates so be prepared to tweak those numbers based on your weekly weigh ins. Try not to buy in to the BS that the scale is not a good indicator of weight loss.....it is THE indicator. Make sure you are counting calories accurately. Many people just guess and if you are not using a food scale then I guarantee you are eating more than you think. See here for more information: http://www.fitnessfactreview.com/the-art-science-of-calorie-counting. The biggest problem I have seen on this site with their "numbers" is they tend to deduct what they think they are burning and are actually entering an inflated amount. FYI - all those nifty devices people here use to track exercise calories are only offering rough estimates, sometimes very rough, and people end up consuming more back than they eat. In the end, the scale don't lie.

DO NOT, I repeat, do not listen to your body. That's the reason we ended up here in the first place.

The hunger-regulating hormone in your body is called Leptin. It is produced proportionally to your intake. If you eat a lot, you feel more hungry. If you eat less, you feel less hungry, which is how you get anorexics eating 600 cals and saying they are not hungry.

If you find it a struggle to eat all your calories (yes, TDEE calculators produce an estimate, but that is a useful and fairly accurate estimate), increase slowly by 100 each week. Listen to science, not your body.

kmshred

drink them

turtlefitnessdad

Listen to concretegirl.

pinkraynedropjacki

Simple. Don't eat them. If you are not hungry then why try to force it? I'm lucky if I can ever get through my calories....I have close to 3000 today & I'm only at -824....... yep thats in the negative. I'm not the slightest bit hungry & I should be cause I've been out walking all day.

Capt_Apollo

drink them

i agree!! wait... hey, put down that margarita!!!!


seriously though, a protein smoothie is a great way to get in extra calories. try some oj, vanilla protein powder, some frozen fruit, and a banana. all in a blender. probably like, 400 calories.

BigAndTallSection

I struggle with it as well. I mean I have switched to overall better more healthy eating but there are days that I am scratching my head thinking that it is crazy that I am still this far under. That is mostly after a nice walk where I will pick up 700 to 1000 exercise calories but I don't panic. I mean I make sure that I am eating at least at my goal and if my deficit is going to really climb to where I am sitting with some crazy amount of calories left then I will eat differently for the night. I will not be as healthy and I will add some nuts. I will still come up short on those days but I really do not try for much more than my 1000 calorie deficit.

I also think the fact that I am as obese as I am, currently about 380lbs, gives me a little more lead way to be under. If I was much closer to a healthy weight I would personally try to stick to the numbers as close as I could.

I like the suggestion to add back 100 or so a week to get the numbers up where they belong.

trudijoy

MFP started me on 1370 and I now eat 1850 and it was terrifying. SOme days I plump it up with avo, nuts, cheese, nut butter, milk, wine.....

Some days I make it easily.

I'm pretty steadily losing about 1kg a week.

Carfoodel

it's hard to eat more when it's overeating that has got us here in the first place, but if you want to be healthy and have a good attitude towards food in the future then you have to work out how to eat well.

As has been suggested there are lots of ways of eating good calories that won't make you feel like you have had another meal. go nuts - I am trying all sorts of different mixtures like cashews with cranberries, raisins with macadamia, even tried dry roasted soya nuts for the first time yesterday. a wee square of cheese, a drink of milk - if you can't think of things that you can eat and stay healthy then broaden your idea of what range of foods you can have - add people with good dairies and see what they are eating.

SteveJWatson

As others have said - I'd eat more calorie dense foods. Wholenut peanut butter is one of my favourite things ever. I wouldn't worry massiveley about overestimating values if you are measuring things properly, because that figure is still your TDEE - 20% so there is margin for error.

Also, weight loss is not linear, so weighing yourself every week is kind of pointless unless you can cope with the occasional slight gain/the scale not moving some weeks.

Lifestyle changes are more sustainable if you do things in slow incraments - I find it hard to believe that you really cant manage more than 1200 cals, because otherwise you wouldn't be wanting to lose weight in the first place.

Edited to add: I think MFP does overestimate exercise cals, especially cardio. I can see burning off a couple hundred in 45 mins weights, but an hours circuits gives me almost three times that value, which I can't see being the case, really. Unless you are obese, I wouldn't log things like walking about for half an hour - you should be able to do that anyway within a normal day.

trudijoy

Also, weight loss is not linear, so weighing yourself every week is kind of pointless unless you can cope with the occasional slight gain/the scale not moving some weeks.

this is really really really important. really. I don't mind static scales now so I weigh daily but in the past I've cried over not being at a point I 'should' be at. I got over it though

Adw7677

I struggled reaching 1200 when I was on the Paleo diet. If you don't eat carbs and dairy, it can be quite a challenge to reach that number. On my super-low days, I forced myself to eat a handful of nuts. I quickly lost 12 pounds on Paleo, but then the loss stopped.

Since calculating my calories and learning that I need 1600, I've actually obsessed less about what I eat. I eat more than I used to, and I'm finally losing weight. You should listen to your body, but you have to UNDERSTAND what it's saying. If you're full at 1200 or less, actually overweight (not anorexic), and not losing weight - then you do need to up your calories if you want to lose weight.

If you can tolerate dairy, cheese is incredibly high in calories. One ounce of most types is around 150 calories, and one ounce is far less than most people eat when they eat it. If you're a chocoholic, try eating your favorite dark chocolate (or chocolate chips) with some natural almonds. You could also add protein shakes or homemade smoothies to your diet.

Don't eat calories JUST to eat them. If you're eating to reach a calorie goal, make sure that what you eat is either A) healthy or satsifies a craving or deep desire. Your food should always have a purpose.

lioness803

Do you eat "low fat" and "lite" versions of foods? If you do, you could try switching to full fat versions.

LINIA

Simple. Don't eat them. If you are not hungry then why try to force it? I'm lucky if I can ever get through my calories....I have close to 3000 today & I'm only at -824....... yep thats in the negative. I'm not the slightest bit hungry & I should be cause I've been out walking all day.

Have to say, i agree with PinkRayneDropJacki above, don't eat when you are not hungry. If you have had very healthy foods during the day, why stuff yourself with cheese, avocado and nuts. I have never weighed more than 128 and would not "forcefeed" myself.
Really, who sits down to enjoy a meal when they are full. Learning to eat healthy is going to eventually mean that the foods are lower in calories, have more nutrients and leave you satisfied. A good healthy portion of protein, such as low fat chicken or fish with good veggies is not a lot of calories. ...yet, you are full after eating that.

You still have options, you can eat more the next day when you do feel hungry...not everyday needs to be exactly the same intake...ask your friends, who have never been overweight, if any of them eat when already full....let us know how you handle this.

Good Luck

concordancia

If you knew how to listen to your body, and especially your hunger signals, you wouldn't be on this site.

If you are eating less than your BMR, or even less than 1200, and don't feel hungry, it is because you don't even remember what hungry feels like.

jenniferwren

MFP started me on 1370 and I now eat 1850 and it was terrifying. SOme days I plump it up with avo, nuts, cheese, nut butter, milk, wine.....

Some days I make it easily.

I'm pretty steadily losing about 1kg a week.

it's astounding, liked your post because it perfectly illustrates how difficult it is to get ones head round being 'allowed' to eat, you've put it perfectly into words for me :noway: :laugh:

5hellz

I am very accurate about my food, everything. But when I started watching what I was eating, I was drinking 5-6 20oz Mt. Dews a day (sometimes more) and 2000+ calories. I was eating late at night and in the middle of night. I wasn't a big chocolate eater or sugar eater, but carbs are my weakness. I love my breads =(

I was on the low cal diet without knowing it for a month before downloading this app and actually tracking my calorie intake so I didn't know how many calories I was taking in. When I downloaded this app, I cut out Mt. Dew almost completely and increased my water so much that I'm walking around feeling like a fish most of the time.

I go to the gym 3-5 days a week but want to increase that to every day. I do the elliptical, bike, and 30 minutes of weight training most of the time.

5hellz

Do you eat "low fat" and "lite" versions of foods? If you do, you could try switching to full fat versions.

I don't eat anything "low fat" or "lite"

5hellz

I go to the gym 3-5 days a week but want to increase that to every day. I do the elliptical, bike, and 30 minutes of weight training most of the time.

My life went from me weighing 192lbs with no action whatsoever to walking 1 lap at the track for a couple weeks, to a couple laps, to joining a gym a working my butt off and actually breaking a sweat. I can now go upstairs in my house without losing my breath.

jadethief

Try eating more of your calories earlier in the day.

Lt_Starbuck

peanut butter, banana, oatmeal, almond milk, a couple strawberries, a scoop of protein mix WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
gulp gulp gulp

Trilby16

I finally have my numbers but I have no idea how I am supposed to eat this many calories? I can't even eat the 1200 calories I had as a goal before let alone the calories I exercised off....any suggestions? Btw: these are my numbers:

Estimated Base BMR: 1313 Calories.
Estimated TDEE: 2035 Calories.
Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 1535 Calories

Nutella. Secret weapon against "starvation mode."

drchimpanzee

Eat higher calorie foods works for me. Peanut butter, cook with oils, cheeses, etc.

Bikini27

Drink 'em :drinker:

Kidding. Eat until you're full and move on.

sunnyside1213

Natural peanut butter.