Trying to Eat More - Drinking Calories OK?

clareyoung80

Ok - so in short, I lost around 40 lbs whilst (mostly) sticking to a 1200 daily calorie goal. This was over a 5-month period last year. I didn't do much exercise though.

My weight has plateaued for around 3 months now (I've not lost that much for about 6 months, but I put about 3-months worth of going back to my old ways and snacking on a lot of chocolate).

For the last month I've been eating clean and eating well. I've also started to exercise (good old 30 Day Shred, plus a few other videos). Whilst I'm still losing inches, and I've seen definite gains in muscle, I'm not losing any pounds. I get that some of this will be because I'm building muscle, and that's fine.

Aaaaaannyyyway - my point was that I've been trying to up my calories to my TDEE, or closer to it (my TDEE is just over 2000 calories, one calculator suggested I therefore eat 1600 calories a day).

I'm finding it VERY hard to get up past 1300 calories a day. I eat well, with very little processed food (if at all). I eat my fats, carbs and proteins. If anything, I do struggle to get enough protein in my diet. I've been eating boiled eggs all over the place.

I'm also never hungry for breakfast - so I've started to eat a banana as a pre-exercise snack. Then, I have a protein shake added to a meal replacement shake (I use Complan - because it seems to fit the bill for me). This gives me good protein, calories and so on. I always make sure to add it to my food diary.

But, I know it's a short term answer. I may move away from using the meal replacement shake and start making my own shake (mainly because of issues around the added sugar etc...). But is this normal? Will my appetite return the longer I keep up my exercise?

I do find it very odd that eating at 1200 for a while has had such a large effect on my appetite - I was formally renowned for my large appetite (but of course, mainly eating junk food). But now that I eat clean, I find I get full quickly, and apart from an apple here or some nuts there, I have no desire to snack. I imagine my stomach has shrunk?

Anyhoo - having a low appetite isn't really helping me lose weight at the moment (I've got about 30 lbs to go), so any hints and tips would be great.

Do I need to do a metabolism reset? Should I be patient because I'm currently resetting?

BamaBreezeNSaltAire

Search on "in the place of a roadmap" read it, it's super great information! Also check out the Eat, Train, Progress group as well as the EM2WL (eat more to weigh less) group. SO much good info out there and these groups are super!!

kpstacy

When I first had to up my calories (from 1600 to 2000) I was not hungry and had a hard time. I started doing it by having chocolate milk. That would be my snack a couple of times a day. Eventually, my body got used to the extra calories and I started feeling hungry when and I was able to incorporate food for the extra calories. When you are eating better, you are getting plenty of nutrients that your body needs, so you don't feel as hungry as you did with all the empty calories from junk food. You may feel like you have to "force" yourself to eat in order to hit your calories, but eventually you will find it easy. Best of luck!

1223345

Barring any food allergies, peanut butter is good for a couple of hundred cals. I usually go for the natural stuff because I like it better. It actually tastes like peanuts. Try adding a stick of string cheese here and there, have a glass of milk or kefir. Add some more fat. Drizzle an extra tablespoon of olive oil each day over your vegetables. You can easily up your calories with out trying using these ideas.

1223345

Search on "in the place of a roadmap" read it, it's super great information! Also check out the Eat, Train, Progress group as well as the EM2WL (eat more to weigh less) group. SO much good info out there and these groups are super!!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

twelfty

sounds to me like you need to incorperate a more calorie dense food somewhere, without seeing your diary i couldn't say what and where but a good one to consider would be porridge/oatmeal, maybe add a little processed food in there? nothing to hardcore just some oven chips with dinner? maybe switch to white bread (if you're on brown) a good one i find is full fat milk with my protein shake adds nearly 200 calories to my day

or plain and simple just up your portions of food a bit

clareyoung80

Thanks everyone for the great ideas and help!

Glad to know it's all normal (and totally, full fat milk and chocolate shakes all the way!!)

And yeah, that 'In place of a road map' post is very interesting! I'm going to try that out for sure, and learn the art of patience... :-/