My theory on why people fall under their calories

JakeBrownVB

Im sure we have all seen it a thousand times in the forums, when someone is eating 1200-1600 calories they are told "you are not eating enough calories" which is usually met by "but im not hungry" or "i feel it is a push to get 1600 calories".

Now I totally agree and find that it can actually be a struggle to eat healthy simply because of the sheer extra volume you actually have to eat..

For example.

The old me could eat a mcdonalds 600 calories or whatever cheeseburger in like 30 seconds and still be hungry. However if I try and meet that 600 calories in chicken and veg, I would have to eat 3-4 large pieces of chicken breast and a MASSIVE plate of veg. Not only that but it would be more expensive, take longer to prepare and I would be full after eating this.

Does anyone else find this to be the case?

P.S. To counter this I eat calorie dense foods like brown rice and nuts, but I can totally understand why many people actually find it struggle to eat healthy and keep up an adequate caloric intake.

TavistockToad

Im sure we have all seen it a thousand times in the forums, when someone is eating 1200-1600 calories they are told "you are not eating enough calories" which is usually met by "but im not hungry" or "i feel it is a push to get 1600 calories".

Now I totally agree and find that it can actually be a struggle to eat healthy simply because of the sheer extra volume you actually have to eat..

For example.

The old me could eat a mcdonalds 600 calories or whatever cheeseburger in like 30 seconds and still be hungry. However if I try and meet that 600 calories in chicken and veg, I would have to eat 3-4 large pieces of chicken breast and a MASSIVE plate of veg. Not only that but it would be more expensive, take longer to prepare and I would be full after eating this.

Does anyone else find this to be the case?

P.S. To counter this I eat calorie dense foods like brown rice and nuts, but I can totally understand why many people actually find it struggle to eat healthy and keep up an adequate caloric intake.

for me its the fact that people go from extreme to extreme - from 3 mcdonalds a day to ONLY chicken and veg.... and then say they cant possibly eat anything else and carbs are the devil!

like you say there are plenty of nutrient dense foods that are healthy....

and eating 2 cookies with a glass of milk for supper is NOT going to make you fat if you are within your calories!

Mutant13

You said it yourself, calorie dense foods are the answer. I myself eat insane amounts of peanut butter, cheese, egg yolk, nuts, avocado, olive oil etc

pluckabee

I dont usually struggle with this, but sometimes if I have lots of calories left and think I should eat I'm just stumped as to what I could spend those calories on.

All the 'usual' go to snacks like crisps and chocolate I don't really want anymore, and everything else I could have as a snack I've probably already eaten that day, and don't want to have again because I like to have a lot of variety.

JakeBrownVB

I dont usually struggle with this, but sometimes if I have lots of calories left and think I should eat I'm just stumped as to what I could spend those calories on.

All the 'usual' go to snacks like crisps and chocolate I don't really want anymore, and everything else I could have as a snack I've probably already eaten that day, and don't want to have again because I like to have a lot of variety.

Totally agree with this!

Sandigesha

I really dont understand you people... I eat realatively healthy (keeping added sugar, sodium, cholesterol below recommended), and at 3000 cal a day i am hungry all the time. Imagining, how someone can eat below 2000 cal, and STRUGGLE to get it, even using dirty foods, is mindblowing. All your daily calories are like a half a chocolate bar...

Unknown

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JakeBrownVB

I really dont understand you people... I eat realatively healthy (keeping added sugar, sodium, cholesterol below recommended), and at 3000 cal a day i am hungry all the time. Imagining, how someone can eat below 2000 cal, and STRUGGLE to get it, even using dirty foods, is mindblowing. All your daily calories are like a half a chocolate bar...

Thats just it, its easy to make high calories with chocolate and crisps and bad food and still be hungry. But try being stricter with your diet eating nothing but lean meats and fruit/veg and I can almost promise you that 3000 calories will be a struggle.

TavistockToad

I really dont understand you people... I eat realatively healthy (keeping added sugar, sodium, cholesterol below recommended), and at 3000 cal a day i am hungry all the time. Imagining, how someone can eat below 2000 cal, and STRUGGLE to get it, even using dirty foods, is mindblowing. All your daily calories are like a half a chocolate bar...

Thats just it, its easy to make high calories with chocolate and crisps and bad food and still be hungry. But try being stricter with your diet eating nothing but lean meats and fruit/veg and I can almost promise you that 3000 calories will be a struggle.

i think the point that person was making was that you dont have to ONLY eat lean meat, fruit and veg to be healthy!

JakeBrownVB

To be healthy no, but to sculpt a body yes. Bodybuilders are extremely tight on their diet and they only eat these kind of lean meats and veg/fruit etc.

They eat monumentos amounts of food because they eat these kind of foods, they could easily make their calories up in burgers, crisps and sweets.

So it depends what your going for, but I know many large blokes who do ONLY eat these foods and their is a reason.

TavistockToad

To be healthy no, but to sculpt a body yes. Bodybuilders are extremely tight on their diet and they only eat these kind of lean meats and veg/fruit etc.

They eat monumentos amounts of food because they eat these kind of foods, they could easily make their calories up in burgers, crisps and sweets.

So it depends what your going for, but I know many large blokes who do ONLY eat these foods and their is a reason.

but the majority of the poeple who post the 'i cant eat 1200 cals' are NOT bodybuilders, they are just people trying to lose a few pounds and get healthy.... i'm not sure what the point of your OP was any more....

1223345

I find it very easy to rack up a calorie overage on vegetables alone. Sure, a serving of broccoli has 30 calories, but after you have four or five servings in a day that is 120 cals. Then add the drizzle of olive oil and its gonna be around 200. People who can't meet their calorie goal just arent trying. Especially if there is a chicken breast involved. Also, I think people have at that point gotten almost afraid to eat any thing with higher calories. They have been eating so much garbage for so long, they may worry that a high calorie item is a bad idea. I think it takes time to get comfortable in a new dietary plan.

ladyraven68

To be healthy no, but to sculpt a body yes. Bodybuilders are extremely tight on their diet and they only eat these kind of lean meats and veg/fruit etc.

They eat monumentos amounts of food because they eat these kind of foods, they could easily make their calories up in burgers, crisps and sweets.

So it depends what your going for, but I know many large blokes who do ONLY eat these foods and their is a reason.

There are also many professional athlets who indulge in McDonalds type foods, as eating high calorie food is the only way to get their 10,000 calories in. If they had to eat it all from lean meat and veg their stomachs would burst.

just like there are many people on here who, once they have met their daily nutrutional needs and their protein/fat macros, will happily indulge in ice cream and pop tarts.

You don't have to be 100% perfect to have a healthy diet.

SmartAlec03211988

Totally agree!

I'm completely and utterly satisfied on 1300-1500 calories worth of good, nutritious stuff. But my weight was stalling because I wasn't reaching my goal of 1700. Then I calculated my TDEE -20%, and found I had to actually eat 1920(!).

People kept telling me to eat calorie dense food like peanut butter and nuts. Well, I already had the nuts covered, I love those. But they kept whining about the peanut butter. Who wants to eat 3 1/2 spoons of peanut butter at the end of a day just to reach their calorie goal? I didn't.

So I ate more nuts, and had a couple spoons of peanut butter. I also added brown rice to dinner (I usually just have a meat and vegetable). Those things alone added like 520 calories to my day. Just those three things and I was there.

But now I feel uncomfortably full at the end of the day.My weight is moving again... but at the expense of feeling stuffed like a turkey all the time?

Don't get me wrong, I indulge all the time. I get 680 calorie Frappuccinos, and eat junk every now and again (Friday is my designated "junk" day), but I feel like **** when I eat ****... go figure.

And I'd like to also add... I don't buy low fat anything. I eat the calorie dense whole wheat bread, full fat cheese... I don't buy anything that is touted as "low calorie" or "low fat." Ain't got time for that!

lauren3101

Im sure we have all seen it a thousand times in the forums, when someone is eating 1200-1600 calories they are told "you are not eating enough calories" which is usually met by "but im not hungry" or "i feel it is a push to get 1600 calories".

Now I totally agree and find that it can actually be a struggle to eat healthy simply because of the sheer extra volume you actually have to eat..

For example.

The old me could eat a mcdonalds 600 calories or whatever cheeseburger in like 30 seconds and still be hungry. However if I try and meet that 600 calories in chicken and veg, I would have to eat 3-4 large pieces of chicken breast and a MASSIVE plate of veg. Not only that but it would be more expensive, take longer to prepare and I would be full after eating this.

Does anyone else find this to be the case?

P.S. To counter this I eat calorie dense foods like brown rice and nuts, but I can totally understand why many people actually find it struggle to eat healthy and keep up an adequate caloric intake.

for me its the fact that people go from extreme to extreme - from 3 mcdonalds a day to ONLY chicken and veg.... and then say they cant possibly eat anything else and carbs are the devil!

like you say there are plenty of nutrient dense foods that are healthy....

and eating 2 cookies with a glass of milk for supper is NOT going to make you fat if you are within your calories!

This is it in a nutshell tbh - a lot of people here are still in the 'diet' mentality, so things like chocolate or crisps or 'junk food' are a no-go.

Also, people tend to buy the lower calorie versions of things out of habit. If you are struggling to hit your calorie goal, swap the skimmed milk for whole, the reduced fat cheese for full fat, the nasty low calorie bread for a real slice, etc.

hdsqrl

I'm with you, OP. I've been following the Whole30 for more than a month now, and have gotten used to eating only fresh meats, fruits, and veggies, with a fair amount of healthy fats thrown in. I just pre-logged today's intended meals (egg/prosciutto cup and pumpkin souffle for meal 1, a bunless, double-meat chicken "sandwich" plus apple for meal 2, and thai lettuce wraps with spinach on the side for meal 3.) Haven't even hit 1000 calories with all of that, yet I'm at 107g of protein, so I know I won't be feeling hungry. Now I'm pondering what other fresh things I can toss in that will add 400-500 more calories without making me explode. Guess I'll add a banana, almond butter, and a fair serving of nuts/dried fruit as snacks. If I hadn't pre-logged today, I'd get to the evening hours and then be stuck trying to fit more calories in at the end.

TavistockToad

Who wants to eat 3 1/2 spoons of peanut butter at the end of a day just to reach their calorie goal? I didn't.

i would happily eat 3 jars of peanut butter a day if i needed the calories!!!!!

SmartAlec03211988

If it was nutella, I'd happily eat three jars of THAT. Yummy...

Hbazzell

Yes, this is why it was harder to meet calories when I first starrted for sure.

TavistockToad

If it was nutella, I'd happily eat three jars of THAT. Yummy...

ooooh nutella, good call!!!!

neandermagnon

Im sure we have all seen it a thousand times in the forums, when someone is eating 1200-1600 calories they are told "you are not eating enough calories" which is usually met by "but im not hungry" or "i feel it is a push to get 1600 calories".

Now I totally agree and find that it can actually be a struggle to eat healthy simply because of the sheer extra volume you actually have to eat..

For example.

The old me could eat a mcdonalds 600 calories or whatever cheeseburger in like 30 seconds and still be hungry. However if I try and meet that 600 calories in chicken and veg, I would have to eat 3-4 large pieces of chicken breast and a MASSIVE plate of veg. Not only that but it would be more expensive, take longer to prepare and I would be full after eating this.

Does anyone else find this to be the case?

P.S. To counter this I eat calorie dense foods like brown rice and nuts, but I can totally understand why many people actually find it struggle to eat healthy and keep up an adequate caloric intake.

for me its the fact that people go from extreme to extreme - from 3 mcdonalds a day to ONLY chicken and veg.... and then say they cant possibly eat anything else and carbs are the devil!

like you say there are plenty of nutrient dense foods that are healthy....

and eating 2 cookies with a glass of milk for supper is NOT going to make you fat if you are within your calories!

this and this

OP - I agree it's a lot harder to overeat when you stick to relatively healthy, low calorie density foods... that's how a lot of diets that don't involve calorie counting work, most people will automatically end up eating a lot less, so lose weight

next quoted post - this kind of dichotomous thinking annoys me too... but in quite a lot of people it comes from ignorance of nutrition and physiology combined with the constant background noise of bull---- that comes from everyone and his dog trying to sell fad diets, magazines, gimmicks, ebooks, snake oil and all the rest. Unfortunately correct, basic nutritional info and advice about all things in moderation tends to get lost among all the noise.

phyllisgehrke

I too have trouble meeting my calories.
My Husband and I are retired in my sixties and my husband is 70, our food intake has greatly reduced

We are just not hungry as much as we used to be.
I am also a vegetarian and I do not like meat, so I cannot just go out and eat a hamburger.
My BMR should be 1200 but yesterday, I only got 900 calories.

This is a issue I am really fighting as I know I am in starvation mode and not losing the weight I want to.
Any suggestions for Me?

JakeBrownVB

This is exactly the point I wanted to make, that it is so easy to make up calories with junk but when people are having to sit and eat spoonfuls of peanut butter and other calorie dense foods for the sake of getting calories into your body when your already full, it really highlights how easy it is to be extremely low on calories when you are trying to eat healthy. And not because you are starving yourself or eating little, but because the stuff you are actually making yourself full on is just low in calories.

GingerRunner

I find it very easy to rack up a calorie overage on vegetables alone. Sure, a serving of broccoli has 30 calories, but after you have four or five servings in a day that is 120 cals. Then add the drizzle of olive oil and its gonna be around 200. People who can't meet their calorie goal just arent trying. Especially if there is a chicken breast involved. Also, I think people have at that point gotten almost afraid to eat any thing with higher calories. They have been eating so much garbage for so long, they may worry that a high calorie item is a bad idea. I think it takes time to get comfortable in a new dietary plan.

this

kristen6022

Subconciously people feel that the less they eat the better their weight loss will be and even after coming on complaining that they haven't lost weight for weeks, they fight having to eat more calorie dense foods. Just because you are trying to lose weight doesn't mean you have to cut all carbs (whole grain pasta, rice and bread in proper portions are just as good for you as veggies and chicken). Avocados, nuts, and full fat dairy are as well. When I was losing I NEVER had a hard time fitting in 1500-1600 calories a day and now I have hard time not eating more than what my TDEE is.

Silvervixen79

I really dont understand you people... I eat realatively healthy (keeping added sugar, sodium, cholesterol below recommended), and at 3000 cal a day i am hungry all the time. Imagining, how someone can eat below 2000 cal, and STRUGGLE to get it, even using dirty foods, is mindblowing. All your daily calories are like a half a chocolate bar...

Umm... I know it is supposedly bad for metabolism etc etc but I struggle to get above 800 cals a day. In fact if I just eat when hungry I would have only clocked 700ish calories and then panick 'ooh I havent eaten enough calories!!' and try to get in another milky tea or something but still... just proof that not all overweight people stuff themselves silly, its just not always the case.

lauren3101

I really dont understand you people... I eat realatively healthy (keeping added sugar, sodium, cholesterol below recommended), and at 3000 cal a day i am hungry all the time. Imagining, how someone can eat below 2000 cal, and STRUGGLE to get it, even using dirty foods, is mindblowing. All your daily calories are like a half a chocolate bar...

Umm... I know it is supposedly bad for metabolism etc etc but I struggle to get above 800 cals a day. In fact if I just eat when hungry I would have only clocked 700ish calories and then panick 'ooh I havent eaten enough calories!!' and try to get in another milky tea or something but still... just proof that not all overweight people stuff themselves silly, its just not always the case.

People that eat as little as you and are overweight are at that weight because they are eating so little their metabolism has virtually slowed to a halt and their LBM is very low, so any up in calories will result in a gain. The fact that you would class a milky tea as something to up your calories is worrying.

If you upped you calories, accepted the initial gain and stuck with it, you will find that you will feel hungrier as your body adjusts to getting the food it needs, and you will still lose weight.

kirstyfairhead

If you ONLY eat meat and vegetables I'd say the biggest issue with your diet must be boredom!!!

Fruits, nuts. seeds and certain oils are also healthy and nutritious, I don't get why anyone struggling with calories would not eat these things. Add some nuts, seeds and a bit of avocado to your diet and you'll get those extra 2-300 cals no problem at all and you would still not have a had an unhealthy piece of food go past your lips.

Trying to eat 3000+ cals per day due to weight training may be more difficult but can still be done with the right nutritional advice. Weight training is difficult, you don't get that kind of body without a bit of hardship.

Saying you can't eat 3000cals because you are insisting on an unnecessarily restrictive diet is no different than saying you want to lose weight but insist on only eating big macs and chocolate to do it.

Lulzaroonie

Actually, I am guilty of this. Some days I eat under 1000 calories, because I've stuffed myself on fruit and vegetables, and am really not hungry.

My downfall is that I don't eat fish or eggs because I absolutely cannot stomach them. So I really have no other idea what I can eat.

ndj1979

I find it very easy to rack up a calorie overage on vegetables alone. Sure, a serving of broccoli has 30 calories, but after you have four or five servings in a day that is 120 cals. Then add the drizzle of olive oil and its gonna be around 200. People who can't meet their calorie goal just arent trying. Especially if there is a chicken breast involved. Also, I think people have at that point gotten almost afraid to eat any thing with higher calories. They have been eating so much garbage for so long, they may worry that a high calorie item is a bad idea. I think it takes time to get comfortable in a new dietary plan.

i eat 2500 to 2700 calories a day and there is no way I am going to hit that on brocoli and olive oil ...

OP - I see what you are saying. I sometimes will have dinner which is usually around 1000 to 1200 cals and am like damn I am eating a lot ...but if you substitue in some steak or pork then you can usually get there and not feel like you are stuffing yourself....I usually do not have chicken for dinner..it is more steak strips with brown rice...something slow cooked..fish on my low cal/rest work out day..etc...

jakkisr

I too have trouble meeting my calories.
My Husband and I are retired in my sixties and my husband is 70, our food intake has greatly reduced

We are just not hungry as much as we used to be.
I am also a vegetarian and I do not like meat, so I cannot just go out and eat a hamburger.
My BMR should be 1200 but yesterday, I only got 900 calories.

This is a issue I am really fighting as I know I am in starvation mode and not losing the weight I want to.
Any suggestions for Me?

Add a few unsealed roasted Brazil nuts .. 3 nuts is 83 calories, and it's so hard to stop at just 3 !
*unsalted ^^