The number of calories I can eat a day seems a bit low

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  • greenthickies
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    I would reconsider whether you really want to be losing the last bit of baby weight while still breastfeeding. According to a bunch of other posters, the body seems to want to hold on to the last 5-10 while nursing, after which it is easier to lose them.

    Also, I would strongly advise against drinking shakes and eating nothing else. Even if the shakes themselves are healthy, eating the same thing every day tends to result in nutritional deficiencies that could be avoided simply by eating a variety of foods. If you look at your log (which I know is inaccurate, but still), you will see that you tend to be quite high in carbs and low in protein. Not good for you or the baby! At the very least, I would review this plan with your pediatrician.

    Yes you might be right about the last few pounds while still breastfeeding. It will be interesting to see what happens when I stop.

    I lost 56 pounds on a raw food diet drinking mainly green smoothies and never felt better in my whole life. I believe you can get everything you need from fruit, veg, nuts and seeds. I also learned that we all eat far too much protein so I'm not aiming for a lot of protein in my diet.

    My doctor wouldn't give me a second to review a diet with me. Here they have no interest in diet whatsoever. When doctors couldn't help me I changed my diet and healed from most of my health problems including chronic fatigue syndrome, so I don't go to doctors anymore. I have learned to help myself. I know eating this way may not suit everyone but it makes me feel amazing. I've never had so much energy before. So much food disagrees with me. I eat what is best for my body which is massive amounts of fruit and veg.

    Thank you so much for your help.
  • emnk5308
    emnk5308 Posts: 736
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    Check to see how accurate some of the 'generic' fruits are. That looks high for a banana... =/
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    Your breakfast includes 6 large bananas? Is this accurate.

    I know the 'thickies' are healthy, but we can eat too much of anything and gain weight fast!

    My guess is your not eating 8 bananas in a day which is more than 1/2 the calories. If you are, I would rethink this-fast! :wink:

    Good luck and Welcome!
  • greenthickies
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    I just put in one of your smoothies, using both the fitness pal calculator and, to double check, another list of nutrition for the same foods. Just one of your smoothies comes to over 1100 calories. It contains, besides a whole lot of fruit, a cup of coconut milk (which was my choice for the smoothie) and a cup of oats.

    A regular, and filling, breakfast for me is a cup of oat-meal porridge made on water - that's cooked, and contains about half a cup of oats, two-three spoons of youghurt and some fruit or sugar-free jam, with two cups of tea. That is about 200 calories.

    I can see why I have no problems staying under the 1400 calories mfp suggests for me (before adding activity), while you reach 2000 calories in one and a half meal.

    Perhaps your smoothies are better for people who work out a lot, and need quick, healthy and nutritious meals? Some people have problems eating enough, you know, and they will most likely benefit from your health advice. People who are already sedentary and try to lose weight will have a problem though.

    Hi there

    Thank you so much for visiting my website. Which smoothie did you check? Those calories sound about right to me as each of the recipes are for 2 servings so usually come to between 300-500 calories so about 1000 calories for 2 servings sound right.

    I try to be very accurate on my website, but as this food diary and my own personal food consumption at home is just for me to follow I made a massive batch of smoothie which I consumed when I was hungry which I often do. I didn't weigh anything so may not have got accurate calories yesterday. Today however I did check everything thoroughly and managed to stay within my calories. My problem is that I don't know how many calories I need for breastfeeding and don't want to starve myself so now may not be a good time for me to be on a strict diet.

    Your breakfast sounds good but it would never fill me up. I have eaten to hunger for the last year and managed to lose all my baby weight that way.

    I believe my smoothies are great for people who want to lose weight and gain weight. If you didn't want to eat 1 serving which was about 500 calories you could half it again and it would be a similar number of calories to the breakfast you are eating now. That's the beauty of smoothies, you can adjust them to your own needs as you create the meal from scratch. I want my recipes to help people and by providing the calorie numbers it's transparent and you can adapt the taste to your own calorie restrictions by reducing the quantities of the ingredients.

    I am going to be more specific about how you can lose weight with green thickies in the future so these kind of conversations are really helpful for me.

    Thank you so much for some great feedback. I really appreciate it and will take it on board.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    If you only have 7 pounds you want to lose, focus on strength training, with only a little cardio. Chances are you don't need to lose weight, you just need to change your body composition.
  • greenthickies
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    I've never been pregnant but I reckon for the health of you and the baby, 1,200 might be a little low. If you set the site to lose 1lb a week instead of 2lbs it should raise what you're allowed to eat to a bit more. Is your diary open? I'm surprised by how much you've eaten, if you're not putting on weight.
    Thank you yes I've adjusted it now to only lose half a pound a week although it's probably not the best time to do a strict diet at the moment for me as I'm still nursing. Yes my diary should be open now.
    I've only ever eaten to hunger for the last year and lost a lot of weight. I must do more exercise than I think carrying my baby everywhere!
  • greenthickies
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    I just put in one of your smoothies, using both the fitness pal calculator and, to double check, another list of nutrition for the same foods. Just one of your smoothies comes to over 1100 calories. It contains, besides a whole lot of fruit, a cup of coconut milk (which was my choice for the smoothie) and a cup of oats.

    A regular, and filling, breakfast for me is a cup of oat-meal porridge made on water - that's cooked, and contains about half a cup of oats, two-three spoons of youghurt and some fruit or sugar-free jam, with two cups of tea. That is about 200 calories.

    I can see why I have no problems staying under the 1400 calories mfp suggests for me (before adding activity), while you reach 2000 calories in one and a half meal.

    Perhaps your smoothies are better for people who work out a lot, and need quick, healthy and nutritious meals? Some people have problems eating enough, you know, and they will most likely benefit from your health advice. People who are already sedentary and try to lose weight will have a problem though.
    I agree! I also find it worrisome that the "nutritional" information looks so official....and is sooooo wrong. :sad:
    I have tried to be very accurate with the calories on my website. Did you take into account this was for 2 servings?
  • greenthickies
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    <snip>

    I usually use chronometer to calculate the calories of my green smoothies. The calories on my website are accurate and one serving would usually fill me up but I know I eat more calories than most people as I'm still breastfeeding.

    <snip>
    I'm sorry, but I don't believe the calories on your website are accurate. In fact, I know they aren't. Aside from the example rotill gave, I just picked a recipe at random. Your very official nutritional information (really bothers me that is IS so official looking, therefore garnering faith in the accuracy) says 305 calories per serving for the peaches and cream. The 1/2 cup of coconut milk alone is over 200 calories. Then you add a peach and an apple, among other things. No way that is accurate information. :sad:
    The Peaches and Cream recipe is for 2 servings, so you would only eat half of the ingredients listed. It tells you how many servings it is for at the top of the recipe. The recipe calories are based on coconut meat. I simply suggested an alternative is coconut milk but I calculated the calories on coconut meat.
    These calories are accurate based on Cronometer information.
  • dittmarml
    dittmarml Posts: 351 Member
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    1200 does seem low.

    but I just looked at your calories (diary) and it says you've eating "banana, 2 pieces", then "banana, 6 pieces" - that's 800 calories - it's evident the diary is counting this as 8 whole bananas so far. Have you eaten 8 bananas?

    Sometimes the food database has some goofy (wrong) stuff in it -
  • greenthickies
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    And, while we are nitpicking: You claim that your recipe is good for a long list of allergies. If you are to claim that a recipe is safe for people allergic to nuts, you really need to specify that they can not use for instance coconut milk in the recipe. Nut allergy is one of the truly dangerous allergies, as people tend to react violently, and if you want to give out serious-looking health advice, please don't leave it up to people's common sense. What if some friendly neighbourhood mother made your smoothie for an allergic child, trusting that it was safe to use the ingredients listed?

    And... isn't a chronometer a very precise clock?[/quote]
    Excellent point about allergies and such! I don't think we're nitpicking. I think we're just trying to help other who are here to get healthier, and thinner. We are all too often ready to try any "magic" that comes along to make that happen...and sadly sometimes common sense goes out the window.

    Too funn about the chronometer actually being a timepiece! I just kind of skimmed over that, not really knowing what it was:blushing: , but like the nutritional information is presented, it LOOKED impressive!
    [/quote]
    Yes we're all trying to help people to get healthier and thinner so why don't we all work together to achieve that? I always make changes to my website based on feedback I get. No there is no magic. Whatever you do, you have to stick to it and it requires dedication. I just know through my own dedication and food choices I've never felt better in my entire life. I also get testimonials from other people saying the same. Based on that I am trying to help people, and have come on here and so far had received some great help from other people. I felt really welcomed by everyone who had given up their free time to help me learn how to use this website, so for that I thank you.
  • greenthickies
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    Wow, how many calories were you expecting to consume in one day? I barely reach 1000 calories by lunch.

    Sounds like you're eating like a 'king'!
    I had no expectations so it's been eye opening to know how many I eat on a day to day basis. Ha ha, yes there's some truth in that I do eat more at breakfast than any other meal a lot of the time especially if I'm going out over lunch I'll role my breakfast and lunch together.
  • greenthickies
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    Interested in your smoothies your drinking. It might help me add veggies to my diet, if I can make them taste sweet. I'm going to send you a friend request. Also the other people are right in saying you should add your breastfeeding calories and also you should only aim to lose 0.5 pounds a week to lose since you're trying to lose less than 10 pounds. :flowerforyou:
    I'm so glad you're interested in the smoothies. I believe they are extremely healthy and have helped me lose a lot of weight anyway. Yes almost all of them taste sweet, that's the beauty of green smoothies. Yes thank you I've ammended my diet and added in the calories accordingly. Many thanks for your help.
  • greenthickies
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    Check to see how accurate some of the 'generic' fruits are. That looks high for a banana... =/
    Yes good point. I noticed you don't get the option to choose the size of the banana. Would you just input them manually based on the weight of the banana?
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    The average woman 5'3" and up can burn 1800-2600 per day.
    Add 350-500 for breast feeding.
    Subtract 20% for fat loss.

    Sounds right.
    If you are pushing yourself to workout 5+ days a week please use an active activity setting to compensate.
    Or
    Set MFP to an average 20% cut from TDEE and eat that daily without logging in exercise.

    Both ways you'll lose weight.
  • greenthickies
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    Your breakfast includes 6 large bananas? Is this accurate.

    I know the 'thickies' are healthy, but we can eat too much of anything and gain weight fast!

    My guess is your not eating 8 bananas in a day which is more than 1/2 the calories. If you are, I would rethink this-fast! :wink:

    Good luck and Welcome!
    Yes that's right. Today I ate 8 bananas. I've been eating this way for years basing most of my calories on fruit and veg and feel better and better every day. Yes you're right if we eat too much of anything we gain weight. As my weight has just been steadily going down for the last year it can't have been too much for me, but it might be too much for someone else. Thank you for your help.
  • greenthickies
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    If you only have 7 pounds you want to lose, focus on strength training, with only a little cardio. Chances are you don't need to lose weight, you just need to change your body composition.
    Yes you are exactly right. I guess losing weight is the easy option when in my heart I guess I knew that I just needed to step up my exercise. I'm struggling to fit much in with a baby but I do squeeze in some 30 day shred and do very short runs with her in the pram. I probably just need to be consistent with this and it will pay off eventually. Thank you so much for your help. This is one of the reasons I joined this website, to get great advice like that.
  • greenthickies
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    1200 does seem low.

    but I just looked at your calories (diary) and it says you've eating "banana, 2 pieces", then "banana, 6 pieces" - that's 800 calories - it's evident the diary is counting this as 8 whole bananas so far. Have you eaten 8 bananas?

    Sometimes the food database has some goofy (wrong) stuff in it -
    Yes that's right, 8 whole bananas. That's typical for me and I'm still losing weight so it's working for me. But still my bananas might have been on the small side so may not have been 100 calories each.
  • greenthickies
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    The average woman 5'3" and up can burn 1800-2600 per day.
    Add 350-500 for breast feeding.
    Subtract 20% for fat loss.

    Sounds right.
    If you are pushing yourself to workout 5+ days a week please use an active activity setting to compensate.
    Or
    Set MFP to an average 20% cut from TDEE and eat that daily without logging in exercise.

    Both ways you'll lose weight.
    I generally only do a 10-20 minute high intensity workout and a short 10-20 minute run so do you think that's enough exercise to use an active activity setting?
    Thank you so much for your advice. That's very helpful. I guess that's why I can get away with eating a lot more than 1200 and have still been losing weight. It makes sense now. So 1200 was far too low for me then.
  • chlorisaann
    chlorisaann Posts: 366 Member
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    OH MY!!! greenthickies... I just looked at today.... WHERE is your protein???? only 42g of protein for the whole day AND you are breastfeeding and working out???? That does not sound healthy for you OR baby!!!
  • iBluAcura
    iBluAcura Posts: 8 Member
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    if your calories count is 1200 and you are eating 2214 calories thats fine but you got to burn 1014 calories and you will be fine! your body will get used to eating health! got to remember not to starve yourself because then your body goes into starvation mode where its starts storing your food, same goes with water!!