Having Trouble Eating Enough Calories!

OutForBrains
OutForBrains Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone! I'm about to spew a lot of words at you! GET PUMPED. :] I just joined MFP a couple days ago, but I'm already noticing a bad trend! I only need to eat 1200 calories a day (before exercise), which is actually a bit challenging sometimes. I eat every meal, but I always seem to be coming up short. It's hard to add more to meals because most of the time I'm full after I eat. My diet consists of mostly dairy, vegetables, and fruit. I also eat a pretty regular amount of nuts, and chicken.

I'm in college, so money and time to eat are issues (especially breakfast and lunch). I usually just get my meals from the few things I have in my room, and what I can pick up from our university's food options for people who have to eat while on the move. I don't eat red meat, and I rarely eat sweets. These two things can really upset my stomach if I eat even a little of them. I would like to eat more grains, but things like a loaf of bread would go bad before I got to use it all. Yes, I'm a big stickler about wasting food.

So... With that being said... Are there any suggestions as to what I can do to remedy my calorie intake? And what do I do when I have a higher calorie limit after working out? I feel like there's no way I can fit another 300 - 700 calories in my diet to compensate for what I work off. :[ I'm so motivated to workout and become more fit, but I want to do it healthy!

Replies

  • CincinnatiDEIFan
    CincinnatiDEIFan Posts: 188 Member
    Maybe get some packs of Almonds?

    I remember not having the funds in college so I know it is hard!

    Good luck.
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    Nuts and nut butters, full fat dairy, cheese, full fat salad dressings
  • Finchtastic1
    Finchtastic1 Posts: 60 Member
    Start making your food ahead of time...I know it sounds lame but when I had busy days in school I carried around a lunch box or I put stuff in my purse. Luna or CLiff bars are great or muscle milk. I pack pb and j or do something with almond butter if that's your thing. Throw in a rice cake or two and boom you have lunch. I also had to up my calorie intake because I couldn't live on 1200 a day. If you are working out pretty regularly I would up it by 100-150 to start and see if you feel better. I also lost more weight that way.
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
    One of my favorite cheap snacks is half an avocado mashed with some salsa to go with chips. It's close to 400 calories depending on the size of the avocado. You could also buy green olives or nuts to add to your salads as toppers, this can easily add 100 calories to your meals. As for sandwiches, I live on them. Peanut butter and jelly, buffalo chicken breast or turkey with lettuce and tomato I eat at least one a day.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    Before any idiots come in spewing, "HOW CAN YOU NOT EAT ENOUGH? IT'S SOOO EASY"... I get it! I get full very quickly as well, and it's a struggle for me to meet 1200, even when I go out to eat nowadays.

    If you want to try adding grains, look into adding whole wheat pastas--lots of generic ones are just as cheap as white pastas, they're easy to customize and cook (even in a dorm... if you have the infamously hidden hot plate), AND you don't have to worry about them going bad.

    Remember, unless you have a gluten issue, whole wheat pastas are pretty damn good to add--complex carbs, good fiber, part of the famous Mediterranean diet!
  • chlorisaann
    chlorisaann Posts: 366 Member
    Peanut butter is about 200 cals for only 2Tbs.... Have some as a snack and really boost your cals with minimum intake if you are not feeling hungry...
  • zimer2052
    zimer2052 Posts: 3
    LOL I wish I had your problem ! lol

    Since you naturally are a light eater, try aiming for foods with a higher caloric dense. Whole milk taste really good and its full of calories. Try mixing it with oatmeal and put in a handful of whatever nuts you want. I recommend the plain oatmeal vs the oatmeal that already has sugar and other flavors in them. They put way too much sugar in the ready to eat oatmeal.

    Pasta is very cheap and you could make an affordable sauce with whole milk and ketchup (dont knock it till you try it. Its actually pretty good) Just put enough ketchup and milk in the pasta until it becomes light pink. Dont forget the butter.

    I'm so good at helping people ingest more calories lol.
  • alrowlandson28
    alrowlandson28 Posts: 7
    I would suggest adding some healthy fats. A bag of walnuts is about $5 and will last forever, as will extra virgin olive oil. You could just drizzle olive oil on your salads, pop a handful of walnuts on your cereal, you get the idea. That way you're getting some omegas and most of the sources are pretty calorie dense.

    Do you have a little bar fridge in your dorm room? You could keep some small packs of cottage cheese in there, or swiss cheese slices with a pack of sliced turkey breast (I like the new "Naturals" because they don't have sulphites and additives"-can find them at walmart/superstore), and a thing of mustard, avocado even...roll them into little roll ups...nice and light but good protein :). Another great snack is raw almond butter and apples...two more things you could keep in your fridge to keep from going bad. A jar of almond butter is about $7 but it will also last you a long time and won't go bad quickly.

    Grains are a bit harder, I see what you're saying there. Especially if you're just grabbing off campus you don't know if they're really 100% whole grain. I really like the Kashi bars, but they are a bit expensive. Sometimes you'll see them on sale though! A pack of 100% whole grain english muffins would take up less room in a fridge and you might use them up quicker. I use english muffins for everything! Or a small pack of the small tortillas. You can stick the cheese/turkey in those!

    You're really going to want to increase your calories when you work out otherwise you WILL burn out. Take my word on that. One day you'll be working out and you'll just crash. Do you have your thing set to lose weight? Or is this just about fitness? I'd be surprised if you only got 1200 calories a day if you've got it set to maintain, but I don't know about your goals.

    Hopefully I've helped a bit!
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
    You don't need to feel pressured to eat back 100% of your exercise calories unless you are entering the numbers off an HRM - MFP tends to err on the high side and a lot of people only eat back 50-75% of their exercise calories.

    That said, peanuts are pretty cheap and a good source of calories, but I know a lot of people are allergic so it might not be the best idea to have them in a public place like a dorm. Cheese is also a great way to add calories, and it's usually on sale often enough to not be a problem. Cooking with olive oil is another great way to throw healthy fats and calories into a meal.

    If you can't find anywhere to eat them back every day and don't feel hungry enough to force yourself to, why don't you just save them? Keep track of how many you missed out on over the week and make it up on the weekend. It'll save you the trouble of having to decline high-calorie treats when you're out with your friends, at least.
  • SmallMimi
    SmallMimi Posts: 541 Member
    Peanut Butter and Crackers, Granola bars, Avocados, this list could get real long, hit the stores and read labels - find things that fit your budget, time and storage requirements
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    I can't see your food diary so I couldn't make any specific suggestions, but ensure that you use full-fat foods, not low fat. Gram for gram, fat contains more calories than carbs or protein, allowing you to eat more calories in less volume. It's an easy way to boost calories and generally no different in price (as far as I've noticed).

    Try almonds... If you can cook your own foods, cook with healthy fats - you can add a small amount to a stir fry, or many other dishes to up the calories. Personally, I prefer coconut oil and/or olive oil depending on what I'm cooking.
  • OutForBrains
    OutForBrains Posts: 6
    Wow! That was a lot of responses really fast! :] Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions!

    There were a lot of good ideas, and I'm thinking that making meals ahead of time, oatmeal, and investing in some whole grain pasta are really great ideas. I already have a lot of nuts in my diet, or else I would just go for some more almonds or walnuts (I LOVE both)! I'm really hoping to balance out my diet, and add things I don't have (mostly grains)! :]

    Unfortunately, for all the people who suggested avocado, I really hate it unless it's in sushi. But I also hate fish unless it's in sushi, haha. Hoping to change that someday...

    Does anybody know about how many calories grapes are? Most of my fruit is in salads or apple slices, and I'd love to have some more fruit that I don't have to commit to finishing all at once.

    Also, did someone mention olive oil for salad dressing? That sounds like a possibility to me. I don't usually put dressing on my salads - they're usually flavorful enough with the toppings they have. So it would definitely be easy calories. :]
  • zimer2052
    zimer2052 Posts: 3
    salad dressing is a great way to add more calories. Since you live on campus you can go to the cafeteria and try a whole mess of dressings so choose your favorite. You wont really eat that many calories from fruit unless you eat a whole bunch of them. A small apple is 60 calories. A large one is around a 100. Can you really eat 4-5 more apples in a day ?? or 50 grapes ? My jaw hurts from just thinking of all the chewing lol

    good luck !
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Plan ahead.... I log my meals and snacks the night (or morning) before then I can see if I need to add extra calories in my meals or snacks. If I know I'm going to exercise, I'll estimate how much extra I'll need to eat.
    This way it makes it easy to add in extras like cheese, nuts, chocolate, more meat, extra snacks, peanut butter sandwich etc.
  • gingerCE
    gingerCE Posts: 8
    I concur about peanut butter. If on the go get the jif to go snack sizes so u can put in your purse or backpack and take anywhere. Much cheaper than protein bars. Each snack size tube is 250 calories and it's pretty healthy, especially the jif natural PB snack packs. You can dip veggies, fruit, crackers. I also sometimes get the Jason PB and honey or almond butter snack tubes from target but they are pricier than jif.
  • kfarall
    kfarall Posts: 3 Member
    Beans and rice. Any kind of bean, whole grain rice. Cheap and yummy ;)
  • gaylynn35
    gaylynn35 Posts: 854 Member
    Peanut butter, like some of the others have said. If your dorm fridge is big enough you can keep a loaf of bread in there, it stays fresh a lot longer in the fridge. Also, they make really small loafs of bread now that have lots of grains in them.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    Why do you have to eat a certain amount of calories before you work out?

    How much weight do you want to lose?

    You don't have to eat if you are not hungry, that is how we got over weight to begin with.

    You don't have to eat at certain times, you can eat when ever you want, before or after working out.

    If you have a lot of weight to lose you can eat less if you feel fine. If you are 12% BF or under then you have to worry about starvation mode, but until then you don't have to worry about eating too little as long as you feel fine.
  • DonnaLeeCattes
    DonnaLeeCattes Posts: 492 Member
    you know for bread you can use the thin rounds, they keep longer then regular bread and there 100 calories a round.
  • 99clmsntgr
    99clmsntgr Posts: 777 Member
    Peanut butter will be the number one suggestion you see, and I agree, it's packed with calories and a little bit of protein and fats. Others will suggest other nut butters, so you can control what kind of fats you want.

    My other suggestion would be fruit juices. An 8 ounce cup of orange juice, for instance, is 114 calories (according to the MFP-entered data in the database). Just watch your sugars that day (although I would argue that if it's natural sugars, that's "ok").
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    Peanut & nut butters have already been mentioned :smile:

    I suggest also adding in some coconut oil. I use Nutiva organic coconut oil... a spoonful once a day usually, or whenever I think about it.
  • OutForBrains
    OutForBrains Posts: 6
    @californiagirl2012
    I think you misunderstood my statement. I don't have to eat a certain number of calories before I work out. It's recommended that I eat 1200 calories not including calories I "earn" for working out. I eat breakfast before I work out, and lunch and dinner after. I'm looking to loose about twenty pounds; I'm not overweight, but I'd like to be more fit. If I only ate when I was hungry, I would probably starve. I could easily eat 3, 100 calorie meals and be fine when it comes to hunger. I have functioned on one small meal mid-day before without being hungry, which I think we can agree is not healthy. Unfortunately, "just eat when you're hungry" is not great advice for everyone. I CANNOT eat whenever I want. I have to eat when I have time, which is not very often. Between school, work, and my workouts, both my breakfast and lunch are on the go every single weekday. If I skip those, I don't get to eat until dinner.

    @DonnaLeeCattes
    Ahhh! That's perfect for what I'm looking for! Thanks you so much!

    @CRAZYPEANUTBUTTERPEOPLE
    You all need your own cult of peanut butter lovers, haha. I don't think I could eat just peanut butter. It makes my stomach clench even thinking about it. Plus, I'd probably burn all the calories I got from it just trying to unstick it from the roof of my mouth, heh hehe. :]
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Easy calories to add - even in college - are things people live on:

    Rice, lentils, beans, bread
    Butter, whole milk, cheese
    Figs, almonds, dates

    Helping of any of those things will add a few hundred calories to your day
  • dwnana2411
    dwnana2411 Posts: 1
    Do you have a refrigerator? If so or acess to 1 consider yogurt, and fresh or can fruit. I like the granola and use it with yogurt and fresh or canned fruit.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Prepare all your meals the day before. You may want to look into protein powder to make smoothies for their portability and convenience for when you can't eat a meal in between classes.

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