Calorie intake

Tough situation and one I"m unfortunately familiar with. I'm 5.8 and weighed 247 but am down 12 lbs. I'm struggling meeting my daily calorie count and am often low. Mix in the fact I'm working out pretty regularly and it makes it even harder. However, the deficit isn't taking off weight like I thought it would. Everything I"m reading talks about the metabolic problem of eating too little and I can confirm I've screwed myself on that front. My RMR is much lower than expected based upon my weight/height/age and the doctor can't find any good reason for it (thyroid ok, testosterone ok, no diabetes) so he chalks it up to horrible eating habits, starving myself for long portions of the day and then eating my calories in one fell swoop. The other thing I suggest is getting your RMR tested. Some gyms will do the test and many doctors/weight loss centers have the device to do it. It costs about $75 bucks and is worth it. Tells you your resting metabolic rate and it may surprise you. The calculators on-line are only guidelines and were horribly off in my case. Knowing your baseline calorie burn is crucial to setting a realistic and healthy goal number. The other problem with eating too few calories is your metabolism will slow down the more weight you lose. so, to keep losing weight, you have to drop your goal number. IF you aren't using all your calories now, how are you going to drop the calories you are eating as you lose he weight?

I suggest you increase your calorie intake for breakfast and make lunch your biggest meal if you can. If not, then do breakfast. Dinner should be the lightest meal and no eating after 7 p.m.. If you must, make sure it is protein only (turkey slices, low fat cheese) Plan out your day ahead of time, see what you need to save for the dinner you are going to have, and make sure you've eaten everything but that by 3 p.m. Put a snack in there in between breakfast and lunch and another one between lunch and dinner. Ideally, exercise a little first thing in the morning to get the metabolism revved up. Eating clean makes it hard to hit your calorie targets because it does seem like a lot of food. I'm shooting for 1350/day and there are days it is hard to get even that high. Treat yourself every now and then with something that you enjoy but isn't HORRIBLE. I love chips/salsa and I'll treat myself in the late afternoon before dinner if my day looks like it is light on calories. 12 lbs in a month isn't BIGGEST LOSER numbers, but I'd be thrilled if I can keep up this momentum. Good luck.

Open your food diary if you want suggestions.

Typically when I see this type of post, I find that in the person's diary they are still eating "low cal" "low fat" and "lite" versions of food. If you have trouble making calorie goals, try using full flavoured versions. I often see people drinking skim milk, low fat cheese and yogurt, 100 calorie treats, etc. Using the full version can easily add extra calories with less food.
Other things you can add are whole eggs, nuts, seeds and nut butters, olive oil, avocado, etc, all add calories without adding a ton of food.
Also try eating more often if you find that your meals are too large. Add a couple of snacks.

This is what I was talking about. IF you are are in the negative you need to eat more. WHy choose skim milk, dilute your orange juice or eat more fruit? Or a more calorie dense cereal like muesli? Why not drink the full juice, add some butter or sour cream to your potatoes, eat peanut butter with your apple.
Eat more with lunch than just fruit. Fruit is good, but there is still a lot lacking from it as a meal standpoint.
It may be working now, but in the long run eating too little can lead to problems.

Hi
I choose semi skim milk because I dont like full fat milk and have not drunken it for years. I use dilute jucie because during the day at work its easier to fill a bottle with water from the purifier and I can keep the one bottle of dilute in my work space not numerous amounts of orange juice which would really have to be kept in a fridge.

Yes it can lead to problems but I have been down this route before and had no issues with it all. But thanks for your advice I will see what can be changed.

J