Struggling to reach daily calories!

amyshikarii
amyshikarii Posts: 13
in Health and Weight Loss
My daily calorie goal is 1560, but I struggle to even reach 1200. I'm not sure if it's because I've cut down my portion sizes or I'm just not eating enough of the correct foods.

Any suggestions or advice? This is really starting to get to me and hindering my progress.

Replies

  • Jamcnair
    Jamcnair Posts: 586 Member
    Are you just not hungry or are you afraid to eat? You could eat more full fat things, add Peanut Butter to an apple or banana?
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Sometimes it is fear of eating but I just find I'm not as hungry as I used to be! I've started snacking on celery with a layer of peanut butter and changed from 3 meals a day to 6 small ones.

    I'll try that though, might be better than the celery!
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,272 Member
    You would have to chomp on an awful lot of plain celery to build up any calories, :laugh:

    A banana has about 100 calories - couple of bananas spread across the day would add healthy calories.

    Cheese has lots of healthy points too - but sure has calories, I love cheese but have to watch how much I eat - if I had calores to fill, I'd be haveing some cheese for a healthy snack. :smile:


    Or dried fruit like sultanas.

    ETA:oops, just remembered another USA based forum I used to be on and people hadn't heard of sultanas - sorry, cant remember what you call them.
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Yeah, I know the celery doesn't add any calories but it was something I was advised to do!

    Cheese is a massive weakness, so good though. The problem is that I can't have any dairy because I'm lactose intolerant, which has recently gotten a lot worse than it used to be.

    I didn't even think of sultanas (don't worry, I'm Scottish!) :)

    Thank you though! I'll definitely give them a try.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Same boat here, it's not just you!
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
    You would have to chomp on an awful lot of plain celery to build up any calories, :laugh:

    A banana has about 100 calories - couple of bananas spread across the day would add healthy calories.

    Cheese has lots of healthy points too - but sure has calories, I love cheese but have to watch how much I eat - if I had calores to fill, I'd be haveing some cheese for a healthy snack. :smile:


    Or dried fruit like sultanas.

    ETA:oops, just remembered another USA based forum I used to be on and people hadn't heard of sultanas - sorry, cant remember what you call them.

    Very true, but the fundamental question is why are you afraid to eat???? I would guess that a public forum like this is the wrong place to answer that question but you do need to answer it to yourself and deal with that issue rather than putting a sticking plaster over it.
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    That's good to know! It really is tough, isn't it? I don't know how most people do it!
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Very true, but the fundamental question is why are you afraid to eat???? I would guess that a public forum like this is the wrong place to answer that question but you do need to answer it to yourself and deal with that issue rather than putting a sticking plaster over it.

    Yeah, it's something I'm working on! It probably just stems from a fear of undoing all of my good work and a few other things. But yes, it definitely is something to deal with.
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  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13

    and OP - I'll trade you problems. I love food too much and am over more than under

    I would definitely trade you on that!
  • kariplease
    kariplease Posts: 43
    Add brown rice to your meals, bananas, peanut butter, stay away from anything fat free and just go with the full fat option (yogurt, milk, cheese, etc), Dried fruit into your oatmeal...
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Add brown rice to your meals, bananas, peanut butter, stay away from anything fat free and just go with the full fat option (yogurt, milk, cheese, etc), Dried fruit into your oatmeal...

    Thank you! This is great, I normally go for the fat free options.
  • hazelovesfood
    hazelovesfood Posts: 454 Member
    Open up your diary and we can give you tips!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
    Add more nuts and nut butters to your diet. Also, avocados. A little guacamole will get you to your goal no problem!
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Ahh you are all so helpful! Thank you so much!

    I've opened up my diary as you've asked. Today was a bit of a bad day and often I forget to log stuff. But there we have it.
  • agpie9
    agpie9 Posts: 6 Member
    Maybe it would help to have a few healthy high fat//cal foods on hand to round out your day if you're going short. Non dairy options might be avocados, nuts, nut butters with fruit, coconut milk in a smoothie. There's even that awesome recipe floating around for "ice cream" that only has a frozen banana, nut butter, and chocolate powder as ingredients. Very yum. Sadly, I have no problems with finding ways to consume more calories.
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Maybe it would help to have a few healthy high fat//cal foods on hand to round out your day if you're going short. Non dairy options might be avocados, nuts, nut butters with fruit, coconut milk in a smoothie. There's even that awesome recipe floating around for "ice cream" that only has a frozen banana, nut butter, and chocolate powder as ingredients. Very yum. Sadly, I have no problems with finding ways to consume more calories.

    Thank you so much. I always consume too much sugar, those damn Kitkats call to me!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Use your diary to plan your day, not just record your day. Make yourself a schedule for eating and stick with it. If you add your meals and snacks, and see you're falling short, you can see where you can add just a teensy bit more throughout the day, rather than feeling like you need to cram a whole pile of extra calories in at the end.

    Think little things like a slightly larger serving of chicken when you have that for dinner. An extra ounce isn't going to make you feel OMG-I-can't-eat-another-bite-stuffed. An extra slice of cheese on a sandwich. Put some peanut butter on that toast you had for breakfast.
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    Use your diary to plan your day, not just record your day. Make yourself a schedule for eating and stick with it. If you add your meals and snacks, and see you're falling short, you can see where you can add just a teensy bit more throughout the day, rather than feeling like you need to cram a whole pile of extra calories in at the end.

    Think little things like a slightly larger serving of chicken when you have that for dinner. An extra ounce isn't going to make you feel OMG-I-can't-eat-another-bite-stuffed. An extra slice of cheese on a sandwich. Put some peanut butter on that toast you had for breakfast.

    I never thought of doing it that way! It's all a learning curve though, right? This makes more sense than the way I was doing it.

    Thank you!
  • Sincere24
    Sincere24 Posts: 126 Member
    If you`re not much into increasing food-wise, be it out of fear or just out of habit, since it seems like you`ve been dieting for a while ( kudos by the way), have you thought of maybe doing some protein shakes

    You can really pack in all sorts of nutrients if you`re really not able to eat more. For instance, a banana, full fat yogurt (flavour of your choice), almond or peanut butter and whatever else you like. That can easily be 200-300 if your days calories in one single drink. Won`t be hard to prepare, quick and simple and perfect after a work out and you can just keep what you`ve doing so far

    In terms of fear of undoing everything, I know how you feel. But you`ve done so great so far so be happy that you in fact got alot more control than the average person!

    Good luck hun :)
  • amyshikarii
    amyshikarii Posts: 13
    If you`re not much into increasing food-wise, be it out of fear or just out of habit, since it seems like you`ve been dieting for a while ( kudos by the way), have you thought of maybe doing some protein shakes

    You can really pack in all sorts of nutrients if you`re really not able to eat more. For instance, a banana, full fat yogurt (flavour of your choice), almond or peanut butter and whatever else you like. That can easily be 200-300 if your days calories in one single drink. Won`t be hard to prepare, quick and simple and perfect after a work out and you can just keep what you`ve doing so far

    In terms of fear of undoing everything, I know how you feel. But you`ve done so great so far so be happy that you in fact got alot more control than the average person!

    Good luck hun :)

    Ohh, thank you! I wasn't so sure about protein shakes if I'm being honest but everyone seems to love them so I will definitely give them a go! They sound really great.

    Thank you so much! You're so lovely!
  • Psychedelicately
    Psychedelicately Posts: 81 Member
    Eat a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Problem solved.
  • saltedcaramel86
    saltedcaramel86 Posts: 238 Member
    I've been having this problem so trying to add in an extra spoonful of peanut butter, lump of cheese, a boiled egg, oil, etc. Great calorie dense foods with healthy fats, etc (a tablespoon of oil is 135 cals, and the flavoured/infused ones are a great addition to Quorn fillets in my case). Seems to be working as I'm hitting my goals without having an extra meal, and I was eating loads but because they were fairly low cal (veggies, etc) and feeling full so I was struggling to get them in. But these seem to be helping. I might get some protein shakes as well, just for busy days when I may be way under.
  • kurbangrl
    kurbangrl Posts: 4 Member
    Are you low in a particular group? Carbs. Protein. Sugar. Etc...try to build up or u may be defeating yourself by going into starvation. U may have t go under those calories as you continue to lose and plateau.

    I start losing hair if not enough protein..maybe add a protein drink or two in the day...:smile:
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    eat some cookies. seriously.

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