Help I have trouble eating under 2000 cals a day!

I eat between 1800-2300 cals x day. Exercise at least 50 minutes, 6 x week.
I tried eating less, but that just doesn't work for me. I need FOOD.
So, just exercise more. You say you're on your feet most of the day,
so your TDEE is probably higher than mine - I'm 1750 without exercise at 5'0 ft.

Less calorie deficit and more exercise has worked for me. Good luck!

we should take what you are eating, mix it with the stuff that all the people who write "help i'm having trouble reaching 1200 calories" are eating, and then we'll have a perfect diet for both groups of people.

First of all, you're eating the wrong things. And eating like a "normal person" is the reason obesity is such a problem in this country. You have the wrong mindset. Also, for the first few days, you'll feel hungry, but then your body will get used to it and you wont have the hunger pains. I workout and run a lot, and can eat 12-1400 calories a day and feel great! It is all about HOW you eat your calories. A burger and tacos probably isn't the best choice (although they are DELICIOUS!!). If you were to pick high fiber, multi-grain, low calorie tortillas, you could scramble egg whites, some black beans, salsa, mmmm....satisfy that taco craving for breakfast at a much lower calorie expense. If you choose foods rich in nutrients and lower in calories you can actually eat more! Try perhaps a sweet potato instead. I like eating that stuff just like th enext person, don't get me wrong. We all wish we could eat whatever. But if weight loss is your goal, you HAVE to cut calories as well as exercise. There just isn't an easy way around it. I have found that until I was determined enough to have that dedication in my diet, I never saw results before. It is hard, but if it is really something you want to do, you'll muster up the strength to do it. Good luck to you! And remember, don't deprive yourself. I've always said, one "bad" meal won't make you fat, just like one "healthy" meal wont make you skinny. You just can't have the "bad" meal every day...or every week. Small treats once in a while!

Healthy people don't eat a breakfast of eggs, "toast, pancakes or waffles" a slice or two of bacon or sausage maybe both and lets not forget the condiments butter and syrup etc... . Yes, that is offered as breakfast often, but very few people could eat that every day.

I struggle with not feeling starving on 1500 calories - in fact, I do feel starving, even though I eat pounds of fruit & veggies. However, I just started and I'm assuming that I will get used to it.

One thing that helps me feel less starving is to make sure I get a small dose of starchy carbs (like 75ish calories), mixed with fat & protein. If I don't get those starchy carbs, I don't feel good. Everybody's metabolism and body is different. SOme people function better on a high protein diet, others on high fat and others on high carbs (scientific research shows this) - you need to figure out which one is best for you and adjust as much as possible to help lose weight. I definitely function better on high carbs - not good for weight loss, so i make sure I eat complex carbs, lots of fiber and a good amount of protein and fat.

If you're working long hours, you need to pre-pack meals and snacks. There is no way around it. Figure out what healthy snacks work for you (i like celery & PB, carrots & cream cheese (weird, I know, but it works for me), fruit & cheese or nuts. Quick lunch? Nuke a sweet potatoe and instead of using sour cream, use low-fat cottage cheese (NOT fat-free).

It does take planning to eat healthy.

If you are going to have Doritos, snack cakes and stuff like that, limit it - pack small portions ahead of time and cut down the frequency.

The thing that helps me stay on track best? Don't start and don't have access to your binge foods. By that I mean, don't grab that first tortilla chip at the Mexican restaurant, because I don't know anyone who can have just one. DOn't start. Candy is my weakness, so I don't keep it in the house. I'll keep a bag of hard candy because it satisfies the craving but I can't pig out on it.

If vending machines are your weakness, pack your snacks and meals ahead of time and go to work with no money - seriously. Do that for a month (just suck it up for the month - it's only a month) and you'll be out of the bad habits.

I know I'm getting too long - last thing. Your meals are not remotely normal. They are normal for someone headed (or having) for serious health and obesity issues. They are not normal for a healthy person. You need to learn what normal is.

Find a healthy eating plan to teach you - there a zillions out there. MFP must have some. If not SparkPeople does. Follow their meal plan for a while until you learn what is nutritious and what is normal. If you have to increase the quantities of the healthy foods (protein & veggies, not carbs), definitely do so to feel satisfied. The important thing is that you will learn normal portions of healthy foods.

You can do it. It's not easy, but if you set your mind to it, you can do it. And think of being on your feet all day as an advantage in burning calories. I'm stuck at a ocmputer for 8-10 hours per day.

I'm stuck at a ocmputer for 8-10 hours per day.

Same here...

One other note that I forgot to add in my novel up above. Start training your body to consume small quantities of food multiple times a day. Forget breakfast, lunch, and dinner... its a bad policy. Eat something small at 8am, then a pice of fruit at 9:30, then maybe some yogurt at 10:30. Have a salad at 11:45, maybe a protein shake or bar at 1:00. Even if I sit down and eat a LEGIT breakfast (eggs, bacon, slice of toast)... Im STARVING again 60 minutes later because my body craves that little shot of energy and calories every 60-90 minutes. Took me about 10 days to fight the urge to start eating my arm after having a small portion of food every hour to hour and a half, but now it makes me feel amazing throughout the day.

I don't know how in the heck you think 900 calories EVERYDAY for breakfast is normal?????????? It isn't.

You obviously really didn't want advice or you wouldn't be shooting down everything that everyone has suggested.

You are eating far, far too many carbs and starchy items why on earth do you need two tacos AND a potato for breakfast??????? and burgers with bread AND potatoes.

Try some greek yogurt with fruit and a hardboiled egg, lots of protein and not a whole lot of calories.

The "normal" american diet is why there is such a high obesity rate in this country.

I think a new definition of normal would help you get your meals in order.

Figure out your BMR and TDEE maybe 2000 calories really isn't enough. You obviously do not have a sedentary job.

Instead of sugary, or salty, or fried snacks and meal components, I've been going out of my way to make sure I have a bag or two of baby carrots, celery sticks, greek yogurt, sliced peppers, and other low fat/low calorie foods to munch on. I'm pretty sure I had a physical addiction to corn syrup sweetened foods because once I cut all that out I had headaches and general lethargy for about 2 or 3 days. I have increased my green, yellow, red vegetable intake by about 20 times compared to how I used to eat. I have lost a few pound, stayed reasonably full, and honestly I can think more clearly and I seem to be in a better mood. Now if I can just figure out a way to LIKE exercise.

So is there a device that actually monitors what calories you are burning when working?

The FitBit tries to do that.

Like most devices, it takes a wild guess and is not exactly lab accurate. It's basically a pedometer with a little extra data about you.

The problem with most heart rate equations, even if they use VO2 max, is that the amount of oxygen you are burning has 3 major components: percentage of oxygen extracted from the blood, quantity of blood in each beat, and the number of beats per minute.

Heart rate monitors only know the last one, leaving 2 of the 3 variables unknown. That is one wild guess.

Okay- sorry just had to put in my two cents.

No- you are not eating normally for your metabolism.

Two - you say you feel like you are starving. As a chemist I have to say this is probably not because you are hungry - you are thirsty. The "pains" and "growling" are the same for both, you just have with bad habits conditioned your body to drain fluid from solid food. My guess would also be that you have bowel issues as well.

You need to change your breakfast - nothing that salty in the morning. No beef at all. To get the volume you want switch to egg whites, have the entire carton if you want. To get the conditioned salt taste - use fake bacon bits- but once you are used to it drop the amount. Three - add tomatoes, onions, peppers, whatever strong tastes you can use to up the fiber volume and taste to lose all of that salt. My husband had similar problems - he now goes thru a bottle of tabasco every two weeks.

You can get cheese flavored egg beaters - but don't add cheese, you are upping your need for water without giving your body any.

Next - drink an entire glass of water with or after your meal. Your body is starving for fluid, so much that it has been squeezing it out of everything you eat causing you to overeat.

If water makes you too queasy add a little mio or something, or one splenda - it helps. Try to drink at least a pint of unsalted / unsweetened / uncarbonated fluid between each meal. More would be better - the more activity you use the more fluid you need, - and not iced tea, coffee, or soft drinks, they are diuretics.

You might feel like you are going to throw up in the beginning. Your stomach and intestines are used to working hard to get fluid and those types if contractions can make you feel ill with a stomach full of fluid. Oh- and no, absolutely no cleanses of any type!

You might "gain" at first even though your calories will be less - this will be because your body is going to hold onto every drop of that fluid for fear that you will dehydrate it again. For women - this can take an entire menstral cycle plus to lose - but don't quit. Your fluid issue is actually a more important issue than your weight right now and will help your weight issue in a few weeks.

Oh - and if you take any meds - there is a reason it says take with a glass (8 ounces per pill of water) - because your meds react with that much water to work. This is why BC can make you seem like your are gaining weight - your body is trying to desperately hold in to the fluid it needs to bond the hormones.


If you want to talk, just message me.

Good Luck.

Its always hardest at first. When I first started counting my calories and being serious about getting healthy, eating within my goal was so hard. Here are a few on my suggestions that have helped me.

1. Research what your true BMR and TDEE is. Eat more than your BMR but less then TDEE. 1200 is below BMR for most people (unless you are a petite person maybe).

2. Drink lots of water. You can "trick" your body into thinking its full.

3. Have a large salad before dinner every night (limit the salad dressing, I like to just use red wine vinegar). Then eat your dinner, you will find you eat far less.

4. Add exercise as often as you can, and eat back those wonderful calories. But in a sensible way.

5. Treat yourself to a "cheat" day once a week or every other week. Have cake, burgers, fries, beer, etc. Just because you are trying to get healthy doesn't mean you have to stop living. You just can't eat all those unhealthy foods everyday.

6. If you have a bad day, don't stress over it. Just move on and aim to do better the next day.

OP, I read I a lot of your responses....and it just doesn't seem like you really want to change anything. You want to eat massive amounts of junk and have the weight just fall off. You're not willing to replace fatty choices with healthier ones. People have tried to help you and you make a lot of excuses. I'm honestly not trying to be mean, but....unless you help yourself, no one here can.

I understand wanting to eat "normal" food...but you can't expect to eat the way you do, every day, and expect to lose weight.

If you want to keep weighing the same, keep being "normal".

If you want to lose weight, find a new normal.

Sheesh.

like for breakfast i had 2 homemade soft tacos and a baked potato and it came out to @ 900 cals for two small tacos and a baked potato...

for lunch a homemade hamburger and fries almost 600 cals.. and it not like im using fatty meat... 90% lean ground beef is 200 for a quarter pound, bread is 100 cals, cheese 100, condiments about 50, potato and ketchup @ 150 cals...

you get my point... is anyone eating like a normal person and losing?

:noway:

So you think eating 2 potatoes plus 2 soft tortillas plus a hamburger bun and 50 calories worth of condiments all within 2 meals is "normal"? Admittedly I did not read through all the other posts but my only suggestion here is for you to visit either a nutritionist or a dietician. You need perspective on what food choices are going to help you make the most of the calories and time you have allotted yourself for eating.

Also, if you are on your feet all day then I cannot fathom why you are limited to 1500 calories/day. Standing burns more calories than sitting and a 1500 calorie/day diet is more typical of someone with a desk job that is fairly short in stature.

It sounds like your definition of "normal" needs to change. 900 calories for one meal would be normal for, maybe, a linebacker. Or an unhealthy person. I think I eat like a "normal" person. I don't restrict anything, if I want it, I have it. And I am usually right where I need to be for calories. If I am going to eat more I exercise and "earn" some more calories. Check out my diary, it is open.

Are you serious? A line backer eats 2 soft tacos and a baked potato.. LMAOOOOOooo um okay.. im not sure what kind of linebacker you're accustom to, but definitely not a normal one!

how easy it is to have a 900 cal breakfast.

2 small flour tortilla shells 100 cals each, 90% lean beef @ 400, 1 oz cheese 110, 1/4 cup beans 60 cals, medium potato 150... yea because a linebacker eats just enough meat to fill the small tortilla shells, 1 0z of cheese between two tacos and a quarter of a cup of beans and 1 potato ::eyeroll::

Anyway I watch all the people at work eat garbage everyday this typical day for one of my coworkers is taco bell or fries and a dbl cheeseburger... another one she had a bag of marshmellos eating them like candy and a big bag of bbq potato chips and sour cream to dip them in and a bag of twizzlers.... i jut watch these people and im like wtf am I in bizarro world they all eat normal meaning just whatever nothing extra special or even healthy and are skinny to average body type.... i know i have to lose the weight in order to be able to eat "normal" but it would be nice to be able to eat what is considered a "normal or whats considered average amount of daily cals which is 2000 and lose" probably wont happen.. if anyone has done it let me know!

You're eating a half pound of beef mixed with beans for breakfast??? That is a lot of food- especially when you add in the two taco shells, cheese and a potato!

I have not read through all the responses so this may have been covered, but how do you know how much you are eating..you are not logging your food - just a bunch of quick adds. Start logging.