struggling to eat my 1800 calories a day

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SGSmallman
SGSmallman Posts: 193 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So i'm trying to base my weight loss on my BMR & TDEE ratings.

Trying to eat about 1800 calories a day split into about 4-5 meals throughout the day, but am finding it hard when i eat clean throughout the day after a big workout in the morning where i burn about 800 calories a day

Should i be forcing myself to eat these calories to repair and recover from the session or only eat when im hungry even if im lower than what is recommended intake?

So confusing lol
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Replies

  • 1223345
    1223345 Posts: 1,386 Member
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    If you don't feel hungry, then don't eat. Maybe add a few higher calorie items to your meals to help get the calories up without stuffing yourself.
  • squatsandlipgloss
    squatsandlipgloss Posts: 595 Member
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    It all depends on what you want to stick to I guess. If you want to go by per your TDEE-something%, you should probably force some food down your throat :P

    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge. I try to keep all my healthy habits in there but use calorie fillers such as bread or chocolate to get to my calories. I don't know if that would be an option for you, using a small portion of your calories for some less healthy foods, but they keep me sane.
  • c_faulkenburg
    c_faulkenburg Posts: 158 Member
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    It's easy to hit recommended calories by adding healthy fats like nuts and avocados. I don't know if you consider cheese "clean," but adding a bit here and there adds up also!
  • Kelley528
    Kelley528 Posts: 319 Member
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    Try adding certain things to your meals that will increase the calories. For example, have some juice with your breakfast to add 110 calories, drink whole milk instead of skim milk, increase your veggie portion or add an extra ounce to your chicken/meat/fish etc.... Little things will bulk up your calories.

    Have a bigger portion snack or instead of snacking on fruit or veggies have something sweet.

    Since I increased my calorie level by 230 calories a day the only way I meet that is by doing some of the above. My meal portions or always filling to me so I had to add in some of the things I took away when I first started losing weight.
  • NutellaAddict
    NutellaAddict Posts: 1,258 Member
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    Nuts
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
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    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge.

    Damn...I find it a challenge to eat only 2000 cals a day and 99% of what I eat is completely "clean."
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
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    What are you eating? My guess is it is all low fat foods, yes? Try bringing in some whole foods such as whole milk, using olive oil to cook with. Nuts are a great calorie filler!

    I eat 3 full meals and 2-3 snacks every day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are the big ones obviously with 300-400 for breakfast and 500-600 for lunch and dinner. The snacks I average about 150-200 each depending on what I had at the main meals. Remember, with BMR/TDEE you can go over and under and still be fine. I generally fluctuate between 1600-1900 calories (my TDEE is 2300).
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
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    Nuts

    I agree, it is nuts!

    Oh, you mean eat them...I agree with that too.
  • bannedword
    bannedword Posts: 299 Member
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    I'll eat your leftovers cals.

    You're welcome.
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
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    Find some salty nuts and put them in your mouth. If you aren't hungry and don't feel tired then don't force feed yourself. I eat anywhere from 10% to 100% of my workout depending on how I feel or need to satisfy my hunger.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Nom nom nom

    6f36582a-8b20-4f6f-89c0-a78eaaca162f_zpsa633688d.jpg
  • katevarner
    katevarner Posts: 884 Member
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    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge.

    Damn...I find it a challenge to eat only 2000 cals a day and 99% of what I eat is completely "clean."
    This. I eat at least 80% clean every day (well, except when I was on vacation last week), and I have a hard time eating less than 2200. My TDEE is 2250 and I'm in maintenance.

    That said, are you sure you are burning that many calories in your workout? That's incredibly high. I'm small and old (5'3", 110, 48 and in menopause), so my burn is low, but I rarely burn over 300 in a workout, even from running. And I don't get my burn numbers from MFP.
  • dan1971drum
    dan1971drum Posts: 8 Member
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    LOL ...99.9% of the people using this site would like to be able to get 'down' to 1,800 calories a day. Sorry I cannot help you. :)
  • squatsandlipgloss
    squatsandlipgloss Posts: 595 Member
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    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge.

    Damn...I find it a challenge to eat only 2000 cals a day and 99% of what I eat is completely "clean."
    This. I eat at least 80% clean every day (well, except when I was on vacation last week), and I have a hard time eating less than 2200. My TDEE is 2250 and I'm in maintenance.

    That said, are you sure you are burning that many calories in your workout? That's incredibly high. I'm small and old (5'3", 110, 48 and in menopause), so my burn is low, but I rarely burn over 300 in a workout, even from running. And I don't get my burn numbers from MFP.

    Problem with a lot of people that screwed up their metabolism over the years (me included), we cannot eat 2,000 calories worth of healthy foods because they are so dang filling. We are not used to it. People usually get overweight by over eating on empty calories, therefore aren't able to fit that much food in their stomachs. I can easily eat 2,000 calories of **** (white bread, pralines, fries) but healthy stuff fills me up fast!!

    I would also love to know what and how much you eat!
  • mikeberthold
    mikeberthold Posts: 24 Member
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    I see this kind of post a lot on MFP, but I don't get it.

    I mean, other than those who are just trying to maintain or actually trying to gain weight, the majority are trying to lose weight, right?

    That means we've ALL eaten more than 1800 calories a day. Hell, some of us a lot more than that. So how is it that when you're trying to lose weight, you all of a sudden can't get to your calorie goals?

    My guess is artificial constraints. Trying to not eat any sugar, or refined products, or protein after 8, or carbs, etc, etc, etc... It gets really hard to get to your calorie goals if you only allow yourself tofu after dark and leafy greens with no dressing as your only snack option watching TV at night.

    When I get to the end of the day and I've done my exercise and I have 4-500 calories left in my budget, I treat myself. Sometimes it's a sandwich, sometimes it's a bowl of chips (gasp). I'm down 40 pounds in 3 months just being honest and telling myself as long as I'm on my goals and exercising daily and the weight's coming off, I'm 10 times healthier than I was.

    And the bonus part is I can do this for the rest of my life. The constraints diets are the ones that you get to your goal and then eat "normally" and gain it all back; or worse you hit a plateau and say screw it and eat whatever. If you teach yourself moderated and thought out snacking now, even on "evil" foods, you can build a lifetime of good habits.

    My two cents.
  • SGSmallman
    SGSmallman Posts: 193 Member
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    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge.

    Damn...I find it a challenge to eat only 2000 cals a day and 99% of what I eat is completely "clean."
    This. I eat at least 80% clean every day (well, except when I was on vacation last week), and I have a hard time eating less than 2200. My TDEE is 2250 and I'm in maintenance.

    That said, are you sure you are burning that many calories in your workout? That's incredibly high. I'm small and old (5'3", 110, 48 and in menopause), so my burn is low, but I rarely burn over 300 in a workout, even from running. And I don't get my burn numbers from MFP.

    Age: 24
    Height: 5'11
    Weight: 220 lbs
    lean mass: 72.7 kg
    fat %: 29.6

    I use to be really fit before i tore my acl 3 years ago and have only now got the confidence back to train again.
    This morning i did 20 mins on a cross trainer as the warm up before doing 50 min circuit training, 40 min walk fairly fast raised heart rate and breathing.

    I am currently training 4 days a week but am only in week 2 of tracking my intake and if i'm being good i can eat all my protein and and good fats while trying to cut down on carbs. I LOVE CARBS so its a bloody pain to stop them
  • Griffin220x
    Griffin220x Posts: 399
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    So i'm trying to base my weight loss on my BMR & TDEE ratings.

    Trying to eat about 1800 calories a day split into about 4-5 meals throughout the day, but am finding it hard when i eat clean throughout the day after a big workout in the morning where i burn about 800 calories a day

    Should i be forcing myself to eat these calories to repair and recover from the session or only eat when im hungry even if im lower than what is recommended intake?

    So confusing lol

    Eat a giant man meal all at once!!! Some meat, fats, dont't forget your veggies and icecream :bigsmile:
  • squatsandlipgloss
    squatsandlipgloss Posts: 595 Member
    Options
    I see this kind of post a lot on MFP, but I don't get it.

    I mean, other than those who are just trying to maintain or actually trying to gain weight, the majority are trying to lose weight, right?

    That means we've ALL eaten more than 1800 calories a day. Hell, some of us a lot more than that. So how is it that when you're trying to lose weight, you all of a sudden can't get to your calorie goals?

    My guess is artificial constraints. Trying to not eat any sugar, or refined products, or protein after 8, or carbs, etc, etc, etc... It gets really hard to get to your calorie goals if you only allow yourself tofu after dark and leafy greens with no dressing as your only snack option watching TV at night.

    When I get to the end of the day and I've done my exercise and I have 4-500 calories left in my budget, I treat myself. Sometimes it's a sandwich, sometimes it's a bowl of chips (gasp). I'm down 40 pounds in 3 months just being honest and telling myself as long as I'm on my goals and exercising daily and the weight's coming off, I'm 10 times healthier than I was.

    And the bonus part is I can do this for the rest of my life. The constraints diets are the ones that you get to your goal and then eat "normally" and gain it all back; or worse you hit a plateau and say screw it and eat whatever. If you teach yourself moderated and thought out snacking now, even on "evil" foods, you can build a lifetime of good habits.

    My two cents.

    Like I stated in my previous post: people that are obese have not been overeating on healthy stuff ;) As much as they might try to fool themselves, no one ever got fat from over eating on broccoli or chicken breast - it is empty calories like fries, burgers, chicken nuggets and candy.

    So yes, ask me to eat all that **** up to 2,000 calories, NO problem. But we want to do it the healthy way - and that is where it is challenging ;)

    But this is why I also said what you are basically saying: I will do my thing, get my nutrients and vitamins, and when I have some calories left, I will treat myself to whatever goodness I feel like ;)
  • SGSmallman
    SGSmallman Posts: 193 Member
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    I also upped my cals from 1,500 to about 2,000 and I am finding it extremely hard, especially if you eat only healthy foods, getting to 1,800 is a challenge.

    Damn...I find it a challenge to eat only 2000 cals a day and 99% of what I eat is completely "clean."
    This. I eat at least 80% clean every day (well, except when I was on vacation last week), and I have a hard time eating less than 2200. My TDEE is 2250 and I'm in maintenance.

    That said, are you sure you are burning that many calories in your workout? That's incredibly high. I'm small and old (5'3", 110, 48 and in menopause), so my burn is low, but I rarely burn over 300 in a workout, even from running. And I don't get my burn numbers from MFP.

    Problem with a lot of people that screwed up their metabolism over the years (me included), we cannot eat 2,000 calories worth of healthy foods because they are so dang filling. We are not used to it. People usually get overweight by over eating on empty calories, therefore aren't able to fit that much food in their stomachs. I can easily eat 2,000 calories of **** (white bread, pralines, fries) but healthy stuff fills me up fast!!

    I would also love to know what and how much you eat!

    This is exactly what the issue is i use to be very un healthy eat takeaway 3 times a week, drink alot of alochol (i was a student after all) and i use to play american football so was training almost every day

    but now im older in full time work i train 4 times a week but 3 years of bad eating has given me a belly, i'm fairly fit jsut trying to drop my body fat down
  • mikeberthold
    mikeberthold Posts: 24 Member
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    Like I stated in my previous post: people that are obese have not been overeating on healthy stuff ;) As much as they might try to fool themselves, no one ever got fat from over eating on broccoli or chicken breast - it is empty calories like fries, burgers, chicken nuggets and candy.

    So yes, ask me to eat all that **** up to 2,000 calories, NO problem. But we want to do it the healthy way - and that is where it is challenging ;)

    That's my point.

    I've lost 110 pounds one other time in my life. Ate perfect, no "bad" food, etc...

    I gained it back within a decade. Of course I did! Hardly anyone can life a full life depriving themselves of food they enjoy. Look, if we didn't enjoy it we wouldn't have eaten it in the first place, we're not insane.

    You can try to fill yourself up on skinless chicken and broccoli but it's almost impossible, as you stated. I'm just trying to stress that unless you're committed to a lifetime of deprivation (which some are, but the honest will realize is impossible to maintain for life), you might as well incorporate "evil" food and figure out how to eat it in moderation.

    It will lead to a lifetime of OVERALL healthy eating, and you won't pull your hair out when someone offers you a piece of decadent cheesecake (or whatever you love)

    Edit: I just saw your edit and we seem to agree! :)

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