Help me find a balance!

jateddyco
jateddyco Posts: 2 Member
edited January 24 in Health and Weight Loss
This is week #2 for me and it's going well. My aim is 1200 calories a day and I exercise 4x a week and I log that. I am having a hard time getting in all my calories each day, but I go over on protein and sugars every day. (No processed sugars, just that which is found in veggies and normal foods). I eat a half banana on my cheerios every morning, so that's the only obvious sugars. I need some suggestions of foods to eat or snack on to get more calories, but no protein or sugars. I have usually been around 950-1000 calories each day. Any help would be much appreciated.

Replies

  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Don't worry about going over on protein - MFP's settings for this are notoriously low. And if you're over on sugar from fruits & veggies, no worries there either. :smile:

    As for coming in under 1200, you definitely need to be eating more, to goal at least, and eat back exercise cals. 1200 is the bare minimum for women, so you should be netting that much.

    Some good calorie dense foods to help bump up your cals without overfilling your plate - nuts, nut butters, avocados, full fat dairy, olive and coconut oils in dressings and for cooking, whole eggs, etc. Sliced apple (or banana, or dark chocolate!) dipped in a Tbs of peanut butter is a tasty snack and packs in good cals. Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and a drizzle of honey, mozzarella cheese stick & half an apple, a handful of raw almonds - all good stuff which will help get you to goal.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Don't worry about going over on protein - MFP's settings for this are notoriously low. And if you're over on sugar from fruits & veggies, no worries there either. :smile:

    As for coming in under 1200, you definitely need to be eating more, to goal at least, and eat back exercise cals. 1200 is the bare minimum for women, so you should be netting that much.

    Some good calorie dense foods to help bump up your cals without overfilling your plate - nuts, nut butters, avocados, full fat dairy, olive and coconut oils in dressings and for cooking, whole eggs, etc. Sliced apple (or banana, or dark chocolate!) dipped in a Tbs of peanut butter is a tasty snack and packs in good cals. Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and a drizzle of honey, mozzarella cheese stick & half an apple, a handful of raw almonds - all good stuff which will help get you to goal.

    Yep to all of this.

    I also wouldn't worry about sugar as long as your carbs are in check and you don't have a medical condition. Sugar is just a subset of carbs and I don't even track it, never have.
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    I don't track sugar anymore either. I knew I was only because of fruit, but I still didn't like going over every day. So I replaced that column with iron (which turns out that I'm woefully deficient in).

    ps: Try to get 0.80 to 1 gram of protein in every day for each pound of lean body mass.
  • jateddyco
    jateddyco Posts: 2 Member
    Gosh, all that sounds wonderful! But it sounds more like I'm trying to GAIN weight rather than lose!
  • JoanB5
    JoanB5 Posts: 610 Member
    I found that the more I exercised and built lean muscle, the more good calories my body needed. Gotta feed that muscle so that the muscle can burn more calories for you and so that you look fit, not just bony. I've been both.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    I just eat whatever I want. I don't care as long as it keeps me full.
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