Anyone else have trouble eating at least 1200?

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  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    When I'm under my calorie goal, I hit the jar of PB or eat nuts. Don't fear fat.
    i have lost 200 plus lbs.. so i just try to maintain but its freakin hard!

    Well done!!

    I'd be looking at my next goal to maintain lower levels of bodyfat namely by some kind of fitness or sporty challenge whether it's to do a marathon (if running's your thing) or taking up a new sport.
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 626 Member
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    I have a big problem in the summer with forcing myself to eat at least 1200 calories, when my goal is 1520. Most days I don't make it to 1200.. usually end up around 1100 or a little less. Even when I exercise which is becoming much more frequent, I struggle to eat 1200 plus at least some of my exercise calories. I ate a little over 1300 today and it was almost like torture forcing myself to eat that much. And to be clear I don't have an eating disorder or anything like that (I love food way too much..) I just tend to eat less in the summer and don't get very hungry. I also have a feeling that not eating enough is what is causing my rollercoaster weight loss. Up a lb one week and down 4 the next. It's been this way for about 2 months now. It happens without fail. I've started only weighing every 2 weeks because I got tired of seeing that gain in between. Still losing approximately 2lbs a week, but it would be nice if it could be a little more steady and not fluctuate as much.

    Is there anything I can do or eat to help me get up to my calorie goal without adding a lot of sodium, carbs, fat and sugars? Don't care about going over on fiber or protein, but I have a hard time with my sugars and fats. I know I could always eat a hamburger or something to bump me up to my goal, but I'm trying to get away from processed and fatty foods. Also, I know my food diary is set to friends only.. I'm not looking for people to comment on what I'm eating, just offer suggestions for getting to my calorie goal.

    I'm sure I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking but how did you get overweight (your ticker says you want to lose 130 pounds) by not eating more calories? If you are struggling to eat 1200 calories after you probably have done it in the past, then I would say you may have developed an eating disorder. Not a doctor, but just stating my opinion...1200 is easy peasy. Most of us here have a hard time sticking under 2000.
  • AmykinsCatfood
    AmykinsCatfood Posts: 599 Member
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    I have a big problem in the summer with forcing myself to eat at least 1200 calories, when my goal is 1520. Most days I don't make it to 1200.. usually end up around 1100 or a little less. Even when I exercise which is becoming much more frequent, I struggle to eat 1200 plus at least some of my exercise calories. I ate a little over 1300 today and it was almost like torture forcing myself to eat that much. And to be clear I don't have an eating disorder or anything like that (I love food way too much..) I just tend to eat less in the summer and don't get very hungry. I also have a feeling that not eating enough is what is causing my rollercoaster weight loss. Up a lb one week and down 4 the next. It's been this way for about 2 months now. It happens without fail. I've started only weighing every 2 weeks because I got tired of seeing that gain in between. Still losing approximately 2lbs a week, but it would be nice if it could be a little more steady and not fluctuate as much.

    Is there anything I can do or eat to help me get up to my calorie goal without adding a lot of sodium, carbs, fat and sugars? Don't care about going over on fiber or protein, but I have a hard time with my sugars and fats. I know I could always eat a hamburger or something to bump me up to my goal, but I'm trying to get away from processed and fatty foods. Also, I know my food diary is set to friends only.. I'm not looking for people to comment on what I'm eating, just offer suggestions for getting to my calorie goal.

    I'm sure I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking but how did you get overweight (your ticker says you want to lose 130 pounds) by not eating more calories? If you are struggling to eat 1200 calories after you probably have done it in the past, then I would say you may have developed an eating disorder. Not a doctor, but just stating my opinion...1200 is easy peasy. Most of us here have a hard time sticking under 2000.

    I have always been this way, but after highschool once I was out on my own I would eat fast food for nearly every meal. In the morning I would grab a fast food muffin or egg sandwich and then not eat anything until around 5pm, and then get a big mac meal and some cookies or something. So, little food, but food loaded with calories and fats. I'm eating healthy foods now, and trying my hardest to stay within all of my macros, but I still have the issue of not really feeling like eating. I do NOT have an eating disorder, thank you very much. If I am hungry I eat, if I'm not hungry I don't eat. Most of the time I am simply not hungry. I sit in a classroom most of the day so I don't move around a lot until later when I go for my walk or bike ride. I'm sorry if I confused people on what I was asking, but please do not go assuming that everyone who doesn't eat 1200 calories has an eating disorder.
  • WhyFlowersExist
    WhyFlowersExist Posts: 78 Member
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    I wish i had this problem LOL are you eating mostly at night? Or maybe your a secret eater? Its just your over weight if you truly had trouble eating 1200 you would be stick thin. Heres a suggestion, stock up on low calorie foods like veggies, fruit, chicken, ect. Then try to snack most of the day on those foods if you still havent hit that 1200 calorie mark get a nutrition drink and some fat free milk :) thats at least 350 calories :)
  • AmykinsCatfood
    AmykinsCatfood Posts: 599 Member
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    No, I'm not a big night eater.. a small snack and cup of tea usually, but that's all. My big meal is usually lunch. I honestly think it's the heat. I have no problem getting to my goal when it's cooler, just in the summer I don't feel a lot like eating. I don't know why I never consider drinking milk.. I just never do. I will have at least one glass a day from now on.
  • AmykinsCatfood
    AmykinsCatfood Posts: 599 Member
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    I also adjusted my macros to be at least 30% proteins and fats, and only 40% carbs. I barely ever hit even half of my carbs allowance so I took away some from there and put it to proteins and fats. Now I won't feel guilty eating more fats.
  • Mjhnbgff
    Mjhnbgff Posts: 112
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    How are you people eating 1,200 calories not getting hungry or tired? And why is it such a struggle to eat a mere 1,200 calories? Sorry, this is such a mystery to me. I easily put away 1,200 calories before I even have my last meal of the day.

    As others have suggested, try adding more calorie dense healthy foods such as nuts, olive oil, avocado, fatty fish (if you like fish), etc. I bumped up my calories by simply adding a handful of walnuts and ground flaxseed to my morning oatmeal, sprinkling a couple tablespoons of wheatgerm in my yogurt, and adding half an avocado to my sandwich or just eating it with my toast.

    A couple tablespoons of almond butter on toast and a glass of skim milk is 300-400 calories and won't make you feel like you're about to bust a gut. It's so easy to add more calories without adding a lot of extra food that I just don't understand why this is a problem on MFP day after day.

    Maybe the problem is that the OP is a picky eater and has a limited diet? I have no clue but best of luck to you, OP.
  • annahcash
    annahcash Posts: 7
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    And to be clear I don't have an eating disorder or anything like that (I love food way too much..) I just tend to eat less in the summer and don't get very hungry.

    I just want to point out that you CAN have an eating disorder and LOVE food, the majority of people who have suffered with ED's do in fact, love food, it's all psychological, nothing to do with food, most of the time, sorry psych major here, I hate generalizations of ED's, especially since I've been there.

    But, I can relate to not eating enough, when I am on my Adderall I never want to eat, I get so busy and forget most of time, which can be very bad, and screwed me over in more ways than one freshman year of college.

    If you have to set reminders on your phone, have snack bags of almonds or nuts with you and snack on those throughout the day! Don't like plain almonds? Try yogurt covered ones or dark chocolate covered ones. I also love to eat avocados, I only eat about a half of one though in one sitting because of the cal and fat content, but eat the whole thing on whatever you like (toast, bread, bagel etc) and there is 200 or so calories just from the avocado.
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    its a routine/habit u need to get used to. eating every 2-3 hrs is good for the body- keeps the metabolism moving. try adding 1-2 simple portable snacks to your day, that wont fill u up but will keep your body fueled between meals... maybe a piece of fruit and a protein bar. the two of those will add a healthy 250-300 cals to your day, putting u in a healthier calorie range and your body will function better.

    when i was younger i "didnt have time for breakfast" in middle school, since i didnt want to get up even earlier to eat something. my grandfather stayed with us for a few weeks one time, saw i didnt eat bfast, and insisted on making me bfast every morning. even those few weeks helped start the habit, and now i cant go more than an hour after waking up without eating something...or im a grumpy, starving *kitten*.

    MFP is all about learning and incorporating new healthy habits. :)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    its a routine/habit u need to get used to. eating every 2-3 hrs is good for the body- keeps the metabolism moving. try adding 1-2 simple portable snacks to your day, that wont fill u up but will keep your body fueled between meals... maybe a piece of fruit and a protein bar. the two of those will add a healthy 250-300 cals to your day, putting u in a healthier calorie range and your body will function better.

    when i was younger i "didnt have time for breakfast" in middle school, since i didnt want to get up even earlier to eat something. my grandfather stayed with us for a few weeks one time, saw i didnt eat bfast, and insisted on making me bfast every morning. even those few weeks helped start the habit, and now i cant go more than an hour after waking up without eating something...or im a grumpy, starving *kitten*.

    MFP is all about learning and incorporating new healthy habits. :)

    While I agree that for someone who is not eating enough, eating more regularly may be a good idea, meal frequency within the day does not impact your metabolism and there is nothing wrong with not eating breakfast if your eating habits tend that way.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    I find it easier to eat 1600 or more. What I mean by that, is I plan for that amount in my day, and if my totals are looking too low, I swap out more calorie-dense food, so that I get the amount I need.


    When I was trying to eat a lot less, I was constantly looking for low calorie options, and the whole thing was just a misery.
  • annebaum41912
    annebaum41912 Posts: 87 Member
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    I'll be one of the few to say I totally understand what you are going through. When I first started my journey I found it VERY hard to hit 1200 calories. Most days it was between 1000-1100. And my personal reason for that was the switch in WHAT foods I was eating. Obviously being over 100lbs overweight I was not having this problem before. But then I was eating things that were very high in calories, fat, and were very horrible for me. Once I switched to eating healthy foods, I found it hard to eat enough calories. I could eat enough food to make me satisfied but because it was less calories for the food I had trouble hitting the limits. So I took much of the advice here. I added nuts to a salad, or my favorite is adding some strawberry whey protein powder to milk and some ice and a banana. Yummy shake. If it weren't for this advice I'm sure I would still have trouble with the calories lol
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
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    The idea of not being able to eat 1200 just blows my mind. On a typical day prior to trying to lose weight, I was easily taking in 3000 each day. Eating enough was not an issue and I don't think it really is an issue for most of us as long as we arent trying to restrict ourselves too much. Get rid of the "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods mentality and eat what you want in moderation. Concentrate on hitting your protein and fat goals then fill the rest in from there
  • jchrisman717
    jchrisman717 Posts: 780 Member
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    Eat eggs, add some black beans in a tortilla shell with some salsa - not too heavy, good for a hot day and adds up to about 400 to 500 calories, eat natural PB - good fats and no preservatives and bad fats and adds quite a bit of calories per tablespoon, eat it on an apple and get your calories, protein and fiber. Mix a nice big whey protein shake, use chocolate with some ice cubes and add flax seed oil and even greek yogart, or banana if you want, better than McDonalds and can add another 400 to 500 calories.

    I eat a lot of PB, Greek yogart and black beans and eggs.
  • dreamweavers4
    dreamweavers4 Posts: 42
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    OMG! I have just spent the past 12 hours going over this! My calories the other day (my first day on here ) were a little over 900, yesterday I was getting ready for bed and not even hungry, I didn't even have 500 calories for the day! I ate! I just don't eat a lot, I am not hungry, I eat when I am hungry. Not anorixic etc, I am actually 40+ lbs overweight, I am in the obese catagory! I have had the sugestion of peanut butter, nuts, greek yogurt, I am going back to my diet I was on a while back too where I don't allow myself to go any more than 3 hours without eating something. I would give that a try. Good luck, I am right there with you!
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I have that problem too, even if I break it down into 6 small meals, I still don't eat enough calories!! Eating healthy doesn't rack up a lot of calories!!
  • HaggisWhisperer
    HaggisWhisperer Posts: 125 Member
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    I hit an almost 6 month stall during the first 6 months of this year - I had previously lost around 40lb following the slow carb diet. On the advice of others, I signed up to this site a couple of weeks ago to track my daily intake and I was amazed that my average was only around 1200 cal/day. I had thought it would be much higher as I wasn't hungry or feeling particularly deprived (the slow carb diet gives you a cheat day when you can eat as much rubbish as you feel like!). I adjusted my planned daily itake to 1500 cal/day and my macros to 25%/25%/50%(carb/protein/fat). I didn't have to change an awful lot to my diet. I added in a protein shake in the morning made with unsweetened almond milk (rather than water) and I started using a bit more coconut oil to my stir fried veggies in the evening. I'm now often having a curry made with creamed coconut in the evening in which case I then make my calorie target quite easily. If I'm having something else for dinner then I've tried adding in avocado or a couple of spoonfuls of nut butter. Since adding these calories I lost 2 lb last week and this week is looking similar. That is a bigger loss in these last 2 weeks than the whole of the first half of the year!
  • gogoyubarino
    gogoyubarino Posts: 104 Member
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    Are you exercising? Do intervals and weight training a few times a week and you won't have trouble getting 1200.
  • newmomma29
    newmomma29 Posts: 6 Member
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    I was also having the same problem. Ive recently changed to eating a big breakfast and lunch and a small supper. A big breakfast (to me) is 2 eggs, 1 pc of toast and sausage or bacon (usually turkey), then add in a snack of yogurt and fruit or granola midway, then at lunch I'm having 5oz chicken steamed with seasoning, add in 1/2 cup brown rice and some veggies (finding it hard to finish) then an afternoon snack of apple & peanut butter and at supper time I've had a shake (shakeology or like wise). Its a tonne of food, but im starving because of the big breakfast and lunch. I'm only 3 days in though.... Hope this helps. Your body gets used to consuming foods at the same times, so switch it up to make it burn more and keep your metabolism going. Good luck. Oh I also upped my calories from 1200 to 1350....
  • shannashannabobana
    shannashannabobana Posts: 625 Member
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    please do not go assuming that everyone who doesn't eat 1200 calories has an eating disorder.

    I don't assume that, but I would be less concerned if you were low one day, regular or high the next. Are you low like this every day? How much below 1200?

    Ordinarily, I would say if you are listening to when you are actually hungry and are satisfied with your food, you don't have to work hard to raise your calories on a specific day but if you are consistently below 1000 I don't know that I would give that particular advice.

    I'll just echo everybody and say try to add a little good fat to your meals and don't worry too much about it.

    (I do find sometimes the heat makes me less hungry - say if I've been working out in the heat I need some time to cool off. But it's generally a specific, short term reaction to time spent in 100 degree weather not a consistent all summer long thing. Summer usually does make me want lighter foods, so maybe that's part of it?)

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