Difficulties hitting my recomended daily calories

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darkorical
darkorical Posts: 11 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am having a bit of difficulty actually hitting my goals. This would be an exaggeration of what I eat
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and the recipes for the spicy salad and taco lasagna
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I have been using Slim fast for 2 meals a day and keep ending up 1100 - 1500 shy so today I decided to see what would happen if I just ate what I wanted to. so Imagine my surprise when I still came up nearly a 1000 shy of my goals.

Can someone offer any suggestions, or is it ok to be that far off?

Note: I stand 6,3 weight 385lbs and not even the doctors believe it and insist on reweighing me to make sure at every visit, as they are certain I cant possibly weight over 300-325.
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Replies

  • sweebum
    sweebum Posts: 1,060 Member
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    You are eating far too little for your size.

    You need to up your protein to help minimize your muscle loss while in a deficit.

    Add some cottage cheese, nuts, healthy fats, lean meats etc to your diet.

    Lean cuisines are nothing but filler and sodium.:grumble:
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    open your mouth and put food in it and swallow.... ffs

    how many zero cal monsters are u drinkin? stimulants kill appetite bud
  • mish24canada
    mish24canada Posts: 152 Member
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    lucky you i have a problem staying within 1200 calories and not going over.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Ditch the weight loss shakes and make your own! You can add Greek yogurt, peanut butter, protein powder, etc. to boost the calories without having to eat more.

    Add cheese and nuts or seeds to your salad. Eat your baby carrots with some hummus or dip.

    At your weight you can sustain a larger deficit for a while, but you'll want to try and increase your calories to keep your body from breaking down as much muscle as possible.
  • NayNeeNoo
    NayNeeNoo Posts: 25 Member
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    I got some good suggestions here:
    https://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1016029-struggling-to-meet-the-minimum-but-want-to-reach-1350
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    Ditch the weight loss shakes and make your own! You can add Greek yogurt, peanut butter, protein powder, etc. to boost the calories without having to eat more.

    Add cheese and nuts or seeds to your salad. Eat your baby carrots with some hummus or dip.

    At your weight you can sustain a larger deficit for a while, but you'll want to try and increase your calories to keep your body from breaking down as much muscle as possible.
    Bingo! if you're having a tough time reaching your calories, stay away from the "diet" stuff. Increase your proteins.
  • Caitlinhappymeal
    Caitlinhappymeal Posts: 185 Member
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    i'm apologising before hand if this comes out as rude, it really isn't intended to be but there is only one way of asking and that is why are you struggling to hit your calories when clearly eating too many calories got you on a pickle to start with, if you didnt struggle before to eat too many calories then why are you struggling now? see, theres no other way to ask lol apologies :smile:
  • Dre8604
    Dre8604 Posts: 61 Member
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    Question... Is the 2,350 Calories before or after you've added your exercise calories burned for the day? Or is this the calculated recommended calorie intake from MFP?
  • carmenb39
    carmenb39 Posts: 5
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    It's ok. A person of your size can literally go months without food, provided they consume sufficient water and vitamins for the body to maintain function. Do what you're comfortable with calorie-wise, but DO NOT skip daily vitamins and the minimum 8 glasses of water.
  • darkorical
    darkorical Posts: 11 Member
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    i'm apologising before hand if this comes out as rude, it really isn't intended to be but there is only one way of asking and that is why are you struggling to hit your calories when clearly eating too many calories got you on a pickle to start with, if you didnt struggle before to eat too many calories then why are you struggling now? see, theres no other way to ask lol apologies :smile:

    No offense taken and I did not find it rude. I think part of my problem is I almost never actually feel hungry and even less often do I actually feel full. because of that this is what I ate before.
    1371061905-clip-131kb.jpg
    when I decided to loose the weight eating like that went straight out. So now Im looking for things to add back into my diet that wont be detrimental.
    Question... Is the 2,350 Calories before or after you've added your exercise calories burned for the day? Or is this the calculated recommended calorie intake from MFP?

    actually I never report calories burnt for the day. I spend most my day at work in front of the computer. and most my evenings at home doing the same. so basically 0 exercise except for the occasional house work. but I do tend to be up for 18 hour days up at 7 am and don't go to bed till 1 am so that could skew my amount naturally burnt just by breathing so to speak
  • sweebum
    sweebum Posts: 1,060 Member
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    You could easily lose at 3000 calories a day. 1400 is way too low, you need to have somewhere to go when weight loss slows :wink:

    Can I just say how refreshing it is to see someone seek common sense advice, and actually listen?:flowerforyou:

    I think you'd really benefit from adding Helloitsdan and PU_239 to your friends list. Dan has common sense advice, and PU_239 has the same, in addition to have lost over 100 lbs.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    maybe it's just me but i feel like what you are eating now is still crap. hardees for breakfast. yes it's an improvement from what you were eating but it's still bad. i bet if you changed your settings to include sodium you would see you are going over significantly in this area. some things to add:

    edited to add: make your own breakfast sandwich with whole wheat english muffin, 2 eggs, canadian bacon (you could have 2 of these and probably end up less calories than hardees)
    peanut butter
    chicken
    string cheese
    yogurt
    fruit
    no butter popcorn
    veggies
    hummus
    eggs (i see you are eating)
    make your own granola bars
    fajitas instead of that taco thing (way less fatty cheese) add grilled veggies to it (very healthy)
    whole wheat pasta
    tuna
    fish
    nuts
  • RunForChai
    RunForChai Posts: 238 Member
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    Hey Friend,
    More REAL food: eggs, lean meats, black beans, avacados, greens and well, you get my drift.....less shakes and pre-made meals.
    I know this can be challenging for some people in the beginning, but really I eat all real food and it takes me minutes to prepare.
    Good luck!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    OP:

    Are you using a food scale?
    How do you feel at your current intake levels?
    At what pace are you losing weight at your current intake levels and how long have you been eating at this intake?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Eat more of the things that made you overweight in the first place. Eat whatever you want. Ice cream, hamburgers, peanut butter, milk, etc.
  • RickNeedzToGetShreaded
    RickNeedzToGetShreaded Posts: 293 Member
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    Well that ain't no where near enough calories or protein.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    maybe it's just me but i feel like what you are eating now is still crap. hardees for breakfast. yes it's an improvement from what you were eating but it's still bad. i bet if you changed your settings to include sodium you would see you are going over significantly in this area.

    Since you're so much in to "healthy" eating... I went to see your diary... Well to inform you.
    The bread(most of the carbs) you eat has yeast which can create microbacterial overgrowth in the blood. The myotoxins and exotoxins will feed on the sugar from the fruit in your blood. Which excretes acidic waste products which has been linked to certain cancers. We all know that animal protein such as the chicken has been linked to shorter life span.

    glad to hear i'm feeding the myotoxins and exotoxins. thanks for letting me know. i wouldn't want them to starve.
  • teagirlmedium
    teagirlmedium Posts: 679 Member
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    I think you should stop drinking the shakes and replace them with food you have to cook at home or pick up from some other place. I think replacing your energy drink with a different energy drink you like that has calories could help. If you do not want to do that it may help if you start drinking fruit juices or tomato juice. Calories can come from drinks not just food. Drinking milk can also help with the calories and help with some vitamins. Good luck.
  • jmurad27
    jmurad27 Posts: 4 Member
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    lucky you i have a problem staying within 1200 calories and not going over.

    I wish I had a problem under-eating. This mama has had plenty of practice with the eating contests... haha... My mantra to calorie intake is... MORE MEAT.
  • darkorical
    darkorical Posts: 11 Member
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    ok I would like to point out that I didn't actually eat Hardee's for breakfast. I set that up as an exaggerated example of what I might eat.
    I am in fact still using the slim fast diet. When I started it my plan was to something akin to as follows

    1 Slim Fasts for breakfast and 1 for lunch with a healthy snack like fruit or veggy (probably apples or carrots) between
    for suppers I figured I had a hand full of options

    A salad with either ham, chicken, or turkey with hard boiled egg and sunflower seeds and bacon pieces, and a dressing of spicy mustard and either low fat oil or mayo

    2 Tortilla wraps using an entire 90 calorie package each of any of Budding's various meat flavors, lettuce, olives around a medium - large dill pickle and again spicy mustard.

    Baked Chicken breaded with egg and Italian bread crumbs with steamed veggy medley with cream of broccoli sauce

    Broccoli and beef with Worcestershire sauce, with cauliflower mash with sour cream and onion dip for dressing.

    and several other such dinners. things that sounded really good and were simple.

    I assumed that would be sufficient yet Im finding that that Idea leaves me severally under calories

    also while I do not intend to go full atkins I did decide to use some of their theory's and remove most of the bread and starches from my diet.

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