Calorie/nutrition help

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kwedman488
kwedman488 Posts: 132 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all; so I am 20 years old, 5' 2", and 107 pounds. I'm having a hard time determining what to do about the amount of calories that I need to be eating. I am doing the insanity program right now (2nd week in), plus I run 3 miles cross country every morning. On the days of insanity that are just yoga or the off days on Sundays, I do my own circuit training workout for 45 minutes in addition. I read the nutrition guide that came with insanity and calculated my required calories to be around 1750 per day, having multiplied my bmi by 1.7 as the "very active" category and subtracted 500 from the total since I don't want to maintain my weight. Also, I work at McDonald's, so I do a lot of bustling around on my feet for a good 7 hours a day besides working out. I make sure to eat every couple hours; I always have a protein shake after I go running and after I finish a workout. I eat around 1200 calories thereabouts every day, but my question is whether I should be eating more. I'm trying to lose body fat and gain muscle weight. I used to eat only about 800 calories a day max, but I realized that that isn't healthy so I've upped it to 1200 to see if I get better results from it. Should I be trying to eat those full 1750 calories? Should I not be subtracting those 500 calories from my total to lose weight to begin with, meaning that I need to be eating more of 2250 cals a day? I don't know if I can even manage to eat that much in a day, much less expect to get leaner from it. Anyone can take a look at my log and see what I eat, I eat the same thing about every day since I have to pack lunches and snacks and it makes it easier for me as a poor college student to afford. I'd just like some tips that might help. Additionally, should I be trying to eat back those calories that MFP adds back in from exercise?

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  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    If I were you, I would gradually increase my calories by 100 every week untill i hit 1750 calories. If you increase your calories too fast, there is a chance your body wont know what to do with the additional calories and store it as fat since your body isn't used to that amount of calories.
  • gege0404
    gege0404 Posts: 17
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    You are a VERY ACTIVE gal and YES you need more calories. I glanced at your diary and you are pretty low in healthy fats and protein. But I also noticed your are entries are a bit inaccurate. Example: your homemade chicken wrap has calories but 0g for protein, carbs or fats??? Also how can 1 sc of whey protein powder plus almond milk have such low macronutrients and calories? This means that you are on consuming more macronutrients than your diary shows....which is good new for you. Being a college student it hard on a budget but perhaps buy in bulk; jar of peanut butter, bag of white/brown rice, cans of tuna, bagels, etc. you should be applauded for your enthusiasm to workout regularly. Now make sure you fuel...feed your body to sustain that level and make changes to your physique. Great job!!!!
  • kwedman488
    kwedman488 Posts: 132 Member
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    I didn't put much info for my wrap because it's homemade for the most part as therefore hard to track everything that's in it. But it's a low carb, whole grain tortilla with romaine lettuce and spinach and 2 ish ounces of boneless skinless chicken
    Breast and mustard. The protein shake I have on there is entirely correct, though. It's because I only put 1 scoop of my whey protein isolate in unsweetened almond milk. My protein powder is 2 scoops for 25 g of protein and 120 cals, so the info I put is half of that since I put one scoop, plus the info for one cup of almond milk. I'm not that worried about my micronutrients since I'm sure I get them all; I'm just focusing on protein and carbs and calories, unless I should be focusing more on all of the micronutrients? I do have a jar of the Pb2 peanut butter, and I'm thinking of trying tuna with my dinners.
  • gege0404
    gege0404 Posts: 17
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    Sounds good but 25g protein for 2 scoops is very low. Double check on the jug. I haven't come across a protein powder that is that low for 1 scoop. If this is the case, you should consume the full 2 scoops. PB2 is powdered peanut butter with the healthy fat taken out. Why are you using this? Since you need those healthy fats, you should use regular peanut/almond butter. You will reap many health benefits from it. DON'T BE AFRAID OF FAT........as long as it comes from healthy sources. Macronutrients are proteins, carbs and fats. You need to look at the whole picture.....not just one or another.
  • kwedman488
    kwedman488 Posts: 132 Member
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    Yeah, one serving is 2 scoops yielding 25 g of protein. From all of the protein powder I have seen, this is average. Muscle milk and such has more, but for powders all of the ones I have seen are 25 g protein per serving. I just got it because I like to add it to vanilla yogurt sometimes and freeze it to make frozen yogurt. I do see your point about healthy fats, though. Is eating stuff made from almond meal and coconut flour and other such things good, then? I imagine those would have some healthy fats in them, or at least the almond meal. I ask because my mom likes to make focaccia bread with almond meal, Sundried tomatoes in olive oil, mozerella cheese, etc. I've been trying really hard to avoid it because I don't know the calorie count of it and I don't want to eat too many calories at once, especially since I'm just now starting insanity and nearly doubling the amount of calories it was used to.

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