Help. Need advice.

Have you added some snacks in. Its hard if your not hungry but maybe add in some smoothies with breakfast or lunch. You can put lots of things in a smoothie and not feel like your overeating quite as much.

Hope that helps.

Oh my gosh, let me just say..... I'm going to try to be polite in my comment to you......! But seriously, I can't believe you feel "overly" full when you're only eating 1220 calories a day. Not that you're lying or anything, but..... jeez!!!!! It is SO easy to up your calorie intake by a couple hundred. SO easy. I have to watch myself like a HAWK not to cross over the line between my goal and too much..... Have a few jolly ranchers or put some butter on your toast! My goodness. I wish I was struggling with how on earth I was going to stuff another few calories into my gob. Good for you for finding it difficult.

It's recommended that I eat 1220 calories a day. I'm eating breakfast lunch and dinner. The problem is that I'm not reaching the calories set for me. I'm not starving. Actually feel full during n after meals with some hunger pains during the late nights.

I had the same situation in the beginning. I just seemed to always leave calories behind, but I was losing weight, so I thought no big deal. Then I stalled for 6 weeks not a lbs. Upped my calories and eat almost all my exercise and I finally started losing again. I've found it really important to eat all my calories or I stop losing.

add nuts, dried fruit, or granola to your yogurt -1/4 cup of nuts is about 200 calories.
add 1/4 Avocado, 1/4c garbonzo beans, and 2 tbls. of raisins to the fab salad - this will add 202 calories to the salad

not much more food but 400 more calories.

I have to say this, and I hope this is taken in the spirit it is meant. I do not mean to be 'nasty.' However I do mean to shed some truth on this. I assume that every person on this site is losing weight...and by that we have all taken in more than our share of 1200+ calories a day on a daily, monthly and yearly basis to get us where we are at now. :laugh: Another point to be made is that we have all deluded ourselves in some way or other to the volume we consumed to lead us to this site to try to regulate a healthier lifestyle. So my first point is....we all got here some variation of the same way, and it wasn't by eating 800 calories a day. :noway:

I find this site for the most part is encouraging and the people are truly working their butts off to lose weight and encourage each other in their efforts. I also find some of the same 'denial' and 'excuses' (hey, we have all done it) that got us here in the first place right here on these message boards.

What I would like to hear from a post like this is not, "How on earth could I possibly eat 1200 calories in a day...come on - every single one of us know how...what I would rather hear is "How can I make those 1200 calories nourish me, or what do you do to make those 1200 calories count?" I am sorry, but to say, when you have obviously exceeded 1200 calories for an extended period of time to get where you are at now (as did every one of us...), that you don't know how to eat more just rings untrue.

I don't think anyone means disrespect, but after reading a few of these I have to say...sounds like a bit of leftover denial...which all of us are trying to fight in ourselves to move forward. So, I hope you work through it because it will seriously hinder your progress. And if I can speak for everyone here, and I think I can. We all wish you the best and success...and a much richer life than you have previously lived as a result of not looking at it full in the face. I speak this to myself first and foremost...and if you get any value from it, I am truly glad.

I recently added almonds to my snacks. I to feel fool before my calories. Its also hard to balance the right amount of everything. You really should try to eat a few more snacks. I might add don't go for empty calories. Don't start to add all the wrong fat so you add up to your calories. Proteins and fruits are good. Not Butter and candy. You didn't say how short on calories you were. A few are okay while a few hundred maybe not so much. I also like pure protein bars. If I really can't eat a meal I eat one of those. they are good and filling and add the calories and not in a bad way. Just try Not To load up on the bad stuff. It will NOT help your journey. Good Luck

I have trouble eating 1200 calories as well ... I eat LOTS of fruits and vegetables mainly so it doesn't add up to many calories and you can look at my food diary and most days after working out I've only technically ate 300-700 calories. I'm the type of person that gets full on a little bit of food .. I don't sit around pigging out and getting 3-4 extra helpings. My problem was I got on a depo provera B.C. shot and it caused me ALOT of weight gain. So I think some of you need to quit assuming the only way to get fat is by eating 24/7 because it isn't. There are plenty of medicines that can bring on weight gain. Not to mention, my job requires 12-16 hours of sitting on my butt and I have sleep issues so I don't sleep often which can cause weight gain. We you put depo B.C. shots + long periods of sitting + not much sleep, in the end you result in FAT. It's called SEDENTARY lifestyle.

Anyways, off my soapbox ... When I'm low on calories, I resort to kashi go lean chewy bars, slimfast drinks, silk chocolate soy milk, lean meats, and/or quaker oatmeal square cereal. That usually gives me a boost of calories without feeling sick. I've tried my absolute hardest to eat at least 1200 and i've managed to do it once or twice so far.

Yes, eating too few calories can stall you. Which is the opposite of what you want :noway: It seems counter intuitive...but often when I cheat a little (go over my calories) it kicks me off the plateau...but only if it is one in a while!:bigsmile:

if you think 1200 is hard to eat... try eating 1870.... I felt like I was eating way too much the first couple weeks,but your body gets used to it and I am actually hungry now. Eating that many calories is not that hard when you eat junk, but eating the healthy foods it is kind of hard cause they are usually lower calorie. What I did was break my food down to 6-8 meals a day and it was alot easier. Now almost 4 weeks later I dont have to try to eat that much cause my body is craving it now.