Struggling with calorie intake

You'll have to say what you're eating for lunch, and how many calories it is.

I can usually get by on 900 calories over 2 meals without getting hungry, but I usually up it to 1,200 to get the rest of my protein and knock off a bunch with exercise.

Gym was 7ish this morning. Protein shake was consumed around 9am to aid recovery and to have for breakfast.

Okay, it looks like you have been logging for about a month but not before that. How long have you been eating this way? Is this the way you normally eat, or is your largely fruit-based diet a recent change?

To be honest It's only in the last 6 weeks I've made the decision to be far healthier. It's working I feel more alert, I'm sleeping better and have lost a lot of weight to boot.

I can't imagine going back to eating processed foods and eating a lot of sugary rubbish.

Fruit is pretty damn sugary I love fruit, mind you. But you are eating a lot of it. I am glad your diet is making you feel good, but it looks like you can barely scrape up 60 g of protein most days. You do not need to eat processed foods and sugary rubbish to get 2000 calories a day.

Thanks - now I'm taking protein shakes though most days I'm well over my Protein intake for the day.

As for sugar in fruits - surely this isn't a bad thing unless I'm eating a shed load of it?

I was just pointing out that you do eat quite a lot of sugar, since you were disparaging sugary foods earlier in the thread.

But natural sugars from fruit really don't make much of an impact do they when I'm already running at a calorie deficit?

Metabolically, the type of sugar you eat ("natural" or whatever you consider the alternative) does not matter as much as you might think. The reason fruit is often recommended as a substitute for more refined sugar is that fruit comes with fiber and other micronutrients such as vitamins, so it's a better bang for your buck. The fiber is supposed to slow down the speed of sugar absorption somewhat, though it probably doesn't matter as much as one might think, either.

I do not know what you mean by sugars not making an impact when you are running on a calorie deficit.

Are you eating the lettuce 'dry'? You might consider adding salad dressings--you can make your own with lemon juice and olive oil and herbs/spices you like...or a purchased one. When I started this, I switched from low cal or no-fat dressings to full fat ones and used less. Adding a few nuts and/or seeds, some avocado, which are both nutrient and calorie dense might suit your purpose, too.

As long as you are not diabetic and you are losing, I would keep my fruit the way it is. It is healthy and while there is sugar there is also fiber in fruit that will slow down the digestion to keep your blood sugar from spiking. Fruits and vegetables for you. No one got fat eating fruit, vegetables and lean meats.

Sure, but OP is complaining about not being able to eat *enough*, not about eating too much.

Well so long as I'm under my calories for the day it doesn't matter whether I go over my sugar count if it's fruit really does it?

I thought your problem was not eating enough calories? In which case swapping fruit for protein (nuts, eggs, meat) is what will solve your calorie "problem", no-one is trying to take away your fruit! If you're under your calories you can have both, but you said you were full up on your fruit so people are trying to give you more calories without increasing the bulk of what you eat. Eating enough calories is perfectly possible without resorting to sugary/fatty processed food. But if all else fails add a scoop of ice cream to your strawberries