Having trouble hitting my calories.

Navie42 · September 2010

Hey everyone,

I have a question about hitting one's daily calories. MFP has given me 1420 calories to eat daily in order to lose 2 lbs a week. I get an extra 400 cals for breastfeeding, and will burn about 290 exercising. This pushes my cals for the day, if I were to eat all of them, over 2000.

Here is an average day for me in food:

Breakfast

Breastfeeding - Nursing Mother, -400cal
Black Coffee - Black Cofee, No Sugar 4cal
Eggs - Fried (whole egg), 2 large 185cal
Homemade - - Toasted White Bread With Butter, 1 slices 75cal
Onken - Wholegrain Peach Biopot Yogurt, 0.5 container (450 gs ea.) 257cal

Lunch

Uncle Bens Express - Spicy Mexican Rice, 250 g 420cal

Dinner

HomeMade - Taco Salad 2, 1 salad 332cal

Totals 873 cals
Your Daily Goal 1,708
*You've earned 288 extra calories from exercise today

Most of the dinners I prepare are recipes from healthy living sites and a typical dinner will fall between 300 and 600 calories (dont let that taco salad fool you... its HUGE!)

I also drink 6 - 8 glasses of water a day.

Every time I log my foods, the MFP site tells me I'm at a huge deficit and could be in starvation mode. I obviously don't want to be there, but I also dont think filling up my day with empty calories is going to help much either!

Any suggestions?

Beebee78 · September 2010

Are you vegetarian? If not I would suggest adding some chicken and extra lean beef to those meals to bump up calories. Also I would try snacking on fruit and nuts - this will keep your metabolism going but nuts are a fab way of eating up calories and staying healthy xxx

blbond82 · September 2010

I have the same problem though I'm on at 1260 calories a day not counting exercise. I'm having a hard time even making the minimum of 1200! I'm full when I eat and to eat more would just make me feel stuffed. The best suggestion I've gotten so far is stop eating low fat items. Regular cheese, milk and such will give more calories than the low fat without adding more food.

Amarillo_NDN · September 2010

my advise is don't go for 2 lbs a weeke, go to 1 pound a week. Slow is best any way.

raven58 · September 2010

Sometimes I'm amazed at how few calories I eat, but you have an extra concern as you are nursing, you need to ensure that you are getting enough protien and fats, and I don't see that, for the baby.

Perhaps there are tips on nursing Mom websites?

Good luck!

SuzanneRogers · September 2010

Need to add in 2-3 snacks, just small 250 calories snacks- almonds, string cheese, 1tbsp pb and wheat toast, boiled egg and toast.

I breastfed my twins for 13 months exclusively and I had to eat 2500-3000 a day to keep up with them. Nursing two was 1000 calories a day. I drank 1 1/2 gallons of water a day. I used south beach 100 calorie protein bar, special K bars, zone bars for snacks, Cream cheese and graham crackers too.

Topbobdog · September 2010

Your protein is probably low also it doesnt look like you eat much in terms of Meats, nuts, or beans. Those are all good sources of calories and will bump up your calories. Everyone thinks that to lose weight they need to be at some magical number but the truth is your body needs calories. Most people find that if they bump up their calories they increase their weight lose. I know it sounds crazy but if you are eating under calories your body holds onto everything.

boogie17 · September 2010

i have the same problem. my calories from mfp are in teh 1200 range, and i'm only eating like 900 a day. cuz, i eat everything that's either fat free, or salad, and veggies, or turkey

ChubbieTubbie · September 2010

Try adding a snack--apples with peanut butter, or a slice of toast with peanut butter with a glass of milk. That should add on some calories with some protein.

batty5 · September 2010

Sorry how did you get 837 total because what you have listed is more than that?

LokiFae · September 2010

Batty - She subtracted 400 for breastfeeding.

OP - I would recommend full fat milk and cheese. Also, something that is an easy way to get protein and add it to meals is to bake or grill up a package of chicken breasts and cube or shred it on the weekend, so during the week you have it in the fridge to add to meals, like you could have added it to the lunch of rice. Not only do you need fats and protein for breastmilk, you also need calcium, because breastfeeding really sucks the calcium out of your bones. Milk and cheese are great calorie builders, satisfiers, and they have tons of calcium.

carolstrange0 · September 2010

bewteen your bfast & lunch ... AND your lunch & dinner add snacks..
broccoli steamed with feta cheese
broccoli raw
Almonds blanched raw
Navy beans boiled in tomato sauce w/ onion & other stuff
oatmeal w/ cinnamon & 1 splenda (yummy)
Boiled eggs
celery & peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 avocado a day
cereal (cherrios, whole grains)

Just eat every 3 hours... and stay consistant with how much you eat per sitting... INPORTANT pay close attention to your carbs per sitting.
Eat 100% whole grain && 100% whole wheat breat ... steel cut oats

Navie42 · September 2010

Thanks all for the replies! Now, I'm not one to turn down peanut butter anything (yum!) so perhaps I will try that.

Also, not vegetarian... the taco salad has 1/4 lb lean ground beef on it.

I would never want to do anything that jeopardizes my milk supply for my little one, but sometimes it feels like trying to down a bunch of extra food when I'm not hungry.

bobball · September 2010

Keep in mind that this calorie goal is a an ESTIMATE. You might need more or less than that and no one can figure that out but you. Check your weight often (even better if you could measure your fat), One or two pounds a week is great...and healthy. If you are losing then you are right at the right spot. If you are staying the same then you either are eating too little, or too much.

The hardest part of this for me was to cut down on some of the toppings like salad dressing and butter to low fat ones, but that is an easy way to cut the calories and you get used to the taste.

My other suggestion is cut the carbs in half on the stuff like rice, or bread. Take half or 3/4 of what you normally would...portion control. and replace those fluffy white carbs with a veggie or fruit. Good thing about those is you can pig out on them and the calories are still low.

Then there is another suggestion....up your exercise. Do something you have not done for exercise before...that uses WAY more calories because your body is not used to it. If you do the same exersices all the time, You burn fewer calories after a couple weeks and it continues to go down....the body is amazing at adapting.

BB

LokiFae · September 2010

Navie - I'm on month ten of breastfeeding, and I was having the same problem. I felt like I was constantly eating in the beginning, just to keep up with him. It gets a lot easier as they get older and don't nurse as much. I just wanted to let you know to hang in there, follow your calories because it will be much better for your supply, and you will lose weight.

I also want to add that I'm the type of woman that holds on to a few pounds while breastfeeding (I know, no fair, right?), but then when my kids wean, I can lose easily again. So don't lose hope if you aren't losing as quickly as you'd like, because right now your priority is healthy food, keeping your supply up, and feeding your beautiful baby.

raven58 · September 2010

Good luck. You might ask your Doc's office about nutritun advice, do you need extra proteins, fats, etc. I use a protein supplement, Unjury, that I get on line, for breakfast. I mix it with 1% milk to up my calcium. I saw a nutritionist for a while and she said it would help keep the proteins up and help me lose. Still early in the process, but you need to find the best answer for you to keep you and the little one healthy.

Having trouble hitting my calories.

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