How do you get enough calories when eating healthy?

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zionarbadon
zionarbadon Posts: 27 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello,
Up until a few weeks ago I had one large meal every day, and most of the time it was eating out or pasta made at home. I also often had one random snack out of the vending machine at work for something to hold me off. Clearly unhealthy. So I started trying to eat healthier a couple of weeks ago (and also started going to the gym every day).

However, my issue is that I cannot figure out how to eat healthy and get enough calories at the same time. I eat enough food to make me full and I am no where even remotely near my 2k calories.

For example: http://imgur.com/RVgAbhC

I am new to this whole 'eating more than one meal a day' thing, and just need some help balancing what I eat. I've lost about 10lbs in the last two weeks and I'm not sure if that's healthy or not. Anyhow, thanks for any assistance!

Brandon
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Replies

  • Dreya711
    Dreya711 Posts: 79 Member
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    Maybe if you are not hungry you could drink a glass of milk or orange juice for some extra calories??? I have trouble because I rarely hit my calorie goal, especially if I exercise. I have decided to add 8oz. of milk to my day to help.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
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    I eat full fat foods mostly. small breakfast 160 cals or so. My lunch is usually a giant chicken sandwich with mayo and cheese. about 600 or so cals. Dinner for me is whatever. we make a weekly menu so i can count calories and the kids now whats coming. But that always has a salad involved and 350 calories of peanut butter on toast for me. I usually get about 350 extra calories a day and eat about half of them to come in at 2000 or so calories a day. My diary is open if youd like to look.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
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    Nuts and nut butters are your friend. Peanut butter, almonds, almond butter, etc.
  • abickford82
    abickford82 Posts: 207
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    Food prep, and if you aren't getting your full calories...give Shakeology a try. I always manage to eat enough, but when I started out I did the Shake-o thing, and it helped me tremendously.
  • cw822
    cw822 Posts: 107
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    Snack on things that are higher in calories, but healthy. Raw almonds, avocado, almond butter, jerky (I make my own so that it's not so sodium laden).
  • Phoenix_Warrior
    Phoenix_Warrior Posts: 1,633 Member
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    What's wrong with vending machine food? If your diet is balanced and you're typically eating nutrient dense foods, it won't hurt to eat things not so nutritionally dense. Here's a good read

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • KristinaB83
    KristinaB83 Posts: 440 Member
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    Hmmm, yeah, it's rough. I often have a problem eating enough too. I eat a whole lot of stuff and I'm not hungry at all and I'm still usually under =(

    So I guess bump to read more replies.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Your fats are really low. Is there a medical reason for that? A lot of dieters automatically associate low fat with healthy, but it's the opposite. Our body needs fats. They regulate our hormones, help out with cell regrowth and vitamin absorption. Add back in some of those healthy fats. Olive oil, cheese, dairy, avocado, nuts & nut butters. You can increase each meal by just a few hundred calories without adding a lot of extra food to your stomach.
  • Jerrypeoples
    Jerrypeoples Posts: 1,541 Member
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    i have my three main meals.

    breakfast is a ham and cheese omelette, english muffin and a glass of milk
    lunch is chicken, corn, broccoli and cheese with a small amount of homemade salsa (spices prepacked from walmart but fresh toms and red onions)
    dinner is a protein shake either from my gym (tues and thurs) and the other weekdays its a met rx shake

    all told that is around 1300 calories.

    for a midmorning snack i have a salad consisting of lettuce, 1/4c shredded cheese , 1/4 cup of texas roadhouse croutons, some mix of cranberries and almonds (again from walmart) and 1/4 cup of broccoli. thats another 260 cals

    at night i will snack on a soft pretzel that gets me to about 1700/1800 cals.

    to kill the phantom have to eat feelings i get i chew gum and drink water.
  • jfrankic
    jfrankic Posts: 747 Member
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    Whole grain cereal, bread, pasta. Ribeyes. Nuts. Peanut butter. Ice cream. Cheese. Eggs. Just because something is high in calories, doesn't make it "unhealthy". Vending machine emergency foods aren't bad as long as this isn't the source of the majority of your nutrition.

    ETA: Just checked out your diary image. Green beans and 4.8oz of chicken is all you had for dinner? Are you satisfied and full after only that? I realize that not all people like to eat the HUGE amounts of food in one sitting like I do, but that just seems like way too little food. Perhaps you are inside your own head too much about good food vs. bad food, unhealthy vs. healthy? Just try to get more calorie dense foods in your day as much as you can.
  • FindingMyPerfection
    FindingMyPerfection Posts: 702 Member
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    Healthy fats are part of a healthy diet.:wink:
  • zionarbadon
    zionarbadon Posts: 27 Member
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    No, I wasn't purposely eating low in fats. Here is what I had yesterday, I think it was actually over in fat but still way under in calories http://imgur.com/WoplQFP

    I do love milk, but it's funny because I just cut back on it in favor of water cause I thought that would be the more healthy thing to do (I drank it as much as most people drink soda haha)
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    1. For the vast majority of people, according to the majority of the research, meal timing doesn't matter. If it's easier for you to eat one gigantic meal a day, there's nothing wrong with that.

    2. It looks like you're deciding that certain foods are 'good' and certain foods are 'bad,' based on the "eat healthy" intro and the sample diet you've linked. Provided your foods give you adequate macros (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids), and you're meeting your micronutrient goals - either through the foods themselves, a supplement, or a combination thereof - there aren't 'bad foods' except those that are bad for you *personally* due to an allergy or other specific medical issue. Don't treat lipids as the enemy unless your doctor tells you to, for example.

    3. TL; DR - Eat more food and hit your macronutrient goals.
  • needtogetfitxo
    needtogetfitxo Posts: 5
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    What about making your portions smaller but eating more meals throughout the day? Some say try having six meals a day- not too small but something enough to satisfy you. Include hefty amounts of vegetables and protein and be sure to drink a lot of water!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    1. For the vast majority of people, according to the majority of the research, meal timing doesn't matter. If it's easier for you to eat one gigantic meal a day, there's nothing wrong with that.

    2. It looks like you're deciding that certain foods are 'good' and certain foods are 'bad,' based on the "eat healthy" intro and the sample diet you've linked. Provided your foods give you adequate macros (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids), and you're meeting your micronutrient goals - either through the foods themselves, a supplement, or a combination thereof - there aren't 'bad foods' except those that are bad for you *personally* due to an allergy or other specific medical issue. Don't treat lipids as the enemy unless your doctor tells you to, for example.

    3. TL; DR - Eat more food and hit your macronutrient goals.
    This. 100% this.
  • UrbanLotus
    UrbanLotus Posts: 1,163 Member
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    Well...you are eating a fiber bar for lunch. Eat real food! Plain green beans sound so sad, cook them in butter or oil. Snack on some nuts. Done.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    2,000 calories? You don't have to eat it on any sort of schedule, but it helps to spread it throughout the day. However, you can tailor it to your schedule.

    3 meals of 500 and 2 snacks of 250.

    or

    2 meals of 800 and 2 snacks of 200. If you never ate breakfast before, maybe you could do a protein shake for the 200 calories, then eat a lunch, dinner and bedtime snack.

    or

    2 meals of 1,000.

    Google "2,000 calorie meal plan" and look at some sample menus.
  • zionarbadon
    zionarbadon Posts: 27 Member
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    1. For the vast majority of people, according to the majority of the research, meal timing doesn't matter. If it's easier for you to eat one gigantic meal a day, there's nothing wrong with that.

    2. It looks like you're deciding that certain foods are 'good' and certain foods are 'bad,' based on the "eat healthy" intro and the sample diet you've linked. Provided your foods give you adequate macros (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids), and you're meeting your micronutrient goals - either through the foods themselves, a supplement, or a combination thereof - there aren't 'bad foods' except those that are bad for you *personally* due to an allergy or other specific medical issue. Don't treat lipids as the enemy unless your doctor tells you to, for example.

    3. TL; DR - Eat more food and hit your macronutrient goals.
    This. 100% this.

    Fat in food doesn't bother me. Really I've just been trying to cut out the eating out and pasta only meals and soda. All the nutritional information on the internet seems so conflicting though It's hard to make heads or tales of what a healthy lifestyle is as far as food goes haha.

    I appreciate all the advice everyone is throwing my way, by the way!
  • RachyD21
    RachyD21 Posts: 83 Member
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    Looking at the chicken & green beans for dinner.........how did you cook the chicken? No oil? If you really are just eating that dry then maybe try cooking it in a simple sauce. That would add calories/nutrients and wouldn't fill you up much more than the chicken alone. Even just cooking in a little olive oil would add *some* calories. hth
  • ashenriver
    ashenriver Posts: 498 Member
    Options
    1. For the vast majority of people, according to the majority of the research, meal timing doesn't matter. If it's easier for you to eat one gigantic meal a day, there's nothing wrong with that.

    2. It looks like you're deciding that certain foods are 'good' and certain foods are 'bad,' based on the "eat healthy" intro and the sample diet you've linked. Provided your foods give you adequate macros (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids), and you're meeting your micronutrient goals - either through the foods themselves, a supplement, or a combination thereof - there aren't 'bad foods' except those that are bad for you *personally* due to an allergy or other specific medical issue. Don't treat lipids as the enemy unless your doctor tells you to, for example.

    3. TL; DR - Eat more food and hit your macronutrient goals.
    This. 100% this.

    ^^ Agree

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