How do you get enough calories when eating healthy?

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

I looked at your screen capture for the day. Can you eat like that for the rest of your life? Do you want to? I tried a meal plan similar to that when I was in my early 20's, and found it unsustainable. I gained all the weight I lost back (and then some) as soon as I stopped my 'diet'.

When I was 39, I decided I was done being fat. I tried a very modest calorie cut (-250 calories a day) and focused on eating the food I enjoyed - most of it healthy, but some of it decadent. I stopped labeling food as good -vs- bad. I realized that eating fat keeps me full and happy (plus, I think a healthy intake of fat made my skin and hair look better) It was the easiest diet ever - because it wasn't a diet. I lost 66 pounds and have kept it off for two years now.

It's good to eat healthy food, but you don't have to be that good/spartan to have a healthy diet. Have nuts, eat full fat dairy if you like it, enjoy your pasta, drink wine, use salad dressing that isn't fat free, put avocado on your salads/sandwiches.

Fuel your body with things that make you happy and make you feel good!

I understand that it's supposed to be something you can sustain, I have been enjoying the food actually. I had steak yesterday. I also had one cheat day out of the last two weeks that was pizza. I'm not sure if it's something I can sustain yet, I'm trying to figure that out. I enjoy the food, don't get me wrong, I just wonder about how I'll do long term with having less variety than I'm used to. I do miss pasta, but I was never very good at eating pasta in moderation which is why I stepped away from it for now.

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

If you prefer to eat one big meal per day there's really no problem as meal timing has been shown to make little difference in the long run. There's also nothing wrong with a vending machine snack provided your nutritional needs are met with the rest of your diet.

If your old routine suited your lifestyle, perhaps it could be just a matter of making a few small changes to it. For example, continue with your large daily meal but make sure you track the calories in it and try to have a variety of different meals, not the same thing each night. Have smaller snacks throughout the day which may include yogurt or fruit or nuts etc., but not all vending machine junk type food. The important thing is to keep in a calorie deficit and hit your macronutrients and micronutrients. If you don't eat a wide variety of foods, a multivitamin may help with meeting your micronutrients.

The Sexypants thread on MFP is brilliant IMO and I don't think you could go wrong having a read and seeing how you can apply it to your lifestyle and preferences.

I'm on my iPad and it's difficult to link. I'll get back with a link if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Is there a link to explain the macronutrient vs micronutrient thing? People keep bringing it up but I've never heard it before. Also, i started taking a multivitamin when I started working out and changing my eating habits just for extra information.