Need some ideas to help me get my calories up

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SamL514
SamL514 Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
I am really struggling to get my 1200 net calories, I can get to 1200 calories... but I have started a real exercise kick and I am burning between 400 and 600 calories per day just with exercise so I need to be eating between 1600 and 1800 calories but I just cant seem to do it without eating absolute junk.

In the past I have only lost weight by doing very low calorie food replacement diets so training my mind that I can eat and still lose weight is a bit of a work in progress.

I am not starving myself, I am eating mainly a suger free breakfast with semi skimmed milk, then home made soup with a wholegrain pitta bread for lunch with 1 item of fruit and then lean meat or chicken with a small amount of carbs in the form of rice or potato and lots of green veg or salad. I am certainly not starving myself, I am not feeling hungry at all between meals

Exercise wise I am doing a 45 min dog walk every day, then I alternate between a spinning class, the couch to 5k programme and zumba

I've cut out all fizzy drinks, now I aim to drink mainly water with a sugar free squash drink as a treat.

At the moment I am making bad food choices to just get me to my net calories goal, which is really not going to help.

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    swap semi skimmed milk for full fat, swap fruit as a snack for nuts or cheese and eat larger portions of carbs with your dinner. you need to fuel your workouts.

    i dont know what you mean by 'absolute junk'? to my mind there is no such thing as bad food, just people who eat badly and that can be too much or too little...
  • butlersoft
    butlersoft Posts: 219 Member
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    I've been reducing starchy carbs which are not particularly filling anyway and make sure I get good protein / fats with each meal.

    Veggies (especially green leafy ones) are great : low calories and very filling but then I snack on Almonds or Brazils (25g per serving). It's not a lot of nuts .... but comes in at around 150kcals if you're wanting to boost and get some good fats in place of junk/sugars/crap

    :-)
  • Meginkg
    Meginkg Posts: 23 Member
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    If I have spare calories to use up I will have some of the following:
    -Greek yoghurt topped with whatever (honey, dried fruit, fresh fruit, seeds... granola, anything you have to hand)
    -Nuts - so full of healthy nutrients
    -Smoothies if you have a blender! Frozen spinach, almond milk and/or yoghurt, frozen berries, fresh fruit, cucumber... You can add anything. Just make sure it tastes sweet enough for you if you don't like the more earthy tastes coming from veg!

    And they don't seem too filling or a waste of calories to me... aim for some higher-cal nutritious foods.

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