Eating too few calories when working

nicolaturner1986 · February 2014

Hi

I work nights on a 3 on 3 off rota basis and I have found that on the days I am working I struggle to eat enough to reach the 1200 calorie limit and tend to eat between 900-1000 and around 300 cals of that is from having fancy coffee!

A typical food intake during my shift would be a healthy meal around 1am such as homemade soup and a sandwich then a piece of fruit around about 4 am and another around about 7am

When I get home at 9am I tend to have a light breakfast like yoghurt and a little bit of granola (anything too heavy gives me indigestion when I go to bed).

I sleep through lunch and then have a light dinner (last night I had low fat sausages and carrot and swede mash with onion gravy)

I really don't want to bulk out my cals with junk like chocolate and crisps just to increase my calories to 1200 especially as i'm already having my lattes that take up 300 cals on a work day.

Do you think this would have a negative impact on my weight loss as when I finish logging in my diary a little note pops up to tell me i'm not eating enough!

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can increase my cal intake without eating junk?

Thanks
x

LaFortune45 · February 2014

If you don't consume all of your calories your body will go into starvation mode and this may impact your weight loss. Try a protein shake in the morning and add fruit. It will give you more caloies and it's very feeling.

jigsaw_me · February 2014

Nuts, avocado, olive oil, peanut butter .. add some of these good fats into your diet and it will help (maybe take some nuts to work and nibble on them?).

bestmeicanbe84 · February 2014

What about days you aren't working? Do you meet your calorie goal? Go over? Whenever I don't meet my goal I just save those calories for the weekend. As long as it all averages out over a week's time, I don't sweat it too much.

Eat some peanut or almond butter. Add avocado to just about anything. Have some ice cream.

gigglesinthesun · February 2014

I am assuming you actually eat more then that on your days off, so just take the weekly average, because no, you don't go into starvation mode if you don't eat properly for a few days.

Madhatster · February 2014

I used to work a similar schedule to yours and it is definitely challenging. I found myself more concerned with getting enough sleep than with eating and ended up losing over 30 pounds that I didn't need to lose at the time. Be careful. Perhaps you could turn your light evening meal into a moderate meal. Add an extra 1/2 link of sausage. Indulge in an extra spoonful of gravy. Nibble on some higher calorie fruits or Veggies. Just get yourself up a little higher so your maintaining safe levels of weight loss.

Arranna1212 · February 2014

When asking for advice about calories and not meeting the req's.. you should open your diary. Plus it really really sounds like you are not weighing/measuring your food. Because if you're drinking 300 out of 900 calories it's almost impossible to eat 3 pieces of fruit, soup, a sandwich and a yogurt and still be under 1.2k. I'm not trying to be mean.. Just make sure to measure/weigh everything before you eat it so you can accurate on how much you are consuming.

SLLRunner · February 2014

If you don't consume all of your calories your body will go into starvation mode

No, this is wrong. Plain old wrong.

nicolaturner1986 · February 2014

Thanks for replies and suggestions

I tried to open my diary but it goes through the motions then keeps it closed, will try again later??

I have been weighing and measuring my food because I know how important it is, here is my food intake for yesterday - Breakfast was a fat free yoghurt with 10g granola (118 cal) no lunch, dinner was a Kirsty's Sausage and Mash ready meal (280 cal) then during my night shift I ate 1 clementine 35 cal, 1 apple 45 cal, homemade vegetable soup 90 cals (300g) with a sandwich (1 waburton's thin 99 cals and 1 dairylea light cheese slice 47cal) and then I had 2 nescafe double choca mocha at 91 cals each and 1 tassimo latte at 88 cals.

Total for day = 984 cals

When I work nights it tends to be very similar give or take 100 cals either way. When I am not in work I eat up to my 1550 allowance except for one day a week (usually on a friday or sat evening) I may go a little over when I have something a little bit naughty.

lynn_glenmont · February 2014

When asking for advice about calories and not meeting the req's.. you should open your diary. Plus it really really sounds like you are not weighing/measuring your food. Because if you're drinking 300 out of 900 calories it's almost impossible to eat 3 pieces of fruit, soup, a sandwich and a yogurt and still be under 1.2k. I'm not trying to be mean.. Just make sure to measure/weigh everything before you eat it so you can accurate on how much you are consuming.

^^This..
And although it's impossible to say without knowing exact amounts of these foods, methods of preparation, etc., but it's really pretty darn impossible to have a 300 calorie coffee drink, a couple of pieces of fruit, soup, a sandwich, yogurt AND GRANOLA AND SAUSAGES (even low fat) AND CARROTS AND SWEDES (even assuming veggies are prepped with no added fat) AND GRAVY (emphasizing because above poster missed about half of the food the OP listed for a typical 24-hour period) and be in 900-1000 range as OP believes. Even assuming relatively small amounts of these foods, my mental tally for all this is a minimum of about 1450.

As this poster said, we're not trying to be mean. If you're going to try to lose weight by using a calorie-tracking tool, being accurate in your tracking is pretty important.

lynn_glenmont · February 2014

Thanks for replies and suggestions

I tried to open my diary but it goes through the motions then keeps it closed, will try again later??

I have been weighing and measuring my food because I know how important it is, here is my food intake for yesterday - Breakfast was a fat free yoghurt with 10g granola (118 cal) no lunch, dinner was a Kirsty's Sausage and Mash ready meal (280 cal) then during my night shift I ate 1 clementine 35 cal, 1 apple 45 cal, homemade vegetable soup 90 cals (300g) with a sandwich (1 waburton's thin 99 cals and 1 dairylea light cheese slice 47cal) and then I had 2 nescafe double choca mocha at 91 cals each and 1 tassimo latte at 88 cals.

Total for day = 984 cals

When I work nights it tends to be very similar give or take 100 cals either way. When I am not in work I eat up to my 1550 allowance except for one day a week (usually on a friday or sat evening) I may go a little over when I have something a little bit naughty.

If you find the way you're eating on night-shift days sustainable (i.e., it doesn't lead to binging), you should be OK from a weight loss angle. Even without counting the extra calories on Friday or Saturday, since you don't give an actual number, you're still averaging over 1200 calories a day (1550 + min. 900/2 is at least 1225). Lots of people take a weekly average approach to their calorie counts; other have a planned fast or reduced calorie cycle. You might want to look at how you're doing on meeting your macro and micro goals.

KarenJanine · February 2014

If you're struggling to meet your calorie goal, why are you eating a low fat ready meal? Your body needs fat, go for the full fat version.

Similarly, instead of low fat yoghurt, have full fat Greek yoghurt - it'll give you extra cals and boost your protein intake too. Instead of Dairylea light, have a full fat version.

And your homemade soup is only 90 cal. Try adding some potatoes, rice or bulgar wheat, etc to boost cals.

Try to get away from 'diet' foods, and aim for more unprocessed wholefoods.

Eating too few calories when working

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