Hard time finding BALANCE - eating too little

Hello kellesee,

I think first you need to think about why you end up eating so little? Are you too busy throughout your day, just don't feel hungry, ignore the hunger, can't afford more food, don't have time to cook/prep food? It would help tailor advice a bit better this way I think. I've been trying to limit my food to 1200, and I find it very hard to get through the day. Are there particular foods that you enjoy, which you can perhaps keep around. I usually prepare all my lunch meals (2-3) in the morning after I eat breakfast. This way I just need to open the fridge and microwave and eat. I'll cook batches of food all at once, then refrigerate or freeze.

I wish you good luck with increasing your caloric intake.

-E

I think I'm kind of paranoid/slash/not hungry. Now that my stomach has shrunk and I am eating mindfully (so I can tell when I'm full), I don't eat nearly as much. If I'm out during the day, I wont stop for fast food, of course, so I'll wait til I get home. If I have a snack, it will be one of the healthy choices I've picked out. However, I am now wondering how I will eat when I use up the money I have been using to eat good food (my student refund from college). It's costing me 70.00 per week so far to keep good food in the house. I'm trying to convince myself that it's an investment.

$70 per week seems on the high side to me. Are you living on your own? Basically, do you share a fridge? I think a basic diet of eggs, some protein powder, meats, veggies and fruits should not be too expensive. I hear the buy in season thrown around a lot. I find that buy eggs in bulk is a very cheap breakfast. I have been doing 2 eggs with ghee/butter for breakfast for a loooong time now, along with a rice/gemma pea protein powder from truenutrition which i mix with rice milk. This usually leaves me with a lot of energy till lunch. I'm not sure if doing protein powders will help you intake more calorie or have the opposite effect, but it's worth a shot.

Back to the point, buying in bulk will help reduce costs, however, you'll need to have freezer and fridge space. Food will last longer if you lower the temperature in your fridge a bit, however, keep in mind this can be bad for the veggies. You can precook and freeze meals for a week, or freeze uncooked meats for the next week. Some people are against this, but I find that if you follow some clean procedures (wash hands, wrap things and zip lock or topper them.) I usually find that a ziplock wrapped in foil prevents freezer burn. I had some wings in my freezer from months ago that I brined and backed in an oven and were awesome. Taking this approach with meats and cooked foods, you can buy them when they're on sale and use them throughout the time. It will take some time and planning to defrost the meats before use, though. It's something you can try testing. If you'd like more advice on these methods, I can provide more on how I deal with them, or you can look online where I've gathered my tricks and info from anyways.

Below is an example of a diet I was following before. As you can see some of the items are expensive and others are very cheap when purchased in bulk. If possible try to find someone with a costco or sams club membership.

48g protein rice/gemma pea powder $0.75
1 cup Rice milk $0.29
2 xlarge Eggs $0.25

1 Fuji apple $0.75
150g black forest Ham $1.73
2 slices bread $0.47
3 strips (~35g) Bacon $1.15
2 spears Pickles

1/4 cup Popcorn
120g Cottage cheese
30g Granola