Vegetarian having hard time getting to calorie goal
doxielover2013
Posts: 25 Member
I am vegetarian (will eat eggs and cheese, but trying to cut out the cheese). When I first started MFP I was logging everything I ate plus weighing it on a very very very old scale, and exercising 6 days a week and not losing weight or inches. I ask about that and got some great advice (Thank you everyone!). I replaced my scale with a digital scale (that does grams too) and started drinking Weightless Tea to address my water retention issues. This has resulted in my weight to go down :bigsmile: but no change in inches....yet. However, I am also trying to watch my sodium very carefully in order to keep water retention to a minimum. This is causing me to not make it to my daily net calorie goal. I usually eat something higher in cals which ends up higher in sodium putting me over my sodium goal but just under my calorie goal. I eat very little out, I cook my meals at home, usually from frozen veggies since fresh seems to go bad on me too quick. I live too far out in the country to go get fresh veggies every couple of days. Once this awful winter is over I will have my garden back and will have the freshest veggies possible but until then I am stuck with frozen. I do not use canned veggies but I do use canned beans which I rinse to reduce the amount of sodium. The biggest thing is that I am not hungry and am making myself eat just to get up to goal. Many days I haven't even reached 1200 net cals by the end of the day but am not hungry! I literally eat every couple of hours through out the day, then when evening gets here I scramble trying to increase my net cals so I have made it to my goal. To do that I end up eating things I wouldn't normally eat AND I am eating when I am not even hungry!
My diary is open, any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated!
Oh, the only thing I drink is water and herbal teas. I always get 8 cups or more of water in a day, I just forget to log the water! Also, I just got the new scale this week so I am now able to know how many grams of a recipe is a serving, before this week I was trying to divide up the recipe evenly into the # of servings. So I know the cals were off before this week.
My diary is open, any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated!
Oh, the only thing I drink is water and herbal teas. I always get 8 cups or more of water in a day, I just forget to log the water! Also, I just got the new scale this week so I am now able to know how many grams of a recipe is a serving, before this week I was trying to divide up the recipe evenly into the # of servings. So I know the cals were off before this week.
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Replies
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I don't understand how you got into a position where you need to lose weight if you're not hungry.
I really hate these posts .-. Sorry.
Edit - You're probably severely underestimating your calories. And eating below 1,200 calories a day is not only unnecessary but can be poor for your health and detrimental to your weight loss. All you need to do is eat at a deficit to lose weight, so what you eat (within reason) really doesn't matter. I would also be skeptical of that tea you mentioned.0 -
Eat some peanut butter. Reaching calorie goals isn't as hard as people make it out to be.
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I'm also a vegetarian that eats eggs/milk products too. I've lost about 11 pounds (some before I joined the site). So far no plateu (*knock on wood*) if you want to check my diary to see where we differ. I don't eat enough fruits/veggies but so far it's been working.
(Edit: i eat occasional fish so I'm not technically vegetarian but I mostly eat like one.)0 -
I am vegetarian (will eat eggs and cheese, but trying to cut out the cheese). When I first started MFP I was logging everything I ate plus weighing it on a very very very old scale, and exercising 6 days a week and not losing weight or inches. I ask about that and got some great advice (Thank you everyone!). I replaced my scale with a digital scale (that does grams too) and started drinking Weightless Tea to address my water retention issues. This has resulted in my weight to go down :bigsmile: but no change in inches....yet. However, I am also trying to watch my sodium very carefully in order to keep water retention to a minimum. This is causing me to not make it to my daily net calorie goal. I usually eat something higher in cals which ends up higher in sodium putting me over my sodium goal but just under my calorie goal. I eat very little out, I cook my meals at home, usually from frozen veggies since fresh seems to go bad on me too quick. I live too far out in the country to go get fresh veggies every couple of days. Once this awful winter is over I will have my garden back and will have the freshest veggies possible but until then I am stuck with frozen. I do not use canned veggies but I do use canned beans which I rinse to reduce the amount of sodium. The biggest thing is that I am not hungry and am making myself eat just to get up to goal. Many days I haven't even reached 1200 net cals by the end of the day but am not hungry! I literally eat every couple of hours through out the day, then when evening gets here I scramble trying to increase my net cals so I have made it to my goal. To do that I end up eating things I wouldn't normally eat AND I am eating when I am not even hungry!
My diary is open, any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated!
Oh, the only thing I drink is water and herbal teas. I always get 8 cups or more of water in a day, I just forget to log the water! Also, I just got the new scale this week so I am now able to know how many grams of a recipe is a serving, before this week I was trying to divide up the recipe evenly into the # of servings. So I know the cals were off before this week.
I'm confused. There is only one day that was below 1200 in your diary in the last 1-2 weeks, the rest are pretty far over.
If you do want to up your cals there are a few easy ways to add them. Use butter or oil to fry your egg in the morning. Have a spoonful of peanut butter, eat a handful of nuts, or granola, or even add in some fruit as snacks.0 -
My suggestion would be less bread and refined carbs, and more beans, tofu, nuts and whole grains. You need more protein.
This will likely also help with the water retention problems you are having.0 -
I don't understand how you got into a position where you need to lose weight if you're not hungry.
I really hate these posts .-. Sorry.
Edit - You're probably severely underestimating your calories. And eating below 1,200 calories a day is not only unnecessary but can be poor for your health and detrimental to your weight loss. All you need to do is eat at a deficit to lose weight, so what you eat (within reason) really doesn't matter. I would also be skeptical of that tea you mentioned.
I am looking for help not sarcasm. No I am not underestimating my calories. I am going by the gram weight of the food to calculate the calories and going by what the package says is the calories per gram. I measure everything that I put in my mouth. Many overweight people eat way less than healthy weight people and still gain weight or maintain current weight. I am trying to get to 1200 cals and do so whether I am hungry or not because I know it isn't good to eat less than that. My question was how to increase calories without increasing sodium intake. I have 1 egg a day, 1 bagel a day, and the rest is veggies and beans. This fills me up but does not have a lot of cals in them. I eat a mostly vegan diet I guess you could say with the occasional slice of cheese or egg.0 -
I had a peek at your diary, Stop eating foods high in sodium like all the processed and packaged foods i.e. Potato crisps,
and Bagels and bread.
You have possibly reached a plateau. Your diet looks low in protein - this is possibly why you are not noticing much change in your body size. Did you know a child needs more than 1200 calories per day? I recommend upping your calories and focusing on getting your macros right.0 -
Don't cut out cheese...eat more fat. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat and is an essential nutrient. I don't know why you're trying to be veg and trying to cut fat too. That's not really going to work very well.0
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It's REALLY easy to add calories without a lot of extra food or sodium. Olive oil, butter, avocado, peanut butter, nuts, for starters. I looked back a week or so in your diary and it looks like you're eating plenty and have some pretty high calorie burns recorded. What are you doing to burn an extra +600 cals a day? You might be overestimating your exercise.0
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The reason why the cals are over is because I am forcing myself to eat in the evenings and I am eating stuff that I wouldn't normally eat just to get my net cal close to the 1560 goal that MFP set for me. Normally I would eat veggies with no salt added and beans. I am trying to transition to vegan but am having a hard time getting in enough cals.0
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Try adding a few more nuts or seeds...0
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Don't cut out cheese...eat more fat. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat and is an essential nutrient. I don't know why you're trying to be veg and trying to cut fat too. That's not really going to work very well.
I'm not trying to cut out fat, I want to cut out cheese because I am trying to transition to a vegan diet. I am not ready to leave the eggs behind because of concerns about not getting enough vitamin B6. I do use olive oil and coconut oil in my cooking, so definitely not cutting fats.0 -
It's REALLY easy to add calories without a lot of extra food or sodium. Olive oil, butter, avocado, peanut butter, nuts, for starters. I looked back a week or so in your diary and it looks like you're eating plenty and have some pretty high calorie burns recorded. What are you doing to burn an extra +600 cals a day? You might be overestimating your exercise.
I am doing TapOut XT for my workouts. I am using a heartrate monitor to get the amount of cals I am burning. TapOut is a very intense workout. I have been doing it for a month and still am not able to keep up with them!0 -
I don't understand how you got into a position where you need to lose weight if you're not hungry.
I really hate these posts .-. Sorry.
Edit - You're probably severely underestimating your calories. And eating below 1,200 calories a day is not only unnecessary but can be poor for your health and detrimental to your weight loss. All you need to do is eat at a deficit to lose weight, so what you eat (within reason) really doesn't matter. I would also be skeptical of that tea you mentioned.
I am looking for help not sarcasm. No I am not underestimating my calories. I am going by the gram weight of the food to calculate the calories and going by what the package says is the calories per gram. I measure everything that I put in my mouth. Many overweight people eat way less than healthy weight people and still gain weight or maintain current weight. I am trying to get to 1200 cals and do so whether I am hungry or not because I know it isn't good to eat less than that. My question was how to increase calories without increasing sodium intake. I have 1 egg a day, 1 bagel a day, and the rest is veggies and beans. This fills me up but does not have a lot of cals in them. I eat a mostly vegan diet I guess you could say with the occasional slice of cheese or egg.
Your idea of your diet seems to be very different from the reality of your diary. You eat close to 2,000 every day, not 1,200. You eat a lot of processed carbs and packaged foods, and very little protein. You eat eggs and cheese every day, so saying you're basically vegan is just silly. Anyway, vegan does not necessarily equal healthy, nor does it necessarily equal weight loss. The only thing that matters is a deficit. The tea you drink a few times a day is a waste of money. And you seem to be overestimating your exercise calories. MFP is very generous with burn amounts, and you seem to be eating back most of your exercise calories. I would eat back maybe 20%.
Eat more protein. Make better use of your calories.
Don't ask a question if you don't want honest answers.0 -
I had a peek at your diary, Stop eating foods high in sodium like all the processed and packaged foods i.e. Potato crisps,
and Bagels and bread.
You have possibly reached a plateau. Your diet looks low in protein - this is possibly why you are not noticing much change in your body size. Did you know a child needs more than 1200 calories per day? I recommend upping your calories and focusing on getting your macros right.
Those are the things that I am turning to in order to get my cals up to my daily goal. I am looking for other ways to do that. The suggestions of avocado and nuts were helpful and I will be adding those. to replace the chips and bread.0 -
Eat some Chicken!!!, Your body will thank you.0
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honestly i don't see any need to force feed yourself. If you aren't hungry, you aren't hungry. More than likely though once you eat light one day, you'll want a few extra calories the next (so if 1200 net one day, maybe 1300-1400 the next or potentially more).
i wouldn't worry about it. As long as you aren't eating less than 1200/day before accounting for your exercise calories you're prob fine.0 -
Eat some Chicken!!!, Your body will thank you.
You don't have to eat meat to be healthy >>0 -
Don't cut out cheese...eat more fat. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat and is an essential nutrient. I don't know why you're trying to be veg and trying to cut fat too. That's not really going to work very well.
I'm not trying to cut out fat, I want to cut out cheese because I am trying to transition to a vegan diet. I am not ready to leave the eggs behind because of concerns about not getting enough vitamin B6. I do use olive oil and coconut oil in my cooking, so definitely not cutting fats.
Are you recording those oils in your diary?0 -
Your idea of your diet seems to be very different from the reality of your diary. You eat close to 2,000 every day, not 1,200. You eat a lot of processed carbs and packaged foods, and very little protein. You eat eggs and cheese every day, so saying you're basically vegan is just silly. Anyway, vegan doesn't not necessarily equal healthy, nor does it necessarily equal weight loss. The only thing that matters is a deficit. The tea you drink a few times a day is a waste of money. And you seem to be overestimating your exercise calories. MFP is very generous with burn amounts, and you seem to be eating back most of your exercise calories. I would eat back maybe 20%.
Eat more protein. Make better use of your calories.
Don't ask a question if you don't want honest answers.
My burn is off of my heart rate monitor not MFP's amounts I am starting to lose weight again so I am in a deficit. I am eating in the evening to bump up my cals to that point but that is raising my sodium intake. My QUESTION was about sodium intake and how to reduce it. I have one egg a day and I am trying to cut out the cheese I didn't say I was there yet. Through out the day I eat all veggies with the exception of breakfast which is a thin bagel and one egg, sometimes with cheese in order to up the cals. Dinner this week had 3 meals with cheese, lunch I added the buns to the chickpea burgers to up cals or I have leftovers from dinner. I said I was trying to transition to vegan...I obviously have not made it yet. I am looking for helpful suggestions not to be slammed because you hate these types of posts! I am on a journey just like you and am trying to find my way the best I can. Sometimes that requires asking questions that people that have been here awhile have seen already or they have already figured it out. If you don't like this type of post then ignore it, don't slam the person looking for help.0 -
Eat some Chicken!!!, Your body will thank you.
Not helpful. I quit eating meat because it made me feel awful! I feel much better now that I am a vegetarian.0 -
Do you feel like you're getting closer to your goals though? Why not just relax a bit and be grateful that you are, if you are.0
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Your idea of your diet seems to be very different from the reality of your diary. You eat close to 2,000 every day, not 1,200. You eat a lot of processed carbs and packaged foods, and very little protein. You eat eggs and cheese every day, so saying you're basically vegan is just silly. Anyway, vegan doesn't not necessarily equal healthy, nor does it necessarily equal weight loss. The only thing that matters is a deficit. The tea you drink a few times a day is a waste of money. And you seem to be overestimating your exercise calories. MFP is very generous with burn amounts, and you seem to be eating back most of your exercise calories. I would eat back maybe 20%.
Eat more protein. Make better use of your calories.
Don't ask a question if you don't want honest answers.
My burn is off of my heart rate monitor not MFP's amounts I am starting to lose weight again so I am in a deficit. I am eating in the evening to bump up my cals to that point but that is raising my sodium intake. My QUESTION was about sodium intake and how to reduce it. I have one egg a day and I am trying to cut out the cheese I didn't say I was there yet. Through out the day I eat all veggies with the exception of breakfast which is a thin bagel and one egg, sometimes with cheese in order to up the cals. Dinner this week had 3 meals with cheese, lunch I added the buns to the chickpea burgers to up cals or I have leftovers from dinner. I said I was trying to transition to vegan...I obviously have not made it yet. I am looking for helpful suggestions not to be slammed because you hate these types of posts! I am on a journey just like you and am trying to find my way the best I can. Sometimes that requires asking questions that people that have been here awhile have seen already or they have already figured it out. If you don't like this type of post then ignore it, don't slam the person looking for help.
I'm really not trying to slam you. I don't think you understand how often these posts come up, and eating another couple hundred calories is no more difficult than a spoonful of peanut butter (plus it has protein!)
People are going to critique your diary /: Don't take it personally. I have friends that give me crap when I have a bad day, but I like it because it helps me want to do better. If you're going vegan for moral reasons that's great! But don't do it for "health" reasons, because there isn't a lot of benefit to eating a lot of carbs and scrounging for protein (not all vegans do this, of course, but it happens quite a bit.) Clean eating can be done well without veganism.0 -
So weird... last time I checked, butter, cheese, yogurt, fish / eggs (depending on the type of veggie you are), oil, candy, bread / bagels, meatless meat products, alcohol, peanut butter, nuts, and any combination of the aforementioned foods, can be extremely high calorie. Not sure if I'm buying it.
Also, based on what others have said, it sounds like you're over calories most of the time. No one wants to offend you, but you probably need to stop making posts like this. They come off as melodramatic and, after looking at your diary, contradictory. If someone were rude, not like myself, they might call you a liar about not being able to reach your calorie goal. Luckily, no rude posters on MFP.0 -
It is too early in my journey to know if I am or not getting closer to my weight goal. I have lost 5 lbs, but haven't lost inches. One of my goals is to increase my endurance and strength. On that one I am definitely improving! I can feel the muscles in my arms and legs getting stronger and I can do my workouts with a lot less breaks to catch my breath!:bigsmile: I try to keep that success in the forefront of my mind when I get down about the cloths not getting any looser, but it is hard sometimes so I end up stressing over my food intake.0
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Protein shakes.0
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I'm really not trying to slam you. I don't think you understand how often these posts come up, and eating another couple hundred calories is no more difficult than a spoonful of peanut butter (plus it has protein!)
People are going to critique your diary /: Don't take it personally. I have friends that give me crap when I have a bad day, but I like it because it helps me want to do better. If you're going vegan for moral reasons that's great! But don't do it for "health" reasons, because there isn't a lot of benefit to eating a lot of carbs and scrounging for protein (not all vegans do this, of course, but it happens quite a bit.) Clean eating can be done well without veganism.
Thank you for that. I am trying to go vegan because I feel better when I am eating purely veggies, beans, and grains. I have only been vegetarian since 2011. Went veggie because I contracted Lyme and after my treatment I wanted to detox. I did a juice fast for 2 weeks and had never felt better. When the detox was over I went back to eating meat and felt awful. So I switched to lacto/ovo vegetarian and felt better again. However, dairy tends to make my allergies flare up a lot so I want to cut cheese out. I already have cut out milk. I am truly trying to learn how to eat the best way for my body. I know that right now I am eating crap, but it is to get my cals up so I am not under 1200 but closer to my 1560 plus the exercise cals burned.0 -
It is too early in my journey to know if I am or not getting closer to my weight goal. I have lost 5 lbs, but haven't lost inches. One of my goals is to increase my endurance and strength. On that one I am definitely improving! I can feel the muscles in my arms and legs getting stronger and I can do my workouts with a lot less breaks to catch my breath!:bigsmile: I try to keep that success in the forefront of my mind when I get down about the cloths not getting any looser, but it is hard sometimes so I end up stressing over my food intake.
It's completely natural in the beginning to tweak your diet. Your diet doesn't look bad, but the two things that stuck out most to me were too much sodium and too little protein. You need to eat enough protein when losing weight to make sure you lose more fat than muscle. It's easy to overeat carbs and be low on protein with a vegan diet.
Check out Seapoint Farms dry roasted edamame. It's a delicious snack and just a 30g serving (1/4 cup) has 130 calories and 14g protein.
I would also suggest that you check out some of the vegetarian or vegan MFP groups. You'll likely find good tips there, without all the sarcasm.
Good luck to you.0 -
Raw, unsalted nuts are the best way to add fast calories. Just 1/4 cup (28.5 grams) of shelled walnuts is 200 calories. Storing nuts for a long time is super easy. Also, they're great for reducing how much pasta you use in dishes. Huge pile of cooked (formerly frozen) veggies, little pasta, light sauce, nuts. Boom- healthy dinner.0
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I am vegetarian on low carb diet. I eat quite a bit of sodium though. Add a couple tablespoons unsalted butter a day and you should be good to go.0
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