Way under my calorie goal

mg_alva
mg_alva Posts: 37
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. So it's past 8:30 here with me. I am about 600 calories under my goal of 1470. I have no idea what to eat and honestly I haven't even been reaching 1200 cals a day. I just don't know what to eat. I feel I eat fine but I know I'm not doing my body any good when I'm barely eating 700-1000 cals on any given day (without adding my exercise). I have a doctor's appointment on Friday. It's just a general check up. So I'll talk to my doctor about it, but just thought I'd ask here also. Maybe someone else is having the same problem I am
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Replies

  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    Toast or fruit with peanut butter. Avocado. Nuts of any kind. Those are high calorie and delicious.
  • nikkihk
    nikkihk Posts: 487 Member
    How is this a problem? Go have an ice cream bar!! A Hamburger!! A large french fry!! There are a dozen things you can eat to make up 600 calories and all of them taste good! TWO slices of pizza!! I could do this all night...
  • baberzoo1
    baberzoo1 Posts: 23 Member
    So what did you eat that got you to the point of wanting to lose weight?
  • rak173
    rak173 Posts: 105 Member
    I have been having the same problem. Currently, I am enjoying a couple oreos and milk :) I plan to buy some healthier cereal so I can have that instead of junk food.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    Hi everyone. So it's past 8:30 here with me. I am about 600 calories under my goal of 1470. I have no idea what to eat and honestly I haven't even been reaching 1200 cals a day. I just don't know what to eat. I feel I eat fine but I know I'm not doing my body any good when I'm barely eating 700-1000 cals on any given day (without adding my exercise). I have a doctor's appointment on Friday. It's just a general check up. So I'll talk to my doctor about it, but just thought I'd ask here also. Maybe someone else is having the same problem I am

    I really don't understand, with all due respect.
    If you need to lose 70 pounds you obviously know how and what to eat, because otherwise you would not be overweight. You can eat some of the same stuff, just less. You can also make yourself a plan to eat more healthful things some of the time and other food some other times. Just do some of the same stuff as before, but in moderation and at a deficit. I can't believe that all of a sudden people forget how to eat just because they started to exercise and eat in moderation.....I know I didn't and have no problems eating my daily calories nd I am willing to bet that I am just one of many.
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
    I think maybe you're taking the whole 'healthy eating' thing too far. I know it's tempting to cut out ALL high calorie foods when you change your eating habits and start counting calories, but don't do it. Keep the protein and the good fats. Go have some avocado with salt and pepper and maybe a few whole grain chips, 4 tbsp. of PB and a big juicy apple, yogurt with some graham crackers, or even a bowl of ice cream. People often cut fat when dieting, but that is a major mistake. So, tomorrow and from now on, remember to find a way to add in those oils, nuts, and butters! Your calorie count, brain, hair, and body will thank you. :bigsmile:
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    So what did you eat that got you to the point of wanting to lose weight?


    Let's see. Huge burgers, large fries, whole tray of chinese food, super large breakfast sandwiches, huge portions and double helpings of mom's cooking. All that and more to the point of being more than full. I don't think those are things I should be eating or doing now
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Hi everyone. So it's past 8:30 here with me. I am about 600 calories under my goal of 1470. I have no idea what to eat and honestly I haven't even been reaching 1200 cals a day. I just don't know what to eat. I feel I eat fine but I know I'm not doing my body any good when I'm barely eating 700-1000 cals on any given day (without adding my exercise). I have a doctor's appointment on Friday. It's just a general check up. So I'll talk to my doctor about it, but just thought I'd ask here also. Maybe someone else is having the same problem I am

    I really don't understand, with all due respect.
    If you need to lose 70 pounds you obviously know how and what to eat, because otherwise you would not be overweight. You can eat some of the same stuff, just less. You can also make yourself a plan to eat more healthful things some of the time and other food some other times. Just do some of the same stuff as before, but in moderation and at a deficit. I can't believe that all of a sudden people forget how to eat just because they started to exercise and eat in moderation.....I know I didn't and have no problems eating my daily calories nd I am willing to bet that I am just one of many.

    I would like to be like you. To know exactly what to eat and have the easiest transition ever. But if I do need to loose 70 lbs it's because obviously I didn't know how to eat or what to eat. People don't forget what to eat. They've been used to eating whatever all the time, and junk all the time. I do eat health foods. That's all I eat. And because they're health foods, they're not full of fats and sky high in calories. So that's where my problem comes in. Maybe you didn't mean any disrespect, but that kind of reply sure doesn't make anyone feel hopeful
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
    Don't start demonizing food. You can still eat all of those things, just eat smaller portions of them or 1 serving. They key to success is to eat at a reasonable deficit, use a food scale to weigh all of your solid food and measure all of your liquids.

    Read this and all the links in it: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • them_and_me
    them_and_me Posts: 60 Member
    Sounds like you're jumping to the opposite end of the spectrum and trying to cut out everything and anything deemed unhealthy. Do you feel a diet like this is sustainable? You don't have to cut out everything you enjoy, you just have to eat less of it so you're still hitting your calorie targets. When you get your tray of chinese food, portion out and calculate what you can have to eat that fits with in your daily calories and put the rest away.

    Hope you can find the right balance for a healthy weight loss :)
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    So what did you eat that got you to the point of wanting to lose weight?


    Let's see. Huge burgers, large fries, whole tray of chinese food, super large breakfast sandwiches, huge portions and double helpings of mom's cooking. All that and more to the point of being more than full. I don't think those are things I should be eating or doing now

    You can still have half a tray of Chinese food, or moderately sized breakfast sandwiches, or a normal portion of your mom's cooking. You didn't get overweight just because you ate things deemed unhealthy, but because you ate lots of them. In addition, there are lots of more health-conscious ways to add calories to your diet. Cook with butter or olive oil (or your preferred oil of choice). Eat more avocados. Bananas are like 90-110 calories a piece. Eat a steak, or some chicken if you've decided you're afraid of steak.

    Snack on nuts, full-fat milk products like Greek yogurt and cheese. Granola bars. There are a million ways to add calories to your diet.
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Sounds like you're jumping to the opposite end of the spectrum and trying to cut out everything and anything deemed unhealthy. Do you feel a diet like this is sustainable? You don't have to cut out everything you enjoy, you just have to eat less of it so you're still hitting your calorie targets. When you get your tray of chinese food, portion out and calculate what you can have to eat that fits with in your daily calories and put the rest away.

    Hope you can find the right balance for a healthy weight loss :)

    I think I should blame my sister. She's made fear salt even. I definitely acknowledge that I am taking the "healthy eating" idea too far. I just don't know how to balance it all out and meet in the middle. It's easy to become overweight. It's not so easy when you've been eating a certain way for years and then try to change those habits all of a sudden. I will talk to my doctor on Friday and see in what direction he can point me to
  • twhaley1990
    twhaley1990 Posts: 140 Member
    So what did you eat that got you to the point of wanting to lose weight?


    Let's see. Huge burgers, large fries, whole tray of chinese food, super large breakfast sandwiches, huge portions and double helpings of mom's cooking. All that and more to the point of being more than full. I don't think those are things I should be eating or doing now

    You can still have half a tray of Chinese food, or moderately sized breakfast sandwiches, or a normal portion of your mom's cooking. You didn't get overweight just because you ate things deemed unhealthy, but because you ate lots of them. In addition, there are lots of more health-conscious ways to add calories to your diet. Cook with butter or olive oil (or your preferred oil of choice). Eat more avocados. Bananas are like 90-110 calories a piece. Eat a steak, or some chicken if you've decided you're afraid of steak.

    Snack on nuts, full-fat milk products like Greek yogurt and cheese. Granola bars. There are a million ways to add calories to your diet.

    I agree with all of these suggestions. Olive oil, nuts/nut butter, avocados, and bananas are definitely some tasty ways to increase calories. And maybe have a snack between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner, like a banana or yogurt or nutrition/granola bar. And even with that, you may still be able to sneak in a couple of pieces of chocolate ;)
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Have a can of raw unsalted almonds around for just such occasions. Quality protein, quality fat, ton of calories for the weight. Seriously a handful of almonds is like 200 calories easily and they are pretty snackable.

    Don't succumb to the idea that eating under your goal is a good thing. Your goal is your goal, try to hit it. If you find yourself naturally coming under that's great because itll be easy to just pop a few almonds and be set. Its harder when you find yourself consistently over your goal.

    If for some reason you hate almonds any nut will do basically.
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    So what did you eat that got you to the point of wanting to lose weight?


    Let's see. Huge burgers, large fries, whole tray of chinese food, super large breakfast sandwiches, huge portions and double helpings of mom's cooking. All that and more to the point of being more than full. I don't think those are things I should be eating or doing now

    You can still have half a tray of Chinese food, or moderately sized breakfast sandwiches, or a normal portion of your mom's cooking. You didn't get overweight just because you ate things deemed unhealthy, but because you ate lots of them. In addition, there are lots of more health-conscious ways to add calories to your diet. Cook with butter or olive oil (or your preferred oil of choice). Eat more avocados. Bananas are like 90-110 calories a piece. Eat a steak, or some chicken if you've decided you're afraid of steak.

    Snack on nuts, full-fat milk products like Greek yogurt and cheese. Granola bars. There are a million ways to add calories to your diet.

    I agree with all of these suggestions. Olive oil, nuts/nut butter, avocados, and bananas are definitely some tasty ways to increase calories. And maybe have a snack between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner, like a banana or yogurt or nutrition/granola bar. And even with that, you may still be able to sneak in a couple of pieces of chocolate ;)

    I definitely snack between each meal. I guess what I'll do now is instead of getting fat free yogurt I'll buy the next one up and see how I do with that. When I use olive oil, I've been using half the serving size, so I'll up that too
  • them_and_me
    them_and_me Posts: 60 Member
    Sounds like you're jumping to the opposite end of the spectrum and trying to cut out everything and anything deemed unhealthy. Do you feel a diet like this is sustainable? You don't have to cut out everything you enjoy, you just have to eat less of it so you're still hitting your calorie targets. When you get your tray of chinese food, portion out and calculate what you can have to eat that fits with in your daily calories and put the rest away.

    Hope you can find the right balance for a healthy weight loss :)

    I think I should blame my sister. She's made fear salt even. I definitely acknowledge that I am taking the "healthy eating" idea too far. I just don't know how to balance it all out and meet in the middle. It's easy to become overweight. It's not so easy when you've been eating a certain way for years and then try to change those habits all of a sudden. I will talk to my doctor on Friday and see in what direction he can point me to

    Talking to your doc is a great idea to make sure you approach your weight loss in the healthiest way for YOU. Great suggestions from everyone here as well.

    Do you plan out your food for the day or just wing it? It helps a lot for me to know what I'm going to be eating and calculating it out before I stuff it ALL down the hatch :) I know how much to eat and I stick to it.
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Have a can of raw unsalted almonds around for just such occasions. Quality protein, quality fat, ton of calories for the weight. Seriously a handful of almonds is like 200 calories easily and they are pretty snackable.

    Don't succumb to the idea that eating under your goal is a good thing. Your goal is your goal, try to hit it. If you find yourself naturally coming under that's great because itll be easy to just pop a few almonds and be set. Its harder when you find yourself consistently over your goal.

    If for some reason you hate almonds any nut will do basically.

    I love almonds. I have a jar of almond butter in my fridge right now. I love all things nut except peanuts/peanut butter. My sister has made me afraid of cheese as well. I should stop listening to her:grumble:
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    [/quote]
    Talking to your doc is a great idea to make sure you approach your weight loss in the healthiest way for YOU. Great suggestions from everyone here as well.

    Do you plan out your food for the day or just wing it? It helps a lot for me to know what I'm going to be eating and calculating it out before I stuff it ALL down the hatch :) I know how much to eat and I stick to it.
    [/quote]

    I've just winging it, taking sometimes so long to think about what I'm gonna eat that I just settle on steamed veggies and a bland chicken. But on Sunday I decided that I would find 2 or 3 recipes that I really liked at the beginning of each week, make the whole recipe (which are usually 4 serving per recipe) and eat them as my meals throughout the week. That way I know what I'm eating, enjoying it, and balancing my nutrition without so many headaches
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Sounds like you're jumping to the opposite end of the spectrum and trying to cut out everything and anything deemed unhealthy. Do you feel a diet like this is sustainable? You don't have to cut out everything you enjoy, you just have to eat less of it so you're still hitting your calorie targets. When you get your tray of chinese food, portion out and calculate what you can have to eat that fits with in your daily calories and put the rest away.

    Hope you can find the right balance for a healthy weight loss :)

    I think I should blame my sister. She's made fear salt even. I definitely acknowledge that I am taking the "healthy eating" idea too far. I just don't know how to balance it all out and meet in the middle. It's easy to become overweight. It's not so easy when you've been eating a certain way for years and then try to change those habits all of a sudden. I will talk to my doctor on Friday and see in what direction he can point me to

    Talking to your doc is a great idea to make sure you approach your weight loss in the healthiest way for YOU. Great suggestions from everyone here as well.

    Do you plan out your food for the day or just wing it? It helps a lot for me to know what I'm going to be eating and calculating it out before I stuff it ALL down the hatch :) I know how much to eat and I stick to it.

    I've just been winging it, taking sometimes so long to think about what I'm gonna eat that I just settle on steamed veggies and a bland chicken. But on Sunday I decided that I would find 2 or 3 recipes that I really liked at the beginning of each week, make the whole recipe (which are usually 4 serving per recipe) and eat them as my meals throughout the week. That way I know what I'm eating, enjoying it, and balancing my nutrition without so many headaches
  • them_and_me
    them_and_me Posts: 60 Member
    I'm sure your sister's heart is in the right place. There are a lot of common misconceptions about weight loss and nutrition out there that science has laid the smack down on.

    Pre-planning what I'm going to eat (for the day) has been a huge help for me. Give it an earnest try and I hope it will work for you too!
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Thank you :)
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Here's a simple way to think about it: High calorie =/= unhealthy. Eat what you like, just eat a a deficit, and you will lose weight.
  • Sheilav99
    Sheilav99 Posts: 4 Member
    I do the same thing quite often. I'll worry a little too much about keeping my main meals lower calorie, then I end up with a lot of extra calories to make up. Whole almonds, avocado, low fat cheese, small portions of ice cream, I've even eaten a salad later at night to make up calories. Just read labels carefully to know how many calories you're getting, as well as other things like fat, sodium, carbs, etc.

    Talk to your doctor about your sister's well intentioned advice. My doc told me cheese is great, but suggested getting reduced fat cheese. She said non-fat might be the best, but it doesn't taste very good, so low fat is ok.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    Based on your diary, adding a normal lunch would be a good idea. The few days I have checked, you are completely skipping lunch except for an avocado. If time is a problem, add a grilled cheese sandwich, or some grilled chicken or even a yoghurt.
  • Fiery_Vixen
    Fiery_Vixen Posts: 795 Member
    I've lost about 19 lbs since the beginning of the year and the only thing I've changed is my portions. I still eat the same processed crap I did before....just less of it. If I had drastically changed my diet like you have and ate just healthy food, I would have given in and binged long ago cause I can't live without salty and sugary foods. Now I'm not knocking healthy food, I really should eat more of it, but you're just setting yourself up for disaster if you put yourself through such a drastic change in diet. I had like 700 calories left for the day, so you know what I ate? An A&W Rootbeer, a small bowl of Mac and Cheese and a few pieces of chocolate...and you know what? I'm still going to lose weight, because although everything I ate was junk, I still came in underneath my allotted net calories for the day.
  • StevenH74
    StevenH74 Posts: 129
    How did your sister make you afraid of cheese?
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    Based on your diary, adding a normal lunch would be a good idea. The few days I have checked, you are completely skipping lunch except for an avocado. If time is a problem, add a grilled cheese sandwich, or some grilled chicken or even a yoghurt.

    I have lunch everyday. Sometimes it's dinner I skip, but that was because I would workout after work and felt it was too late to eat. Now I work out during my break right before lunch so I can come home after work and eat dinner. I've never skipped lunch. But even now that I'm regularly eating something for dinner, I'll still be off quite a big number
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    How did your sister make you afraid of cheese?

    Haha. I absolutely love cheese.. so when I mentioned that, she said it's really fattening. So then I was avoiding it. Now I'm not. I bought Sargento ultra thin slices and get my cheese fix with little to no guilt
  • mg_alva
    mg_alva Posts: 37
    I've lost about 19 lbs since the beginning of the year and the only thing I've changed is my portions. I still eat the same processed crap I did before....just less of it. If I had drastically changed my diet like you have and ate just healthy food, I would have given in and binged long ago cause I can't live without salty and sugary foods. Now I'm not knocking healthy food, I really should eat more of it, but you're just setting yourself up for disaster if you put yourself through such a drastic change in diet. I had like 700 calories left for the day, so you know what I ate? An A&W Rootbeer, a small bowl of Mac and Cheese and a few pieces of chocolate...and you know what? I'm still going to lose weight, because although everything I ate was junk, I still came in underneath my allotted net calories for the day.

    I love salty things too. Now I'm trying not to eat so much of it. For one, high blood pressure runs in my family. I was avoiding that too (thanks to my sister) but I just can't do without it. Now instead of eating bland crap, I add enough to give it good flavor, but not so much like before either.. atleast with that I've learned how to balance. And I've changed my diet so much to the point where I ate Chinese on Saturday and I felt so uncomfortable and bloated. Lol... guess I'm not used to it anymore
  • suey2k1
    suey2k1 Posts: 10 Member
    How is this a problem? Go have an ice cream bar!! A Hamburger!! A large french fry!! There are a dozen things you can eat to make up 600 calories and all of them taste good! TWO slices of pizza!! I could do this all night...




    Ridiculous. The whole point is to eat HEALTHILY not just fill up on crap to boost your calories. Nuts are good. If you add some nuts or seeds to all your meals during the day or have a couple of snacks that should do it. i have 24 raw almonds and a small pear as a snack. That's 210 cals. Have something like that a couple of times a day and bingo! Cals restored :O)

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