My calorie goal hard to reach, any suggestions?

Just trying to help this guy out, no reason to get upset.

No one's upset but it is frustrating when someone just starts making crap up that has no basis in reality. Only leads to confusion for someone who is just starting out trying to understand things.

What crap did I make up ? I simply stated a fact, there is better ways to get calories than ice cream, or any other sugar processed stuff.

Because it's crap. You don't get extra credit for getting more nutrients than your body requires, simple. Eric Helms. So, talk all you want and try to make someone's path harder by insisting they cut things they don't need to. That's what's crap. Moderation. Looking at nutrient density and not labeling foods

You...I like you.

:flowerforyou:

I highly recommend pre-logging the day before. That way you can plan and see where to add extra calories. Ever since I've started pre-logging, things go smoother during the day.

Best of luck!

Put peanut butter on the bread. Goal reached.

Haha do not eat ice cream. It will just lead to increased blood sugar levels and insulin in bloodstream and halt progress a lot. Try eating stir fry with bunch of meat and vegetables easy way to get your greens and protein .

I just completed the 30 day ice cream/ gelato cleanse.

lost 5.8lbs
1" off my waist
new PR on my half-marathon

and I'm finishing off a half-pint of Cadbury Creme Egg Ice Cream as I type this.

Does not mean your any more healthier.

Also just had an annual physical including blood work... I'm golden.

I've said this before and I'm going to say it again...

In my opinion, the hierarchy of needs in terms of nutrition are as follows in order of importance:

Calories in vs calories out - or 'are you eating less than you're expending?'
If it fits your macros - or 'is your Protein/Fat/Carbs split on point?'
Sweat the small stuff - or 'Vitamins and minerals = micro nutrients'

My advice is not to think about the next one down in the pyramid until you've got the one above it sorted out.

No point having a perfect macro split but going 1000 calories over or under your target.

No point meeting your RDA of all the vitamins and keeping your sodium in check if you're getting 60% daily fat.

So I'm hearing your problem as '"I can't eat enough calories" and that stems from the top of the pyramid. The answer to this is to eat more calories - any calories will do - to get yourself up to your calorie goal. "But Jay, those calories aren't healthy" I hear you say? Hold up, you're looking at the second level of our little pyramid which is the TYPE of foods you eat (macros). Take a step back and get the first one right first. ANY calories will do until you can consistently hit your goal within 100 calories either side every day. Experiment with what foods you can squeeze into it - although you'll soon find that filling your calorie allowance with KFC leaves you very hungry!

Once you've got that sorted, then your problem will change to "the calories I'm eating are too high-fat/high-carb/low-protein/unhealthy". Then and only then, start to look at switching foods out for different types of food which give you very similar calorie values but different/better macronutrients. If you find yourself slipping over or under your calorie goal at this point, refer back to the first rule and try that substitution again.

Once that's in order, look at your sodium, your fibre, your simple sugars versus complex carbs, your sat fat vs poly vs mono and all of the other really geekily scientific nutrition stuff that isn't for everyone, but I personally really enjoy tweaking and getting right. Don't let yourself get bogged down in this stuff though until you're eating the right NUMBER of calories first and then the right TYPE of calories.

Once you've got all three levels in balance and are consistently eating a diet which fulfils all three levels of the need ladder, you've pretty much mastered your nutritional intake - but don't forget, you can always take steps back down the ladder. Fancy some ice cream or pizza for a treat and can't fit it in your macros? Can you fit it into your overall calorie goal? You're good to go!

Hope that helps a bit. It's just my opinion after a few years of doing this and figuring out what works and doesn't for me.

Jay

I've never understood the "I can't get enough calorie in" argument. It's sooooooo easy. Drink milk, drink juice, drink soda, eat peanut butter, eat ice cream, eat cheese, eat beef, eat nuts, eat rice, eat pasta. It's not difficult...

QFT.

Peanuts. Almonds. Sunflower seeds. Pumpkin seeds. Fruit. Peanut butter.

All are filling. All are high in calories. All can be eaten between meals as snacks. A banana has about 105 calories. Peanut butter is 150-200 (brand dependent). I'm a tiny girl. I weigh 110 lbs or so. (Home scale says 105, but they can be off) Yet. I can eat 1700 calories in one day, no problem at all. Doing exactly what the guy I quoted said. If you reach 1200 and are full, drink milk instead of water or make a smoothie. Maybe have some oatmeal for breakfast occasionally and mix it with a banana and peanut butter. Oatmeal is 150, banana is about 105, peanut butter is 200.

Even if you feel full now eating so little calories, you will get VERY hungry in the long run. It's setting yourself up for failure.

Haha do not eat ice cream. It will just lead to increased blood sugar levels and insulin in bloodstream and halt progress a lot. Try eating stir fry with bunch of meat and vegetables easy way to get your greens and protein .

Yeah, no.

Let's see...last Sunday I had not 1 but 2 cupcakes. On Monday I did that again. They fit into my daily calorie goal...Tuesday I had lost 2 lbs.

Thats nice and everything but OP said he was at 1200 calories and he wanted to hit 1750. Thats 550 calories missing, If he replaced that with ice cream or other junk every day it will be less effective than nutrient rich foods. Not empty calories.

And I didn't see anywhere where people said to do that every day.

It's about moderation NOT deprivation.

Haha do not eat ice cream. It will just lead to increased blood sugar levels and insulin in bloodstream and halt progress a lot. Try eating stir fry with bunch of meat and vegetables easy way to get your greens and protein .

Yeah, no.

Let's see...last Sunday I had not 1 but 2 cupcakes. On Monday I did that again. They fit into my daily calorie goal...Tuesday I had lost 2 lbs.

Thats nice and everything but OP said he was at 1200 calories and he wanted to hit 1750. Thats 550 calories missing, If he replaced that with ice cream or other junk every day it will be less effective than nutrient rich foods. Not empty calories.

And I didn't see anywhere where people said to do that every day.

It's about moderation NOT deprivation.

Sixth post on first page.

Wait..... wait...... this is a 25 year old GUY with a TDEE of only 2300? What is wrong with this picture?

Wait..... wait...... this is a 25 year old GUY with a TDEE of only 2300? What is wrong with this picture?

A guy should never go below 1800 of good non empty calories at least.

here's an update real quick, forgot to mention, when I walk 2 miles of the morning I burn an average of at least 345 calories walking carrying my 15 lb weight, and of the evenings after lunch or dinner, I walk for 3 miles, and burn about 460 calories, by doing this my calories remaining are going to be about 1200, and my goal is 1750. I eat good sized meals throughout the day as you can see, and use muscle milk and fiber one bars, but with my walking, seems like I'm not getting enough calories, yet I'm full throughout the day. I'm a little confused... Should I just not walk as much?

Why is it that MFP only gives me 198 calories for walking 3 kms ( 2 miles ) with a 7 kilo ( 15.5 pounds ) load ? It takes me about 40-45 minutes to do this.

Presumably you weigh a lot less.

There are definite negatives to having a large calorie deficit. The greater the calorie deficit, the greater the muscle loss during weight loss. Also, the greater your metabolism wants to bridge the energy gap between calorie intake and calorie burn and will slow down if you sustain a large calorie deficit for a long period of time. Studies also show that with a large calorie deficit and faster weight loss, you're much much more likely to regain the weight and actually overshoot your original weight on the way up, mainly due to hormones that make you hungry when the body senses rapid weight loss and keep making you hungry even when you gain weight again...

I'm not here to debate. Your metabolism doesn't change significantly when you eat a large deficit. Everyone eating at a deficit will have a small decrease in metabolism, but it isn't exponential and it's temporary... so it's a non-factor. It absolutely does not matter. He's not starving himself so muscle loss won't be significantly if any different than if he was eating a few hundred more calories.

An individual is not a statistic. You can't point at someone and tell them that eating 1200 calories will definitely cause them to gain weight after they finish dieting. Something being statistically significant doesn't mean that it applies to everyone. Some people will have more success losing 2 lbs/week than 1/2 lb/week and vice versa. And don't use words like "much more likely" if you don't have the source. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2001.134/full here you will see that there is evidence against the idea of a VLCD hindering long term success of weight loss. While it is a popular idea and is often repeated, there isn't much research to back up the claim that VLCD is more likely to cause weight gain...while there is evidence against the claim.

Sidenote: OP isn't on a vlcd and I'm not advocating them...but I am disputing the notion that lower calorie diets are more harmful or won't work as well as eating a few hundred more calories.

In...

...to catch up on how *hard* it is to eat 2000 calories...



(...and this is from a guy who thought it was only a *little bit* difficult to consistently hit his 3500+exercise calories target for a couple of months.)

here's an update real quick, forgot to mention, when I walk 2 miles of the morning I burn an average of at least 345 calories walking carrying my 15 lb weight, and of the evenings after lunch or dinner, I walk for 3 miles, and burn about 460 calories, by doing this my calories remaining are going to be about 1200, and my goal is 1750. I eat good sized meals throughout the day as you can see, and use muscle milk and fiber one bars, but with my walking, seems like I'm not getting enough calories, yet I'm full throughout the day. I'm a little confused... Should I just not walk as much?

Why is it that MFP only gives me 198 calories for walking 3 kms ( 2 miles ) with a 7 kilo ( 15.5 pounds ) load ? It takes me about 40-45 minutes to do this.

dunno, I've been manually putting in what my pedometer says. and the one lady was right, I burn about 245 calories on that walk, and yes, it takes me about 40-45 minutes as well. Dunno what's more accurate, a pedometer counting steps and miles, with my current weight, height and age, or what MFP gives. Either way, one is misleading. I'm going to start doing an average, so if my pedometer says 245, and here says 198, I'll say an even 220.

Not necessary. That persons burn is going to be different from yours because they weigh less than you.