Do I really have to eat this much?

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  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    Yes you should. The more aggressive the deficit, the greater the percentage of muscle you will lose to fat. With a modest deficit, you can help maintain the muscle you currently have. Eating enough protein and progressive resistance training will also help maintain your muscle.

    How do you eat enough protein while trying to eat real whole foods?

    Carbs...easy. Fats...easy. Protein...ugh.

    I don't want to eat/drink some shake just to hit my protein goal. I want real foods, but unless I'm downing 1 pound of chicken or turkey or some kind of meat I don't see how I can do this. Or eating rice and beans every meal.

    Actually I've found it easier to hit my goal of 25 - 30% protein since I started have a scoop of Kaizen chocolate whey isolate and water every morning around 10:30am. It's only 100 calories and provides about 25g of protein. I still have meat, greek yogurt, cottage cheese and tuna as well. It keeps me going until lunch most days - I work in a warehouse also - and apparently it also aids in combatting hypertension - who knew?
  • lgpperry1
    lgpperry1 Posts: 11 Member
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    I deleted my last MFP account because the forums were so "eat 1200 calories a day you'll be fine" and this thread is making me feel so much better about coming back.

    White rice and beans pack a fair amount of calories without filling you up too quickly and are both super cheap in bulk. Nuts are also good, but they can get kind of pricey. Make sure you're counting all of your calories too. If you cook things in oil, or oil a pan, make sure you know exactly how much oil you used. Those little things can add up surprisingly quickly.
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
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    Is there a reason you're avoiding carbs? For example, why not have a serving of pasta with your spaghetti squash and sauce? It's an inexpensive solution.

    Those calories are easier to add back than you think.

    Dress your veggies with some high quality virgin olive oil, hard boil some eggs and eat them on your commute in the morning, protein shakes, etc.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    eat more calorie dense foods. My guess is that you are labeling certain foods as "good" or "bad" based in large part on their calorie content.

    I'm pretty active and I maintain around 2800 - 3000 calories. If I couldn't eat those calories I would lose weight...so it's important to learn how to eat at a level that is appropriate for your activity. If you can't eat that much don't exercise as much.

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