Hard time eating calories

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jmleffler
jmleffler Posts: 19 Member
edited December 2014 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a 10 week old son and am working on losing weight. I am already about 13lbs below my prepregnancy weight but I was overweight to start with (173 when I got pregnant, 191 at delivery, and 160 now). I have my calories set at 1550 per day and since he is exclusively nursed, I have to add in an extra 500. That puts me at 2050 per day. I really want to start exercising but don't know how I would ever eat back enough calories to maintain supply.

I also have PCOS and my doctor has told me to limit carbs to 100-125g per day. It's really hard to even hit the 2050 per day and I rarely am able to do so if I want to stay within my carb range. Typical food includes eggs, hummus, peanut butter, Quest bars, almonds, cheese, lunch meat or tuna wraps for lunch, and a protein + lots of veggies for dinner.

In all reality, I am only eating about 1600 calories per day, which is only 1100 net after a nursing allowance. I need to start exercising but I am not sure how to account for the exercise deficit in terms of food increase. I seriously eat until I am satisfied and don't feel deprived. If I burn 400 calories per day exercising, that would only take me to a net of 700. Not healthy and I need more to maintain my milk supply for Little Dude.

Suggestions?

Replies

  • Braincatcher
    Braincatcher Posts: 66 Member
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    First, let your hunger and your milk supply be your guide, no matter what the numbers "should" be. Your body knows what you ate and will tell you if you haven't had enough. And second, make sure you're measuring your food accurately. If you feel like you're eating plenty but not enough calories are showing up on your tracker, then you might be logging less than you actually eat.
  • jmleffler
    jmleffler Posts: 19 Member
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    Thanks for the response. I weigh about 90% of my food with a scale and feel pretty confident in the accuracy. I agree on letting my supply guide some of this....I noticed a drop a few weeks ago and made the conscious decision to eat more. At that time, I was only eating about 1300 per day (800 after milk allowance). I now eat right at 1600 per day and my supply is fine. I guess once I start exercising, I will need to eat more to account for it so my supply maintains. While I am eating to satisfaction now, I suppose I will feel more hungry after exercising which would make it easier to eat more than I am currently.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    Eat more nuts, cheese, fattier cuts of meat, avocados, and add olive oil to your meals.
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    Feel free to check out my diary - I have no problem hitting 2300 calories. I do eat more carbs than you, but you can add a lot of items that are low carb, high calorie, high fat that will help you hit your goal. Eating more is good!
  • jstout365
    jstout365 Posts: 1,686 Member
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    Fat is your friend when needing to add non-carb calories. psulemon made great suggestions. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter adds 200 calories and just 6 grams of carbs and is usually easy to add in as a snack.
  • Mediocrates55
    Mediocrates55 Posts: 326 Member
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    Lifting makes me ravenous. Instead of focusing on cardio, maybe do some lifting instead. That'll help reshape everything and put it back where it goes and doesn't burn a ton of calories to keep up with.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Since you're trying to stay low carb, then your extra calories should come from protein and fats. Make sure you aren't using "low fat" anything. Use creamy salad dressings (ranch, blue cheese) add oil to your veggies (butter, olive oil) eat a nice steak once in awhile rather than a chicken breast. You could add a protein shake as a mid-day snack.
  • jmleffler
    jmleffler Posts: 19 Member
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    Since you're trying to stay low carb, then your extra calories should come from protein and fats. Make sure you aren't using "low fat" anything. Use creamy salad dressings (ranch, blue cheese) add oil to your veggies (butter, olive oil) eat a nice steak once in awhile rather than a chicken breast. You could add a protein shake as a mid-day snack.

    Yep. I don't eat low-fat anything, lol. I have steak at least once per week. Protein shakes are a good idea.
  • jmleffler
    jmleffler Posts: 19 Member
    edited December 2014
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    psulemon wrote: »
    Eat more nuts, cheese, fattier cuts of meat, avocados, and add olive oil to your meals.

    I eat pretty much all of this on a daily basis. I have almonds every day as a snack. I eat an apple almost every day with either peanut butter or cheese (My doctor said not to eat any "naked" carbs and to always pair an apple with a protein source). For dinner tonight, I am having a steak salad with goat cheese, nuts, avocado, and homemade vinegar and oil dressing.

    I also eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, beef jerky, cottage cheese, and other high protein snacks. I suppose the high nutrient value fills me up and makes me eat less.
  • Magemisty
    Magemisty Posts: 87 Member
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    psulemon wrote: »
    Eat more nuts, cheese, fattier cuts of meat, avocados, and add olive oil to your meals.

    exactly, i agree also eat meat like beef and mince. peanut butter has lots of calories too.

  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,948 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Nvm.
  • sheepotato
    sheepotato Posts: 600 Member
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    What sort of things were you eating during pregnancy, are you still doing pretty much the same? You must have had an even higher calorie goal per day to be able to gain weight.

    Any information on breastfeeding calories is only an estimate but I found this on a site a few days ago. If it's at all accurate it's closer to 650 extra calories a day before they are on solids.

    Producing 1oz of breastmilk burns about 26 calories

    Babies take in an average of 25 ounces of milk per day: From 1 month old to 6 months old, babies take in an average of 25 ounces of milk per day. The normal range is from 19 ounces to 30 ounces.
    It probably averages around 25oz per day from 6 months to 12 months too, starting out slightly higher (perhaps at around 30oz) and ending somewhat lower (around 19oz) as the baby slowly incorporates solids into his diet.
    Between 12 and 24 months, average intake is 14 to 19 ounces
    and between 24 months and 36 months the average intake is 10 to 12 ounces per day.

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