Having troubles getting enough calories?

Okay. I posted something like this when I started.

The best advice I got was if I was that under, have a few glasses of wine or an extra serving of whatever I'm eating or, hell, even a piece of chocolate cake.

The point of setting a goal is that you reach it. Getting severely under your goal is not success because it's likely unhealthy. I'm 5'0 and I eat 1500-1800 calories a day.

This is simple. Drink Milk. Lots of it.

A similar thing is happening to me because I am trying to cut unhealthy snacks from my diet which has left me with just my meals which are mostly healthy. What I had been doing before was eating about 1000 calories during meals and then snacking loads of crisps and chocolate. Once I removed the snacks and added exercise I was way under, the main problem being that I would only really realised this was happening at the end of the day and then would just eat rubbish to get my cals up.

Now I'm trying to think ahead and pack healthy snacks like bananas, grapes, nuts to eat through the day. As other posters have said you don't have to restrict yourself to healthy food but as someone who has struggled with a 3 twix a day addiction, I can't really trust myself to rely to heavily on chocolate to top up my calories so I find it better to prepare healthy stuff and treat myself now and then.

800 too low for almost anyone, short of a toddler

What are you doing differently that you're just not hungry? You might start with that. Because the simple fact is that it's highly likely you didn't get here (to a point of needing weight loss) by eating way too little.

So start with: why were you overeating before, yet now you're just not hungry?

Including some more calorie dense foods would be an easy way to boost your calories by a few hundred calories. These are foods that have a lot of calories but don't add a lot of volume to the food you're already eating.

This is a generic list and doesn't account for your personal definition of healthy, but anything here can be included in a balanced diet (as long as there are no allergies, medical conditions, obviously):
avocado
cheese
full fat diary
Greek yogurt
ice cream
peanut butter (or other nut butters)
dark chocolate
less lean cuts of meat
seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, etc.)
nuts
olive oil
coconut oil
butter
beans and lentils
protein shakes, bars, and smoothies
hummus
beef jerky
cornbread
tuna
full calorie condiments
full calorie sauces & dressings
sour cream
guacamole
whole grain pasta
rice
bacon
whole eggs
quinoa
fruit and fruit juices
pretzels
bananas
scones
muffins (bran, blueberry, banana nut, etc.)
potatoes (sweet, red, gold, purple, white, etc.)
granola
coconut
salmon
edamame
honey
molasses

Wine. Beer. Chocolate Cake. A calorie is a calorie. Don't undereat. Meet your goal of 1800 + eat back 1/2 your exercise calories. Plan a day ahead what you'll eat (I usually go by what I know I have in the house) and eat that. I find it much easier to plan ahead than go at it without a plan.

I plan each day intake of calories that makes up my regular meals and then I add things I like to snack on. Sometimes my meals do not allow for snacks but most days it does.

What do you like to eat that you enjoy almost every day? Add something you enjoy to the healthy meals you plan every day...

Add healthy fats like @diannethegeek said in her post... It will add up fairly quickly. But you have some extra calories in your daily intake -- so enjoy!

brianpperkins wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

You didn't eat 800 calories, you ate 1280 calories.
Still, males shouldn't go below 1500, in order to get all the necessary nutrients.
As long as you're close to your goal, you're OK. If you're way under, there's a problem.

Most machines, including MFP, overestimate calories burned,
and most people underestimate what they eat.
That's why ignoring exercise calories is usually the best route. The errors balance out.
Think of exercise as a bonus to losing weight.

But I agree with LAWoman... why are you all of a sudden unable to eat enough, when that hasn't been a problem before? If it's just that you're eating healthier food and are full on fewer calories, add some healthy higher-cal foods.

They admit to netting around 800 calories ... well below the 1500 net calorie minimum for men. Blindly ignoring undereating and blaming "errors" that will "balance out" is less than helpful.

Won't any and all info be helpful to the OP? Because he's confused, and we're not there. So we can only offer suggestions...not actually tell him what's up. Only he knows that (or, only he can figure it out).

And it is true that many people tend to underestimate their calories. There also seems to be a feeling among quite a few here that MFP overestimates exercise calories. That's been my experience as well, when I've actually calculated them v. using MFP's calculations. Not saying to just throw MFP's calculations out the window, but these are possibilities, not just for the OP but for many people.

Okay. This may be an unpopular opinion, but personally, I'd wait a couple of days and see if that appetite kicks back in. I wouldn't be worrying excessively about it unless I were fatigued, dizzy and so on. (Again, I realize some may disagree with this.) Because the thing is, I think there's often a "honeymoon period" when starting a new diet or eating plan. You've envisioned eating lettuce leaves for the next six months, instead you see what the plan "allows" you and you go, "Oh my God, I can eat THIS MUCH food?" and it looks like a lot. For a few days.

Also, when starting a new diet, we may be all full of vim and vigor and really "up for the challenge" and may subconsciously be denying ourselves a bit. (Not everyone, obviously. But it happens.)

I remember when I used to be on the Weight Watchers board, there were so many "I can't eat this many points!" posts. People would say, "Check back in with us in a week to ten days." Invariably, barring some bizarre medical circumstance, the person "found" his or her hunger again.

If the OP is being spot-on with all calculations, is literally eating 800 calories every single day and can't force more than that many in, the next step, IMO, would be the doctor's office.

ndj1979 wrote: »

OP never came back, so I guess we will never know...

Hmmm, well, it's only been one day...? Give the dude some time.