Not eating enough.

Add some eggs or oatmeal to breakfast, maybe some Greek yogurt? Add some meat or beans to lunch. What's dinner like?

Your body and brain need fat, of course good fats. Gotta get some in. Don't be scared. At the end of the day it comes down to calories in vs calories out.

Don't deprive yourself of food, long term its gonna suck.

It just takes time, you gotta trust the process. If you need any help feel free to add me.

Courtneyl423 wrote: »

Yeah that's what I've been told. I feel like I'm gonna screw myself over but I can't stop thinking that less is better. And I don't know how to fix that.

Less is definitely NOT better. Your body requires a certain amount of calories to function and eating too little can cause your metabolism to malfunction and put you in an even deeper hole. Eat healthy, delicious and wholesome foods, exercise and remember food is NOT the enemy - our bad habits/overindulgence is. At least, for me, haha.

You can't be afraid of carbs AND fat. You need something to give you energy. Protein is really important to make sure that your muscle mass maintain itself, and healthy fats (meats, fish, eggs, olive oil for salads, coconut oil for cooking, nuts, nut butters, cheese (high fat ones). It keeps you satiated and away from sugar, which is really bad for you. And sugar always gives me cravings that are really hard to overcome.

Hope this helps!

http://authoritynutrition.com/11-biggest-lies-of-mainstream-nutrition/

Ps. I follow a low carb high fat diet that eliminated all my cravings and helps me feel full and satieted. I never feel heavy after my meals. I have lost 10lbs in 1 month and I eat 2 eggs and 3 slices of bacon every morning! I usually eat a salad for lunch, meat and veggies for dinner and for snack either cheese, nuts, turkey, kale chips, protein shake. Good luck!

Courtneyl423 wrote: »

Wow, so fats are really important huh? And I'm sitting here thinking the less calories and fat, the better.

At a minimum you should aim for about .35 grams of fat per pound of body weight. Fat was demonized in the 80s and 90s but it's actually pretty important to get enough. It helps keep your hormones balanced, help cell growth, and keeps your skin and nails healthy.

Courtneyl423 wrote: »

Apparently I'm not eating enough. All I eat is fruits and vegetables and protein shakes for breakfast. I don't wanna eat too much but I don't know. Any ideas? For lunch, I eat a baby spinach salad with low fat mozzarella cheese and light dressing. Thanks

If you need more calories add walnuts and feta cheese to that salad with some rasberry vinagarette nad a few cranberries! Yum yum!
You could have oatmeal with peanut butter and a banana in the morning. You can also fill your shakes out with coconut oil, or peanut butter add fruit as well.

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Here's a calculator to figure out how much to eat on average

As others have said, fats are not the enemy. It is an individual choice on how you want to eat, but don't avoid fats because you think it will hinder weight loss. They are important for your body to function optimally. I've had many tell me they see their fat macro as a minimum. When I changed to that mindset it made my life easier. I often exceed my fat macro for the day, and I am still losing weight steadily on roughly 80 or more grams of fat per day. I eat regular dairy, cheese, butter (I eat grass fed butter), etc. along with nuts and other foods rich in healthy fats. They are more satiating to me. It's more about calories in vs. calories out than fat intake.

The only reason I say all this is because I used to have the same mindset as you. When I lost weight previously, I would limit fat drastically, and I was hungry all the time. Now I realize that limiting fat to that extent isn't necessary at all. Track your calories and stay within them, and you will lose weight. I wish I had known then what I know now.

Take it from someone who ate low carb, low fat, low calorie, low everything really for quite some time: it completely screws you over in the long run and it is not feasible or sustainable. I've started adding more eggs, avocado, salmon and nuts to my diet, as well as some wholewheat pasta for dinner now and then.

If you don't like a heavy meal in the evening, consider eating something higher in carbs and fat for lunch and saving your lighter meal for dinner. So for example, you could have an avocado chicken sandwich or a tuna pasta salad for lunch and then a green salad with a protein of choice, soup or other light meal for dinner: I often just eat protein with veg in the evening.

As for the mornings, throw some nuts in with your yogurt, or add a tbsp of nut butter to your smoothie. Oatmeal is a great source of healthy carbs and you can still add your protein powder and fruit to it.