My problem with dinner......

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LilleanC
LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
edited March 2015 in Food and Nutrition
Hi all. I am struggling with my food/calorie intake for the day. I normally would workout twice per day 5-6 days per week. MFP recommended that I eat 1400 calories per day (being a secretary). My problem is not so much the calories but I would normally be ok breakfast through afternoon snack but when it comes to dinner (after gym workout) I eat like CRAZY would this is where I would surpass my calorie recommended for the day. I really need help with this dinner thing/post workout. I really think that if I get this under control I would start losing again.

Thanks, Lillean
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Replies

  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    Are you eating back calories burned through exercise?
  • Geekymonkey99
    Geekymonkey99 Posts: 63 Member
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    Can you plan ahead? Eat less earlier since you know you will be eating more later.
  • justcat206
    justcat206 Posts: 716 Member
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    Can you tailor your meals to allow for quantity eating in the evening? I.e. plan dinners with lots of low calorie, fiber filled vegetables and some lean meats and some whole grains? Or, save your carbs for the evening meal if that helps with satiety and fill up on produce and lean protein during the day. I recently realized that most days I function better fasting till mid morning, having a small snack around 10 and then having two larger meals for lunch and dinner. By 'banking' my calories till later in the day I can eat until I feel full and am less likely to blow my calories in the evening. Other things to try - drinking a big glass of water or having a small bowl of brothy soup before the evening meal, eating a small portion then brushing your teeth immediately. Also, 2 workouts a day on 1400 calories definitely sounds like you might need to eat back some of those calories. Good luck!
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    Try to pre-log your days. I just finished mine for the day. It really helps me see the gaps I need to fill in and makes it easier to have bigger dinners.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    I know what you mean. Have you considered, not eating till lunch or eating very little and saving those calories and some from your exercise to have a big calorie dinner and you will still be in your allowance. It's IF (intermittent fasting). Just my .02
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    Geekymonkey99 wrote: »
    Can you plan ahead? Eat less earlier since you know you will be eating more later.
    See the thing is I do eat less during the day. My typical breakfast would be 1/2 cup of oats and 1 cup of almond milk or smoothie made of almond milk, banana,flax seeds,greek yogurt and p. butter; Lunch would be 1/2 a sweet potato with skin and either chicken or fish. I drink 3 liters of water a day and i'm quite full but the disaster begins after gym even when I pre-plan dinner and tracked it too I would throw it out the window and eat my worse enemy; Bread....So what I need help with is how do i stick to my pre-planned dinner?
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    edited March 2015
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    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    spicy618 wrote: »
    I know what you mean. Have you considered, not eating till lunch or eating very little and saving those calories and some from your exercise to have a big calorie dinner and you will still be in your allowance. It's IF (intermittent fasting). Just my .02
    I have researched intermittent fasting. I know I can do it if I want to but I've also read that not eating breakfast can lower one's metabolism. How healthy is IF; I already don't eat a large breakfast. See my above post for my typical breakfast. Would you say that it's small enough or not eating anything at all.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    <cautious hand raise>
    2x a day workouts?

    why and what type?
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    <cautious hand raise>
    2x a day workouts?

    why and what type?
    I do body beast on morings before work and teach gym classes on evenings. My gym class schedule:
    Monday- Step aerobics
    Tuesday- Circuit training/Dance
    Wednesday- Upper body weight training
    Thursday-Leg day
    We don't have gym classes on Friday-Sunday but I do work out at home on Sundays.
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    LilleanC wrote: »
    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    If your exercising twice a day then yes you need more than 1400 calories. Either change to active or eat back most of your exercise calories.

    No wonder you're starving.
  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    LilleanC wrote: »
    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    If your exercising twice a day then yes you need more than 1400 calories. Either change to active or eat back most of your exercise calories.

    No wonder you're starving.
    I do eat exercise calories back sometimes some sometimes all but I'm still gaining weight I went from 162 lbs-168 lbs in a month. I have lost 37 lbs so far and would love to be at 158...I was so close :\

  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    Do you weigh and measure all your food?
    And all means all.
  • futuremanda
    futuremanda Posts: 816 Member
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    LilleanC wrote: »
    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    If you workout twice a day you are not sedentary. (I'm guessing that's what you chose)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories?

    Surprising yes I did choose sedimentary and most of the times at dinner yes i would eat back exercise calories. That's my problem (dinner time). Should I change it but then that to ALOT more right?

    No, you are sedentary as a secretary. Log your workouts and eat back the calories -- MFP will add the calories to your daily total after you log your exercise.

    You have your BMR (calories burned breathing and such) + lifestyle (calories burned for general movement, aka not sleeping all day) + exercise (which varies, so you log it on top). That's how MFP gives you your number. Your number starts as BMR + lifestyle, and gets added exercise after you exercise.

    If you know you'll get your workout in, you can log it at the start of the day so you can see your real totals to help you plan.

    And are you set to 2 lbs per week? Because you can always lower that goal. That will get you more to eat. Once you adjust, you can set it back, or keep going the way you are. Many people find 2 lbs a week to be so aggressive that they cannot stick to it and feel well (aka it's not sustainable for everyone).

  • LilleanC
    LilleanC Posts: 20 Member
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    Iron_Feline wrote: »
    Do you weigh and measure all your food?
    And all means all.

    Honestly yes and no. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't because of time; but I have changed my fitness profile and it did up my calories. So let's see how this goes.
  • msullivan1979
    msullivan1979 Posts: 13 Member
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    spicy618 wrote: »
    I know what you mean. Have you considered, not eating till lunch or eating very little and saving those calories and some from your exercise to have a big calorie dinner and you will still be in your allowance. It's IF (intermittent fasting). Just my .02

    this is what I do. I haven't had any problems for almost a year down almost 50 lbs. I will eat roughly 75% of my daily calories between 5 and 10 PM.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    LilleanC wrote: »
    spicy618 wrote: »
    I know what you mean. Have you considered, not eating till lunch or eating very little and saving those calories and some from your exercise to have a big calorie dinner and you will still be in your allowance. It's IF (intermittent fasting). Just my .02
    I have researched intermittent fasting. I know I can do it if I want to but I've also read that not eating breakfast can lower one's metabolism. How healthy is IF; I already don't eat a large breakfast. See my above post for my typical breakfast. Would you say that it's small enough or not eating anything at all.

    If you were skipping meals and not eating enough calories, then yes. However, with IF you are still eating the calories MFP has allotted you, but you are eating them in a smaller window. For example, I eat all my calories between 1:00 pm - 8:00 pm, but I fall asleep early, cause I'm up at 5 a.m. This method is called 16:8.

    Others, do shorter eating window, but in the big picture you are still eating your allotted calories and keeping your deficit. It helps me to keep my deficit after the weekends. :smile:

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,937 Member
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    I see two choices.

    You either set yourself up as sedentary because you don't know your TDEE and/or do not exercise regularly enough to predict your daily burn and then you eat back all of your net exercise calories (which in effect means a big part but NOT ALL of your total exercise calories)

    OR, you have enough data about how much you exercise and what your TDEE is, and so you set up as per the appropriate activity level (in your case probably active or highly active) and manually tweek your target calories to match TDEE -5%, or -10%, or -15%, or even up to -20% depending on how much excess fat you are starting up with (which cannot be that much in your particular case if you are teaching exercise classes, can it?)

    I just walk around town for Pete's sake (admittedly about 3 hours a day) and my TDEE is slightly higher than what MFP guesses for an active person of my stats.

    You talk about losing "again".

    How much % per week has your weigh changed in the past 15, 30, 60, 90 days?

    For the past two weeks I've been convinced i've reached a plateau/i am no longer losing, etc.

    I reviewed my numbers (thanks MFP for the logs), and "discovered" that I am EXACTLY on my weekly weight loss target (actually about 6% faster).

    YMMV but it sounds like you burn a heck of a lot more than 1400 cal a day!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,937 Member
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    You've given some more info. Did you go to maintenance and then gained back the water weight you had originally lost? Or are you having trouble figuring out your maintenance calories?

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