Help keeping within Calories

kateq321 · June 2011

Hi all

I seem to struggle to keep within my daily calorie allowance of 1330. I start work early so by the time I've added in my cup of tea @ 7.00am then my coffee then my cereal I seem to have used up nearly 561 cals before Lunch!!! I don't overeat so is it possible that maybe I'm overestimating my calorie intake??!!

As I've been feeling run down & sick the last few days I've decided from this week onwards to vary my food for dinner as lately I've been living on Bagels which is not good at all. So this evening I've left out some sirloin steak to have with some salad...I'm already freaking out about it now because if I eat 400cals for lunch I'm screwed and will be over my cal allowance by dinner. I'm going to try and do some exercise this evening to see if I can burn some cals up before dinner but it's all stressing me out a bit to be honest. I have my goal se to lose 1lb a week (which has yet to work for me anyway!!) so I've not being too crazy unrealistic with the weight loss.

Does anybody else have the same struggle??

brocantrs · June 2011

No reason calories should be estimated esp. with this site and all of the resources available.

tatiweb · June 2011

Maybe you could change the cereals you are using for a more low fat and fiber rich one, like All Bran for instance.

velvetkat · June 2011

If you open your diary for us to see what you are eating it will help figure out what you might be doing wrong. Also You shouldnt be just eating a bagel for dinner. You are supposed to eat a well rounded meal and will still have plenty of calories left over to have a nice snack. A bagel is 300 calories on one item plus it is a ton of carbs. For breakfast your tea and cereal... are you using cream and sugar? if so change to low fat milk and sugar substitute. For your cereal.. is it whole grain? using low fat milk and sugar substitute? Are you getting the recommended 5-8 servings of veggies a day? These are all things that will help you lower you calories but still make you feel full...
Also the steak and salad? are you eating 3-4 oz of lean meat? Is your salad dressing low fat?

Add me as a friend and I will be glad to try to help you figure it out!

Good luck!
ps: I get up at 330 am to start my day each day so i know about getting up early!

url=http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker]

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Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

CassieLEO · June 2011

Hi all

I seem to struggle to keep within my daily calorie allowance of 1330. I start work early so by the time I've added in my cup of tea @ 7.00am then my coffee then my cereal I seem to have used up nearly 561 cals before Lunch!!! I don't overeat so is it possible that maybe I'm overestimating my calorie intake??!!

As I've been feeling run down & sick the last few days I've decided from this week onwards to vary my food for dinner as lately I've been living on Bagels which is not good at all. So this evening I've left out some sirloin steak to have with some salad...I'm already freaking out about it now because if I eat 400cals for lunch I'm screwed and will be over my cal allowance by dinner. I'm going to try and do some exercise this evening to see if I can burn some cals up before dinner but it's all stressing me out a bit to be honest. I have my goal se to lose 1lb a week (which has yet to work for me anyway!!) so I've not being too crazy unrealistic with the weight loss.

Does anybody else have the same struggle??

Why dont you EXERCISE on a daily basis so you can get some more calories through exercise? You def. shouldnt be estimating because BELIEVE ME, it is WAAAAAY easy to over-estimate. Tiy sould plan your meals out daily, and add more protein as protein will fill you up.
Also, Thomas's Bagels have flat bagels that are 100 calories and will give you your bagel fix....

LushLoni · June 2011

Change your breakfast, weigh your food out so that you can record accurately.

Have soup for lunch.

Use the rest of your calories for dinner.

flimflamfloz · June 2011

It can take some time to realise which food will leave you with enough room for your evening meal, and which food is bad for your daily calorie allowance.

One thing you can do is spend one hour sitting in front of the myfitnesspal website, and try to plan your meals for the next day - especially if you've just started with the whole thing. Just add them to the list as you would as if you had eaten the food.

I am not suggesting doing this every day, but just a couple of times so that you can see what is good and bad in your food, where you could save some calories maybe, which food you should avoid in your current diet, etc.

As for the breakfast, I switched to 2 biscuits of weetabix + 200ml semi skimmed milk which is about 225 cals, and an expresso afterwards (no sugar), which is about 1 cal, which gives me plenty of calories for my lunch + dinner (and fruits for snacks during the day).

velvetkat · June 2011

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Ley2ndtry · June 2011

i remember when i started weighing food - my husband asked me to weigh his cereal and workout how many cals there were in it - he thought he was eating a healthy breakfast but infact he was eating in excess of 500cal breakfast! needless to say he's switched to low fat milk and low fat cereal!

kateq321 · June 2011

Thanks for all the replies. I usually do exercise everyday but for the last week I've had a chest & a kidney infection so only getting back to normal today.

I might try switching to a sugar subsititute as I don't eat chocolate or sugary sweets through out the day but if I have a coffee I have to have sugar in it & I just cannot eat weetabix without some form of sugar as otherwise to me I might as well be eating straw!! I use soya milk in my tea, coffee or on cereal as I can't take regular cows milk.

I'll try planning out my meals over the next few days and see how it goes. It can be easy sometimes to have a salad bagel or sandwich when you don't get in from work until nearly 7 in the evening. Neither my hubby or I are in the mood to eat meat and veggies at that time in the evening!! Especially when we're trying to fit in exercise as well.

RubyA2011 · June 2011

if you arent in the mood for eating meat & veggies in an evening could you make a switch and have a bigger meal for your lunch!

lupecarz · June 2011

Hi Kate,
I'm new at this sight. It is certainly a struggle, but an attainable one. If others have done it so can we. Write down everything and change your choices. I always want to eat the same thing for lunch and breakfast. When I change it I do better. Try it!

cutmd · June 2011

would definitely increase your protein and decrease simple carbs, which mainly promote hunger. I am also a big fan of planning out the day.

Others may not agree with me, but I like to do leangains for this reason, which is intermittent fasting 14-16 hours overnight with a 8-10 hour eating window. Then I can eat way more calories in these fewer meals. You can find out more about it on the IF thread or on leangains.com. Hope that helps :flowerforyou:

thelandofwin · June 2011

It depends on what you are eating, and it's difficult to say without knowing what you are having for breakfast. Today I had 3 servings of egg whites, 1/3 cup of reduced fat cheese, and an english muffin and I was completely stuffed at 300 calories. I had 27 grams of protein which will go much further at filling you up than eating only carbs.

mynameisuntz · June 2011

Consider intermittent fasting. The premise is you eat all your calories in an 8 hour window each day.

You can adjust your satiety-related hormones, like ghrelin, to become active based on your eating habits. That is, you can literally train your body to not be hungry in the morning. Personally, I can easily go 18-24 hours without feeling remotely hungry. It's a liberating feeling.

So you would wake up, go to work, and not eat until maybe 12 - 2 pm, up to you. Then you would stop eating for the day at 8 - 10 pm, up to you.

Help keeping within Calories

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