Struggling to meet calorie goal

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods

cakemunchkin wrote: »

I'm going to preface this by saying: I know I'm vastly under my calorie goal almost all the time. I only eat when I'm hungry, and I've been trying to stick to only healthy foods I make at home. I struggle to hit 700 calories, even when I do cross training (sprints and body weight exercises), and yoga. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I'm not really denying myself. If I wanted food, I'd eat food - if I want a cookie, well gosh darn it i'll have a cookie.

I'm seeing a nutritionist next week, but any suggestions in the meantime?

Frankly, I don't believe you. You did not become overweight by eating 700 calories per day.

That low of an intake is absurd and is not a sustainable lifestyle.

What did you eat before joining MFP? Surely you can eat those still, just less of it.
There's a plethora of higher caloried food that you can fill your diary with.

Are you underweight, or have an eating disorder? Your post is peculiar.

Eat.

It's not that hard to eat to the minimum 1200 calories. If you're eating "healthy" or "clean" then add some "unhealthy" or "unclean" foods to get your calories up.

Do you weigh everything you eat on a food scale and religiously log everything you eat? For example, looking at this:



Your Chex cereal at 1.5 cups to be accurately measured should be in grams. Your two ounces of chicken should be weighed on a food scale for accuracy. Your "one piece" of banana could be anywhere from 90 calories to 300 calories. I suspect you are eating more calories than you think.

cakemunchkin wrote: »

I am neither, I'm actually a bit overweight (medically speaking). Just someone struggling to figure out how to eat right and finding this a bit confusing and hard to navigate.

@callsitlikeiseeit Yeah. I know its not a good thing - that's why I'm asking for help.

look, the thing is, you are VERY LIKELY eating more than you THINK you are. If you are not using a food SCALE (not cups, not eyeball measurements) then you simply can't be SURE. 700 calories is NOTHING and your body simply wouldnt function for very long on that little. you would be tired, lethargic, and start to have other health problems. You would not be able to meet the nutrients that your body NEEDS to function properly.

if you truly ARE eating that little (again, I doubt it), for the love of god go eat some peanut butter or nuts!

cakemunchkin wrote: »

@janejellyroll THANK YOU. I've been keeping protein in my diet, but honestly do have a hard time sorting what is junk and what is healthy but calorie dense.

If you truly are only eating 700 calories a day, that is going to be far more harmful to your health than any food you have identified as "junk."

If you're meeting your goals for protein and fat and other micronutrients, including foods commonly put in the "junk" category isn't going to harm you. So have some cookies or bread or oil or whatever you're ditching. You can have tasty stuff.

cakemunchkin wrote: »

Thanks to everyone who is being helpful. I do religiously log everything I eat for now so I know what I'm eating and how much (so I can make sure its accurate). I'll try and add it some of the higher calorie foods people suggested!

I really think you are finding the wrong solution to your problem. Please buy and use a food scale first, before you start adding more calories to your day.

Just looking at your diary for the past 2 days and I see there are some entries that are incorrect (raspberry vinaigrette for 3 Tbsp is typically more than 5 calories). Also I see you measure in mostly cups. Do you weigh everything you eat? This is a better way to measure what you are truly consuming. And I would think at only eating <1000 calories a day your Crossfit would suffer (I lift weights and if I don't eat enough I can tell. I typically eat 2200 cal a day don't know what would happen at 700 cal a day).

lyndefisher wrote: »

Don't you love how people automatically assume that's how you've been eating? I went thru the same thing. Since being on MFP it's been a struggle to get all my calories in! I am now on maintenance and uppedvmy calories and that had been a challenge also!

She says she's vastly under her calorie goal almost all the time in her original post.

I gotta give you a shout out here cakemunchkin (cute username by the way, I can never think of anything imaginative like that). People make assumptions about other people here without knowing all the facts. I actually completely understand where you're coming from. I have overhauled what I choose to eat and MFP has been an amazing tool for that. Now that I'm eating predominantly fresh veggies, whole grains, and lean meats I definitely have days where my calorie count is low and I'm thinking "ugh, I need to eat something more but the last thing on my mind is eating another damn thing today!"

And for the record, the highest my BMI ever got was 24, so it doesn't help to jump to conclusions about how people did or did not become overweight. This may amaze some here but there are many people out there who decide to make changes even if they're still in the 'healthy' BMI range.

However, as others have mentioned, there are a few good ways to add calories to the diet without adding bulk. This helps on those days where you're really full but need to add some calories. Here what I have in my bag of tricks:

Avacado
Nuts and seeds (add them to your salads!)
Butter (add to cooking, on cinnamon toast)
Dark chocolate
Ice cream (especially home-made)

Good luck!

scottyxxx wrote: »

Cakemunchkin, looking at your diary it looks like you might not be logging accurately. Sometimes the estimates in MFP are off, for example a "banana" can weigh anything. Try to quantify things using a measurable scale, don't just eyeball. I don't eat much myself, but I found that that I was missestimating quite a bit when I didn't use my scales to weigh things. It's not always convenient to weigh things, but it will let you know how many calories you are actually eating.

But if your not hungry don't eat, and you'll loose weight easily !

If someone's hunger signals are off (that is, if they really are eating 700 calories a day and it isn't a logging issue), the advice to not eat if they aren't hungery can be harmful.