I can not eat enough, to reach my 1880 cal perday

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llah2000
llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is my second week, I am not a big eater, I am making myself eat breakfast, I am counting and weighing everything, walking and swimming, 3-4 times a week.

As I am finding out, the more I workout, the more I suppose to eat?

I am 100% disabled Veteran, I just started the VA move program 2 weeks ago and it is nice, but I need more help, how do I get the right amount of food intake on non-workout days and workout days.

I am drinking about 80-100 oz if water, I don't drink coffee, I cut back on soad, two per week, I don't drink alcohol.

I am 5' 7", with medical issues, any help would be appreciated.

Donnie

Replies

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    Hi Donnie!
    Thank you for your service!

    It's common at first that some people have trouble meeting their calorie goal.

    I would look for more calorie dense foods if I was not able to meet my goal. For example, a handful of nuts can add on hundreds of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. Peanut butter is great too. Five spoons of peanut butter can add on about 500 calories! Try adding in some calorie dense foods:)
  • Conskill
    Conskill Posts: 29 Member
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    I couldn't agree more with zoeysasha37. Also, try and consume a bit more calories when your appetite is at its highest during the day.
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
    edited July 2016
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    Hey there! :)

    I think it also depends on your goal? If your goal is to lose weight, you don't necessarily need to eat back all those calories. I made sure I didn't eat under 1200cals to ensure I get enough food in. To me, as I knew I wasn't really active (stayed home and took care of my baby, cooked and cleaned) I knew I didn't have to eat that much. If you feel weak or dizzy at some point in your day, you definitely aren't eating enough; but if you're losing weight and you feel light and you have energy I don't see a problem. I would say to rely mostly on the scale and how you feel at first!

    Make sure your drinking plenty of water, track your calories as to really understand the different macro values of the foods you eat so that at some point food makes sense to you. Find what works for YOU. Figure out what foods you can't control yourself around, the ones that fill you up and give you energy (proteins and fats, as well as greens), the low calories options you can have when you are near your calorie goal (pickled anything, teas) or the high calorie options for when you have yet to reach your minimum (nuts, cheese, jerky, or if you pre-log as you get through your day/figure out your habits it's easy to forecast that you won't reach your calorie goal and just add a couple tbsp of oil on your veggies as you cook - I love coconut oil and olive oil for that).

    Experiment and figure out what schedule TRULY works out for your lifestyle. I personally couldn't do the 6-8 small meals a day... It really made me obsessed about food, and my next meal... and I never really felt full neither. I would rather enjoy 3-4 meals per day so I cook/prepare/think about it less and also get to eat a little more at once! I didn't like eating to early in the morning. Even though I got up around 7AM I generally didn't eat before 11AM as it delayed my eating window a little bit later in the evening (as per my eating habits) and most importantly it worked for ME (I felt great and didn't lack energy to do what I needed to do).

    Hope this helps!
  • AlciaMode
    AlciaMode Posts: 421 Member
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    Drink some sugar free juice? I like apple.
  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
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    zoeysasha37 wrote: »
    Hi Donnie!
    Thank you for your service!

    It's common at first that some people have trouble meeting their calorie goal.

    I would look for more calorie dense foods if I was not able to meet my goal. For example, a handful of nuts can add on hundreds of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. Peanut butter is great too. Five spoons of peanut butter can add on about 500 calories! Try adding in some calorie dense foods:)

    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?
  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
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    llah2000 wrote: »
    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?

    Chocolate and nuts (fats) come to mind. Instead of plain rice I usually fry with 2 tbsp of oil and that usually increases the calorie count. All the above suggestions are good. Peanut butter will help you get there. When you get really hungry eat a little bit more to up your calorie count.

    Thank you for your service and good luck.

  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    xmarye wrote: »
    Hey there! :)

    I think it also depends on your goal? If your goal is to lose weight, you don't necessarily need to eat back all those calories. I made sure I didn't eat under 1200cals to ensure I get enough food in. To me, as I knew I wasn't really active (stayed home and took care of my baby, cooked and cleaned) I knew I didn't have to eat that much. If you feel weak or dizzy at some point in your day, you definitely aren't eating enough; but if you're losing weight and you feel light and you have energy I don't see a problem. I would say to rely mostly on the scale and how you feel at first!

    Make sure your drinking plenty of water, track your calories as to really understand the different macro values of the foods you eat so that at some point food makes sense to you. Find what works for YOU. Figure out what foods you can't control yourself around, the ones that fill you up and give you energy (proteins and fats, as well as greens), the low calories options you can have when you are near your calorie goal (pickled anything, teas) or the high calorie options for when you have yet to reach your minimum (nuts, cheese, jerky, or if you pre-log as you get through your day/figure out your habits it's easy to forecast that you won't reach your calorie goal and just add a couple tbsp of oil on your veggies as you cook - I love coconut oil and olive oil for that).

    Experiment and figure out what schedule TRULY works out for your lifestyle. I personally couldn't do the 6-8 small meals a day... It really made me obsessed about food, and my next meal... and I never really felt full neither. I would rather enjoy 3-4 meals per day so I cook/prepare/think about it less and also get to eat a little more at once! I didn't like eating to early in the morning. Even though I got up around 7AM I generally didn't eat before 11AM as it delayed my eating window a little bit later in the evening (as per my eating habits) and most importantly it worked for ME (I felt great and didn't lack energy to do what I needed to do).

    Hope this helps!

    I was very active before I was in a car accident, 8 years later and raising grand kids, my Wife and I, I have about the same habit, get up early, dont want to eat until 3 or 4 hours later, my be eat one more time doing the day and stay up late, trying to work on the computer.

    Now my health his getting bad, so I need to be around for the grand kids and my Wife, so I am taken control of my health again.

    I forgot to add my weight, I start the VA program June 23, I was weighing 243 and 35% body fat.

    Today I weigh 237, I need to get down to 195, before I can have my 5th back surgery, to see if I can get completely of the pain meds.

    I like to Thank everyone for the feed back.

    Donnie
  • khhregister
    khhregister Posts: 229 Member
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    Donnie, thank you for your service. We are all rooting for your success.

    It sounds like you have a small appetite, so you need to make sure to eat calorie-dense foods. I seem to have the opposite problem - I always need to think about cutting down on the calorie-dense foods, to make sure I don't go over my calories every day! So I do things like have a very big salad - the bulk of the bowl made up of romaine lettuce and cucumbers, which don't have very many calories compared to how large they are (how much volume they take up in the bowl and my stomach). Then I add just a little bit of calorie-dense toppings to make it interesting: things like nuts, cheese, avocados.

    So if I were you, I'd work on finding the right balance of these kinds of ingredients. For me, it's something like 5 parts low-calorie foods to 1 part high-calorie foods. Maybe for you it will be closer to 1-1.

    Here are some calorie-dense ideas:
    • Toasted peanut-butter and jam sandwich - serving it warm makes the peanut butter gooey and extra-delicious
    • Macaroni and cheese (really, all kinds of pasta have SO many calories in a very small volume
    • hard tacos with cheese (both the taco shells and the cheese have a lot of calories in a small volume)
    • potatoes browned in a skillet with butter and bacon
    • guacamole with tortilla chips

    Take care and best of luck with your surgery.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    llah2000 wrote: »
    zoeysasha37 wrote: »
    Hi Donnie!
    Thank you for your service!

    It's common at first that some people have trouble meeting their calorie goal.

    I would look for more calorie dense foods if I was not able to meet my goal. For example, a handful of nuts can add on hundreds of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. Peanut butter is great too. Five spoons of peanut butter can add on about 500 calories! Try adding in some calorie dense foods:)

    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?

    Here is a good thread to read about calories dense food. :)

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    khh1138 wrote: »
    Donnie, thank you for your service. We are all rooting for your success.

    It sounds like you have a small appetite, so you need to make sure to eat calorie-dense foods. I seem to have the opposite problem - I always need to think about cutting down on the calorie-dense foods, to make sure I don't go over my calories every day! So I do things like have a very big salad - the bulk of the bowl made up of romaine lettuce and cucumbers, which don't have very many calories compared to how large they are (how much volume they take up in the bowl and my stomach). Then I add just a little bit of calorie-dense toppings to make it interesting: things like nuts, cheese, avocados.

    So if I were you, I'd work on finding the right balance of these kinds of ingredients. For me, it's something like 5 parts low-calorie foods to 1 part high-calorie foods. Maybe for you it will be closer to 1-1.

    Here are some calorie-dense ideas:
    • Toasted peanut-butter and jam sandwich - serving it warm makes the peanut butter gooey and extra-delicious
    • Macaroni and cheese (really, all kinds of pasta have SO many calories in a very small volume
    • hard tacos with cheese (both the taco shells and the cheese have a lot of calories in a small volume)
    • potatoes browned in a skillet with butter and bacon
    • guacamole with tortilla chips

    Take care and best of luck with your surgery.

    Thank you, I like all those ideals
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    Options
    AlciaMode wrote: »
    Drink some sugar free juice? I like apple.

    If its sugar free, its also likely calorie free (or very low calories with a sugar substitute).
  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Lasmartchika wrote: »
    llah2000 wrote: »
    zoeysasha37 wrote: »
    Hi Donnie!
    Thank you for your service!

    It's common at first that some people have trouble meeting their calorie goal.

    I would look for more calorie dense foods if I was not able to meet my goal. For example, a handful of nuts can add on hundreds of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. Peanut butter is great too. Five spoons of peanut butter can add on about 500 calories! Try adding in some calorie dense foods:)

    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?

    Here is a good thread to read about calories dense food. :)

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1
    Lasmartchika wrote: »
    llah2000 wrote: »
    zoeysasha37 wrote: »
    Hi Donnie!
    Thank you for your service!

    It's common at first that some people have trouble meeting their calorie goal.

    I would look for more calorie dense foods if I was not able to meet my goal. For example, a handful of nuts can add on hundreds of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. Peanut butter is great too. Five spoons of peanut butter can add on about 500 calories! Try adding in some calorie dense foods:)

    Thank you, I just got back from walking and I had some nuts and water. I will try the peanut butter. I am sorry for askingn what are calorie dense foods?

    Here is a good thread to read about calories dense food. :)

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1

    Thank you, I made a copy of this list, I am going shopping now.
  • llah2000
    llah2000 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Thank you everyone again, my bodie crashed before I got my lunch, I got full on nuts, peanut butter and water, after a nap, I was weak and confused, I got some food high in protein and I feel a live again.

    Now I know why I have not been able to lose weight and stay healthy, I totally have not been eating right.

    I stay busy now and I sweat very easy, I was losing more than I was putting in, thinking I was doing the right thing, all these years.

    Now I have a plan and the tools to help me.

    Thank you all, this is my very first form.

    Donnie

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