What do I eat to obtain the correct calories?

VeryKatie wrote: »

jordanoye101 wrote: »

tgcake wrote: »

For your health, yes you should eat healthy. But eating healthy doesn't mean you can't have some pizza. You just need to make sure it's SOME pizza, not all the pizza. Learn to have just a slice. You can make your own burgers with lean meat, or you can just have a fast food burger if it fits your calories. It's all about moderation, when it comes to health. You can have pizza. You can have saturated fats, you can have salt, etc. Just not in huge quantities.

A more important question is how is your current health? Have you had blood work done? Is there any indication at all that you need to change your sodium or cholesterol levels? If there isn't, then just work on portion sizes. Have a nice chicken casserole, and a slice of pizza. Have a salad, and a burger. Whatever works for you. This has to be a long term, sustainable change.

I have had a couple of recent blood tests and there hasn't been any concern for levels of cholestrol or sodium. I also feel good at the moment and happy that I am able to control what I eat fairly easily - but I was bordeline overweight originally and no excersice or healthy eating was just not that sensible really.

If anyone is interested in the sort of thing I might eat on a normal day: including 2 or 3 pieces of fruit apples, pears, grapes throughout.

Breakfast:
Weetabix or Shredded Wheat (2 biscuits) + roughly 150ml - 200ml of semi-skimmed milk + a piece of fruit.

Lunch:
Chicken sandwhich / soup / or a ready meal this sort of thing...

e.g... https://goo.gl/8QavAY or https://goo.gl/EkrhiX or https://goo.gl/32m8GW or https://goo.gl/tnGhf0

Dinner:
Lasagne, Casseroles, Bolognese, Breaded Fish etc... all these with say some veg, baked beans, sweet potato and the like.

e.g... https://goo.gl/LhnkfL or https://goo.gl/jh9jnz

Obviously not limited to just those I am not that stringent but that is the sort of thing I might have.

Another thing is say occasionally when I am out - I feel like a mcdonalds mcflurry https://goo.gl/76Atba maybe once a week or every 2 weeks - but the sugar content is very high - the NHS reccomend no more than 30g of free sugar per day for a lightly active individual. I would happily eat it - providing someone could justify why it is OK from time to time. I understand moderation and balance is important but if I do eat that mcflurry - I will then think well surely having a piece of fruit instead would have been the better option!

It's ok to have the McFlurry from time to time because there are likely many days you're coming in under the 30 g recommendation. It'll all balance out (your body doesn't reset at midnight). McFlurry vs fruit - you're not going to get calcium, healthy fats, or protein from fruit. While fruit has lots of nutrients and can often be a good choice, it doesn't contain all the nutrients you need in your diet. Of course I'm not saying ice cream is always a "healthy" food but it isn't nutrient devoid!

(The following paragraph is my interpretation... so you might want to fact check it since I haven't done that in detail yet - it's on my to do list). Sometimes you need to consider the NHS guidelines in context. They put a limit on sugar to try to help address the obesity problem. They are recommending people who routinely get more than the recommendation to try to reduce it. However, they don't talk about "non-free" sugars. Which is odd since all sugar is the same once you eat it. Fruit, McFlurry, or other. They don't like to say it, but even the sugar in fruit can cause problems for people who eat too much of it.

There are higher calorie items that you can eat that are very good for you. Avocados, nuts, tofu/bean products, legumes, whole grain pastas, higher fat milks and dairy products, some oils etc. Maybe try making some of those substitutions with what you're eating, or adding them to your diet.

Also blood cholesterol =/= dietary cholesterol. There has been studies showing they are usually completely unrelated unless you have some underlying genetic cause for them being related. That's why eggs are no longer limited by the NHS or whomever.

Taking into consideration sat fats, sodium, sugar, etc is good. But that doesn't mean cut them out completely. It means CONSIDER how much you're having and ensure it's reasonable.

I was saying before that a 20.9 BMI isn't a problem for some people. But now you're saying you're still coming in 800 calories under your maintenance goals every day. Which means you're still losing weight, and fairly aggressively. It might be time to talk to a doctor about it.

I know it's hard to eat when you're not hungry. I'm having the same problem right now. I'm supposed to be eating 2800 calories a day but coming in closer to 2600 calories a day and am not gaining weight at the rate that I should be (yes my goal is to gain). This is specifically the reason I started eating cashews every day and is the reason I'm talking to my doctor about it today. My advice is to not wait too long. Although you say you're trying to be less strict, you may still be being TOO strict.