Can't reach calorie goal
Kuzofruit
Posts: 22 Member
I just started my first week and I'm having a hard time reaching my calorie goal of 2200. I can barely reach the minimum 1500. Any suggestions?
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Replies
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your likely over restricting the food you eat. Can't reach your goal? eat a bowl of ice cream. Eat some nuts?, nut butters, slice of pizza. You won't gain an ouce of fat from any of these IF your in a deficit6
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These are the days I add alcohol...am I really the only one
In all seriousness reach for more calorie dense foods.5 -
Some people find it easier to drink some of their calories per day. For example, if you're looking to gain, then making a smoothie with like..... a cup of milk, a banana, a tbsp. of peanut butter, a scoop of some kind of protein powder etc (then add some ice and blend) can help add about 500 kcal/day. Not sure what your age, starting weight, height, or any stats are, but I agree that for most men, 1500 would be way too little. I am a woman of 5'7", 148 lb and I eat more than that and still lose 1 lb per week.3
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I would happily sit down with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon if I had your problem. Yes, as other posters have said, eat more calorie dense foods. Or do like my husband and just drink a *kitten*-ton of beer.
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You might find some ideas here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p11
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Eating more than a banana for lunch would be a great start9
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I just started my first week and I'm having a hard time reaching my calorie goal of 2200. I can barely reach the minimum 1500. Any suggestions?
Eat different food that is more calorie dense. Eat more of what you used to eat.
Do not restrict yourself to a low fat, low carb diet.
Have some avocado, peanut butter, cheese. Use condiments. Eat some bread, pasta or rice. Have a potato. Eat a couple of pieces of pizza. Have a steak. Eat some trail mix. Drink smoothies, juice or milk.
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Step 1: Make sure you are logging accurately. 1500 is actually a fairly low calorie goal and a lot of people who struggle to hit this are actually eating more than they think and that's why they are struggling.
Step 2: Once you know you are logging accurately, if you are still under goal, it's time to include more high-calorie items. Chicken thighs instead of breast, nuts, oils and even things like icecream, chocolate, chips etc.6 -
add in more caloric dense foods1
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Bacon, French fries, Milkshake, Bagel with Cream Cheese, Slather butter on veggies, Nuts, Olives.
Drink Calories if you must. I wish I had that problem. lol.
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Step 1: Make sure you are logging accurately. 1500 is actually a fairly low calorie goal and a lot of people who struggle to hit this are actually eating more than they think and that's why they are struggling.
Step 2: Once you know you are logging accurately, if you are still under goal, it's time to include more high-calorie items. Chicken thighs instead of breast, nuts, oils and even things like icecream, chocolate, chips etc.
This ^
@Kuzofruit if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings we can check for logging errors, which are very common when one first starts out.
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Step 1: Make sure you are logging accurately. 1500 is actually a fairly low calorie goal and a lot of people who struggle to hit this are actually eating more than they think and that's why they are struggling.
Step 2: Once you know you are logging accurately, if you are still under goal, it's time to include more high-calorie items. Chicken thighs instead of breast, nuts, oils and even things like icecream, chocolate, chips etc.
I'd start with step 1 here first before just jumping into eating more. It may be that you're eating more than you think you are. How do you figure out how much you are eating? Do you use measuring cups, eyeball portion sizes, or do you weigh your portions on a food scale?
Also, are you comparing food labels against what is in the database when you log? The MFP database is user maintained. Even the green checkmarked "verified" entries and barcode scanning are frequently incorrect, or nutrition on products may vary by country, so make sure your logging is accurate first.
If you weigh your portions and you are ensuring that your logging is correct, then consider more calorie dense food.2 -
Butter, bacon, bananas.0
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Have some desert or something you like to eat.0
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Thanks for all the responses!Eat different food that is more calorie dense. Eat more of what you used to eat.
Do not restrict yourself to a low fat, low carb diet.
I'm trying to lose weight and that's the reason why I am on a low fat/low carb diet and I'm being very picky with my food. I'm only looking for healthy foods.dragon_girl26 wrote: »How do you figure out how much you are eating? Do you use measuring cups, eyeball portion sizes, or do you weigh your portions on a food scale?
Also, are you comparing food labels against what is in the database when you log?
I usually scan the barcode and then compare the results with the label. Unfortunately, I don't have a food scale. I do use measuring cups and if a food is in a different unit I would convert it (cups to oz). There are times when I do need to eyeball portion sizes (a wedge of cantalope for example) but I'm pretty confident my numbers are accurate.0 -
Thanks for all the responses!Eat different food that is more calorie dense. Eat more of what you used to eat.
Do not restrict yourself to a low fat, low carb diet.
I'm trying to lose weight and that's the reason why I am on a low fat/low carb diet and I'm being very picky with my food. I'm only looking for healthy foods.dragon_girl26 wrote: »How do you figure out how much you are eating? Do you use measuring cups, eyeball portion sizes, or do you weigh your portions on a food scale?
Also, are you comparing food labels against what is in the database when you log?
I usually scan the barcode and then compare the results with the label. Unfortunately, I don't have a food scale. I do use measuring cups and if a food is in a different unit I would convert it (cups to oz). There are times when I do need to eyeball portion sizes (a wedge of cantalope for example) but I'm pretty confident my numbers are accurate.
A low carb and low fat diet is hard since you're cutting down two out of three macronutrients with a diet like that. You can still lose weight eating fat and carbs, so you might look into either allowing more of those or you're left increasing your high protein foods.
Also, be very careful converting something like cups to ounces. One is a volume measurement and one is a weight measurement and they're not comparable. Unless you meant to say you're converting between cups and fluid ounces, you could be getting some very screwy portion sizes.3 -
diannethegeek wrote: »Thanks for all the responses!Eat different food that is more calorie dense. Eat more of what you used to eat.
Do not restrict yourself to a low fat, low carb diet.
I'm trying to lose weight and that's the reason why I am on a low fat/low carb diet and I'm being very picky with my food. I'm only looking for healthy foods.dragon_girl26 wrote: »How do you figure out how much you are eating? Do you use measuring cups, eyeball portion sizes, or do you weigh your portions on a food scale?
Also, are you comparing food labels against what is in the database when you log?
I usually scan the barcode and then compare the results with the label. Unfortunately, I don't have a food scale. I do use measuring cups and if a food is in a different unit I would convert it (cups to oz). There are times when I do need to eyeball portion sizes (a wedge of cantalope for example) but I'm pretty confident my numbers are accurate.
A low carb and low fat diet is hard since you're cutting down two out of three macronutrients with a diet like that. You can still lose weight eating fat and carbs, so you might look into either allowing more of those or you're left increasing your high protein foods.
Also, be very careful converting something like cups to ounces. One is a volume measurement and one is a weight measurement and they're not comparable. Unless you meant to say you're converting between cups and fluid ounces, you could be getting some very screwy portion sizes.
^^This. If you are trying to lose weight, it's the calorie deficit that matters, not the carbs and fat. I have a 50% carbs/ 30% fat/ 20% protein split, and I lost 80 pounds eating this way because I ate less calories than I burned.3 -
diannethegeek wrote: »
Also, be very careful converting something like cups to ounces. One is a volume measurement and one is a weight measurement and they're not comparable. Unless you meant to say you're converting between cups and fluid ounces, you could be getting some very screwy portion sizes.
It seems I've been making that mistake. I fixed my error and it looks like I've been over counting my calories. Any suggestions on counting without a scale?
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diannethegeek wrote: »
Also, be very careful converting something like cups to ounces. One is a volume measurement and one is a weight measurement and they're not comparable. Unless you meant to say you're converting between cups and fluid ounces, you could be getting some very screwy portion sizes.
It seems I've been making that mistake. I fixed my error and it looks like I've been over counting my calories. Any suggestions on counting without a scale?
Is there a reason you can't get a scale?2 -
diannethegeek wrote: »
Also, be very careful converting something like cups to ounces. One is a volume measurement and one is a weight measurement and they're not comparable. Unless you meant to say you're converting between cups and fluid ounces, you could be getting some very screwy portion sizes.
It seems I've been making that mistake. I fixed my error and it looks like I've been over counting my calories. Any suggestions on counting without a scale?
Yep, go to Wal-Mart or wherever and get one. They are cheap.0 -
You can get a scale for $10-15. Less if you check Goodwill or a thrift sture.1
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This one is awesome and $12. It even has an 11lb weight limit for making recipes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004164SRA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493515377&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=kitchen+scale&dpPl=1&dpID=51yB+qUsIOL&ref=plSrch1 -
I just started my first week and I'm having a hard time reaching my calorie goal of 2200. I can barely reach the minimum 1500. Any suggestions?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you're making big changes instead of little changes. Perhaps too big. I'm going under the assumption that your goal is to lose weight. If your goal is to lose weight, and MFP is telling you 2200 calories, this means you have been eating much more than this for a long time.
Losing weight is the art of eating less. It's easy to fall into the trap of "clean eating" and instantly change your diet from pizza and french fries to broccoli and chicken breasts, but it does not need to be that way. If you're having trouble reaching your calorie goals, have a *portion controlled* snack of foods you used to eat. Believe me, I could eat an extra 700 calories in a blink of an eye. I just ate a protein cookie that clocked in at 380 calories.
There's also some much darker advice. You can continue eating under your allotted calories, only I promise over time your body will "revolt" in a sense and you will get hungry enough to eat 2200 calories or more again.
This is all me just assuming I know what you're doing: Making huge and drastic diet changes. My recommendation is to start a little slower and reincorporate some of the higher calorie foods you used to eat. There will come a time for 1500 calories, but you don't want to rush it. It's not something to look forward to IMO.
You're doing the right thing though. You will lose weight being under your calories. If you're happy and content eating 1500 calories there are worse things you could be doing. So keep your chin up and keep rocking it, use those extra calories to incorporate something you really like eating, in a controlled and portioned manner. It's not about what you eat so much as how much you eat of it.2 -
Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended - as someone who has been there, not someone who is judging.
With that, I'll say this: did you really get to the point of needing to count calories in order to lose weight, by having trouble eating enough?
If this is new to you, you may be in the honeymoon phase - the "I can't believe I can eat this much but still lose weight, I thought I'd only get a lettuce leaf a day" phase.
I my OPINION (this is JUST an opinion - I am not saying this in any sort of authoritative way) you could just as well ride this for now, "under"eat for this week or so, and see what happens by next week...I'll bet it will be a different story. I really, truly don't think that (at least barring some specific medical issue) not eating as much as MFP says you should eat in order to lose weight, for a few days or a week or a little more, will kill you or even harm your efforts, long-term. I've "under"eaten about a bajillion times for all different reasons - not ED reasons, mind you, I mean there can be reasons. Non-hungry days, illness, anything. I've lost 60 lbs. so far anyway and my "metabolism didn't shut down" (which would mean death, actually) or any of the dire stuff diet gurus will warn you against in horror. I've had not-hungry days and I've had VERY VERY hungry days and I've had everything in between. None of these extremes have killed me yet.
I'm just trying to be real with you. As I said, I've been there. If I'm wrong about this assessment then I am, and please feel free to throw it right out.
But just in case any of what I say may be applicable to you...why not say "I'm not going to force calories into myself if I'm legitimately not hungry, that's stupid" and see what happens next week? Or even tomorrow?
I mean if it lasts for two months and you're fainting and losing hair but still can't fathom sticking food into your mouth, then you have a problem.
JMO.3
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