I eat clean but am always low in calories...what can I add?

sheepingly wrote: »

born_of_fire74 wrote: »

Cutting both fat and carbs makes it very difficult for your body to fuel itself. It needs one or the other to turn into energy so you'll most likely find yourself hungry, listless and cranky before too long. Fat can be very satiating for some, carbs moreso for others. You need to figure out what types of food keep you feeling full and satisfied within your calorie allotment and adjust your macros accordingly (carbs up/fats down or fats up/carbs down while maintaining a minimum protein intake) for long term success.

Furthermore, without underlying health issuses--hypertension, diabetes etc,--there's no pressing reason to cut sugar or sodium from your diet. The more you restrict yourself and/or quickly alter the foods you eat, the more likely you are to struggle IMHO.

The doc said a few months ago that I'm starting to get High Blood Pressure so that kinda scared me.

Losing weight has far more impact on most health issues than diet. I vastly improved all of my health markers losing weight on a mostly healthy, varied diet that still included some "junk" & sweets. I just had to get a little pickier about what I felt was worth the calories when trying to meet my calorie goal.

sheepingly wrote: »

So I'm trying to eat clean and lose weight (i'm 60+lbs overweight) but even when I add in 3 meals and a snack and try mostly to have unprocessed foods. I'm way below my cal level of 1200 +.

Today for instance:

Breakfast - Low Carb Protein Shake and Oatmeal

Lunch - 3 oz chicken stuffed with asparagus and cheese, 1/2 cup of rice

Dinner - 3 oz chicken stuffed with asparagus and cheese, 1/2 cup of rice, 2 cups of broccoli

Snack - 1 cup of popcorn

I added it all up on MFP and its only 900 calories. What else can I add -- I'm trying to also be low sodium and low fat.

More food.

Assuming your logging is accurate (I haven't checked):

Add some fruit to the breakfast. For me oats and berries is about 200 calories, and a protein shake would be 150 if I added a little dairy or some cashew milk, at minimum. Add a banana instead of berries and it's 250, so this is 350 to 400 cal easy.

Lunch: 3 oz (if you weighed this after cooking it is 140 cal) isn't that large, have 4 oz or 5. Cheese will usually net another 100, and then 50 for asparagus, say. Is anything cooked in olive oil or some other oil or butter? Add those calories. Anyway, I'm getting around 350+ already if we have a little oil, plus 100 more for the rice IF you are measuring cooked. If raw, it's at least twice as much. Add any butter or oil, more calories. But let's say 450. Want to add more calories, increase portions or have some nuts.

Dinner, same.

I'm getting more than 1200 already, or with tiny changes, and that's even before the popcorn.

Cheese and popcorn and a protein shake and arguably even oats and boneless skinless chicken breast are all processed, btw. Nothing wrong with that, I think it's a perfectly reasonable day (I'd go nuts with that menu every day, but for one day I think it's fine, and you can switch around the lunches and dinners with other vegetables and proteins and starches). However, I point it out because it shows the possible issue with obsessing about "clean" if you are finding that is placing foods off limits.

If you are trying to go low fat you have to fill up with more carbs.

What is your feeling about natural grains? There's quinoa, corn, rye, buckwheat, kamut among others.

if you won't eat grains, there's starchy vegetables like potato, sweet potato, yams, and plantain.

jgnatca wrote: »

If you are trying to go low fat you have to fill up with more carbs.

What is your feeling about natural grains? There's quinoa, corn, rye, buckwheat, kamut among others.

if you won't eat grains, there's starchy vegetables like potato, sweet potato, yams, and plantain.

She's got oats for breakfast, rice for lunch and dinner, and popcorn. Don't think she's avoiding grains. I'm wondering how much she's eating, though -- OP, how many calories are you getting and are you measuring before or after cooking?

sheepingly wrote: »

born_of_fire74 wrote: »

Cutting both fat and carbs makes it very difficult for your body to fuel itself. It needs one or the other to turn into energy so you'll most likely find yourself hungry, listless and cranky before too long. Fat can be very satiating for some, carbs moreso for others. You need to figure out what types of food keep you feeling full and satisfied within your calorie allotment and adjust your macros accordingly (carbs up/fats down or fats up/carbs down while maintaining a minimum protein intake) for long term success.

Furthermore, without underlying health issuses--hypertension, diabetes etc,--there's no pressing reason to cut sugar or sodium from your diet. The more you restrict yourself and/or quickly alter the foods you eat, the more likely you are to struggle IMHO.

The doc said a few months ago that I'm starting to get High Blood Pressure so that kinda scared me.

Did you doc specifically say they felt the carbs/fat were to blame for the HBP or did the doc say you need to lose weight and cutting carbs and fat was a way to do that? Or did the doc not make any specific recommendations regarding diet?

The reason I ask is usually losing weight, with any WOE (way of eating), is enough to reduce blood pressure.

sheepingly wrote: »

@lemur I haven't "avoided" grains yet becuase I haven't figured out the whole plan yet. I just started literally today and chose to make dinner instead of the usual frozen stuff which was the usual diet before or more processed stuff.

I wasn't being critical, just saying that people assuming you were avoiding grains weren't noticing that you were including them. No reason to avoid grains, IMO -- it would make it harder to hit calories if that's an issue.

Its not completely clean i know but cleaner than my old diet of frozen stuff or fast food so i've just been trying to clean it up and cooking as much as possible until i figure out what the heck i'm doing.

That's cool. Lots of people (including me) dislike the term "clean eating" because it sounds sanctimonious and is used inconsistently, and often people claim they are eating no processed foods but of course are, they are eating basically like those of us who are reasonably health conscious but don't "eat clean." IMO, improving your diet is a great thing to do, but saying you are eating "clean" because you aren't eating mostly frozen stuff or fast food suggests that others who don't use the term ARE, and many of us never did,

No big thing, and I'm again not being critical, just pointing out that the term can be confusing.

How are you measuring the chicken and the rice and cheese and so on? What are the precise numbers you are getting. Based on my estimates, if you are only at 900, your portions are quite small, and cooking with some olive oil (measured out) is not the same as just drizzling it on. Being too low in fat isn't great.

3 oz of chicken and 1/2 c of cooked rice is pretty small. I could easily eat double that at a meal. If you've been eating at a high volume, then you may find meals this small are not going to satisfy you.

so, I'd, just double the rice, cheese, and add in two pieces of fruit, or add a salad with olive oil dressing. Or swap popcorn for apples and peanut butter or hummus and rice cakes. add a cup of milk to the oatmeal, etc.

If you are a volume eater, eat more volume. I routinely make a big salad out of 2.5-3 oz of spinach with plenty of cucumbers, red bell pepper, and whatever else I want on top along with chicken (or steak) and depending on my fat goal for the day I add differing amounts of ranch dressing and shelled/roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas.) It's big enough that I make it in a serving bowl rather than a salad bowl.