New: too low on calories
mcammack1952
Posts: 2 Member
First day on keto and had a low calorie intake....only 915 and missed the mark on protein and fat. Carbs was spot on. I was full and ate well (huge chicken Caesar salad for lunch and ground beef and cheese for dinner).
Any tips??
I normally skip breakfast but am going to try to do a couple eggs tomorrow and buy some bacon lol.
Any tips??
I normally skip breakfast but am going to try to do a couple eggs tomorrow and buy some bacon lol.
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Replies
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Try a bullet proof coffee for breakfast. Healthy fats and increases daily calories.1
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I honestly think your idea of having eggs or bacon is a much better idea. Much more nutrient dense calories.
Anyway, my opinion is that if you have bodyfat to lose, you'll be fine eating low calories as long as you are eating when hungry and getting enough protein. So I would prioritize reaching that protein amount. You do not need to reach the fat... after all, I assume you have fat on your body you'd like to use instead.
In my experience these days of being able to feel satisfied on such low calories stop happening when your body fat gets lower. However, not as low as you'd necessarily like it to be. As I got closer and closer to about 30% bf, I got hungrier. It won't last.6 -
Thanks! I was worried if I was too low I'd have adverse effects. I did much better today and hit my protein goal! Still under calories and fat (and carbs surprisingly!) but based on the info above I'm not going to stress it.
I'm looking forward to the hungry feeling only because it would mean my bmi is that low! Lol.1 -
Yesterday I ate McDonald's for lunch and taco bell for dinner, an hour later I felt hungry like I hadn't even eaten anything all day! I wish keto fast food was a thing =\ sometimes I just have to eat on the go0
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Yesterday I ate McDonald's for lunch and taco bell for dinner, an hour later I felt hungry like I hadn't even eaten anything all day! I wish keto fast food was a thing =\ sometimes I just have to eat on the go
It is.
You can get quarter pound meat patties or grilled chicken breast at McDonalds. You can even add them to a salad if you want.
Taco Bell has a bowl type thing now I think you can get meat on lettuce with cheese. Just skip the rice and beans.
This kind of stuff is true at most fast food restaurants0 -
You can also get all the things on the side at TB... Meat, cheese, sauce, etc. However, I prefer Taco Bueno, which has a taco bowl that's like $4...skip the rice and beans, and it's fully keto. I love it personally. Taco Bell also has a new "naked egg" taco that's in an egg shell...
You can also get provolone wrapped in salami at Walmart or such in the ready to go deli section. They even had them in the Walgreens cooler last night... There are TONS of options for eating on the go. Lettuce wrapped sandwiches...etc. SO many options...0 -
Generally speaking, wherever there is a fast food chain there is also a supermarket or convenience store in close proximity. I usually stop by either and grab some lunchmeat, cheese or pack of peanuts. It's a fairly quick option. I suppose if one is toting around children (or others), fast food would be more enjoyable for all though.0
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Oh, and those new "lunchables" that are called 'protein power' or something are meat, cheese, and nuts... I love those things! Definitely easy to stash in the fridge and keep in a small cool pack while on the go!0
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Like others have said don’t worry too much about it. Especially if your trying to lose weight. Just hit the carbs and protein goals and cut back the fat some. You’ll still get into ketosis and you’ll be on the way to becoming a Ketoian(fat-adapted). Your body won’t care if the days from you or your diet.0
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Generally speaking, wherever there is a fast food chain there is also a supermarket or convenience store in close proximity. I usually stop by either and grab some lunchmeat, cheese or pack of peanuts. It's a fairly quick option. I suppose if one is toting around children (or others), fast food would be more enjoyable for all though.
I agree with the above. If there is a grocery store around, eat there. One of the things that I have fallen in love with is steamed seafood from the grocery store. It's quick, affordable and easy. Just pick a few scallops or shrimp from the fresh seafood section and then ask them to steam it with some cajun seasoning and butter or salt and pepper. Grab a fork and a nice bagged salad and eat it right out of the packet.
Some grocery stores even have salad buffets where you can grab a plate full of kale with a little cheese and low carb dressing.
I would also suggest keeping an oil and vinegar dressing with you as often as possible. Then you can roll through a mcdonalds and get a salad with a hamburger on top or chicken breast and have your own dressing. Now the fats at mcdonalds are not going to be healthy fats neccesarily, but you will still stay keto and that is what is most important.0 -
Generally speaking, wherever there is a fast food chain there is also a supermarket or convenience store in close proximity. I usually stop by either and grab some lunchmeat, cheese or pack of peanuts. It's a fairly quick option. I suppose if one is toting around children (or others), fast food would be more enjoyable for all though.
I agree with the above. If there is a grocery store around, eat there. One of the things that I have fallen in love with is steamed seafood from the grocery store. It's quick, affordable and easy. Just pick a few scallops or shrimp from the fresh seafood section and then ask them to steam it with some cajun seasoning and butter or salt and pepper. Grab a fork and a nice bagged salad and eat it right out of the packet.
Some grocery stores even have salad buffets where you can grab a plate full of kale with a little cheese and low carb dressing.
I would also suggest keeping an oil and vinegar dressing with you as often as possible. Then you can roll through a mcdonalds and get a salad with a hamburger on top or chicken breast and have your own dressing. Now the fats at mcdonalds are not going to be healthy fats neccesarily, but you will still stay keto and that is what is most important.
@Goal179 - What on earth kind of grocery stores do you have near you that steam seafood for you - much less to order??? I've never heard of that in all my life. And only in specialty stores do we have anything resembling a salad buffet, which means you're paying an arm and three legs for a meal... What's your secret?0 -
Fast food is never a problem almost anywhere can be keto friendly enough. Places like jimmy johns have the unwich and even five guys has lettuce wrapped burgers. Just have to be creative at some places. I’m never hangry so I can usually just do 1/2 a meal in a pinch and top off when I’m home or able to grab a keto friendly meal/snack. Seeds and nuts are your friends, you can carry them with you in pre-measured servings, what I do. Grocery stores are great places you can grab tub of spinach, an avocado, deli/canned meats and some nuts/seed and just about reach and macros you want. And only takes a few minutes to grab.0
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@KnitroMiss - I know that sounds crazy. LOL!!!! I never knew about it either. I just learned that my grocery store will do it. You have to ask. My grocery store is Publix. The steaming is absolutely free with any seasoning you wish. You just pay for the seafood itself - usually about $7 or $8 bucks depending on what you get and how much. I love a 1/2 pound of scallops or crab legs. I used to spend $11 bucks just at McDonalds, so the cost is not too bad for me. Regarding the salad, it can be pricey because the salad is sold by the pound. To keep your costs low, follow some of these tricks 1) Skip the dressing and just use your own or buy some from the store. Dressing is heavy. 2)Load up on Leafy greens and stuff as much as you can in the container, they don't weigh much at all 3) Add the lighter meats such as bacon and sliced ham instead of the heavy cubed style meats or meat salads 4) Load up on cheese, it's pretty light. Again, I typically spend about $6 bucks on my salad. Still cheaper than McDonalds...at least for me. My main point here is try heading to the grocery store while you are out instead of a typical fast food place. You might be presently surprised at what you can put together.
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@Goal179 Not exactly sure where you are but know you're kinda on the
East Coast like me and most likely in a fast growing area (like me). Isn't it awesome how these supermarkets are so competitive in price and service? I have 4 supermarkets I can walk to for my daily exercise that are in the 5 mile round trip walking distance. And in a few weeks a Whole Foods will open on my side of town (3 miles away) AND next year Wegman's is opening 2 miles away. Wooohoo for me. Another store to add to my Wed AM "scour the weekly ads" for sale items. I love Wegman's. I'm pretty confident they'll steam to order since they will have a sit down restaurant (as most do).
Ad shopping has been my "thing" for years. This week (just finished going through the ads): Fresh Market has salmon @ $7.99/pound, Lowe's Foods has grass fed ribeyes (whole-I know how to use a knife-LOL) @ $4.97/lb and Publix has Mt. Olive pickles BOGO. All of them will cut the whole rib eyes but I like to do it. When they are "bone in" I cut some as small (~3-4 pound) standing rib roasts and some as steaks.
The other great thing about where I am is the # of international markets. Especially Indian and Asian. Woot!2 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »Generally speaking, wherever there is a fast food chain there is also a supermarket or convenience store in close proximity. I usually stop by either and grab some lunchmeat, cheese or pack of peanuts. It's a fairly quick option. I suppose if one is toting around children (or others), fast food would be more enjoyable for all though.
I agree with the above. If there is a grocery store around, eat there. One of the things that I have fallen in love with is steamed seafood from the grocery store. It's quick, affordable and easy. Just pick a few scallops or shrimp from the fresh seafood section and then ask them to steam it with some cajun seasoning and butter or salt and pepper. Grab a fork and a nice bagged salad and eat it right out of the packet.
Some grocery stores even have salad buffets where you can grab a plate full of kale with a little cheese and low carb dressing.
I would also suggest keeping an oil and vinegar dressing with you as often as possible. Then you can roll through a mcdonalds and get a salad with a hamburger on top or chicken breast and have your own dressing. Now the fats at mcdonalds are not going to be healthy fats neccesarily, but you will still stay keto and that is what is most important.
@Goal179 - What on earth kind of grocery stores do you have near you that steam seafood for you - much less to order??? I've never heard of that in all my life. And only in specialty stores do we have anything resembling a salad buffet, which means you're paying an arm and three legs for a meal... What's your secret?
We have them near me, Whole Foods and Publix both do seafood. It's great, we also have Ingles and Earth Fare that have other made to order foods and all of them have salad bars. Great resources! I live in Asheville, NC.0 -
I'm not a doctor, so you should probably check with your doctor, but I've done intermitten fasting a lot in the past and noticed my calorie levels don't cut it for myfitnesspal diary to save as well sometimes. I don't sweat it, I just click on my dinner meal again, so it looks like I ate it twice and allows me to save. Most of us though can fast without damaging our bodies, so while I understand liability wise myfitnesspal wants you to achieve a certain number of calories, I think many of us have extra fat that we won't perish if we don't meet the calorie guidelines for the day.0
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I don't sweat it, I just click on my dinner meal again, so it looks like I ate it twice and allows me to save.
Yup me too, if I don't hit my calories I add fictional snacks until it's happy! I'm fairly sure it will balance out as I'm unlikely to go for days and days under eating!!
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you know if you just want to add calories there is an entry for a calorie in there0
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Quick add calories, added, diary closed, then deleted for accuracy...1
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You really don't even have to "complete" your food diary. It does nothing other than provide the silly "if you ate like this for 5 weeks...." thing. I guess if you're intent on announcing completion to your newsfeed to your pals, then you'd need to add calories to the food diary in order for it to process/complete. I've not "completed" my diary in over 3 years. It doesn't alter your "streak". My streak is over 1600 days despite not completing/announcing my food diary. I keep my food dairy open to pals. If they want to view what I eat it is there to see.
Adding fictitious entries is like "the tail wagging the dog"...to me.3 -
@kpk54 - I agree, and me, too, on the streak without closing diary... But some people need to have that check mark checked off to help them maintain compliance with their plan, so it's helpful for them to have the option open...0
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@KnitOrMiss. Yes. Everyone has their own motivation for doing things and their individual ways to achieve being an active participant. If part of my plan were to announce my food diary to my newsfeed (for kudos or to be an active participant or whatever) I'd probably title a "meal" category as "Fudge Factor" or "Calorie Shortfall" and do a Quick Add if I were at a shortfall of 1200 calories or whatever the number is that MFP requires for completion.
Ultimately though, I don't see the purpose. If you do the quick add so MFP will allow announcement of completion to your newsfeed, what your announcing is actually false. I guess it does say, "I tracked today".
If you don't announce to the newsfeed, what's the sense in doing the quick add, closing then deleting? Is there some place in MFP that gives "credit" of some sort for "completion" of diary? I'm not being snarky. It's a serious question. Maybe some of the challenges require completion? I've not participated in those so wouldn't know.
The only point to my previous post was to let folks know that not completing a diary does not have an effect on "streaks". Some of the folks new to MFP are not aware of that.
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Thank you for telling us that! I would add snacks that I didn't eat just to complete my diary because I thought I wouldn't be able to move onto the next day!2
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I've been toying around with various trackers while keeping my focus on MFP for the last 1616 days. LOL. That 1616 means I like to get that "checkpoint" since it seems to keep me motivated (or provides some sort of reward) so I do understand what @KnitOrMiss means about "maintaining compliance with their plan". I guess part of my plan is to check in everyday as a reminder that MFP helped me get where I am and it's in my best interest to continue in some fashion.
All of September and part of October, I logged my foods elsewhere. This Wednesday I started logging again on MFP. No previously entered data was lost and I didn't have to re-start anything to resume logging in my food diary.Jigglypuff9363 wrote: »Thank you for telling us that! I would add snacks that I didn't eat just to complete my diary because I thought I wouldn't be able to move onto the next day!
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Ah, ha, I thought it sort of kicked you out of the number of days you have logged in and recorded your food, if it doesn't then I'll start just to use it accurately, which would be much easier. Thanks to all who explained.2
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@KnitOrMiss. Yes. Everyone has their own motivation for doing things and their individual ways to achieve being an active participant. If part of my plan were to announce my food diary to my newsfeed (for kudos or to be an active participant or whatever) I'd probably title a "meal" category as "Fudge Factor" or "Calorie Shortfall" and do a Quick Add if I were at a shortfall of 1200 calories or whatever the number is that MFP requires for completion.
Ultimately though, I don't see the purpose. If you do the quick add so MFP will allow announcement of completion to your newsfeed, what your announcing is actually false. I guess it does say, "I tracked today".
If you don't announce to the newsfeed, what's the sense in doing the quick add, closing then deleting? Is there some place in MFP that gives "credit" of some sort for "completion" of diary? I'm not being snarky. It's a serious question. Maybe some of the challenges require completion? I've not participated in those so wouldn't know.
The only point to my previous post was to let folks know that not completing a diary does not have an effect on "streaks". Some of the folks new to MFP are not aware of that.
@kpk54 - If you aren't intending to post your closed diary to your newsfeed, then you are absolutely correct. There really isn't much point.
However, for many folks with eating disorders or troubles, or mental hiccups, compliance, posting, transparency, etc., may be very important to how someone's frame of mind works, especially in the beginning. We all KNOW that losing weight and gaining or re-gaining health are more of a mental game than a physical one. Sometimes we essentially have to game the system or fake it until we make it.
For those of us struggling most, whether we're just starting, struggling, rebooting, or just having a rough day, sometimes just being able to close a post or keep a streak is enough to keep us going.
So, while long term mental and physical health mean that these things really don't matter in the grand scheme of everything, for some folks, at any stage in their process, can be just the push or achievement that keeps them compliant or keeps them going.
And since most of us know that calorie deficits are really more helpful on a 7-10 day average rather than exact each day because our natural hunger level changes every day, being able to have accurate calorie counts, even on the lower days, to look back on, can be quite educational. Also, with many folks being on the relatively useless app, if you're intentionally wanting to share out your food diary to someone, having that link readily available can be useful...it's not always easy to bounce over to someone's page and then to their diary without losing the ability to type a response and all of that.
And for you, personally, none of these things seem particularly advantageous, as you've been at this a while and have likely dispatched most of your mental demons, so to speak, had you ever had them. There is absolutely no place on MFP that I know of that gives any sort of credit for diary completion. As for the challenges, most of them seem to pointless, just "to be counted," and/or phishing... I don't do them anymore - I think I did 2-3 before they became more trouble than they were worth to me personally. I tend to get neurotic, obsessive, and self destructive by "eating" to the "test" so to speak, rather than to my whole health...when I track too tightly or too long - or even get involved in an ongoing challenge. So I can't speak as to challenge requirements either.
So TL;DR - I was more thinking of using the closing of the diary as a motivational tool for someone in need of that boost and/or compliance helping progress, etc.
BUT, all that said, you are 100% correct. The "login streak" is for the number of days in a row LOGGED IN...not FOOD LOGGED days. The diary is a tool some use and some don't - for some it's private, for others public, and so on... Thanks for making sure everyone knew that, as you're right - it's definitely not anything I remember reading in the terms/instructions when starting!0
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