Can't eat 1,200 a day (i NEVER thought i'd say that!)

add in some avocados...good healthy fats

You can easily fill some calories with some nuts or something. Try cocoa roasted or plain almonds. There are plenty of ways to get a couple hundred extra calores without eating "crap".

Or how about pine-nuts on/with your veggies?

Sometimes I run into that as well. I only tend to go over my goal if I eat out

I would say if your BMR is 1323, you really should be aiming for that number.

1000 is kind of bad, in my opinion, because you are training your body to make due with less food overall, so it will be more difficult to adjust to maintenence calories. It takes a while for these effects to kick in- weeks and often months but it's still a very difficult hole to dig out of.

I'm sure there are foods you can eat to up your cals- Avocados and nuts should be ok? As long as you buy organic and such. Do you have a food processor? On this blog- www.ohsheglows.com- the author has different recipies for homemade nutbutters- almond primarialy- but peanut and other nuts, that you could incorporate that would stay with in your diet.

Good luck!

Paleoplan.com has a ton of yummy ideas including snacks. Everything I have tried on there is good. Even my kids like it so must taste good lol

I have recently started the paleo/primal diet (no processed foods at all) and have discovered that I am struggling to eat the full 1200 calories a day. Believe me -- I NEVER thought I'd be saying that but here we are. I eat every 2-3 hours, but with the focus on the protein and veggies I just can't seem to eat enough! And if I get to the gym...forget about it.

My question to you all is: If i am eating every 2-3 hours, am not hungry, and have still been seeing weight loss the past 2 weeks....how bad is it to be eating closer to 1,000 calories a day? I don't want to eat crap just to fill the goal (and my diet doesnt really let me!) but I don't want to stall my metabolism by going into starvation mode either.

I am a 24 year old girl whose BMR is 1343 and with my activity level my base line calorie burn is 1680. I have been doing a fair amount of online research and have found a few sites that say that as long as you are eating 50-70% of your BMI each day then you can avoid that...but most places agree on the 1200 so I don't know what to believe! HELP!

I follow a clean eating lifestyle: whole foods with focus on veggies, fruits, whole grain, nuts and healthy fats . It can be VERY difficult to reach 1200 once you've cut our the processed foods. I also have elinimated as much sugar as I can (I've learned my body doesn't like sugar and in fact causes major bloat for me)...I highly recommend "The Clean Eating Diet" by Tosca Reno...in fact I recommend all of her books (I am currently rereading "Your Best Body Now" also by Tosca), as well as Clean Eat magazine. There are amazing recipes in all of her books and the magazine. She also provides grocery lists and substitutions for special diets (like vegetarian, gluten free, etc.).

I am learning that it is all about planning for sure. I stalled when I was not getting enough calories as well, BUT once I began to keep track of my calories per day on MFP I realized why, I was VERY LOW below the minimum of 1200. Now, with the amount I burn each day my biggest hurdle isn't so much consuming 1200 per day but consuming enough to replace what I burn to ensure I am feeding my metabolism enough!

On my rest days (Sunday and Monday) I stick to lower 1200 since I am not actually burning anything on those days..although I have been known to still walk or do yoga.

just checked it out palioplan.com. really good stuff