Need help or suggestions in foods
ncmollyc
Posts: 13 Member
I know this is going to sound crazy and I am probably one of the very few rare people who have this problem, but, I need suggestions or ideas on breakfast and foods that can help me eat enough calories during the day to lose weight.
Yes, you read that right eat enough, every day the my fitness pal tells me I am not eating enough.
Herein, is my problem: in 2001 I had to have acid reflux surgery, since then I have no appetite. Seriously when I say I am hungry my husband yells stop the presses mark it on the calendar it is a gold star day LOL this however makes it difficult to eat enough calories.
I have tried the nutritional supplements such as boost and ensure but they are way too rich my stomach cannot handle them. Short of junk food which kind of defeats the purpose I do not know what else to do. I am lucky to hold 1 egg 1 hash brown patty and 1 English muffin for breakfast. If I graze during the day eating 5 to 6 small meals I still cannot get in enough calories and rarely have room for dinner when grazing.
Sooo any ideas or suggestions? I am willing to listen and try almost anything. Maybe junk food to get me losing weight and then trade that out for more nutritional foods later when I am more into maintaining the weight. I just don't know, I am at a loss.
Yes, you read that right eat enough, every day the my fitness pal tells me I am not eating enough.
Herein, is my problem: in 2001 I had to have acid reflux surgery, since then I have no appetite. Seriously when I say I am hungry my husband yells stop the presses mark it on the calendar it is a gold star day LOL this however makes it difficult to eat enough calories.
I have tried the nutritional supplements such as boost and ensure but they are way too rich my stomach cannot handle them. Short of junk food which kind of defeats the purpose I do not know what else to do. I am lucky to hold 1 egg 1 hash brown patty and 1 English muffin for breakfast. If I graze during the day eating 5 to 6 small meals I still cannot get in enough calories and rarely have room for dinner when grazing.
Sooo any ideas or suggestions? I am willing to listen and try almost anything. Maybe junk food to get me losing weight and then trade that out for more nutritional foods later when I am more into maintaining the weight. I just don't know, I am at a loss.
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Replies
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How long have you been logging too little, and how much weight have you lost in that time?
How many calories is your goal, and how far short are you falling?
What are your height and weight?
In general, I'd say there is nothing wrong with some junk food (whatever that means to you) to get your calories up.
Do you eat fruit and veggies? Do you have problems digesting fat? Are you being treated by a doctor for your digestive issues?3 -
Eat whatever foods you can eat that don't upset you. Nothing wrong with donuts to get your calories up. Nuts or trail mix is high calorie and low volume. Dried fruit...bacon.
It doesn't have to be breakfast food, either. Toast with beans, cheese and avocado is good. How about yogurt? I mean, eat whatever you can eat. Put butter or olive oil on or in everything. Boost and Ensure are both so sweet, I don't like them either, but you can make smoothies with vanilla protein powder and avocado and full cal milk that are delicious.2 -
I know this is going to sound crazy and I am probably one of the very few rare people who have this problem, but, I need suggestions or ideas on breakfast and foods that can help me eat enough calories during the day to lose weight.
Yes, you read that right eat enough, every day the my fitness pal tells me I am not eating enough.
Herein, is my problem: in 2001 I had to have acid reflux surgery, since then I have no appetite. Seriously when I say I am hungry my husband yells stop the presses mark it on the calendar it is a gold star day LOL this however makes it difficult to eat enough calories.
I have tried the nutritional supplements such as boost and ensure but they are way too rich my stomach cannot handle them. Short of junk food which kind of defeats the purpose I do not know what else to do. I am lucky to hold 1 egg 1 hash brown patty and 1 English muffin for breakfast. If I graze during the day eating 5 to 6 small meals I still cannot get in enough calories and rarely have room for dinner when grazing.
Sooo any ideas or suggestions? I am willing to listen and try almost anything. Maybe junk food to get me losing weight and then trade that out for more nutritional foods later when I am more into maintaining the weight. I just don't know, I am at a loss.
So, you mean you are very underweight? Is this a recent development or has this been going on since 2001? Because you say you need help losing weight, which kind of makes no sense?5 -
How much weight do you have to lose?0
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Sorry about not making sense. I weighed 140-145 pounds before acid reflux surgery, I then developed fibromyalgia, I am now 74 pounds overweight. On top of the fibro I have joint issues, yes I see my doctor regularly for those. The only issue with my food is now that my stomach is small since 2001 I have no appetite, with the goal of reaching 140 pounds again to lose weight mfp says daily calories should be 1,889. I know I will never be able to eat that much but I figured if I could consume 1200 to 1300 a day I would lose about a pound to a pound and a half a week which is enough for me. Rich foods such as Ensure bother my stomach. I do not want to go crazy dropping weight like a stone. Btw I am 5' 6'' I walk either outside or use my gazelle glider when the weather isn't good enough to go out. I make most of our meals from scratch since my husband is TypeII diabetic it allows me to control the sugar in the food he eats and I eat same food.
And yes I have been known to eat a cheeseburger for breakfast
Tonight I forced myself to eat 2 hotdogs on bread and I am now miserable with my stomach being too full but if I had not eaten 2 hotdogs I would have consumed less than 950 calories.
Yes I eat fresh fruits and veggies, we often eat dinner salads with meat and cheese added to them.
Guess I will be adding some turnovers, muffins, and other high in calorie things to my diet so I can eat 3 meals a day and give my stomach time to get rid of some of it before next meal.
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I'm completely confused here.
You can't gain weight by eating too little. Generally speaking there no such thing as eating 'enough' to lose weight, the less calories you consume the more your body needs to call on the stored fat to fuel itself and the faster you'll lose weight but beyond a point that 'weight' loss becomes damaging to your health.
The eating 'enough' isn't about losing weight it's about getting sufficient nutrition (the 1200 for women and 1500 for men figure) that your body can function and you're not damaging/weakening your muscles (and the heart is a muscle) and organs.12 -
So how did you gain weight of you can't eat enough? It's a total contradiction. You gain weight when your intake exceeds your caloric expenditure. You gained 74 pounds from over eating, not under eating.11
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OP, I'm still not 100% clear on your situation, but that's OK . I would just add a couple of things. First, just because something is high calorie doesn't make it "junk". Regardless, if you can add some plain carbs like bread products, pasta, rice, etc those are usually easy on the system and more calorie dense for the volume
Second, if you seriously are unable to eat enough calories, and have a limited diet because of foods that cause you discomfort, that is for sure something you need to discuss with your doctors. Food is fuel, and eating a limited, low cal diet is just as bad for you as eating a lot of junk
Hang in there, I hope you can get everything squared away.6 -
Sorry, but something's not making sense here. If your goal is weight loss it's definitely not more calories that you need. I suggest a medical evaluation to see if there's a medical explanation why you've gained so much weight despite eating so little.
If not, then I suggest a reality check.4 -
Sorry about not making sense. I weighed 140-145 pounds before acid reflux surgery, I then developed fibromyalgia, I am now 74 pounds overweight. On top of the fibro I have joint issues, yes I see my doctor regularly for those. The only issue with my food is now that my stomach is small since 2001 I have no appetite, with the goal of reaching 140 pounds again to lose weight mfp says daily calories should be 1,889. I know I will never be able to eat that much but I figured if I could consume 1200 to 1300 a day I would lose about a pound to a pound and a half a week which is enough for me. Rich foods such as Ensure bother my stomach. I do not want to go crazy dropping weight like a stone. Btw I am 5' 6'' I walk either outside or use my gazelle glider when the weather isn't good enough to go out. I make most of our meals from scratch since my husband is TypeII diabetic it allows me to control the sugar in the food he eats and I eat same food.
And yes I have been known to eat a cheeseburger for breakfast Tonight I forced myself to eat 2 hotdogs on bread and I am now miserable with my stomach being too full but if I had not eaten 2 hotdogs I would have consumed less than 950 calories.
Yes I eat fresh fruits and veggies, we often eat dinner salads with meat and cheese added to them.
Guess I will be adding some turnovers, muffins, and other high in calorie things to my diet so I can eat 3 meals a day and give my stomach time to get rid of some of it before next meal.
You didn't gain 74lbs by not eating enough. Sounds like you are logging incorrectly. Do you weigh your food and track liquids?8 -
It sounds like you need small amounts of calorie dense foods but need to avoid certain things? I'm not sure what you mean by ensure being too rich but can eat "junk food" okay? Do you need to limit fat or what specifically?
Were you given a diet to follow following your surgery? What did you eat or drink to gain 74 lbs?
Generally when people think they are not getting enough calories they are logging inaccurately or they have severely restricted fats and carbs.
If you are accurate about eating too little calories then you need to change the type of things you consume.
Can you drink whole milk? Can you eat avocado?
Maybe eat more stuff like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, beans, banana.
Try prelogging your food for the day to make sure you get enough calories.3 -
Well, I am abnormal I've known that for many many years.
Ensure is rich too rich for my stomach; by junk food I mean empty calories like pretzels or chips, I do not eat cake, ice cream and the like. On occasion I will eat a turn over but it is not something I eat a lot of, pies such as apple or blueberry I do only around the holidays, those I make myself so I can control the sugar content using Splenda.I'm not sure what you mean by ensure being too rich but can eat "junk food" okay?
When I first started logging all my food and all my drinks, a good day was a total of 1000 calories most were 900 calories. I was also logging my exercise which made my calories for the day go up from 1500 to 1800 plus, I am barely able to get 1200 1300 calories down without feeling like I am going to vomit.Sounds like you are logging incorrectly. Do you weigh your food and track liquids?
Oh by the way Yes I weigh and measure helpings. I also do log my food early to see how many calories I will be consuming that day. That way I know if I need to add empty calories to my diet that day.
I put in my goals to lose 75 pounds, the amount of exercise I was getting and I have a very sedentary job. The first month, 8 days out of 10 days mfp would say at the end of the day when I completed my food and drink logging that I was not eating enough to lose weight. The way I am feeling today it will be one of those days where my calorie intake is going to be low.
The biggest thing is I have a small stomach and it has become sensitive to extremely rich foods and have NO appetite since 2001 when I had acid reflux surgery and then developed fibro in 2002.
I have cut back on my exercise which I hate to do cuz of the joint issues not exercising means extremely stiff painful joints. I am adding some junk food pretzels and chips empty calories to reach 1200 to 1300 calories a day. I will see how that goes.
One thing I can tell you is that when I can eat 1200 to 1300 calories a day instead of 900 or 1000 I do lose weight. If I only eat 900 or 1000 calories a day even with my exercise I do not lose weight and in fact gain back what I lose. I know it sounds unbelievable I wouldn't have believed it myself but since it is happening to me I have no choice but to believe it.
Anyway thanks all. I am going to continue with less exercise(I will still exercise just not as much) and some junk food added into the diet to lose weight.
When I lose the 75 pounds I will work at maintaining that goal weight.
Again thanks all.6 -
Until my morning caffeine kicks in, I'm not going to bother trying to wade through some of this stuff, and I'll just cut right to OPs primary question (at least what I think that question is)...
I'd probably stay away from starches simply because, for me, they can make me feel bloated and full - especially if I have a lot to drink with them. I'd focus on fats and proteins - eggs, yogurt, meats, etc. Omlettes can be very calorie dense. Steak and eggs... ham and eggs, etc. You say you open to eating non-traditional breakfast foods for breakfast... that gives you way more options. Nuts, beans, legumes, seeds... all tend to be very calorie dense.
There was a thread on calorie dense foods at one point... maybe someone can link it for you.
All that said, I agree with the general theme that something about the scenario you've painted doesn't make sense. Eating too little is exactly what *causes* weight loss. And if you gained weight at some point, then you are clearly able to eat more than you are.2 -
My suggestion...You need to jump-start your metabolism. It sounds dormant. If you can stomach a banana before eating anything else, it may help to recalibrate that.19
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Some of the foods you can tolerate I would categorize as rich. Your breakfasts sound rich to me.
I don’t consider Boost to be rich. It has more protein that is all. But because it is liquid and the added sugar I have trouble with it too.
Your tolerances and intolerances sound much like mine and I have had stomach surgery too; the gastric bypass.
Here are some of my “rules” that help me continue to enjoy my meals. YMMV, so use MFP and notes to figure out what works for you.
- my portions are about 3/4 that of a normal persons.
- I eat slowly and as soon as I start to feel full, I stop.
- If I throw out half the meal, so be it. If I am super motivated to finish that meal, rest at least twenty minutes afterwards and try again.
- Don’t drink at meals. Drink a full glass of water on waking, water bottle during the day, and another glass at night. This way you won’t get dehydrated.
- Don’t drink your calories. Instead of milk I eat yogurt, which my stomach holds on to much better.
- Treat protein as a minimum then fill in your calories with whatever pleases you. This will protect your muscles, hair and nails.
- Try Kefir for overall digestive health, but drink it with a shot glass. Not too much at any one time.3 -
Thank you.Some of the foods you can tolerate I would categorize as rich. Your breakfasts sound rich to me.
I don’t consider Boost to be rich. It has more protein that is all. But because it is liquid and the added sugar I have trouble with it too.
Since I started using MFP I do weigh all my portions with a digital scale and only use a measuring cup when measuring liquids such as milk and the like. My exercise is logged according to the calories the glider tells me I burn and the length of walk I take outside when weather permits. I am in no way doing hard core exercise as my joints cannot handle that. I do not lift weights, do not do aerobics etc. I was doing 30 minutes on my glider during the hot humid months, now it is cooling down I will be walking outside again. I also do my usual flower garden activity of weeding, transplanting which I dig by hand.. no fancy tools unless I'm trimming the hedges, I run the weed eater before my husband mows now that we have a lightweight electric one, and my usual cleaning of this big old Victorian, cooking, laundry, shopping, etc. I have been only logging walking as my exercise since I have no idea how many calories these other things burn and those calories change with the amount you weight.
While many of you do not believe what I have said that is understandable but I will figure this out one way or another, the doctor said I am doing the right thing when I showed her daily logs that I print out, showed her my digital scale, and discussed the situation she said more calorie dense foods and I will find stuff my stomach can tolerate eventually until then empty calories and cut back on the exercise to get that scale to move which it is doing. I don't normally step on scale before weigh in day but this time I did and have lost a half pound so far this week... I can live with that.
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Bananas are good. They won’t ‘jump-start’ your metabolism, but they’re a good food.
It’s extraordinarily unusual that somebody can’t tolerate lean proteins but can tolerate potato chips, pretzels, salads (with meat or cheese), turnovers and fruit pies. There are people who can’t tolerate fats, but severe intolerance is generally due to a significant medical condition and these folks often have significant issues maintaining their weight. By your posts, you tolerate gluten so this is not a celiac related issue.
Depending on what brand of English Muffin you use, your breakfast appears to be 300-400 calories. Adding 6 grazing meals of 150-200 calories (which isn’t all that many potato chips or all that large of a piece of turnover or pie) gets you to 1200 or 1300 calories. I’d guess more.
Perhaps a visit to a nutritionist would be more useful to you in your effort. Although, again, the information you provide just doesn’t make sense.5 -
I know this is going to sound crazy and I am probably one of the very few rare people who have this problem, but, I need suggestions or ideas on breakfast and foods that can help me eat enough calories during the day to lose weight.
Yes, you read that right eat enough, every day the my fitness pal tells me I am not eating enough.
Herein, is my problem: in 2001 I had to have acid reflux surgery, since then I have no appetite. Seriously when I say I am hungry my husband yells stop the presses mark it on the calendar it is a gold star day LOL this however makes it difficult to eat enough calories.
I have tried the nutritional supplements such as boost and ensure but they are way too rich my stomach cannot handle them. Short of junk food which kind of defeats the purpose I do not know what else to do. I am lucky to hold 1 egg 1 hash brown patty and 1 English muffin for breakfast. If I graze during the day eating 5 to 6 small meals I still cannot get in enough calories and rarely have room for dinner when grazing.
Sooo any ideas or suggestions? I am willing to listen and try almost anything. Maybe junk food to get me losing weight and then trade that out for more nutritional foods later when I am more into maintaining the weight. I just don't know, I am at a loss.
So, you had a bypass? Sleeve? What kind of surgery for re-flux is what I mean. Did they decrease the size of your stomach? If not, don't worry, after you lose some weight, the appetite will come roaring back.0 -
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If one’s metabolism is “dormant”, that person is dead - and then they have more important things to worry about than eating a banana (or nothing at all to worry about, depending upon how one looks at it).My suggestion...You need to jump-start your metabolism. It sounds dormant. If you can stomach a banana before eating anything else, it may help to recalibrate that.
We aren’t cars or motorcycles, we can’t be “jump started”. Nor can our metabolism be “recalibrated” - and eating a banana would certainly not “recalibrate” anything.
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One thing I can tell you is that when I can eat 1200 to 1300 calories a day instead of 900 or 1000 I do lose weight. If I only eat 900 or 1000 calories a day even with my exercise I do not lose weight and in fact gain back what I lose. I know it sounds unbelievable I wouldn't have believed it myself but since it is happening to me I have no choice but to believe it.
It's not unbelievable. It's impossible. It ignores the laws of physics and thermodynamics. If this was true you'd have scientists and doctors beating down your door to publish a paper on you so they could pick up their Nobel prize for finding the only thing in the universe that defied these fundamental laws.
Weight loss is simple accounting using calories (energy) instead of money. Your metabolism (the amount of energy you spend) is relatively stable so if you take in 1200-1300 calories and your weight goes down your metabolism is burning more than that amount and is calling on your calorie reserve (fat) to make up the difference. So it's impossible in every sense of the word for you to intake LESS energy (calories) and all of a sudden be in an energy surplus required to gain weight.7 -
I would like to know how you gained 75 lbs if you've had no appetite since 2001 and struggle to eat 1200 calories a day?
This does not make sense to me.5 -
If you're not losing weight, you're eating more than you're burning. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter what the app says, there is no way that a 200lb+ person is able to not lose weight on 900-1000kcals a day. I know it's not what you want to hear, but the reason you're struggling to eat more, is because you're eating more than enough already! You cannot gain 74lbs by under eating. It's not a thing.
I think that we can safely assume that there's something wrong with your logging. Whether it be dodgy scales; misreading/misunderstanding nutritional information on packets; using generic entries; not actually logging everything; there is very much something wrong with your logging.
Also, something that people often get caught out on is things "that are so few calories that I won't bother logging" or "this is healthy so the calories don't count". Flavoured water has calories, fruit juices have calories, that single sweet your friend handed you: calories. Certain medicines have calories, practically everything you eat has calories.
Could you open your diary so we can have a look?4
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