Calories and Low Carb

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kfraz33
kfraz33 Posts: 27 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone else have a hard time eating enough calories when going with a low carb diet?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    I had the opposite problem. With low carb there isn't enough volume.

    How many calories are you trying to eat? How much protein and fiber are you eating?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    For some when they go low carb they cut out most of the foods they were relying on or still have a hard time getting themselves to eat full fat or high fat foods. You have to get over that.

    What's your current typical day, and we can suggest ideas?
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Are you losing weight faster than expected? It is possible you're not hungry if you're eating more than you think you are.
  • kfraz33
    kfraz33 Posts: 27 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    I had the opposite problem. With low carb there isn't enough volume.

    How many calories are you trying to eat? How much protein and fiber are you eating?

    Considering I'm also running, cycling and doing HIIT, I feel like I should be getting up to 1800 - 1900. Today I got to about 1500 and I'm feeling pretty full. I do need to get more fiber. I'm following 10% Carb, 65% Fat and 25% Probtein.
  • kfraz33
    kfraz33 Posts: 27 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    For some when they go low carb they cut out most of the foods they were relying on or still have a hard time getting themselves to eat full fat or high fat foods. You have to get over that.

    What's your current typical day, and we can suggest ideas?

    My first meal comes around noon. Usually a cheddar cheese 2 egg omelette, 2 sausage patties. (550ish calories). Almonds if I get hungry. (140 Cals). Dinner of about 400-500 Cals and Peanut butter and a glass of milk 300 cals.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    kfraz33 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I had the opposite problem. With low carb there isn't enough volume.

    How many calories are you trying to eat? How much protein and fiber are you eating?

    Considering I'm also running, cycling and doing HIIT, I feel like I should be getting up to 1800 - 1900. Today I got to about 1500 and I'm feeling pretty full. I do need to get more fiber. I'm following 10% Carb, 65% Fat and 25% Probtein.

    For an active male that is a bit low, especially considering you are only getting about 100g of protein. If anything drop fats in favor of more protein.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited January 2019
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    kfraz33 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    For some when they go low carb they cut out most of the foods they were relying on or still have a hard time getting themselves to eat full fat or high fat foods. You have to get over that.

    What's your current typical day, and we can suggest ideas?

    My first meal comes around noon. Usually a cheddar cheese 2 egg omelette, 2 sausage patties. (550ish calories). Almonds if I get hungry. (140 Cals). Dinner of about 400-500 Cals and Peanut butter and a glass of milk 300 cals.

    Add another egg. Have avocado on the side. Imagine a 500 cal breakfast/lunch with 3 eggs (210 cal), some cheese (100 cal), cook in olive oil (100 cal), 2 sausage patties (could easily be 300 cal), add some vegetables too. Then eat the nuts and have twice as many, nuts are easy to overeat. Have a higher cal dinner -- what are you eating (agree important to have a decent amount of protein, so make sure you have a good amount at dinner)? Easy to have more peanut butter and more milk (and make sure it's full fat milk).

    That said, for a man with all that activity, that's low. Are you losing? How carefully are you counting?
  • kfraz33
    kfraz33 Posts: 27 Member
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    Started at about 208 and I am down to 200 in about a month but I indulged over Xmas and New Year's. My goal is 185, so I want to make sure it's sustainable. Added some prebiotic fiber to my diet today and also some 85% Dark Chocolate. I think the difficulty is that I'm doing intermittent fasting. No food from 8pm to noon the next day.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    kfraz33 wrote: »
    Started at about 208 and I am down to 200 in about a month but I indulged over Xmas and New Year's. My goal is 185, so I want to make sure it's sustainable. Added some prebiotic fiber to my diet today and also some 85% Dark Chocolate. I think the difficulty is that I'm doing intermittent fasting. No food from 8pm to noon the next day.

    I would add in some higher calorie foods than or add some cheese.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Today, 20 grams carb and 2027 calories. Getting plenty of calories while keeping carbs low is easy. Olives, butter, sardines in oil and fatty meats have no carbs at all. Leafy green vegetables, cheese, and eggs have tiny numbers of carbs. Chia seeds have no digestible carbs. Nuts and some berries have so few carbs that small portions of these can be included each day, and I've even been able to include a square of dark chocolate on some days.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
    edited January 2019
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    kfraz33 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    For some when they go low carb they cut out most of the foods they were relying on or still have a hard time getting themselves to eat full fat or high fat foods. You have to get over that.

    What's your current typical day, and we can suggest ideas?

    My first meal comes around noon. Usually a cheddar cheese 2 egg omelette, 2 sausage patties. (550ish calories). Almonds if I get hungry. (140 Cals). Dinner of about 400-500 Cals and Peanut butter and a glass of milk 300 cals.
    psuLemon wrote: »
    kfraz33 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I had the opposite problem. With low carb there isn't enough volume.

    How many calories are you trying to eat? How much protein and fiber are you eating?

    Considering I'm also running, cycling and doing HIIT, I feel like I should be getting up to 1800 - 1900. Today I got to about 1500 and I'm feeling pretty full. I do need to get more fiber. I'm following 10% Carb, 65% Fat and 25% Probtein.

    For an active male that is a bit low, especially considering you are only getting about 100g of protein. If anything drop fats in favor of more protein.

    Yes, @kfraz33 you could swap out some higher protein / lower fat meats like chicken and beef for types of food like eggs, cheese, and sausage, which have a higher fat:protein ratio.

    What do you typically have for dinner?
  • kfraz33
    kfraz33 Posts: 27 Member
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    Usually about 6 oz of pork, chicken, beef or fish along with some spinach or asparagus. Started adding a prebiotic plant based fiber today. I end up with about 500-600 calorie dinner. I think if I can add a 150-200 cal snack at 2 and at 7, it would get me up to 1800 ish calories.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    No, but I tend to opt for higher fat choices.

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