How to hit 2000 calories a day?

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I realized how much I’ve been under eating my entire life. I started my fitness journey about 6 months ago but just recently started tracking my calories and I only eat about 1200 a day. Now listen, this has nothing to do with me ever dieting. I never had dieted in the past I just had a massive sweet tooth and never ate full meals. If you could let me know the easiest way to do this,or direct me to any references it would be very helpful! Thank you

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  • Shanese270
    Shanese270 Posts: 6 Member
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    Hi! I’ve just been using this app to roughly estimate and looking at the back of packages and adding it up. Thanks for the tip!
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
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    have you been loosing weight in the last while? or staying about the same?
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    if you don't weigh every single morsel you will never know how much you are actually eating. also remember to include drinks in your log too.

    I find it hard to believe that with a sweet tooth you are eating 1200 calories. I can put away 1200 calories in one sitting quite easily. Especially if it comes from cakes and things like that. Easy peasy.
  • Shanese270
    Shanese270 Posts: 6 Member
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    Panini911 wrote: »
    have you been loosing weight in the last while? or staying about the same?

    I’ve stayed the same for about the last month now! Kinda looks like my stomach is getting less lean day by day
  • Shanese270
    Shanese270 Posts: 6 Member
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    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    if you don't weigh every single morsel you will never know how much you are actually eating. also remember to include drinks in your log too.

    I find it hard to believe that with a sweet tooth you are eating 1200 calories. I can put away 1200 calories in one sitting quite easily. Especially if it comes from cakes and things like that. Easy peasy.

    I don’t eat that much sugar at the moment and I don’t ever drink juice etc. Just coffee and water.

    Today I had a green smoothie for breakfast, 2 whole wheat pitas and 4 mini chicken sausages for lunch. And for dinner I had haddock, mixed Vegetables, rice and salad. And this app says I’m sitting at around 1000 calories left to go.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Shanese270 wrote: »
    I realized how much I’ve been under eating my entire life. I started my fitness journey about 6 months ago but just recently started tracking my calories and I only eat about 1200 a day. Now listen, this has nothing to do with me ever dieting. I never had dieted in the past I just had a massive sweet tooth and never ate full meals. If you could let me know the easiest way to do this,or direct me to any references it would be very helpful! Thank you

    What has happened with your weight over the past 6 months? What are your goals now? Recomp?

    Assuming you do need to add cals to your current diet (which would be the case if you are losing and don't want to be or something similar), some ideas:

    "green smoothie for breakfast" -- what's in the smoothie? Any protein source? Good ways to make smoothies more cals is to add a source of fat (I often add nuts or seeds or full fat dairy -- most commonly I add homemade cashew milk which includes the nuts so has more cals than many store-bought nut milks). Also, adding higher cal fruits like bananas and, again, some protein source (greek yogurt, protein powder). It's very easy to make a 500+ cal smoothie.

    "2 whole wheat pitas and 4 mini chicken sausages for lunch" -- hard to judge the cals in this, but there are tons of higher cal options for lunch. Have a pita with falafel, hummus, and veg if a pita is appealing. Have some other sandwich based around foods you like, maybe add cheese. Add a side salad which will provide some veg and put a dressing on it with a buttermilk or full fat yogurt or (my favorite) olive oil and vinegar base. Check the protein in your meal, since it might be lower than expected.

    "And for dinner I had haddock, mixed Vegetables, ric"e and salad."

    Again, hard to judge the cals here, but any added fat will add cals (so using added fat for cooking is a way of doing so). Rice can easily add up, especially if any fat is used with cooking or you are eyeballing portions. Salad -- depends on what you add, but higher cal dressings (including a plain homemade vinaigrette), cheese, nuts or seeds, and olives, are all good ways to add cals. (Croutons add cals too, of course.) You really need to track all the individual ingredients to know. Mixed veg? Cook with olive oil or butter. You could add a lemon+butter sauce to the haddock.

    Haddock is pretty low cal, so choosing a higher cal protein source on a regular basis will add cals too (although you'd need to know how much you are eating to judge calories).

    Based on the foods mentioned I do think it's possible your current cal count is off, but it you've been losing and don't want to, these are some ideas.
  • MalkinMagic71
    MalkinMagic71 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    If your weight has stayed the same like you stated then you are eating at maintenance. Measure everything.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,950 Member
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    Shanese270 wrote: »
    Panini911 wrote: »
    have you been loosing weight in the last while? or staying about the same?

    I’ve stayed the same for about the last month now! Kinda looks like my stomach is getting less lean day by day

    If you've stayed the same for a month you are eating at maintenance, which is higher than 1200 calories, so you are eating more than 1200 calories.

    Get a food scale and be prepared to have your mind blown.

    Also, not only is a food scale more accurate than eyeballing or using measuring cups and spoons, you don't have cups or spoons to wash.

    If you are currently using cups and spoons, you might as well use a scale, as it is faster and cleaner.

    When one is "roughly estimating", one is not really measuring at all. Food companies are allowed to include up to 20% more calories than is stated on the package.
  • Shanese270
    Shanese270 Posts: 6 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Shanese270 wrote: »
    I realized how much I’ve been under eating my entire life. I started my fitness journey about 6 months ago but just recently started tracking my calories and I only eat about 1200 a day. Now listen, this has nothing to do with me ever dieting. I never had dieted in the past I just had a massive sweet tooth and never ate full meals. If you could let me know the easiest way to do this,or direct me to any references it would be very helpful! Thank you

    What has happened with your weight over the past 6 months? What are your goals now? Recomp?

    Assuming you do need to add cals to your current diet (which would be the case if you are losing and don't want to be or something similar), some ideas:

    "green smoothie for breakfast" -- what's in the smoothie? Any protein source? Good ways to make smoothies more cals is to add a source of fat (I often add nuts or seeds or full fat dairy -- most commonly I add homemade cashew milk which includes the nuts so has more cals than many store-bought nut milks). Also, adding higher cal fruits like bananas and, again, some protein source (greek yogurt, protein powder). It's very easy to make a 500+ cal smoothie.

    "2 whole wheat pitas and 4 mini chicken sausages for lunch" -- hard to judge the cals in this, but there are tons of higher cal options for lunch. Have a pita with falafel, hummus, and veg if a pita is appealing. Have some other sandwich based around foods you like, maybe add cheese. Add a side salad which will provide some veg and put a dressing on it with a buttermilk or full fat yogurt or (my favorite) olive oil and vinegar base. Check the protein in your meal, since it might be lower than expected.

    "And for dinner I had haddock, mixed Vegetables, ric"e and salad."

    Again, hard to judge the cals here, but any added fat will add cals (so using added fat for cooking is a way of doing so). Rice can easily add up, especially if any fat is used with cooking or you are eyeballing portions. Salad -- depends on what you add, but higher cal dressings (including a plain homemade vinaigrette), cheese, nuts or seeds, and olives, are all good ways to add cals. (Croutons add cals too, of course.) You really need to track all the individual ingredients to know. Mixed veg? Cook with olive oil or butter. You could add a lemon+butter sauce to the haddock.

    Haddock is pretty low cal, so choosing a higher cal protein source on a regular basis will add cals too (although you'd need to know how much you are eating to judge calories).

    Based on the foods mentioned I do think it's possible your current cal count is off, but it you've been losing and don't want to, these are some ideas.

    Thank you very much. That was very informative!
  • Shanese270
    Shanese270 Posts: 6 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Shanese270 wrote: »
    Panini911 wrote: »
    have you been loosing weight in the last while? or staying about the same?

    I’ve stayed the same for about the last month now! Kinda looks like my stomach is getting less lean day by day

    If you've stayed the same for a month you are eating at maintenance, which is higher than 1200 calories, so you are eating more than 1200 calories.

    Get a food scale and be prepared to have your mind blown.

    Also, not only is a food scale more accurate than eyeballing or using measuring cups and spoons, you don't have cups or spoons to wash.

    If you are currently using cups and spoons, you might as well use a scale, as it is faster and cleaner.

    When one is "roughly estimating", one is not really measuring at all. Food companies are allowed to include up to 20% more calories than is stated on the package.

    Thank you very much I will look into getting one!