How to meet your calories target??
swanfood
Posts: 11 Member
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
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Replies
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Are you weighing all your food with a food scale? If not, you're eating more than you think you are.
You don't have to be exactly at your calorie goal every day, but 987 is far too few calories for an adult. After you get your food scale, if you still have a lot of calories left over, focus first on getting enough protein. If you're still not very hungry, you can make up the difference with high calorie, low volume foods like peanut butter.11 -
My diary is open. I eat over 2000 calories every day. Feel free to look for ideas.4
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So your target is 1800 calories.
You've consumed 987 so far today so have 813 calories left
you've also done a 1 hour weights session so we'll be conservative and say you burned an extra 500 calories and just to be safe you can eat back 1/2 of those so you have 1063 calories left.
Now I don't know what sort of food you enjoy but if this was me my dinner would probably look something like
- Whopper Jnr with cheese - 382
- Sml fries - 340
- Oreo Cookie Cheesecake - 350
Total - 1072
See, it's easy10 -
Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
11 -
Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
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So your target is 1800 calories.
You've consumed 987 so far today so have 813 calories left
you've also done a 1 hour weights session so we'll be conservative and say you burned an extra 500 calories and just to be safe you can eat back 1/2 of those so you have 1063 calories left.
Now I don't know what sort of food you enjoy but if this was me my dinner would probably look something like
- Whopper Jnr with cheese - 382
- Sml fries - 340
- Oreo Cookie Cheesecake - 350
Total - 1072
See, it's easy
Am I supposed to have 1800 before I go to bed? Or should it be less than 1800? I’m trying to lose weight. I’m not sure if I can have dessert lol
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Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
If you are trying to lose weight, that means at some point you were probably gaining weight. You did that by eating more than 1800 calories a day. You certainly didn't only eat 980 calories a day. So what did you eat then that you aren't eating now? Eat some of that again.11 -
So your target is 1800 calories.
You've consumed 987 so far today so have 813 calories left
you've also done a 1 hour weights session so we'll be conservative and say you burned an extra 500 calories and just to be safe you can eat back 1/2 of those so you have 1063 calories left.
Now I don't know what sort of food you enjoy but if this was me my dinner would probably look something like
- Whopper Jnr with cheese - 382
- Sml fries - 340
- Oreo Cookie Cheesecake - 350
Total - 1072
See, it's easy
Am I supposed to have 1800 before I go to bed? Or should it be less than 1800? I’m trying to lose weight. I’m not sure if I can have dessert lol
Nothing wrong with dessert if it fits your calories6 -
Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
If you are trying to lose weight, that means at some point you were probably gaining weight. You did that by eating more than 1800 calories a day. You certainly didn't only eat 980 calories a day. So what did you eat then that you aren't eating now? Eat some of that again.
I gained weight a long time ago and I never counted calories but my weight always has been the same for months so now I’m trying to watch how I eat and I’m trying to lose weight. I suppose I could just look up some 1800 calories receipts online I guess.
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You’re supposed to have 1800 PLUS about half of your exercise calories. Have some peanut butter.4
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I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.3 -
Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
That lack of energy indicates you're not eating enough to fuel your bodies activities. If you filled your MFP profile correctly and it indicated you need 1800 calories per day to meet your goals, you definitely should be aiming up there.0 -
I just added some cheese and crackers to my meal tonight because my calories are low today too. When I have a lot of extra calories I like to think of those higher fat foods that I don't often eat like peanut butter, cheese and ice cream. Those calories add up quickly.0
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I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
Of course you are not meant to be at exactly 1800 ( or any number)
I'm sure most people don't eat to the exact number every day - what do they do so if day finishes at 1795? Have one more grape or 127.5 Gm of pickles??
( made up examples)
Aim to eat to around your allotted figure every day, or look at it weekly, and to average it to around that. Eat back at least half your excercice calories.
Log tightly, at least in the beginning,to make sure you are really eating what you think you are eating.0 -
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
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paperpudding wrote: »I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
Of course you are not meant to be at exactly 1800 ( or any number)
I'm sure most people don't eat to the exact number every day - what do they do so if day finishes at 1795? Have one more grape or 127.5 Gm of pickles??
( made up examples)
Aim to eat to around your allotted figure every day, or look at it weekly, and to average it to around that. Eat back at least half your excercice calories.
Log tightly, at least in the beginning,to make sure you are really eating what you think you are eating.
Makes sense. Yeah, I’m counting calories strictly because it has actually worked before that I have lost 10lbs and then I stopped counting so then my weight just stayed the same for ages. The thing is, I didn’t work out at that time so I only needed way less than 1800 calories and it was easy for me.
I’ve recently started to work out 5 times a week and I decided that it’s time to count calories (that was yesterday) because I always found myself feeling seriously weak while working out. So yeah here i am!1 -
You are welcome to look at my diary....I eat close to 1750 a day...I am keto so don't look at the carbs since I eat very little of them0
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Megan_smartiepants1970 wrote: »You are welcome to look at my diary....I eat close to 1750 a day...I am keto so don't look at the carbs since I eat very little of them
I can’t see it. I went on your profile. I’m new to this app. How does it work?
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I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
I'm guessing you're vegetarian? Here are some ideas.
In the morning add the rest of your banana and 2 more tablespoons of peanut butter (real, full fat peanut butter). That's 250 more calories.
Have an extra half cup of your ricotta and add some feta or other cheese to it.
Snack, have 2 handfuls of peanuts.
Dinner - have more flatbread with more cheese on it. It can't be very much flatbread if you only getting 300 calories out of it. If that's too much, add some olive oil on top.
It wouldn't be hard with a couple of changes to change this to hit 1800 calories.
You also need to find more sources of protein for your diet besides one scoop of protein powder. Your strength training isn't gonna do you any good without it.4 -
Megan_smartiepants1970 wrote: »You are welcome to look at my diary....I eat close to 1750 a day...I am keto so don't look at the carbs since I eat very little of them
I can’t see it. I went on your profile. I’m new to this app. How does it work?
I sent you a friend request....at this moment it seems MFP is acting up on the home page and on profiles0 -
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
I'm guessing you're vegetarian? Here are some ideas.
In the morning add the rest of your banana and 2 more tablespoons of peanut butter (real, full fat peanut butter). That's 250 more calories.
Have an extra half cup of your ricotta and add some feta or other cheese to it.
Snack, have 2 handfuls of peanuts.
Dinner - have more flatbread with more cheese on it. It can't be very much flatbread if you only getting 300 calories out of it. If that's too much, add some olive oil on top.
It wouldn't be hard with a couple of changes to change this to hit 1800 calories.
You also need to find more sources of protein for your diet besides one scoop of protein powder. Your strength training isn't gonna do you any good without it.
True, I will try your suggestion! Nah, I do eat meat. It’s just that I hate having to defrost meat and then cook them. I like to do things fast. Should I add one more protein scoop to my smoothie? Or is that too much?
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Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
"Measuring" is not the same as weighing. You mention a lot of cups and spoons, which are not accurate for solid foods. Get a food scale, weigh your food, and find out how much you're actually eating. Then you can determine how you want to use the remaining calories.8 -
greek yogurt is ready to eat and has a lot of protein. You can purchase it in various fat levels.
You are measuring, not weighing.
Your spoonful of peanut butter has a high likelihood of being more than 14g.
Your scoop of protein powder has a high likelihood of being more of higher weight than the scoop on label's nutritional information.
I can buy a small sub 100g banana or a 200g monster.... pita bread out of the package has had, in my experience, up to a 20% weight variation as compared to what was stated on the packaging.
You SHOULD be eating your actual 1800 Calories to meet your goals. Just, don't be too surprised if you discover that your 1000 Calories was substantially more than you thought.
And there is nothing wrong with cheesecake on a diet if you can afford the calories without crowding out your "good" nutrients!!!11 -
greek yogurt is ready to eat and has a lot of protein. You can purchase it in various fat levels.
You are measuring, not weighing.
Your spoonful of peanut butter has a high likelihood of being more than 14g.
Your scoop of protein powder has a high likelihood of being more of higher weight than the scoop on label's nutritional information.
I can buy a small sub 100g banana or a 200g monster.... pita bread out of the package has had, in my experience, up to a 20% weight variation as compared to what was stated on the packaging.
You SHOULD be eating your actual 1800 Calories to meet your goals. Just, don't be too surprised if you discover that your 1000 Calories was substantially more than you thought.
And there is nothing wrong with cheesecake on a diet if you can afford the calories without crowding out your "good" nutrients!!!
x100 on all this. food scale.
i've lost weight steadily eating dessert (chocolate) twice a day. once you've had your fill of nutrient (fuit, veggies, protein, fat) then there are zero bonus points for adding more "clean healthy foods"
for protein there are some great jerkie's out there.
ETA: yay i got a woo for this!8 -
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
Some of those calorie counts strike me as exceedingly optimistic. A 'handful' of peanuts for 175 calories? Maybe if you were using a baby's hand; that's about the right number of calories for 28g of peanuts, and 28g is way fewer peanuts than people generally assume.
As for your dinner - a few kalamata olives and a small portion of feta is almost 200 kcal by themselves, leaving you only 100 calories for the flatbread and vegetables!
You need to weigh your food. Given how much of what you're eating is calorie dense, you will certainly find that you're consuming more calories than you think. And that it's much easier to eat your calorie goal
5 -
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
Some of those calorie counts strike me as exceedingly optimistic. A 'handful' of peanuts for 175 calories? Maybe if you were using a baby's hand; that's about the right number of calories for 28g of peanuts, and 28g is way fewer peanuts than people generally assume.
As for your dinner - a few kalamata olives and a small portion of feta is almost 200 kcal by themselves, leaving you only 100 calories for the flatbread and vegetables!
You need to weigh your food. Given how much of what you're eating is calorie dense, you will certainly find that you're consuming more calories than you think. And that it's much easier to eat your calorie goal
Thank you!! I can see why my mom really tried to encourage me to buy food scale! I am going to order one on Amazon. Know any good ones? Also, how does it work with counting calories on this app? Do I continue to scan the barcode on every food I buy and then add the weight of its food? Or do I create a data manually?
2 -
Assuming you have joined this site to lose weight I find it peculiar that you are struggling to eat 1800 which really isn't a lot of food. More information required - remember only you know anything about you.
No you don't have to be exact, around that number is fine as is averaging it out over the course of a week.
I have measured every food I put in my mouth and I too was surprised to see that I only have consumed around 980 calories and that also explains why I haven’t feeling energy every time I work out. I get extremely tired. I don’t really know how people can get 1800???
If you are here to lose weight, you were eating more than 1800 before.1 -
I have ate food today and it’s 987 calories in total so far (About to have m dinner now). I also just worked out (strength training) for two hours so it’s probably less than 987 calories now. How the heck do you meet 1800??? Are you supposed to be at 1800 exact AFTER workout?
What did you eat? How many meals did you have? 987 calories is just one meal for some people.
Yesterday My meals were 661 + 559 + 421, with snacks of 240 = 1881 calories.
Breakfast - (315 calories) Half Banana, Coconut/Almond Protein (One scoop), 1 spoon of peanut butter (this container only has 1g sugar of one serving), 1 cup almond milk no sugar
Lunch - (228 calories) Spinach Ricotta (1 cup) with Pesto and Parmesan cheese
Snack - (175 calories) Handful of peanuts
Then I work out for two hours (I take two minutes break between the sets)
Dinner - (300 calories) I’m planning on baking greek flatbread with kalamia olives and some veggies and feta cheese now.
So that’s only 1012 calories today so far. Not sure how many calories I have burned from strength training. It’s only moderate.
Some of those calorie counts strike me as exceedingly optimistic. A 'handful' of peanuts for 175 calories? Maybe if you were using a baby's hand; that's about the right number of calories for 28g of peanuts, and 28g is way fewer peanuts than people generally assume.
As for your dinner - a few kalamata olives and a small portion of feta is almost 200 kcal by themselves, leaving you only 100 calories for the flatbread and vegetables!
You need to weigh your food. Given how much of what you're eating is calorie dense, you will certainly find that you're consuming more calories than you think. And that it's much easier to eat your calorie goal
Thank you!! I can see why my mom really tried to encourage me to buy food scale! I am going to order one on Amazon. Know any good ones? Also, how does it work with counting calories on this app? Do I continue to scan the barcode on every food I buy and then add the weight of its food? Or do I create a data manually?
Almost any food scale will work fine. Look for one that is digital, has a tare function (sometimes it's the on/off switch), and that you can easily switch between ounces and grams. If you're going to be weighing large pots of food then you'll also probably want to be sure the scale can handle it (I think most go up to 11 pounds, but there are a few that can't handle more than a few pounds).
Have you have a chance to read through the posts at the top of each form section marked as the Most Helpful Posts (must reads)? There are some really good guides to using MFP and logging your food there. Especially those at the top of the Getting Started and General Diet boards. Definitely check them out if you haven't yet.4 -
Lots of food scale tips in this thread.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p11
This discussion has been closed.
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