Does anyone have trouble getting enough calories?

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kenexa11
kenexa11 Posts: 21 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello!! On some days I max my fat, carbs or protein but I find it hard to get enough calories..is this strange? lol :frown: I've been eating a fruit..banana or orange or apple plus egg whites with spinach, tomatoes and cheese for breakfast. Lunch is usually a salad and half a sandwich and dinner is a protein (salmon, chix or turkey burger) with a vegtable and then I eat a starch like 3 times a week with dinner. For snacks I'll do almonds, carrots and hummus, a protein shake...it's just wierd that at the end of the day I'm only at 1100 calories. I want to do this the healthy way and I know having at least 1200 calories a day is a must! Any advice would be great. Thank you!!

Replies

  • sineadangele1
    sineadangele1 Posts: 97 Member
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    add in a donut or somethin lol that'll get you up at least 300 calories
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I got some instant breakfast to drink in skim milk on days when I run under-- it makes a great dessert. :)
  • Artemis_Acorn
    Artemis_Acorn Posts: 836 Member
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    Add some more nuts, avacado or a protein shake. Add a TB of olive oil to your vegetables and you're there.
  • masterb403
    masterb403 Posts: 1
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    Would you care to trade your not enough calorie dilemma for my too many calorie dilemma? :P

    But to be serious,

    Just looking at what I assume are some of your favorite foods, here are a few suggestions:

    -Stop using egg whites, and move on to whole eggs. The saturated fat at your macro goals isn't going to hurt you at all, and they're full of vitamins and extra calories.

    -Use olive oil with your veggies, either in a grill or a saute (one tablespoon is ~120 calories).

    -I'm glad to see cheese on here... now eat more of it!

    If it's an appetite issue, try lifting weights (if you aren't already), and if you are, lift heavier!

    Hope this helps.
  • cowboydan43
    cowboydan43 Posts: 306 Member
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    Protein shake, nut butters, higher calorie nuts (cashews come to mind), avocado, use olive oil to cook your meat or whatever.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    incorporate in some higher calorie items; like on the salad u could put some nuts or cheese on it, or the sandwich (not sure what kind u r having) have cheese, or make it a peanut butter sandwhich... if its a day ur low cal, dont eat carrots as ur snack eat the nuts instead.... doing something as simple as adding in a cup of milk or juice will boost your calories that extra 100.

    heres my usual list of high calorie/natural foods: rice, large potatoes (or normal size with cottage cheese), beans, avacodo, lean meats, cheese, natural peanut butter, nuts, bananas, pears...and on really low calorie days u can combine some of these items--like rice beans avacodo meat cheese will make a burrito, or rice with beans in it, or peanut butter on fruit.

    if ur only 100calories away though, id go with adding a little extra here and there and it will equal out to 100extra..
  • itontae
    itontae Posts: 138 Member
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    I have seen the same question asked on various weight loss sites and am genuinely curious as I don't understand the question.

    I presume you are overweight , or you would not be here in the first place. So you are no stranger to eating plenty. How come it's a problem now? I don't get it at all. Can you please explain? :smile:
  • Kolohe71
    Kolohe71 Posts: 613 Member
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    I have seen the same question asked on various weight loss sites and am genuinely curious as I don't understand the question.

    I presume you are overweight , or you would not be here in the first place. So you are no stranger to eating plenty. How come it's a problem now? I don't get it at all. Can you please explain? :smile:
    I would generally argree, but in this case the OP is asking specifically about meeting her calories WITHOUT going over on fat, protein or carbs.

    To the OP, I would go into your goals under the custom setting and change your carbs, protein and fat from their defaults (55% carb, 15 protein & 30% fat) to something more realistic. I use 40% carb, 40% protein and 20% fat. By default I think that protein is set WAY too low.

    If you do this, just remember to redo it if you lose enough weight and need to reset your calorie goal. Set it using the recommended values, then reset them using custom with the only difference being the percentages.
  • Pisc2749
    Pisc2749 Posts: 61 Member
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    I have seen the same question asked on various weight loss sites and am genuinely curious as I don't understand the question.

    I presume you are overweight , or you would not be here in the first place. So you are no stranger to eating plenty. How come it's a problem now? I don't get it at all. Can you please explain? :smile:

    Yeah, thanks I feel the same way. I don't understand either - if you are tracking your food intake and see that you haven't eaten enough for the day, then add in something more. Everyone adjusts what they eat to meet and not exceed their calorie goal, that's what the tracking is for. Sometimes I feel posts like this are for nothing more than to rub it in the faces of those who are struggling with eating less and staying within their calorie range. I'm not bashing, it's just the way I feel.
  • megmariew1
    megmariew1 Posts: 60
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    I have seen the same question asked on various weight loss sites and am genuinely curious as I don't understand the question.

    I presume you are overweight , or you would not be here in the first place. So you are no stranger to eating plenty. How come it's a problem now? I don't get it at all. Can you please explain? :smile:

    I have the same problem, but I don't really see it as a problem. I feel like I am eating alot all day long, but I am consistently under my calorie goal. I pretty much eat the same things as you, egg whites, veggies, chicken, fish, etc. If I'm not hungry, I'm not going to force myself to eat something.

    Before I started eating healthier, I had no trouble getting in up to 3000+ cals a day, but I was eating crap. Lots of Mcdonalds, Pizza, Ice Cream, Cake...etc. I was a junk food,/fast food junkie. Now I am eating healthy foods and it's filling me up and I'm losing weight. :)
  • itontae
    itontae Posts: 138 Member
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    I still don't understand.
    But I do have the solution....eat the whole darn sandwich . Problem solved :wink:
  • Kolohe71
    Kolohe71 Posts: 613 Member
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    People... IF you read the OP, it appears that the only issue she is having is meeting her calorie alotment WITHOUT going over on carbs, proteins and/or fats. Calories are only a portion of healthy eating. Please read and understand the question before replying.
  • Corruptkitten
    Corruptkitten Posts: 157 Member
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    I have the same issue! I am trying to balance it out, but then I go over on my fat and or protein...yikes!
  • itontae
    itontae Posts: 138 Member
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    People... IF you read the OP, it appears that the only issue she is having is meeting her calorie alotment WITHOUT going over on carbs, proteins and/or fats. Calories are only a portion of healthy eating. Please read and understand the question before replying.

    read and understood perfectly, thanks boss. Still can't understand how it can possibly be a problem.
  • Bahet
    Bahet Posts: 1,254 Member
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    I have that problem except I'm consistently under in everything. I forget to eat or get busy or I'm just not hungry. I honestly don't understand why I'm not losing weight like crazy. I got fat because I have a weakness for ice cream and chocolate. But I haven't had either in weeks, possibly months (except for 3 bowls of ice cream about a month ago when hurricane Irene hit. We lost power so we ate the ice cream before it could melt. I wish I'd just thrown it down the drain though.)

    Anyhow, today is a bit extreme even for me but to give you an idea it's 7:24pm here. I've finished dinner. I'm full. So far today I have 649 calories in, 73 carbs, 23 fat, 47 protein, 1058 sodium and 9 fiber. I had a smoothie for breakfast and crab stuffed flounder for dinner. I missed lunch because I was out running errands. I also ate 2 TBS of Biscoff spread because it's yummy and because I was trying to get more calories. In the past week I have averaged 1227 calories and haven't gone over my allotment in anything but sodium, protein, and fiber. Even then, that number is high because I was at a BoyScout potluck on Monday so I got over 1700 that day (still under the max). Otherwise of the past 7 days I've only gone over 1200 calories twice.

    Even my son picks on me for forgetting to eat. He's a teenage boy so to him forgetting to eat is like forgetting to inhale. :laugh: I'm glad to know someone else is having a problem getting enough calories. I thought I was the only fat person to ever consider cheating on her food diary by ADDING more than I really ate. :laugh: FTR, I don't cheat. I am pretty meticulous about being accurate. False data isn't going to help me get where I want to be.
  • kenexa11
    kenexa11 Posts: 21 Member
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    Thank you Kolohe71!! lol Believe me, I could get enough calories...obviously I did seeing as I was 25 lbs overweight. I guess I'm having a hard time explaing it...when I first started MFP I just paid attention to calories. Then as I lost a few pounds I changed the percentages because MFP has the protein very low in my opinion. But didn't mean to get some people upset...I am eating all day but some of the foods just don't have enough calories but have too many carbs or fat. Like nuts and fruit. I'm about 133 right now and doing 1200 calories per day, having a whole sandwich, a banana and a startch with dinner plus everything else that adds carbs during the day would put me over 100mg...which I read if you're trying to lose it's best to stay between 50-100 a day. Thank you for all your input!
  • itontae
    itontae Posts: 138 Member
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    alexa you sound very motivated and very well informed. I'm looking forward to hearing your success story in the not too distant future :flowerforyou:
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    Have a snickers, it'll satisfy you.
  • atesson
    atesson Posts: 2
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    WOW! I see what you mean. Some real critics out there!
    Others seemed pretty helpful and genuine.
  • dovesgate
    dovesgate Posts: 894 Member
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    I have seen the same question asked on various weight loss sites and am genuinely curious as I don't understand the question.

    I presume you are overweight , or you would not be here in the first place. So you are no stranger to eating plenty. How come it's a problem now? I don't get it at all. Can you please explain? :smile:

    This explains it:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

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