HELP...im exceeding sugar and carbs but not eating enough

drae3074
drae3074 Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
I often see the recommendation to eat more but im unsure how to do that. To make up the calories, and not add to carbs or sugar seems impossible. What am I doing wrong?

All suggestions/insights welcomed!

Replies

  • cbevan1229
    cbevan1229 Posts: 326 Member
    Your diary is not public, so I can't see what you are eating. Off the top of my head I would say try adding eggs, cooking with olive oil, and adding more lean meat?
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    Thank you, I just changed my settings
  • cbevan1229
    cbevan1229 Posts: 326 Member
    I peeked through your last week, and it looked like every day but today you had lots and lots of carbs left at the end of the day.
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    Thanks for your help
    my sugar seems high and I had over 200 cals left. I havent lost since last week and fear im not eating enough. I guess this is where the frustration begins......

    I dont know how important the limits are but I clearly have not found my balance.
  • joannaengel
    joannaengel Posts: 22
    I honestly would not worry too much about it if your carbs and sugars are coming from fruits and veg. I noticed that half your carbs and sugar on most days are coming from your yoghurt. Have you thought about getting a low-fat (not fat free) natural yogurt and adding fresh fruit to it instead of getting the premixed stuff?
  • boppy57
    boppy57 Posts: 5
    I noticed my sugar was running high until I realized they were adding in the sugar from fruit. I eat fruit everyday as part of a balanced diet, along with a few veggies and wish they would recognize that it's not a bad sugar, like say, soft drinks with sugar. On the rare occasions I have a coke I expect the sugar to be high. So you might look at how much Added sugar you are consuming outside of what naturally occurs in your food. Hope this helps.
  • Klem4
    Klem4 Posts: 399 Member
    You really have to think outside the box of what your used to. There is also a difference between eating processed carbs/sugar and natural ones. Your diary does not seem high on carbs to me. I probably average 150 a day, and I workout 6 days a week for 60+minutes.
  • Josie_lifting_cats
    Josie_lifting_cats Posts: 949 Member
    I know only what worked for me. Here it is.

    I needed more than 1,200 calories to lose weight. I spent two months at 1,200 calories every day and didn't lose a pound.

    I half-heartedly "gave up" and began "cheating".... totaling around 1,500 calories a day. The weight started melting off.

    Around that time I found some information to eat at minimum your BMR. My current BMR is about 1,450. I have my goal set for 1,475. I try to eat that. There is a BMR calculator in the tools tab above. To put it simply, if you were to never get out of bed all day, your BMR is the required caloric energy your body would need to survive. Keep your heart beating, keep you breathing, etc.

    So for many months now I've been eating at my BMR. Sometimes I cheat and go above, but am cool with that as long as I stay under my TDEE, which if I recall correctly is just over 2,000 calories. That's kind of a whole different equation, but your TDEE is not only keeping your body alive, but what energy you "use" daily - working, cleaning, whatever.

    It's worked very well for me. I just hit a healthy BMI, and I'm pretty darn close to goal weight.

    I hope that helps a little. Feel free to ask me if something doesn't make sense. Again, this is just what worked for me.
  • lindsayjdodd
    lindsayjdodd Posts: 39 Member
    Hey girl! If you are looking to eat more, I recommend checking out the group on here "Eat More to Weigh Less"- lots of great tips and advice and friendly people who want to help! Also, I would recommend setting your macros at 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. The best way I know to eat more without lots of extra sugar and carbs is eating more protein. Eggs, greek yogurt, cheese, lean meats, nuts, nut butters, protein shakes, etc. This will also sustain you longer and help fuel your workouts!
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    Good point, its definitely worth a try!
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    I love fruit but ive been staying away from it cuz of the sugar. Foolish! They should give you an option for natural vs refined. I will add more fruit, thank you!
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    Thank you, good ideas! Were you apart of the eatmore weigh less?
  • junipuni
    junipuni Posts: 264 Member
    Eating more has helped me as well but I struggled (like you) at first to add foods to my diet without feeling super full and going way over on carbs. Things that I've done is gotten rid of the nonfat milk - I do 2% or whole. I drink a protein shake after workout and that is a good chunk of calories and protein. I add olive oil to recipes when I wouldn't have before. I use nuts as a snack every day. I eat cottage cheese, add peanut butter to my high fiber oatmeal to add in a good chunk of calories without feeling like I'm eating a ton more. Little things add up. I have an easier time if I plan my day the night before and can sit and tweak things a bit without being stressed about wanting to eat right then.
  • jlsAhava
    jlsAhava Posts: 411 Member
    I'm not sure of your stats(height, weight, etc.), but it's generally recommended that women eat no less than 1200 net calories.

    I'm a shorty (4'11") so I figure I don't need quite as many calories as most women. That said - I try to make sure I get in at least 1200 calories - period - I hardly ever look at my net calories. For women of average height, I think eating back your exercise calories is more important. A lot of people find that they can get out of their plateaus by actually increasing their calories. Some people increase them permanently (If you find that you're sluggish or constantly hungry you should definitely increase your daily intake), others just increase their calories once every so often to shake-up their metabolism.

    As for increasing your calories with protein and healthy fats you might try the following: nuts, cheese, Greek Yogurt, avocado, lean meat (sometimes I'll have a couple of slices of turkey breast by itself as a snack). I'm sure I'm missing some of the basics, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

    Also, whole fruits and veges will make your carbs sky-rocket.. Because these are healthy carbs, I generally ignore the carb spike that these usually cause.

    Hope this helps!
    ~JS

    Edited to add: you may want to eat full fat dairy instead of reduced fat. Reduced fat stuff doesn't keep you as satiated, and since you're trying to add non-carb calories you may as well each the more natural (and yummier) versions of these foods.
  • drae3074
    drae3074 Posts: 8
    Thank you all for the help!! Add me if you need another friend or if you just want to :0)

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