Why can't I eat enough?

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JBHawaii
JBHawaii Posts: 94
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm finally at, and below, my goal weight. When my scale finally ticked under 175 I was thrilled.

But I knew the real work was starting because now I had to maintain this weight. So, I started to slowly up my calories and to my surprise my weight loss accelerated! In fact, I started to get kinda scared. So I upped my calories quicker , and, luckily, I gained a little weight back today... Probably water but it's all good, I started getting too scrawny.

My biggest problem though is that MFP suggest I eat 2200 calories a day to maintain. This means that on a hard training day (I am currently triathlon/marathon training) I have to eat up to 1000 exercise calories back... I just can't find a way to eat that much food! This means that I'm always in a deficit and I seriously don't want to lose any more weight.

I know that I can eat something like peanut butter for pure calories but I just don't like to eat like that. My philosophy is that the body wants whole foods, nothing processed, nothing with high ammts of refined sugar, and that these foods should be eaten in their natural state whenever possible. So, what should I experiment with to add calories, reduce food bulk, and make sure I eat enough every day?

I am really having a tough time with this. I have tried increasing the number of meals but then I just end up cooking all day long, literally, ever two hours I spend 15 mins preparing food... It's not manageable.

Any ideas out there?

Replies

  • BlackRose101
    BlackRose101 Posts: 117 Member
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    Hey there,

    Perhaps you should check out bb.com. You need to eat more, just amp up your portions, protein shakes, eggs etc. You don't need to eat garbage, just eat more of the good stuff you eat already :)
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    You should be looking into high sugar foods (fruits would be good) and if absolutely needed, enjoy some sort of heavy dessert.

    Part of training for such an event means fueling yourself. Learn to accept some high calorie foods in your diet, knowing you'll burn them off.
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    You seem to have a really good diet.

    Some higher-calorie/less filling foods that I find would help are:
    - nuts (you can get natural peanut butter - basically just crushed peanuts)
    - dried fruit
    - sweet potatoes (I see you already do that)
    - regular fruit (bananas are great and require no cooking)
    - maybe throw on a bit of extra olive or coconut oil in your meals..

    Honestly, with the amount of protein you eat, it'll be tough to be hungry enough to eat that much (not saying you should drop the protein - just saying it makes it tougher).

    If you're training for a triathlon/marathon regularly, your body is probably doing its best to shed any extra weight it has. Training for an endurance sport as extreme as that and trying to gain weight is almost a contradicting goal.
  • JBHawaii
    JBHawaii Posts: 94
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    Well, I'm not trying to gain anything at all, I just want to stop losing, lol! I have really been thinking about adding nuts, maybe move to almond butter and add walnuts in.

    I do try to keep sugar low so I think too many bananas and fruit are out. So is desert.

    I think nuts are gonna be the next thing to be added in... If that doesn't work I'll add oils (but I already eat a lot of avocado and skin on chicken for fats)... Maybe I'll try snacking too... High carb snacks like triscuits... My only problem is that it's processed and I stay away from processed foods as much as possible.
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    Well, I'm not trying to gain anything at all, I just want to stop losing, lol! I have really been thinking about adding nuts, maybe move to almond butter and add walnuts in.

    I do try to keep sugar low so I think too many bananas and fruit are out. So is desert.

    I think nuts are gonna be the next thing to be added in... If that doesn't work I'll add oils (but I already eat a lot of avocado and skin on chicken for fats)... Maybe I'll try snacking too... High carb snacks like triscuits... My only problem is that it's processed and I stay away from processed foods as much as possible.

    Ya, I love almond butter - spread on a banana or bacon, it's super tasty. My wife just eats it out of the jar with a spoon, haha.

    With the amount of exercise you do, having some extra sugar in fruit likely wouldn't have any negative impact. Personally, I'd go with something unprocessed like fruit over triscuits if I needed to get some quick energy.

    But give the nuts a shot and see if that helps. You probably won't hurt yourself too much experimenting a bit with different things. Try various things out and see how your body responds.

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