1200++ Calories Per Day - Suggestions! Please!

Hi guys! I'm new to the site and have FINALLY started a healthy weight loss journey! Yay, Hurrah, Woop!

I am currently 5'2" and probably about 170 lbs. Way back when, I had a long and hard hospitalization type bout of bulimia, spent a lot of time recovering (a lifelong process), started a great exercise routine and was EATING and gained enough weight to sit around a size 8. I actually felt really good and it was fabulous.

Enter NOW: I made a big move, gained major weight. MAJOR MAJOR. I somehow skyrocketed to 220 lbs. YIKES, right?! So I needed some time and went on a big trip, sorted my life out, came home around 175 lbs (all through exercise - no purging!) and decided that it is finally time to control things in a healthy kind of way. So here I am on Calorie Count doing my due diligence trying to figure out how much I'm eating every day. As it turns out I am consuming the bare minimum 1200 cals. Every time I see advice on what to eat to up my calories its junk food. Things that can certain trigger a binge/purge episode for me. I cannot be near cookies, chips, crackers and cheese because even if I only eat a small serving I feel the need to purge.

So essential my question is this - what can I eat to up my calories? I am eating about 200 cals every 2 hours which, in all honesty, is filling to me right now. I have been trying to drink an extra glass of milk daily for an extra 100 cals but really, I need about 500 more STILL. That’s like eating 3 cans of tuna! 5 large whole eggs! 5 slices of bread! I KNOW I need to be eating more and pleasepleaseplease understand that I am not one of ‘those’ girls glorifying my lack of eating. I really and truly feel so much better and more in control of my life now that I have some semblance of normalcy back into my food choices. I just need some pointers on high calorie snacks that won’t give me that ‘heavy’ feeling. Preferably, said snacks would be inexpensive and portable as well! Just being picky though, anything you suggest would be helpful!

PS: in the weight gain section the suggestions are also really 'heavy' and dense foods - protein powders and supplements. Recipes would be good too!

How do you feel about nuts?  Nut butters?  Avocados?  Dried fruit?  (Cheese isn't junk food, BTW.  You just shouldn't overdo it.  A serving is only 1 ounce.)

I know one common recommendation for packing a bunch of calories into one place in a healthy way is to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich - which can easily have 500 cals if you make it to do so.  Or how about having either half an avocado sliced on whole grain crackers (e.g. Ryvita - not the junky crackers) or a whole avocado diced up with some tomato, cucumber and onion topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Five dates and twelve almonds is a common snack of mine for 200 cals.  It would be easy to have ten dates and twenty-four almonds for 400.  (Note that I'm not talking giant dates; my five dates weigh about 35 g total.)  Or swap in other dried fruit and/or nuts.

I like to avoid cheese because it was certainly my downfall - I got to the point where I put it on EVERYTHING. Gross!

Awesome ideas with the advocados! and the nuts with dates!

I like those ideas because they don't seem too too filling, less like full meals and more like snacks! I have been enjoying whole grain crackers with goat cheese and dried crans on top lately, so maybe just adding 24 almonds to the mix.

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

Hi. I was just going to say nuts and advocados but susie beat me to it! My other suggestion is seeds - sunflower and pumpkin seeds are high calorie healthy snacks and very portable. 100g is about 520 calories.

I like to mash up half an advodado with a tomato and chilli flakes and have on a bagel toasted.

Figs or prunes or bananas are nice with greek yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.

Adding some olive oil or butter to your current menu or recipes once or twice a day will add calories. And you could have juice/smoothy as a drink with breakfast.

salmon filet (pan-fry it with some olive/grapeseed oil and whatever sauce you like). the good fat will give you better skin and hair :)

Avocados have healthy fats and potassium too, and I find they help keep my mood perky, so they might be a really good choice. Nuts are awesome too, plenty of great minerals and oils and quite calorific, sneak in a few bites of each and you're nowhere near junk food, but still upping your intake.

Good luck!