Can't Eat THAT Much!

I've been scrolling through the boards looking for someone having the problem I'm having, but no luck.

I can't fill my "Eat Meter". Not because of a technical problem, but I'm just never that hungry. I'm sure eating a Big Mac isn't the right way to do it either.

Am I supposed to try to reach my calorie goal? I would think so. To get your metabolism working, right? I would assume under-eating is just as dangerous.

Anyone else having this problem?

I do, occasionaly.

I adore fruits and veggies, and tea.  No, really.  Brocolli and lettuce and bananas.  All of it.  Yum.  But generally low calorie...

My suggestions?  Indulge on something you've been craving (a bit of icecream, a slice of cake, ect).  Switch from lowfat yogurts and milks to whole fat.  Eat more nuts and nut butters.  Drink some juice. 

If at the end of the day you find you've eaten too little, force yourself to go out and get something more to eat.  Maybe you're not really hungry, but that doesn't mean yourbody doesn't need those nutrients and calories.

(P.S.  Are you recovering from an ED?  Are you sure you're calculating your daily caloric needs correctly?)   

I struggle too.  I got a lot of the same advice with the nuts & butters...but since I'm allergic that's out.  Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds were another pointer I got too. 

I didn't go "up" to fuller fat milk/cheese but I've added olive oil to my cooking and that is helping me out.  It's not easy but I'm slowly getting closer to the number and more or less as long as I'm around the same daily then I'm better off then sporadic I think.  Hang in there!  I know exactly where you're coming from.

I had this issue when I first started and was told to eat mroe calorie dense foods.  Oatmeals and rice, nuts and regular butter, cooking with olive oil instead of cooking spray, more pastas and creamy dressings were a-okay on my salads.  Heck, even adding an extra pinch of cheese to a salad or eating a few bites of cottage cheese will get your calories up a little.

And hey, sometimes eating that Big Mac is the way to go.  I lost 80 pounds of my weight eating pizza and fast food, junk food, beer, typical 18-21 year old foods.  I strive for better now, but some days, like last night, it was pizza and beer that got me at my calorie target.

I have the same problem...I had an ed last summer, and since then my eating habits have been whack.  I'm a college cheerleader, so I do intense workouts as well as practice everyday...Recently I have been struggling to get over 800 calories a day which I know is dangerous for how much activity I do. 

 Lately I have been eating snacks all day long.  I eat two breakfasts, snack, then lunch, then snack, then dinner.  I eat the most in the morning then it tapers off towards night because I'm not really that hungry at night.  It's hard but I have been managing to barely get 1300 a day...I'm still trying to increase a little though...Good luck too you though!

I have trouble hitting my minimums and add fats to my vegetables. I eat a lot of veggies and use olive oil and vinegar as salad dressing instead of low-calorie dressing, and oil/lemon juice on cooked vegetables. I use whole eggs instead of just whites or Egg Beaters. And if I'm still unable to get it, I make a whey protein shake with a milk substitute instead of water (I'm lactose-intolerant so real milk is out; protein isolate doesn't make me sick but regular dairy does.)

I have such issues...

If I'm not binging, which I've got under control now, I'm usually at about 700-800 by the time I'm ready for bed. In which case I usually have to go drink like five glasses of soy milk (lactose intolerant). It's annoying... mostly because I always have to pee an hour after... but it works.  

There are probably hundreds of posts on this very topic, it's a very common theme and I probably answer it at least 4x a week ;o)  First, maybe start with letting us know:

1. How many calories you are supposed to eat, or your height, weight, age, activity level, goal weight and goal date

2. What your current menu looks like

My first advice is to start early.  Eat a big breakfast.  Have a cheese omlette with toast and PB; eat frequent snacks, even bigger snacks/mini meals.  Have a protein shake blended with milk, ice, a banana, some PB and chocolate protein powder.  Don't skimp on olive oil.  Buy flax seed oil and add it to your yogurt.  Eat luna or Lara bars. If you eat meat, eat more meet because it's calorie dense.  Eat meat and beans and rice combined, or meat and beans and pasta (I made a chicken and lentil dish and served it over pasta and it could have easily been 600 calories if I ate a bigger portion or added some extras to it).

Sample:

breakfast - 2 egg omlette w/cheese and veggies, 2 peices of toast with 1tbsp PB  (could be up to 500 calories) OR 2 scambled eggs, a cup of cooked oatmeal with 1/3 cup of craisins (450) OR a breakfast burrito with 2 eggs, 2 tortillas, some veggies and cheese (500)

lunch - a grilled chicken wrap and side salad (you can make this easily 500 calories), egg or tuna salad sandwich, chicken stir fry over rice , any number of soup and salad and sandwich combos, any number of these things could easily equal 500 calories and be SUPER nutritious (say for example, lentil or chicken chili with a side salad topped with garbanzo beans, feta, artichoke hearts and tossed with olive oil and lemon, a bit of salt and pepper)

dinner - pasta with low fat alfredo sauce...a cup of pasta is like 300 calories!  Add some cream sauce and you've got another 100 more at least, even a red sauce is another 100.  Add some lean ground beef to it for more calories.  How bout a big fat asian seared tuna steak with a side of stir fried veggies and rice?  That could easily reach 600-700 calories.

snacks - have a couple a day! a snack bar like luna or lara bars (220), oatmeal with craisins if you didn't alreayd eat it (300), a protein shake blended with a banana and PB (350), yogurt with a half cup of fiber one (160), apple with PB (180), cottage cheese and fruit (I LIVE for my snacks, moreso than my meals, because my snacks ARE mini meals...I probably eat 300c for breakfast, 300 for lunch and 400 for dinner which means I eat 600 in 2-3 snacks a day.  LOVE IT, keeps me going)

You can do it.  You can be satisfied on less food if you need to eat less for those of us who don't have trouble reaching our calories.  You can learn to eat more nutritious, calorie dense foods and eat more regularly if you aren't getting enough in.  You can do this, everyone can, and it's not as hard as it seems once you get into the habit of feeding your body what it needs.

Good luck!

These posts always make me wonder, especially when people claim to "not be able" to eat more than 800 calories (calpal).

Unless you require 7k calories, it's totally easy to meet your daily requirements. People have already made the obvious recs.

If you find yourself under, there is always ice cream (or soy dream). There's also rib-eye. Cmon.

Some people don't want to eat crap. Especially not if it's between having vegetables all day and staying on the diet, or having the ice cream and then binging for a week or more.

I also often find myself low on calories, and I tend to avoid diet foods and fat-free/low-fat foods. Try doing the opposite of what people tell the "I can't stop eating!!!" folks to do. If proteins fill you up longer, then lower your protein ratio. I've also found that eating smaller meals more often helps my appetite. Part of my problem is also convenience - I can't keep leaving work to buy food all day, so I keep a lot of food at my desk. If it's in my face, I'm more likely to eat it.

Ice cream is not crap. Ribeye steaks aren't either.

If you didn't really want to eat these perfectly delicious (& nutritious) foods that you call "crap," then why would you "binge" on them for a week?

It's interesting how the bad food/good food/fear of food mentality leads to binging, isn't it?

Thanks for all the replies.

To those who have been wondering, I don't have an eating disorder, nor have I ever had one. I end up eating something like 1300 calories when I need 2400.

I don't know if eating burgers, fries and ice cream would be the best way to lose weight. That's how I became overweight in the first place. Regarding 'freshbakedpi''s comment, it's easy to eat the calories necessary if I scarfed down a bag of chips or bucket of ice cream, but the resulting stomach ache just doesn't seem like getting healthy to me.

I work shoveling snow all day and sometimes I have to forgo lunch or dinner. I sustain myself with the occasional bottle of water. Afterwords, I just never really build up the appetite again. I'm more concerned about getting some rest at that point. Seems like a protein shake would be the way to go. Sadly, I can't really sit and prepare a meal in those situations.

Otherwise I'm eating my three meals, but they just don't seem to rack up the calories either. Today I'm close, and I've eaten all fried stuff and feel like crap. I'd rather not go about it this way.

No complaints though, even though those were. I was just wondering if it's a regular thing. I was starting to think I'm the only person who doesn't a problem overeating. Just doesn't seem right to go to sweets to feel better when the immediate effects prove the opposite.

Who is binging? Who eats ice cream for an entire week?

I don't really care to eat that, let alone binge on it. I'm sorry that I've offended you by asking if anyone can't reach the calorie requirements without eating crap like ice cream.

I'm also sorry for offending ice cream.

Original Post by poofyball:

Some people don't want to eat crap. Especially not if it's between having vegetables all day and staying on the diet, or having the ice cream and then binging for a week or more.

 That is who I was writing to.

Nobody told you to eat burgers, fries, potato chips & ice cream until you got a stomach ache, but there is nothing wrong with those foods especially if you need 1000 more calories than you're eating. You can absolutely lose weight eating any foods if you have a deficit.

Instead of "sustaining yourself with the occasional bottle of water" definitely fill your water bottle with protein powder.

You might not have had an eating disorder in the past, but your disordered thoughts regarding eating now is heading you on a straight path towards full blown disease. Get it together.

Original Post by adrianoariganello:

I work shoveling snow all day and sometimes I have to forgo lunch or dinner. I sustain myself with the occasional bottle of water. Afterwords, I just never really build up the appetite again. I'm more concerned about getting some rest at that point. Seems like a protein shake would be the way to go. Sadly, I can't really sit and prepare a meal in those situations.

 What if you prepared your meal earlier in the day, or perhaps late at night before going to bed?

Then, you can take your sandwich, container of pasta, or bag of almonds with you.  You can either munch on this throughout the day or take a ten minute break to eat.  Surely- possible.

Also, I agree with you- switching from plain water to a protein shake, bottle of juice, or energy drink would definetely help get those calories in.

Original Post by freshbakedpi:

Original Post by poofyball:

Some people don't want to eat crap. Especially not if it's between having vegetables all day and staying on the diet, or having the ice cream and then binging for a week or more.

 That is who I was writing to.

Nobody told you to eat burgers, fries, potato chips & ice cream until you got a stomach ache, but there is nothing wrong with those foods especially if you need 1000 more calories than you're eating. You can absolutely lose weight eating any foods if you have a deficit.

Instead of "sustaining yourself with the occasional bottle of water" definitely fill your water bottle with protein powder.

You might not have had an eating disorder in the past, but your disordered thoughts regarding eating now is heading you on a straight path towards full blown disease. Get it together.

Wow. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I'm a little embarrassed. Foot in my mouth.

Thanks for the advice, in the end.

On another note, the disease I'm afraid of is diabetes. 3 out of 4 of my grandparents had it. I'd like to avoid it myself.

Original Post by freshbakedpi:

Original Post by poofyball:

Some people don't want to eat crap. Especially not if it's between having vegetables all day and staying on the diet, or having the ice cream and then binging for a week or more.

 That is who I was writing to.

Nobody told you to eat burgers, fries, potato chips & ice cream until you got a stomach ache, but there is nothing wrong with those foods especially if you need 1000 more calories than you're eating. You can absolutely lose weight eating any foods if you have a deficit.

Instead of "sustaining yourself with the occasional bottle of water" definitely fill your water bottle with protein powder.

You might not have had an eating disorder in the past, but your disordered thoughts regarding eating now is heading you on a straight path towards full blown disease. Get it together.

 As I said, if someone feels as though eating crap is going to make them feel like crap, then why should they eat crap just to get to a certain calorie intake? The OP also referred to crap as crap, so it's obviously not just me who isn't going to eat crap. I consider commercially prepared burgers, fries, ice cream, and pizza to be crap food - please tell me you are not about to say I have a delusional image of food.

By the way, I said "binge for a week" not "binge on ice cream for a week." Maybe you're lucky enough to have never experienced it, but there are some people who can't eat crap without triggering a binge.

Original Post by adrianoariganello:

Thanks for all the replies.

To those who have been wondering, I don't have an eating disorder, nor have I ever had one. I end up eating something like 1300 calories when I need 2400.

*snip*

I work shoveling snow all day and sometimes I have to forgo lunch or dinner. I sustain myself with the occasional bottle of water. Afterwords, I just never really build up the appetite again. I'm more concerned about getting some rest at that point. Seems like a protein shake would be the way to go. Sadly, I can't really sit and prepare a meal in those situations.

 

Okay so before you go out and about in the morning, I'd have a really, really big breakfast.  Even two breakfasts, one when you first get up and then one before you leave (I dunno your schedule so I dunno if this would work but if your out until after dinner maybe you go in later?). 

So get up, have a three egg omlette with lots of veggies and some cheese, two pieces of toast with PB, a glass of skim milk and a banana (that could be up to 800 calories!).  If you have time before you leave, like right on your way out the door, grab a quick "snack" like an apple with PB, some carrot sticks with hummus, a couple string cheeses.  That should put you at around 1000 calories before you leave the house!

In a bag, put a couple lara bars or something similar, or a protein bar (watch the sugar content, opt for a more natural one) that has about 220 calories in it.  Grab two for the day, plus fill two small water bottles with a scoop and a half of protein powder each, DON'T ADD WATER til you are ready to drink it, there is some evidence that the protein denatures and/or lots of bacteria can grow in it.  Add the water later.  So with 2 lara bars and 2 protein shakes, you'd be at around 750 - 850 calories while you are out.  Mix up some healthy trail mix at home and bring that in a baggy too...add things like nuts, rasins, craisins, unsweetened banana chips.  Or other dried fruit.  Or just regular fruit.  Or a baggie of cut up veggies. Try to use these "snacks" to get in another couple hundred calories.

Now you at nearly 2000 calories or over!  Woohoo!  It should be easy to get in a light dinner at this point - hell a cup of rice is like 225 calories, a cup of pasta is 300.  I cook up a buttload of rice and keep it in the fridge then reheat as needed.  Add some cut up veggies and chicken, some soy sauce and voila!  A delicious quick and easy stir fry.

NOTHING you ate there was crap, everything was nice and healthy.  You got plenty of balance, plenty of protein and good fats, plenty of carbs.  Its a little low on veggies but you can sneak a lot in with your breakfast and dinner as they aren't always as portable.  On days that you can eat a lunch, skip one of the bars and one of the shakes and cut back on your mornign meal so you can have a nice 500 calorie lunch. 

Hope this helps.

What is your goal, weight gain? Because if it's weight loss, I'm going to go against a multitude of posters here and say, if you're not hungry, you don't have to eat it. Your body will let you know if it needs food, so why feed it unneccessarily just because a calculator on the internet tells you to?

Original Post by mochi-chan:

What is your goal, weight gain? Because if it's weight loss, I'm going to go against a multitude of posters here and say, if you're not hungry, you don't have to eat it. Your body will let you know if it needs food, so why feed it unneccessarily just because a calculator on the internet tells you to?

The thing is the longer you continue to not eat enough the smaller your apetite becomes and then it becomes an unreliable measure of whther you should eat or not. if that makes sense. i bet if he upped his calories to like 2000 he would start to get the natural feelings of hunger again and so would be able to trust his body to tell him when to eat and when to stop. often anorexics will 'not feel hungry' or feel full on an unhealhty low amount of calories.

furthermore food is not just to stop you feeling hungry, its to give you enough essential nutrients, vitamins minerals and fibre for your body to survive. the calculator isn't giving you the number of calories you need to stop feeling hungry- its giving you the number you need to live!!

Original Post by jade_100:

The thing is the longer you continue to not eat enough the smaller your apetite becomes and then it becomes an unreliable measure of whther you should eat or not. if that makes sense. i bet if he upped his calories to like 2000 he would start to get the natural feelings of hunger again and so would be able to trust his body to tell him when to eat and when to stop. often anorexics will 'not feel hungry' or feel full on an unhealhty low amount of calories.

furthermore food is not just to stop you feeling hungry, its to give you enough essential nutrients, vitamins minerals and fibre for your body to survive. the calculator isn't giving you the number of calories you need to stop feeling hungry- its giving you the number you need to live!!

 I agree with you about the smaller appetite thing - it happens. But he said he wasn't anorexic, so why not follow his appetite? If you want to lose weight why purposefully eat more food if you're not hungry? Just a thought.

As for the calculator, it is an internet program meant as it guide. I wouldn't take it too seriously. Talking to a certified professional would be more realistic.