I can't seem to hit the needed calorie intake I should be at...

Starting : 222 ;Current : 221 ; Aiming : 135

The "Calorie Target" tool tells me I should be consuming 1600 calories a day.
My doctor told me I should eat 1200 calories a day.

I am aiming for 13-1400, but allowing myself to go to 1600 if I can.

I started my diet yesterday. (Already down 1.2lb, weighed today and yesterday after waking so there is some difference, though it may just be those little fluctuations) Did a week or two of research prior to starting and found some helpful information about the amounts of servings of what kinds of foods I need, the idea Vitamins/Mineral levels I need, etc. Some info I found was wrong, but have been since corrected on it.

Yesterday, I only ate 970 calories. I had 6 meals consisting of the recommended food groups and I was happily full.
When I get exercising, I just find that I fill up faster. I am not sure if it a mental thing of "I just worked this off, I shouldn't be eating it" that my sub conscience is doing, even though I *KNOW* I need to eat properly. Or maybe because of just the exercising is making me feel less inclined to eat as much as I used to.

My meals consisted of :

Breakfast : 1c Oatmeal Crisp; 1/2c 2% milk
AM Snack : 3/4c grapes, 8 medium strawberries
Lunch : 1/2 can of tuna, 1tbs mayo on a Spinach Wrap, 1c lettuce.
PM Snack : Vitamin Water (100 cal), 24 goldfish crackers, apple
Dinner : 1 serving Spanish Rice, 1/2 serving of cucumber, 5 spears of asparagus, 1 chicken patty (made from chicken breast)
7pm Snack : 100g yogurt (which is only 35cal), 1c blueberries

My exercise consisted of :

EA Sports Active : -155 calories
Swimming : -345
EASA round 2 since I was bored : -200

This left me at about 370 calories that I hadn't burned off.... >.>

They seemed like normal size meals (for someone who is cutting back on her normal portions) to me...

Today, (before dinner) I am only sitting at only 450 calories after factoring in eating and subtracting exercise.

A family member, who is a health nut, suggested having a scoop of PB once or twice a day in addtion to snacks. The stuff in my cupboard is 90 cal a tbs.

So here I am licking my spoon while typing away...

:D

i used to find that exercise depressed my apetite, but it didn't last.  the more consistently i exercise, the hungrier i am :)  when i run, especially, i get absolutely famished about 12 minutes after i get home.

i'm in maintenance now (about 4 pounds below my goal weight), but even when i was actively counting and trying to lose, i could easily it 1600 or more.

it probably takes 2 - 3 weeks for your body to adapt to the change and start demanding what it needs.  be patient - and eat lots! 

Thanks for the reply.

I've been googling ideas on how to make sure I keep enough calories going in as going out.

For one, I will be working out BEFORE my work day starts so that I know how much to make up for it during the day in snacking.
Two, that spoonful of Peanut Butter? Definitely keeping a small jar in my purse. I <3 PB.
Three, I will have gelato in the evenings as my snack IF it will knock me into the range I am aiming for. It's low-cal, but oh so good and will urge me to get those calories in me.

It's just hard to justify forcing myself to eat when I don't feel hungry, as this was part of the problem with my weight *gain*. Irony, at it's best.
Who knew that while losing weight, it would be a problem to eat ENOUGH?

yeah, it is ironic.  but once you get used to it, it's liberating!  i find that breakfast, especially, is about getting as many calories as possible.  i have a pretty small appetite, actually, so to cram enough energy into one meal to keep me satisfied is a challenge.  i eat lots of fat in the morning!  typical breakfast is 500-600 calories :)

peanut butter is definitely handy.  raw nuts, too: you can keep containers of them all over the place, because they keep for a long time (raw, unsalted is best).

skim milk is also a life-saver for me: it fills me up, it contributes protein and a decent hit of calories, and it hydrates.  it's a great top-up when i'm starved at 5 and dinner isn't until 6.

I can't drink skim. It has to be 2%. Which is a good thing because it has more calories. (However, once my appitite kicks back in, it might not be...)

Maybe I'll cheat for a while until my hunger comes back from being MIA and buy some other cereal, like Lucky Charms or something with more sugar and calories.

for me at least, natural fats are a better way to add calories than sugar.  sugar provides a short-term boost, but that wears off fast and you'll crash.  granola is a better choice: lots of calories, because lots of fat (sugar, too, depending on the brand), but it's a better source of energy.

Yeah, it is a better way to gain calorie counts.
However, I can't really down much more than cereal, yogurt or fruit before 10am. I just end up feeling sluggish. Bagels, toast, eggs, bacon, oatmeal? Not a good idea.

Luckily, tonight, my boyfriend and our friend talked me into going to dinner. (Yes, day 2 of my diet, and I am already using my first of two "Get out of jail free" cards and going to dinner. However, it's going to be at the Keg and I've already checked out their nutritional information and found something that caught my eye and isn't too bad. Chicken, potatoes and aparagus. Should fill in a nice chunk of my daily remaining calories. (Plus, I am sneaking in a bag of baby carrots into the movie afterwards so that I keep my hands out of their popcorn and can munch away)

you could easily add in a string cheese, nuts on your yogurt, make oatmeal with milk and drink milk or juice on the side, add a slice of toast with peanut butter for breakfast, have a granola bar or trail mix with your fruit, drizzle a bit of olive oil on your dinner or sprinkle some cheese on it. 

theres a ton of ways to add calories without bulk, you just have to want to do it!! congrats on the new changes though!!

Add 20-25 almonds to breakfast or a morning snack :).

Original Post by cassenyalogan:

My exercise consisted of :

EA Sports Active : -155 calories
Swimming : -345
EASA round 2 since I was bored : -200

This left me at about 370 calories that I hadn't burned off.... >.>

 

You don't just burn calories through exercise. You certainly  burned off those 370 and more. This is how you lose weight (by burning more calories than you eat). So if you burn 500 calories a day more than you consume then you would lose about a pound a week.

I would estimate that someone of your weight would burn around 2000 calories a day without any exercise and so with your exercise you probably burned at least 2500. With a consumption of around 1000 a day that puts you at a deficit of approximately 1500 calories a day or 3lbs weight loss a week. This is usually considered an unhealthily fast rate of weight loss.

To up your calories and still be healthy I would agree with the nut butter suggestion, maybe add a banana to breakfast, have some sauce or dip with dinner, honey with the yoghurt for your evening snack...

It's too much work to add in all the little moments of exercising (like walking around the mall for 10 minutes, walking from my apartment to the garbage compactor and back up the 3 flights of stairs, etc) However, at work, I will be trying to keep a rough guesstimation of time spent walking or playing with the kids (also looking into getting a pedometer)

Appreciate all the replies for you guys!

Original Post by cassenyalogan:

It's too much work to add in all the little moments of exercising (like walking around the mall for 10 minutes, walking from my apartment to the garbage compactor and back up the 3 flights of stairs, etc) However, at work, I will be trying to keep a rough guesstimation of time spent walking or playing with the kids (also looking into getting a pedometer)

 

If this was in reply to what I said, I didn't mean you should add in all these things. I meant that you burn calories when you don't consider yourself to be exercising. You burn calories just being alive and doing nothing. Someone of  220lbs would burn way more than 370 calories just through being alive. The rule of thumb is a 5'0", 100lb woman would burn on average 1200 calories a day without doing anything.