Eat more?

So, my question is this: I'm supposed to eat 2650 calories a day according to cc's recommendation, but I've been coming in ridiculously lower than that. Should I eat more?

I've been brutally honest with what I've been eating and have been eating every 2-3 hours (about 6 times a day) and haven't been feeling hungry. It's amazing what a little string cheese or some grapes can do for hunger (and let's not mention oatmeal!).

I have lost some weight already this week (my first week into the rest of my life eating right), but I know that this is not only atypical, but probably weight loss due to a shocking decrease in calories (during the holidays, I kind of ate everything I could as a "last hurrah" of sorts).

I'm afraid to eat more since I don't feel hungry, tired, or anything. I'm working out 3-4 times a week, and so far, the food I've been making and eating have been much better for me than anything I've eaten in the past 30 or so years.

What do you think?

2650 would be a very high target and suggests you have a lot to lose?   It is very important not to undereat if you're looking at weight-loss over an extended period of time.  It's tempting to think that if you can lose weight on 2500, 1500 must be better but it's really not.   Try adding more calorie-dense foods to your meals... eg. some nuts & raisins rather than grapes;  a glug more olive oil in cooking; slightly bigger portions all round.... because even though you feel OK now persistent undereating can have unintended consequences quite quickly..... bingeing, yo-yo-ing & weight-loss 'stalls' being just some.

As you lose weight you'll need less food to keep the weight-loss process going.  If you start too low, you've nowhere to go.  Take it more steadily and you'll find losing weight pleasant and rewarding.  Take it too fast and it'll come back to bite you.  Good luck.

Thanks for the reply, gi-jane.

I do have a lot to lose; more than half my current body weight! I was shocked and dismayed to discover that I topped 300 lbs when I weighed myself last week. When I look in the mirror, I don't look THAT heavy. Well, at least I didn't think I looked that heavy.

The last thing I want to do is hamper weight loss. I'll up the calories to the recommended limit. Hopefully the past three days of light eating won't bite me in the butt too much!

Thanks again!

Three days won't hurt you.... three weeks would.   So glad you've decided to eat more - you really won't regret it.    A 300lb+ man I used to know started his weight-loss journey on 2700 cals a day and honestly didn't know where he was going to fit it all in (like you he improved his diet at the same time and healthy food is more filling).  But he lost weight pretty rapidly at first, and then a steady 2 - 3lbs a week.... it took him about 3 months to rationalise the feeling that he was eating like a slightly greedy horse but losing weight.  

Spread your calories out well across the day, keep choosing good foods like oatmeal and grapes (and all the rest) and keep smiling at the chap in the mirror.  I have a feeling you're going to be really successful.  Best of luck,

I second GI Jane- I have a feeling you're going to be really successful!

One thing that I think will help you a lot is to find healthy foods that you like as much as your unhealthy foods. Since you're working on reversing 30 years of bad food, it will be hard to make changes for life unless those changes sound appetizing! There are lots of healthy ways to add some extra calories into your diet without feeling like you're eating a ton- pan fry things in olive oil, add some nuts (ground flax seed adds a nice nutty topping to lots of dishes), eat lots of avocados.

I think it will be helpful to keep in mind that, once you lose the weight, you will need to eat significantly fewer calories to maintain that weight. I think that will be an easier adjustment if you add calorie-dense things now so you don't get used to eating huge volumes of food and eventually have to cut that down- this way, the volume of food will stay similar once you lose the weight, you'll just eat fewer calorie-dense things.

Good luck!

I know what you mean about the high calorie count.  My base is 2400 but when I add excercise to that it jumps up to a little over 3000 calories.  I try to target 1000 cal defecit from the burn meter, so in my case, the burn meter says 3000, I try to stay close to 2000 cals.  On the days that I don't work-out, if the burn meter says 2400, then I cut way back on my caloric intake at target 1500 for that day.  I try not to go lower than 1500.   When I first started it was hard to eat as much as they recommend, but like the others have said, I am finding it way more successful than just simply cutting back and having a very restrictive diet.  My history of weight loss was such that 6 years ago I weighed in at 320 Lbs (5'11"), through diet/excercise I lost 130 Lbs. and have maintained that for 6 years.  Recently I got into the bad habit of not eating enough and working out really hard.  I put my body into starvation mode and actually was gaining weight - so I am trying to reverse my bad habit...my point though is that YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!  It seems daunting when you have a bunch of pounds to lose, but stick with it because it is doable!.

Thanks to all of you for the replies and suggestions as well as for the encouragement. One of the most motivating things for me right now is to be in the company of all of you who have, while maybe not as drastically as I will have to do, lost weight and kept it off. Changing a life of eating habits is tough, but honestly, I never thought I could do so without feeling hungry or feeling cheated. I like the suggestion of adding higher calorie ingredients instead of volume; one of the biggest bad-eating habits I have (HAD!!! lol) is that I would over-eat. Portion size always had to be big for me. If something was delicious, I wanted to have as much of it as I could. Add to that the fact that I grew up having to finish everything in my plate which now causes me to make sure every morsel is off my plate when I eat. I'm getting better now at reducing serving sizes, and when not possible, to half or even third (or quarter) what I'm given and I save the rest. Even if I don't eat it, just knowing I'm not "wasting it" eases the psychological pain at the table of not cleaning my plate.

Thanks again to all of you. It keeps me going reading all the great suggestions and honest answers you all give, not only to me, but to everyone else as well. You have no idea how much you all have impacted my life.♦

I used to feel the need to eat everything on my plate too. One thing that's really helped me with overeating and portion control is, with everything I eat, no matter how much I love it, I leave a small amount (a bite or two) on my plate. It is easiest to start with just one meal a day, but your goal should be to work your way up to everything you eat. If it makes you feel better about waste, wrap it up and eat it later, but remember that whether it goes in the trash or in your stomach, if you're not hungry, it's being wasted.

It also helped me to rate my hunger before meals and my fullness after meals, and trying to start eating only when I was hungry and stop only when I'm just full. It put my physical hunger needs in front of my emotional ones. Knowing that I am physically satisfied, I can more easily leave the rest of my meal for later.

After about two months of doing these things, I can now go to restaurants and not have to worry about doggy-bagging half of my meal immediately or risk eating it all- the control comes from WITHIN. Earlier I ate 3/4 of a chocolate truffle! I would NEVER have been able to do that 6 months ago.   

Original Post by marinehead:

I'm getting better now at reducing serving sizes.....

That's excellent.  Buy what you intend to cook, cook what you intend to eat and eat everything on the plate with confidence  If you consistently do that you can instantly see when the serving size in a restaurant is larger than you normally have.... then you can make a mature decision about whether to leave some or eat it anyway.

I got very fat by cooking big portions and eating the lot.  When it was first suggested to me that I trim my pasta servings down to 2oz dry weight (you'd need more than that) I honestly thought I would faint with hunger...  But if you bulk up your plate with lots more vegetables and trim back on the heavy-duty-calorie elements it's amazing how the meal is just as satisfying.  My kitchen scales live where I prepare foods and get used a lot.... just to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I started out weighing almost 270 and, when I cut my cals, cut them WAY too far (the very highest I went to was 1400 a day). And yeah, I got sick. I wish I would've done it slower... Its better for your metabolism, I think! Better stay near the CC reccomendation for now, then lower it gradually as they suggest.

If you're having trouble eating up to your calories, try nuts, avocados, and eggs... good fats. a sprinkling of ground flaxseeds on your yogurt (or whatever you eat) adds cals, but doesn't make you feel like you've just eaten a whole giant thing, either.