How do you meet your Caloric Goals?

Im having a really hard time meeting my caloric goals. Ive even upped my caloric rates. Serviing sizes i think is the problem we have serving sizes of pretty much everything except onions lol.. Love those bad boys. Anywho

I.E. Yesterdays meals.

Breakfast

1 slice of whole wheat bread 75 calories.

2 egg whites hard boiled 50 calories per = 100 caloires.

*i rounded the egg whites offthis site says 47 so i say 50*

1 cup of unsweetened green tea.

after meal 2 glasses of water.

total 175 calories for breakfast.

Snack 1 serving of Tuna in water 60 calories

1 serving of green beans cooked with a slice of onion. around 30 calories

Crystal Light 10 calories= 2 cups

1 glass of water after meal

a total of  100 calories

Dinner:

1 serving of Jenni-O pre sliced turkey & Gravy *white meat* 160 calories.

1 serving of Brussel sprouts *6* 35 calories

1 slice of whole wheat bread 75 calories

1 serving of sour Cream & Chives Mashed Potatoes Betty Crocker

80 calories * it says 170 as prepared but we dont add the extra stuff to it just water* I normally donteat them but wife had a hankering for them so i did lol..

1 Glass of Crystal Light 10 calories = 2 cups

2 glasses of Water after the meal.

Total calories 360

Snack about 7pm why? Because i dont go to bed till around 12-2am.

1 slice of whole wheat bread 75 calories

2 egg whites hard boiled 100 calories

water

total calories 175

Net food intake calories are  Just a lil over 800 calories.

Note: None of the food has been prepared with butter or oils. Salted to taste on plate after cooking to make sure i dont take in more salt than i want.

Yesterday i spent 25 mins on recumbant cycle burned 200 calories.

- 200 calories from the 800+ and ive only had a totalof Net calories of 600+

What the heck do i need to do? Kick the serving sizes and eat more or what i just dont understand it, ive balanced it out as much as i can. Nothing we have here is high in calories. I really dont feel hungry at all.

To me i ate alot of food yesterday, i just dont get it lol.. I feel better since i started eating breakfast and lunch and switched coffee over for green tea, and am getting some exercise, but if my caloric goals are to be met, and im 310 lbs, I just dont know what to do LOL. Ive increased my meals by adding snacks like previously said but the calories just arent stacking up the way they need be.  Btw i have increased my calories by adding in the breakfast, lunch and snacks but not meeting up to what my body is supposed to need.  Some days depending on what the meals are i can hit lil over 1000 calories for the day but barely ever gets above that.  Im lost.

Try adding some fruit to your meals. 

Here's what i've had so far today...

Breakfast

1 french vanilla slim fast optima canned shake = 180cal

1 cup coffee w/4tsp sugar = (rounded up to...)75cal

Lunch

2 slices reduced calorie wheat bread = 90 cals

2 slices ham deli meat = 80 cals

1 slice american cheese = 90 cals

1/2tbsp mayo = 45 cals

1 small (6 inch) banana = 90 cal

8oz Mountain Dew = 110 cals

Total so far = 763 cals. 

I'm eating between 1200 and 1600 cals/day so, that allows me up to 837 calories for dinner and dessert.

Try adding more high cal foods and more varieties.  Let yourself have some yummies or some of your favorite snacks.

:):) Good luck!

Well, I have a few comments.  First, you only have two servings of vegetables and no fruit.  You should aim for 5-6 servings of fruit and vegetables a day.  They are much more nutritious than whole wheat bread or egg whites.  Nuts are also an excellent snack as they are calorie-dense and a good source of essential fatty acids.  And that's my second comment ... there is no fat in your diet, from what I can tell.  Certain vitamins such as vitamin A are fat soluble and your body will not absorb them unless you eat oils or fats.  So I would suggest stir-frying your vegetables with a light vegetable or olive oil.  You don't need a lot, just a tablespoon or two will cook a whole pan.

When I first started eating healthier, I was eating around 800-1000 calories a day. I was having the same problem as you are. I now get in about 1500-1700 calories daily. Here's an example of what I ate yesterday.

(I wake up at 5 to get my boyfriend off to work)

Cottage Cheese- 110 calories

(Go back to sleep until 9)

Whole Wheat Toast With Spray Butter- 70 calories

2 eggs fried using PAM- 140 calories

(Went to school for 3 hours)

Apple on the bus- 80 calories

(Got Home, all of what is eaten below was eaten within a period of 10 hours)

Whole wheat sandwich with fat free cheese, low fat turkey, and mustard- 200 calories

Corn- 70 calories

Yogurt- 80 calories

100 calorie pack oreo bar- 100 calories

Kudos bar- 100 calories

Kidney beans- 110 calories

Carrots- 50 calories

Fat Free Smoothie- 90 calories

(Did my run at 9 PM)

Bowl of Kashi Cereal with skim milk- 230 calories

Lean Gourmet Pizza Bites- 200 calories

V8 juice- 120 calories

GRAND TOTAL OF- 1,750 calories

You do need to find a way to get in more calories. If you are eating 800 calories every day, your body will go into starvation mode. What are some things that you enjoy eating?

A hard-boiled egg white has only 17 calories.  Where did you get 50? 

I would add some oils to your diet.  It doesn't look like you're getting enough fat AT ALL.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil to your day. 

Also, you're eating a lot of bread.  I would eat a cup of grain such as brown rice or whole wheat couscous with dinner.  Add a piece of fruit to your breakfast and snacks and maybe a yogurt, too.  I don't see any dairy or legumes, either. 

I got 47 calories from the egg whites on this site, I guess i seen the wrong numbers ack so i ate less than i thought anyway! UGGG.

2 yrs ago my doc told me to cut fats from my diet cause i kept gaining weight rapidly. I ate the same as above but didnt eat 3 meals i used to only eat 1 meal a day that probably averaged 1000 calories. My doc then expressed i needed to eat 3-4 meals a day and cut out the fat. Eat lowcal/nofat stuff. I thought she was insane telling me in order to lose weight ihad to eat that much, back then before i found this site i thought the same as most people do eat less lose weight, instead i starved myself, and ate at the wrong time. So the weight kept packing on. Ihad a thyroid test done cause it didnt make sense, and she told me my metabolism was very very slow.  My wife was shocked too at what the dr said. But hey guess that is why im here LOL..  Since ive been eating the lowcal/nofat stuff my weight has stablized. I didnt eat like i was supposed to maybe 1-2 meals a day and sucked down diet pepsi all day long, but i didnt gain anymore weight since i started eating atleast 2 times a day. But for the past 2 yrs its been nothing but the lowcal/nofat stuff. Its hard to break that habbit LOL.

I gotta admit eating more dropping the sodas, i feel heaps loads better, but gonna be hard to add the fat back in.

LINK

Check this out.  There are good fats and bad fats, cut out the bad and keep the good and you'll be just fine! :)

Good luck! :)

Additional thought:

Are you logging in your foods on this sites food log?  If so - check out the analizer - it will tell you how balanced your diet is and grade you on it!  if you're not sure about what tools this site has to offer, go to the home page and click on the walk through to see exactly what this wonderful site has to offer. :)

Thanks Cj, im still quite new to the site and the internet ive only had the net 4 months since dsl came here. It previously wasnt in my area till around 5 months ago. ive been learning when i learn how the site actually works tinkering with it and whatnot ill start doing that. 

Eat bigger meals.

If you have eggs... eat 2 full eggs.  The yolks have good fats I believe in em which your body needs as well.

If you eat wheat bread, put some jam on it.   My wheat bread is only 50 cals a slice, so two slices = 100 cals... plus another 50 to 100 of jam and there's 200 cals right there.

Eat a banana.  It's easy to get 100 cals or more from a good banana.

Drink a glass of milk with breakfast.   You need the calcium for your bones anyway and here's an easy way to get 120 cals or so.

Yes drinking water is great and all.  I mainly drink water too.  But you need to eat more or your metabolism is going to get stuck and you wont' lose any more weight.

A woman needs at minimum.. and I mean MINIMUM... 1200 cals + what you burn exercising + more if you are on your feet much of the day.   A MAN needs 1500 cals plus what you burn exercising + more if your are on your feet all day.

For lunch, mix that tuna with some mayo, put it on two slices of bread and eat a yogurt with it.

Aim for 500 cals a meal and you'll be doing much much better.

Sounds like you've been in starvation mode for years!!! 

I'm going to suggest drinking 3 glasses of milk a day - it takes that just to get the minimum needed calcium...it may be more for men. 

Check this article out...you may have to cut and paste this into your address thing.

C:\Documents and Settings\richardson\Desktop\Get The Skinny On Fat  Articles  Fitness  Health & Fitness  Sympatico - MSN.htm

YOU'RE NOT EATING ENOUGH.  Why are people not pointing out the madness of 600 net calories!?  You weigh more than I  and I have to eat 2000-2200 to lose.  C'mon!  

Thanks for the site umm yeah starvation mode for yrs yes. I took on my mothers eating habbits, my sister has awell. She only eats 1-2 times day and is only 95lbs. My sister is like the same size not sure what she weighs but round the same as mom.  Me i got injured and found other physical/bone problems in my spine that led to inmobility for months at a time. I quit exercising and working out cause of the pain and i was sooooo frightened to do somthing to trigger it again. I never knew it was starvation mode, i thought it was just eating normal for us. Boy was i wrong. anywho thanks everyone for your replies. Ill try to add some fats/fruits to my diet, i eat fruits on occassion. I am limited to funds so that is hard to do with a family of four and you need planned meals. We live on approximatly $300-400 a month in food. I dont know if that is alot or less.. You know lowcal/nofat stuff costs more than normal stuff fromt he grocer. We dont eat out hardly at all cause the places are such a long distance its just not worth it so i can pretty much tell every calorie going in my body from the packages.

Zeebi i know, i am trying to correct that, which is why i made this post. Sorry. Sometimes i feel like a failure at everything. Im one of the worst kinds of perfectionists.. If i cant do something right i normally dont do it at all. Im trying this time. Im trying to make it work, i will succeed, i am trying to soak in as much knowledge as i can.

You don't have to eat low cal/low fat at all.  You just need portion control.

And hey if you eat wheat bread and it's not the generic store brand then hey switch to that.

I'm super budget oriented.  But even at that i can afford a $0.99 Wendy's Crispy Chicken Sandwich and a $0.50 Breyers Lite 8oz Probiotic Plus yogurt for lunch.   And total that's still only about 480 calories :)

Everyone says fruits and veggies and all that.  Well, yeah but fruits can be pretty pricy and I can't fit them in my budget much... veggies i can since carrots, lettuce and celery are cheap... but beyond that it has to come in a can or bag for me to be able to afford it on a regular basis.

SO plan your meals better.  Eat those two full eggs.  Put something on that toast.   Make that tuna into tuna salad and have a sandwich.

And if any doctor ever tells you again you need to cut the fats out then please switch doctors.   I think everyone needs atleast some of the good fats every day.


Here's the thing with starvation mode though.  Your bones get more brittle (expecially the lack of calcium), your muscles and organs get used to make up the difference in your not supplying in food (thus leads to injury, potential heart attack, ...etc)... and of course this can all lead to death.   You seem to want to make a change... so change.  Eat more... eat atleast 1500 calories and don't exercise.  If you are already super skinny then eat whatever this site says for your Expendature each day.  The formula I use is 12xWeight.   Unless of course you are underweight.  But still were' talking base minimums of eating just to keep you alive.

This is what I ate yesterday.

7:30 a.m.

1 package of oatmeal w/ 1 tbsp flaxseed = 210

1 hard-boiled egg white = 20

1 whey protein shake = 120

9:30 a.m.

1/2 cup Fiber 1 cereal = 60

1 Yoplait fat-free yogurt = 100

1 cup watermelon = 50

1 serving graham crackers = 140

12:00 p.m.

1 grilled pork tenderloin = 140

1 serving baby carrots = 50

1 cheese stick = 80

3:00 p.m.

1 cup watermelon = 50

1 whey protein shake = 120

1 oz dry-roasted peanuts = 170

6:00 p.m.

1 grilled chicked breast = 150

1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese = 80

1 serving baby carrots = 50

9:00 p.m.

1 Advocare post-workout recovery shake = 230

TOTAL CALORIES = 1820

that's just about how I eat, except I add a LOT of fruit in between meals. 1 apple=about 60 calories, no fat. dig?

Well, i would like to say it is great to see others doing well.  I myself quit smoking and found that i added some weight on in 2wks and really wanna watch my weight.  I wanted to know if this really works? because i know when i have a big breakfast i am not that hungry at all and i also do workout at least 3-4days a week.

well, now i have another question about calorie target its 1950cals per day so if i was to break it down into 5 meals a day it would be 390cals. per meal.  so what can i eat and when how much?  Any suggestions?

whats your protien/carb/fats ratio?
we'll just make an example.... 40%/40%/20%

so...40% of 390 cals..... you can do the math lol
[btw:  4 calorie in 1 gram of carb or protien and 9 calorie in 1 gram of fat]

you can eat anything!
but...a good suggestion is...
protien, complex carbs and healthy fats

so then you go and figure out how much , ect by reading lables, ect.


as for being 310, you need mroe calories to up your metab... then go into a deficit, maybe like 500 or so under.

anything else look at my profile if you wanna figure out all that stuff.