I need some help

Hello all, this is my first time and I'm having a really hard time meeting the calorie intake that the computer generated. It wants me to eat a least 1550 everyday but the most that I get is about 1200 or under.  I'm scared because I am eating I guess I'm not eating enough and also I do not want to over eat.  I'm only trying to loose about 25lbs so I do not know what I should do. 

If someone has some good ideas of how to get my calorie intake up I would really appreciate it.

Oh, I do not like yogurt

you could try adding higher-calorie things like nuts, healthy oils and seeds to your food. you could also try drinking a glass of milk or two.

Thank you so much, I'll give that a try and see what happens.

Tina,  Not very many people get on here and ask how to eat more..... 

It is dangerous to eat less than 1200 calories per day.  It will make you sick.

You don't say what kind of foods you are eating.  Personally, my problem is portion control.  I tend to eat too much food, even though it is generally healthy food.  An easy way to adjust your calorie intake is to increase the size of your portions.  Or, you can throw in a snack at some point during the day.  You need to be eating every three to four hours to keep your metabolism up.  Since you are eating less than 1200 calories, I think you are only eating three times per day or less.

You can only target to lose a max of about two pounds per week and be safe.  You have to eat the recommended calories.  Use the daily meters on your "My Home" page to check your calorie input against your calorie output.  There are 3,500 calories in one pound.  So, you can do the math and see that a 500 calorie per day difference will mean you will lose one pound in a week.  A 1,000 calorie per day difference means you will lose about two pounds in one week.  Make sense?

Hope this helps,

Joe

Yes you are right, I eat three times a day because I do not want to eat too much but what you said makes a lot of sense and I am going to try that.  I do try to eat bigger portions but I feel full after eating what I put on my plate. I think I'm going to do what you suggest and try to eat more like at least 4 times a day, I am going shopping tomorrow and I'll pick up things that I can munch on throughout the day.

Thank you so much you did help.

You know, when I first came on here I would see all the posts of people saying "I just can't eat enough calories" and think "yah, right, that's nuts".  But, as I started shopping healthier and finding that I love things like snap peas and kiwis I sometimes find that I get to the end of the day and have 600 calories left to eat.   It's kind of scary thinking "I have to eat more" after diets have forever programmed us to eat less and I think that's part of the reason that it is hard to eat enough all the time.....the mentality that gets into your head is "if 1200 is good, 1000 must be better".  It's hard to beat, but it's the only way to be healthy.  I'm still working on it too.....I never thought that eating too little would be my problem! :) Anyhow, here's my tips

-a banana with a tablespoon of almond butter, I put a bit of a.b. on each bite- 200 calories

-kashi almond granola bars.  No high fructose corn syrup, lots of protien and fiber, 150 cals

-dessert tofu- there's peach, coconut and almond. Good if you don't like yogurt, they kind of taste like really light pudding. 90-110 cals

I am right there with you! I feel that to get the correct amount of calories I need each day I have to be constantly eating. XD Though that isn't the case. Crushing a serving off nuts onto your cereal or something will easily add another 200+ calories without having to stuff anything into yourself. Or some peanut butter with apple is an easy couple of hundred calories. Some warm milk with a serving of raisins or a couple of low fat cookies maybe? Also oily fish is great for calories plus it has loads of healthy fats. Smoothies too! You can pack a good few hundred in one of those without that awful bloat. Just be creative and I'm sure you will get there. :)