Need some motivation for tomorrow's increase!

Hey guys,

I am trying to increase my calories to 2500/day (I am currently at about 1600-1700/day), by adding around 200/week. I started increasing a few weeks ago, but I seem to be mentally "stuck" at 1600-1700cals/day, so any motivation would be very helpful at this point!! I am just in one of those ruts, and I need a little 'kick in the butt' to get me where I need to be!!

Also, if anyone has any good ideas for a 200cal increase (I would prefer to have food and not to drink ensures or any other meal supplement though), I would greatly appreciate the suggestions!

Thank you!!

I know exactly how you feel. I have been on a 1,200 calorie diet for 7 months now and want to increase my calories to 1,500 but still lost another 5-10 lbs. I have some good ideas to increase your extra 200 calories, here are some foods for 200 calories:

1 cup of cereal with 1/2 cup fat free milk

oatmeal any flavor

cream of wheat any flavor

1 can of progresso light soup any flavor

weight watchers blueberry muffin, or bananna nut muffin, or chocolate muffin

weight watchers ice cream products any one of them

hope i helped!

cheese, nuts, peanut butter, make a thick, delicious shake with 2 or three fruits of your choice, along with some ice cubes and protein powder.  That's just a few.  ADDING meat to your diet adds protein and calories.  I wish I could think of more, but at least that's some ideas for you.  Try things that are healthy but higher in calories for you.  I hoped I helped a little.

Debbie

Thank you Tiffany and Debbie!! Those are great suggestions!

Ultimately a 2500 meal plan could look like this: it isn't too much food and kinda easy to do:

Breakfast [oatmeal, milk, banana] 790 calorie

oatmeal 150 calories to begin with

add 1/4 cup nuts for about 200 calories

add 1 tbsp honey for 60 calories

prepare it with 1 cup 2% milk 140 calories

--drink 1 cup milk 140 calories

--have 1 banana 100 calories

Snack [peanut butter and jelly with juice] 685 calories total

3 tbsp peanut butter: 275 calories

2 slices WW bread [not light]: 220

2 tbsp jam: 40 calories 

1 cup juice: 150 calories

Lunch [grilled cheese and apple] 570 calories total

2 oz cheddar cheese--230

2 slices bread-200

1 tbsp butter--50 

1 large apple--90

Dinner [pasta w/ veggies and protein] 515 calories

3 oz protein [tofu/chicken/pork/beef] 150 calories

1 cup veggies w/ 1 tsp olive oil [75]

1 cup pasta= 2 oz dry [210 calories]

1/2 cup pasta sauce [80]

Total = 2560 calories...you can split the snack into 2 if you'd like and have half before lunch and half afterwards. 

For a 200 calorie increase just add 1 lowfat yogurt for about 140 calories with some granola, or 1 regular cheese stick for 80 calories with 1 serving whole grain crackers, or have a cup of ice cream after dinner for a nice treat. simply adding dressing or cheese and croutons to a salad can increase your intake without even noticing it if you want something discrete and not likely to make you feel full!

Original Post by tiffanypoore:

I know exactly how you feel. I have been on a 1,200 calorie diet for 7 months now and want to increase my calories to 1,500 but still lost another 5-10 lbs. I have some good ideas to increase your extra 200 calories, here are some foods for 200 calories:

1 cup of cereal with 1/2 cup fat free milk

oatmeal any flavor

cream of wheat any flavor

1 can of progresso light soup any flavor

weight watchers blueberry muffin, or bananna nut muffin, or chocolate muffin

weight watchers ice cream products any one of them

hope i helped!

Tiffany, her goal is to gain weight...why would you think it's okay to suggest weight watchers products and light soup? this makes no sense at all...these are foods that someone at the height of their ED would eat, not someone trying to recover. please think about the goals before you make such suggestions. foods that are energy dense and not likely to make you full on few calories are recommended when trying to increase your intake. I don't mean to be blunt or rude but this suggestion was not very thoughtful.

You know, we are all trying to help one another here.  No one is an expert or a nutritionist in this group, other than the moderators.  Perhaps what one suggests is maybe not the best suggestions, but to call it thoughtless and to suggest it in a condescending manner is really not necessary, though perhaps not intended that way.

Original Post by debsforhim:

You know, we are all trying to help one another here.  No one is an expert or a nutritionist in this group, other than the moderators.  Perhaps what one suggests is maybe not the best suggestions, but to call it thoughtless and to suggest it in a condescending manner is really not necessary, though perhaps not intended that way.

it wasn;t condescending and I addressed the nature of my comment, clearly weight watchers foods should not be requested for someone trying to gain. i've learned enough through my own ED treatment that those foods are not the best choices. so even though i'm not an expert i would never tell someone to eat diet foods when they're struggling with recovering from an ED. so, if it seems that i was being condescending that was not my intention. :)

hey guys,

Thank you for all your suggestions and support! I am sorry that my post has caused a little tension, but thank you again for all the thoughtfulness!

Original Post by jessybell:

hey guys,

Thank you for all your suggestions and support! I am sorry that my post has caused a little tension, but thank you again for all the thoughtfulness!

not a problem love...i hope you do well tomorrow and overcome the bad thoughts!! have you planned what you're going to add? that might help, to have it set out...at least in your head!! :)

Debsforhim, none of the volunteer mods are a nutritionist either, but even we know it's a very very silly idea to suggest what are very much the sorts of foods that a restricting individual would use to feed their disorder and not to gain weight and it can be very triggering.

Silly perhaps, but not thoughtless.  Tiffany was trying to help but is stuck in a "weight losers" frame of mind, as are many of us on this site.  However, if you click on the Advice tab at the top, you will see a hyperlink to the experts and there are Nutritionists aboard.  There are numerous resources for us here, and when one is not sure how to help another, it might be wise to consult those professionals.  Enough said?  Let's get on with the business of helping and supporting one another, and not inviting derision.  

Blessings,

Debbie 

hi jessy, if you are struggling with adding foods, just add stuff to your current  foods - it's really easy

for example, if you have a banana, have it with a blob of PB

if you have muesli, a few boxes of raisins to it

if dinner is salmon with veg and potato, add a creamy sauce to it

you won't really notice the density difference but your body will thank you for it :)

drinks are easy too, just substitute a glass of water for OJ and there you've got an extra 150 pronto

i am kind of late, but hope i can say something :)

if you want to increase your calorie intake, you can try with any kind of nuts or dried fruits, but i consider them a snack, that's why i suggest you to have some meat, or you can have some cheese (eg. 2 slices of swiss cheese) or a bagel, maybe fruit salad.

good luck!

I too would look at your current plan and see where you can make some changes. For ex if you have a sandwich pick a caloric bread or a bagel instead of the current. No more "diet" foods. If you have cereal throw some granola in. Are there areas where you may be missing enough of a food group like dairy,fat so on? If you have oatmeal make it with milk or throw some nuts in. If you post a sample day it may be easier to suggest easy add ons.

Wow thank you guys sooooo much for all the support!!

Crissy~ I did plan out what I was going to add, and I packed my new snack with me for work today! I am actually munching on part of it right now!

Also thank you everyone else for the support and the suggestions, and once again, sorry about the tension that was raised!

I will let everyone know how I ended up doing for the rest of the day!!

Thanks again guys!

Ugh.  Why would a person at the height of their ED eat a 200+ calorie snack?!  YOU are not being very thoughtful.  Weight Watchers is fine for anyone, and might actually HELP someone with an ED by feeding them a good portion of calories and helping them think they're still dieting, still in control. 

Whether you meant to be rude and dramatic or not, you were, and it's severely annoying.

Original Post by kristen_in_2009:

Ugh.  Why would a person at the height of their ED eat a 200+ calorie snack?!  YOU are not being very thoughtful.  Weight Watchers is fine for anyone, and might actually HELP someone with an ED by feeding them a good portion of calories and helping them think they're still dieting, still in control. 

Whether you meant to be rude and dramatic or not, you were, and it's severely annoying.

get an attitude check..you aren't being too polite yourself. in my experience and that of most people, those behaviors only fuel the mental state that perpetuates the ED. there is NO REASON for someone who is severely underweight or with a history of ED to eat Weight Watchers products, "weight watchers" is just that, a tool to lose weight, not gain. if you are trying to increase your calories, eating 200 calories of something likely to make you extremely full is just going to impede further increases by reducing the amount of room available in your stomach. it's common sense. you are very rude and clearly just want to pick a fight...my post was not intended to pick a fight but offer advice, so unless you're offering advice stop patrolling the boards as if you're high and mighty. please find something constructive to do.

Um...guys? You're missing the point. The reason tiffany suggested those was because jessy needed to up her calories by about 200. Tiffany just listed some foods that were around 200 calories. 

As far as whether it's helpful or not, different strokes for different folks, if it helps jessy, great :D

Now, let's all get back to jessy, since this is HER post, not ours!

I think a few people mentioned similar items, but I'd just like to say that a 'milkshake' of vanilla yogurt, banana, and peanut butter is DELICIOUS (and I don't even really like bananas that much...) and will get in both the calories and the protein you need. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot :) now I really want one, too...

So since a lot of snack didn't come to mind I was browsing teh interwebz for you to find some ideas. Interesting ideas from interesting places. Here's a link that's actually for cancer patients because they need similar high-calorie snacks: 

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealt h/hub_cancer/hicalsnk.cfm

I also found a lot of sites suggesting dried fruits (especially apricots and other dense fruits like that). Maybe make your own bags of snack mix with dried fruits, granola, pretzels, and the like. Anything with cheese is probably good, and anything that's whole-grain is probably good. Try maybe cheddar cheese on 12-Grain bread (the Arnold's brand is delicious). Try switching any pasta you eat to whole-grain, and if you can't find it in your regular store, try a place like Whole Foods. In fact, now that I think of it, Whole Foods, Ellwood Thompson's, Trader Joe's, and other places usually have high-calorie snacks. 

Enough ladies.  Let's lay down the gauntlets and let this subject lay to rest.  There's been enough ruffled feathers here and some hurtful words going back and forth.  We're not here to judge, berate or belittle anyone but to build one another up to help us gain control of our weight.  No more finger pointing, or arguing, as I am sure that is not what jessy intended to happen in the first place.  She sought advice and we all rallied to see if we could help her.  No one intended to mislead her or steer her in the wrong direction but just sought to help her.  So let's end this once and for all and stop the hurtful insinuations.