[tammay]

Hi everyone,
I've been back on the Beach (phase 1) for only a few days but already I'm running into a problem.

I should state right off that I am a vegan (or trying to be) so I'm doing SBD without meat or dairy or eggs. I haven't found it too difficult so far at all and very satisfying, even if it does limit my choices a bit.

I planned out a menu with "mini meals" as that's how I like to plan my meals (rather than big meals and snacks). Here's what a typical day has looked like:

Morning: some kind of homemade bean dip made with 1/3 cup beans with raw veggies
Mid-Morning: protein shake made with 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, 3 oz tofu, 1 scoop soy protein powder, and flavorings
Afternoon: either a bean or veggie crumble saute with veggies and 1 tsp olive oil (about 1/3 cup beans or veggie cumble). Sometimes it might be about 4 or 5 veggie meat slices on lettuce with some mustard and tomatoes
Mid-Afternoon: Some soup, usually a creamy tomato soup (made with 1/3 cup crushed tomatoes, 1/3 cup soy milk, and veggie broth) or zucchini soup (just veggie broth and chopped zucchini - very tasty, actually )
Evening: Spinach or romaine salad with avocado or guacomole, nondairy sugar free fudge made with 2 tbsp nut butter, cocoa powder, and sweetners (I know this seems like a lot of fat for the evening, but I'm trying to keep off of the night snacking so I find that eating more fatty foods at dinner helps with this).

I've been feeling fine in terms of the amount of food, not hungry, but I was starting to suspect that it might not be enough. So I went into Fitday and put in my food for today. It came out 923 calories!

I definitely want to be eating more, especially since I'm trying to get back to exercising (not a lot, but some). My problem is that I don't know what else I can add, since I'm not eating meat, dairy, or eggs. I can up the proteins I eat to 1/2 cup instead of 1/3 cup and add some beans to the soup. But that still brings me only to about 1100 calories, which is still too low in my opinion.

Any ideas? I know SBD limits nuts to 1 oz a day, so I'm not sure if I can add more after the nut butter I use at night. Not sure what else I can do, though.

Hints???

Tam

[WarMaiden]

You look low on good fats. Put some olive oil in your morning bean dip. Put 2 tbsp ground flaxseed and a cup of frozen blueberries in your mid-morning protein shake. Add more fruit in at various points. (After phase 1, obviously.) Etc.

Healthy fats will help you absorb the fat-soluble goodness in all the veggies you are eating, so don't neglect getting some at each meal.

[WarMaiden]

It occurs to me to add...if you try adding more veggie protein and good fats, and you find you still just can't get enough calories in, then it's no crime to jump from phase 1 to phase 2 so you can expand into whole grains and fruits. Doing phase 1 is about detoxing from sugar and refined grains, and getting rid of cravings and trigger foods, but not everyone necessarily needs to do those things in the same way.

[tammay]

Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the tips. I do add some ground flaxseeds in the shake (1 tbsp). I was thinking about moving on to Phase 2, as I have about 20 pounds to lose and that's a little less than 20% of my body weight and I know that the SBD books mentions that if you have less than 20% to lose, you can start with Phase 2. But I was eating a lot of fruit and other sugars before going to Phase 1, so I wanted to get my body off of those. I might just try to stick with Phase 1 for the whole 2 weeks and add some more good fats.

Thanks again!

Tam

[happiness seeker]

Tam,

You might want to up the tofu too. It is a good protein and will have a bit more nutritional value than the beans.

[katonajourney]

I love this there is alot to chose from I also have had a hard time getting enough calories in Thanks for the help

[CyndiM]

Do you eat seitan? I make my own and have actually had to learn to control my portion sizes because of the calories. it's pretty much all protein but a serving is definitely smaller than I thought PM me if you want recipes or the nutritional info (I am a FitDay fiend