So I sit and make meal plans and stuff, but sometimes I don't follow through. I've been logging what I've been eating, but I get so FULL from my meals and snacks and don't think about calories until the end of the day. I'm supposed to be having about 1200 calories a day (without exercise) in order to lose about a pound-pound & 1/2 a week. Right now, I'm averaging right around 900...sometimes under. Ugh.

I'm not depriving myself or anything...like for breakfast this morning I had a 2-eggwhite omelete with grated parmesan cheese and sliced mushrooms, a container of Yoplait yogurt, a medium orange and a glass of Diet Ocean Spray Cran-Grape juice. Still, that's like, more than 200 calories, and it's a lot of food! My belly's gonna burst if I have more than that..lol!

I'm just frustrated...what are the risks of not getting enough calories? I'm also at the gym just about everyday for 1-2 hours at a time...

Have you tried NOT counting? Ive realized when i write my food in a journal i go way way way under my calories too.

Yeah I've done that up until now. LoL! That didn't work out for me at all...because I was putting whatever I wanted into my mouth whenever I wanted, and never thinking about it. I'd forget what I'd eaten during the day and end up going way over without realizing it. LoL!

You could try to eat higher calorie options with the same volume. Like if you had 1 or 2 whole eggs instead of egg whites, 2% or whole fat yogurt instead of skim, etc.

It seems like whole eggs, regular juice, higher calorie yogurt, etc. might help you make up some of the calories you're missing. If you're not hungry enough to eat more food then more calorie dense food might be the answer.

Anelah: You beat me to it!

How about a little whole grain pasta with some tomato sauce? When I was having this problem, I fixed it easy by adding in something I really loved, like a piece of Texas toast and a bowl of fruit.

You might try replacing some of your lower calorie items (egg whites, for example) with higher calorie counterparts (whole eggs). Or cook your eggs in a tsp of olive oil. Or add some small volume/high calorie treats in, like a few tbsp of avocado on top of that omelette or a few nuts in an afternoon snack.

I feel like, when people try SO hard to pick the lowest calorie items ALL of the time, they can find it hard to get all of their calories in (and end up really low, usually, on healthy fats...essential for health and satisfying, too!).

"I'm just frustrated...what are the risks of not getting enough calories?"

Depends on how low you really go. The lower the cals the higher the risks. I'd be careful of how far to cut. Ohh, this post is sounding very warningish and I'm not meaning it to, hee hee. Anyways, Do you take a daily vitamin also? That might be a good idea if you're not getting all of the cals you need. Good luck

eat some beans and nuts. or real cheese. i used to only get light or FF but it doesn't taste as good and i would have the same problem as you... now my fridge is full of whole stuff that i eat little portions of...