As embarrassed as I am to now be starting one of those threads... OMG how do I eat this much food?
I have a long history of weight problems -- from morbidly obese, to underweight, and back and forth with everything in between -- so at this point in my life I really have no frame of reference that means anything.
I lost about 80 pounds in the past 9 or so months. I am at (well, under) my goal weight. I did not have much muscle to begin with, and I did lose some on the way down. But in general I had good success and am happy with the results.
My goals are now maintenance and recomposition (i.e. trying to say build some muscle tone without bringing to mind "I pick things up I put them down" extremes).
I rode a range of around 1300-1400 calories a day during my weight loss.
My doctor and the online calorie guides all say my calories are much lower than they need to be in general -- never mind if I'm trying to build muscle.
They want me over 2,000. The numbers keep coming up around 2,100 if I'm doing strength training a few times a week (and that's with specifically no cardio). The consensus seems to be 1,800-1,900 should be my just plain existing maintaining range.
My gym tells me I should be at some obscene like 3,500 calories on lifting days and at least 2,500 on the resting days. That just doesn't make any sense to me. How would I not get fat on that?
Is my doctor really high? Or has my past range been extremely low? It just seems like so much food! (Unless of course I slip in lots of junk food calories)
The only thing I know works for me is eating lots and lots of junk and getting fat, or being quite content with a nicely managed 1300-1400 calories and loosing weight. Maintaining and/or muscle building is foreign to me.
This is what's in my tracker for today's plan. Looking at it on the screen it doesn't seem "normal".
Any thoughts? Am I just so screwed up that my doctor's suggestion really is somewhat normal and I should just go with it and see what happens?
At this point I'm kind of going with my gym is crazy and has different goals than I do, so I can ignore their calorie suggestions -- but maybe I'm wrong?
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Breakfast:
150 calories - Egg, Cheese, English Muffin Sandwich
21 calories - 1/4 cup skim milk (spread out in my coffee over the day)
Lunch:
270 calories - Red Pepper Marinara Frozen Dinner
Dinner:
265 calories - extra lean ground beef patty
130 calories - hamburger bun
30 calories - cheese slice
-- just over 1700 calories. So supposedly I still need to fit another few hundred in there.
I'm probably going to put what remains of my planned turkey on a salad tonight so I can throw some veggies in there, but even a few cups of veggies will only add a few dozen more calories.
What you should probably do is plan the remainder of your calories around your workouts -- look up pre-fueling and recovery meal ideas. Post-workout, you can literally go and eat a cookie or a white-bread-and-turkey sandwich, because high-glycemic index foods will replenish the glycogen in your muscles, and protein is needed for repair. Just as an example, my HS fencing practice ritual (totally fast food, but you get the idea) was a 100-cal granola bar on the way there, a box of chicken nuggets and Gatorade (~400 cal) on the way home (unless I saved my appetite for a huge dinner). With my 2.5 hour practices, that still definitely put me at a deficit, but it was essential to keeping my strength up on those days. On non-practice days, I didn't worry about adding in calories, and had no problems.
Congratulations on the weight loss.
Wow - I don't see any vegetables or fruit in your current eating plan, except for (what I would expect to be a miniscule amount of) red pepper. I'd take the previous poster's idea of adding in some more lean protein around your workouts. While veggies don't add a lot of calories, they;ll add some. Veggies are so good for you. A couple of pieces of fruit should add 100 calories or so each.
My suggestion is that you gradually increase your calories. Jumping up that much overnight... well, I think you might find the results too scary. Take it slow and easy, a couple hundred at a time, and stick at one level for a week before raising again.
Eat the same healthy, nutritious foods that you have been eating--just larger portions. And also, there is no reason to be eating skim milk and fat free cottage cheese, even if you are trying to lose! 1% milk and 2% cottage cheese are fine, IMO.
And as the previous poster said, I don't see fruits and vegetables. These are good, natural things to eat. And easy, too!
The one thing I really did see in your diet is how calorie-dense & small the items in it are. I would want a BIG salad of veggies at lunch or fruit or more happy yummy things. Fruit salad for dessert! Live a little.
But do add gradually and don't worry about making the right number of calories every day -- you do want to be able to fuel on workouts, like I was a little too keen to point out, because that's the best time to feed your muscles and gain in the right (not-fat) way.
I agree on adding veggies and healthy fats- so you could roast veggies with olive oil or have a salad that includes avocado and nuts. Congrats and keep checking in so that this can be your long term.
I put it at the bottom, but the remaining turkey did become a salad with broccoli, green peppers, cucumber, etc. -- around 2 cups on top of the lettuce and turkey.
Probably not the best day to post asking for a critique , but y'all get the idea. Normally I do work in more veggies, but tonight ended up being burger night so I go with the flow.
Quote:
The one thing I really did see in your diet is how calorie-dense & small the items in it are. I would want a BIG salad of veggies at lunch or fruit or more happy yummy things. Fruit salad for dessert! Live a little.
Ok -- this is one of the main things that spurred me to post. You mention the things I have listed are calorie dense and small. I feel like I'm struggling with the quantity of food as I wrote it. If I switched to less dense items, where would I fit it all? I was already thinking I would feel better if I swapped out some of what I have for something silly like a Resees or such to keep the calories up with less bulk.
I really appreciate all the feedback. It's great to hear the different suggestions and points of view, since I know how screwed up my own feelings still are.
Don't eat candy! That is not the way to increase calories unless you want to add fat.
If you get full quickly, you don't have to add a salad and stuff yourself. Some people have trouble with not feeling full, but if that's not you, don't go that way.
Again, increase portions of the nutritious foods to increase your calories. Instead of 18 cashews, have 24. Instead of 3 ounces of turkey, have 4. Instead of half a cup of cooked brown rice, have 3/4 cup. Like that.
I'm with Jay on this one. I would highly suspect that it was candy that got you to the point of needing to lose weight to begin with. (Just guessing! )
I've never had the problem of being able to get in quanity, I guess it stems from my binge eating days. I have always looked for the bulkiest, lowest calorie foods to get me "full". If I were one of the people who could feel full fast, or didn't feel the need for fullness, I would add nuts. Nuts are full of healthy fat, very high in calories and good for you. The problem with me is, since I can eat A LOT of nuts, and have trouble stopping at a few ounces, I would be nuts to add nuts.
Oh Wow, So Much Food
, but y'all get the idea. Normally I do work in more veggies, but tonight ended up being burger night so I go with the flow.
)
