So I decided to join MyFitnessPal tonight, I entered everything that I ate today the day and I was shocked to see that I only had 907 calories. And this after I felt like I had binged all day. Normally I wouldn't eat like I had been so I'm assuming my usual day would have less calories. I've seriously been stuffing myself with food all day long and I didn't even reach the recommended 12000 calories that I thought I went way overboard today. I've been counting calories during my whole diet, never recorded what I ate, just looked at menues and on boxes. And this method has really helped shed the pounds which has been great until recently.
These last 20 pounds have been difficult, I've been struggling with light headness, having the need to vomit after eating something high in carbs, such as Easter when I had two slices of French Toast, I was sick the rest of the day. I also go through some days where I feel like I'm about to pass out. This happened once during a test in school a few weeks ago, and during the entire test any time I looked a different way everything would spin, and yea it was not a good day either. I feel like I'm so afraid to go over that 1200 calorie limit that I am eating far less even though I feel like I'm eating way over that limit.
My normal day would be a bowl of Special K cereal or Quaker Oat Oatmeal Square for breakfast, I'm etiher at work or school all day so I'll take a back of almonds and a couple of dried apricots to munch on throughout the day. Then sometimes when I get home in the afternoon I'll fix myself a Cheese Quesidlla *sp* or two or have left over salad. Dinner varries, whatever my mom makes but I only have a small portion. I also drink about 5-6 bottles of water throughout the day.
So how do I go about convincing myself to eat more, or should I alow myself to just eat more higher calorie foods? Or any other advice would be helpful.
its hard to suggest what you should add to your diet without knowing what you're already eating, but i would recommend higher calorie foods that are still healthy. you can get a 600 calorie meal easy in the frozen dinners but that's not going to be healthy (althought I admit I do it myself - i just wouldn't recommend it to ppl who have other choices.) I think if I were eating as little as you are a day I would be eating things with very few calories that also don't have very many nutrients which would clearly not be a good thing.
I mostly wanted to respond to this about the dizziness and how your feeling bad. That's not something to ignore. I'd say its linked to not eating enough/not getting enough nutrients. You can try eating higher calories, but I think I would still see a doctor. The dizziness is what really concerns me. My mom got a very odd virus that affected her inner ear and really messed her up. It's not something you can get from just not eating enough (and they're really not entirely sure how you get it at all) but either way dizziness and inner ear problems are not something you wanna mess with. I'm not a doc so I really can't say if everything your describing is related...I would just really suggest a doctors visit. The things your describing could really knock you on your *** if they get out of control.
As for what your eating, you may want to consider a few more calories earlier in the morning. I know how it is to be stuck in class all day and I have also felt the dizziness thing when I don't eat enough in the morning. Maybe try some more protein in the morning.
Anyway I said a lot I hope you take away something useful
I went through a low cal stage, and in order to get to my recommended 1200 I ate trail mix. It was the best choice considering I was not hungry at all... Then the that phase finished and I started to feel hungry again. Anyway, do check with a doctor to make sure you did not get a virus or something.
Good luck!
its hard to suggest what you should add to your diet without knowing what you're already eating, but i would recommend higher calorie foods that are still healthy. you can get a 600 calorie meal easy in the frozen dinners but that's not going to be healthy (althought I admit I do it myself - i just wouldn't recommend it to ppl who have other choices.) I think if I were eating as little as you are a day I would be eating things with very few calories that also don't have very many nutrients which would clearly not be a good thing.
I mostly wanted to respond to this about the dizziness and how your feeling bad. That's not something to ignore. I'd say its linked to not eating enough/not getting enough nutrients. You can try eating higher calories, but I think I would still see a doctor. The dizziness is what really concerns me. My mom got a very odd virus that affected her inner ear and really messed her up. It's not something you can get from just not eating enough (and they're really not entirely sure how you get it at all) but either way dizziness and inner ear problems are not something you wanna mess with. I'm not a doc so I really can't say if everything your describing is related...I would just really suggest a doctors visit. The things your describing could really knock you on your *** if they get out of control.
As for what your eating, you may want to consider a few more calories earlier in the morning. I know how it is to be stuck in class all day and I have also felt the dizziness thing when I don't eat enough in the morning. Maybe try some more protein in the morning.
Anyway I said a lot I hope you take away something useful
When first starting the diet I used to eat the Lean Cuisine frozen dinners and I would pick the meals with the lowest calories and didn't think their half bad, and once i saw how high the sodium level was I stopped eating them, though maybe I'll start eating them again once in a while.
As far as the dizziness looking back this is actually something I've always had, even before my diet, though the one time that I mentioned that was the most recent. In the past it was never frequent enough for me to get concerned about it. I figured it must of been due to bad sinus alergies. But when it does happen its completly random, I'll just have to look a certain way, weather I use my eyes or just turn my head and I would get really dizy, one time I even fell because I was walking and it just caught me so off guard. And also when this happens my vision goes either like a pattchy white or black, hard to explain. And I"m one who NEVER goes to the docotors, lol I hate going and put it off as long as possible if I do need to go. And this was never a frequent enough occurance for me to be worried about, maybe next time it does happen I'll try to get myself to make an appointment with my doctor to find out what's going on, never even thought of it being caused from a virus.
And as far as the diet goes i'll try upping my breakfast in the morning and see how that affects my calorie intake the rest of the day.
I went through a low cal stage, and in order to get to my recommended 1200 I ate trail mix. It was the best choice considering I was not hungry at all... Then the that phase finished and I started to feel hungry again. Anyway, do check with a doctor to make sure you did not get a virus or something.
Good luck!
I'm hoping this is a phase and will die out, I'll try the trail mix, I normally munch on almonds and dried apricots throughout the day, but I guess it's still not enough.
Whenever I get dizziness spells, it's usually due to me missing out on my protein - and I eat about the same calorically as you do. Maybe work in an eggwhite omelet or peanut butter (a TBsp would do just fine) on your oatmeal square. You could also take some form of protein for lunch at work/school - maybe something as simple as a half can of flaked tuna with a TBsp of low fat mayo and mustard, with some melba toast or celery? It'd be light enough to keep you at the counts you want, but would help boost you a bit in appetite satisfaction and nutrients.
Dizziness after high carb foods also reminds me of blood sugar levels going crazy - eating protein along with your carbs helps counteract that effect. Here's where a piece of lean bacon or ham or eggwhites with the french toast would have helped. Take these in mind, and if you have a dizzy/vomiting spell again after high carbs, definitely get that checked out with a doctor.
Whenever I get dizziness spells, it's usually due to me missing out on my protein - and I eat about the same calorically as you do. Maybe work in an eggwhite omelet or peanut butter (a TBsp would do just fine) on your oatmeal square. You could also take some form of protein for lunch at work/school - maybe something as simple as a half can of flaked tuna with a TBsp of low fat mayo and mustard, with some melba toast or celery? It'd be light enough to keep you at the counts you want, but would help boost you a bit in appetite satisfaction and nutrients.
Dizziness after high carb foods also reminds me of blood sugar levels going crazy - eating protein along with your carbs helps counteract that effect. Here's where a piece of lean bacon or ham or eggwhites with the french toast would have helped. Take these in mind, and if you have a dizzy/vomiting spell again after high carbs, definitely get that checked out with a doctor.
I like your idea about the Tuna, and that would be small enough for me to take to school and work. And thank you for the tips. This is all still new to me, as I've been doing this on my own and never been on a diet before this. I've been struggling with adjusting my calorie intake and even though i've been eating healthy foods, I guess I havent been eating the right amount of nutrients I need for my body. I really appreciate the advice from both you and everyone else, I wish I found this site a lot sooner, would have made my diet a little bit easier.
When first starting the diet I used to eat the Lean Cuisine frozen dinners and I would pick the meals with the lowest calories and didn't think their half bad, and once i saw how high the sodium level was I stopped eating them, though maybe I'll start eating them again once in a while.
As far as the dizziness looking back this is actually something I've always had, even before my diet, though the one time that I mentioned that was the most recent. In the past it was never frequent enough for me to get concerned about it. I figured it must of been due to bad sinus alergies. But when it does happen its completly random, I'll just have to look a certain way, weather I use my eyes or just turn my head and I would get really dizy, one time I even fell because I was walking and it just caught me so off guard. And also when this happens my vision goes either like a pattchy white or black, hard to explain. And I"m one who NEVER goes to the docotors, lol I hate going and put it off as long as possible if I do need to go. And this was never a frequent enough occurance for me to be worried about, maybe next time it does happen I'll try to get myself to make an appointment with my doctor to find out what's going on, never even thought of it being caused from a virus.
And as far as the diet goes i'll try upping my breakfast in the morning and see how that affects my calorie intake the rest of the day.
I doubt you have a virus..or at least the one my mom had. She was actually hospitalized and couldn't walk and it took her several months to recover. My point in bringing it up is just that being dizzy is really not something I think people should ignore. After going to doc appts with my mom it just sorta scared me and its my personal opinion that inner ear/dizzy issues shouldn't be ignored.
I'd second the nuts. Great way to snack and give yourself a nice, healthy calorie boost!
What are you eating right now though? If you're having some low calorie versions of foods you can sneak a high calorie version in instead. Say higher calorie yogurt, for example.
Or just slightly more calories at meals. 50 calories tacked on to each meal isn't much when you sit down to eat it, but it'll give you 150 extra at the end of the day.
Some sour cream or guacamole with your quesadilla would be awesome! Nuts and cheese into your salad, maybe a higher calorie dressing or an extra drizzle of oil. I recently ordered five flavored olive oils that are amazing as finishers on dishes.
Can you bring a piece of fruit, a sandwich or some jerky with you to school? They sell great insulated lunch boxes with ice packs built in just for this kind of thing.
I think you should hi-jack my MFP food log and steal some of my calories
You will have NO trouble finding all you need, leaving some for me, and there will still be plenty for others!!
How to make myself consume more calories
