I think you should re-read the posts in this thread. If you want to eat more calories but don't want to feel like you are stuffing yourself, you need to eat healthy, calorie-dense foods. A lot of those foods have been suggested in this thread. Things like avocado, using olive oil, peanut butter, hummus...
Have you ever tried PLANNING your food the day before? Plan out a 1500 calorie day and then try to stick to that plan. I'm a big planner -- I think it makes everything easier.
Hummus is awesome on bread, it is basically a chickpea dip but it does have tahini (sesame seed paste) in it but you can't taste that as it is pretty subtle when mixed with the various flavors. I like really garlicky hummus but in the store you can find a variety or you can make your own.
It's SUPER easy to make -- that the Hubs job. He can make a HUGE batch of hummus with the food processor in about 8 minutes, including clean-up! We make it really garlicky, too. I eat it spread on stuff, with stuff dipped in it, and plain with a spoon!
Somedays I have the same problem. What works best for me is to plan. I plan my meals and snacks ahead of time, that way I can pair things together to balance out my calorie intake. For example, today I didn't plan so well. Had a decent breakfast, then had lunch out a Chick fil a (had the new spicy chicken, but didn't get fries which by the way I LOVE). To compensate for the high lunch I fixed soup for dinner. I worked outside all afternoon building the new swing set we bought for the boys. I drank plenty of wTwr, but didn't work in my snacks. So I am ~400 calories short for the day. No exercise for me today, and tomorow I'll make up the calorie shortage because it's pizza day (we make homeade pizza every Friday night). So my best advice is to try and plan out your daily food allowance.
The problem is with the planning is that... 1. I'm a terrible planner. and 2. I am never doing what I thought I'd be doing during the day.
I did have what I thought was a more high calorie day... I THOUGHT. I ate quite a bit (I was snacking on those cherries all morning)... but once I actually calculated it up... it was still around 1100.
I AM reading what y'all are posting. I don't like nuts or nut butters AT ALL. I really can't stand them... (and then everyone is completely shocked that I don't). I really don't. I eat avocado whenever I can. I had some in my salad tonight. But the calorie count for the salad (since I had a ton of other things in it... and I ate only like... one serving of it) was only 75... MAYBE 100 at the highest. I am willing to try hummus... I just didn't have any time to go to the store and get some.
Planning my day would work... once I'm in a position where I actually can. And at the moment... I'm not. My family is not the kind of family where most things are planned weeks and months in advance... nope. More like two hours before it happens. And this is with EVERYTHING. But once I'm living with my grandparents, I will be in a far more "stable" environment... and I can plan my days. But at the moment... I'm not really in a position to do so at all... I can plan it out... and then suddenly we're eating lunch at a mexican restaurant with friends. I'm also underage... so I do have to do what my parents tell me to do.
Okay, I'm going to try and say this nicely, but I'm going to be a little blunt.
You have posted a lot of threads asking for help. Help about exercise, shoes, help about calories, help about food... Yet every suggestion anyone has made -- and I mean EVERY SUGGESTION -- you have made an excuse as to why you can't or won't do it. Either your parent won't let you, you won't spend your money, you don't want to do things the the mornings, you don't want to eat something, you won't plan anything ahead of time...
You could at least TRY to implement some sort of change. And if you aren't willing to do anything other than what you are already doing, why do you bother to ask?
I HAVE made changes about different things... even if they aren't exactly the changes YOU guys are telling me to do. Unfortunately... my excuses aren't just excuses. I'm not in the same situation as a lot of you guys.
I'm sorry it's illegal to ask for help about different things. And then explain why certain things just don't work out for me in my situation. Doesn't mean they aren't EXCELLENT suggestions, and should be implemented at some point... it just means that in my current situation... those particular things might not exactly work out for me.
I have tried the planning. Almost every single day I plan to have this, that, and this... and then something happens, either we can't go pick this or that up from the store, or we end up going to my grandparents' house (as in what happened today, today was ALL planned out...) and none of the stuff I had available at home are available... it's kind of hard to plan when you're in a situation where nothing is plannable.
I have been running. I have been eating more variety. I managed to convince my mom to let me get more fruits and veggies... even if it still wasn't a lot. I have been attempting to do all of these things. I was GOING to go to the store to get fitted for running shoes. Nope... never happened. Because I decided I'd rather see my cousins who I haven't seen in months. I'm not ignoring y'all's advice. I'm not sitting around saying "oh... that's nice" and then doing nothing. I'm really not. Just because it's not evident to YOU guys... doesn't mean it's not happening.
Rebound -- i completely agree with you, and in fact, that is the reason i havent made any suggestions...dont want to hear the excuse....
Sorry Serbrider, you either WANT IT or you dont. Youll either make it work, or you wont.
My suggestions -- #1 i think you are SEVERLY underestimating your caloric intake. BIG TIME. a 100 cal steak? I dont think so. Did you "palm" measure that AFTER you cooked it? Meat shrinks, BIG time. it was prob TWICE that, if not more. We all underestimate our calories to some extent, but i have a feeling yo uare mostly using portion control, and maybe cups and tablespoons? Your getting alot more than you think. Im not saying you have to go out and buy a digital scale and weigh things to the gram, although that would definitely be an eye-opening experience.....but if you havent been losing,, or you stall, than that is absolutely the first place to look...almost definitely the culprit.
I also think you severely OVER -estimating your caloric burn. 600 cals playing on the Wii?? i barely burn 600 calories running a half - marathon. All machine calculators are notoriously inaccurate.
one day you might decide, like really decide, that this weight loss journey is important. When that happens, all the excuses will fall by the wayside.
I was a single mom, full-time college student with a full-time job (and no support --both parents dead). I still managed to lose weight, and train for marathons, and pull honors list at school, etc etc... how did i find the time? I woke up at 3 30 to exercise. i chose NOT to eat when i was in a situation where i couldnt control the food (like at restaurants and parties-- just ate when i got home). I go grocery shopping at 3-4 different places every week, to get the best deals on good, whole foods, so i can afford it. i sacrificed things i *wanted* for things i needed. most importantly, i stopped making excuses, and did it.
Guys, do remember that she is 17, and 17 year olds are basically brain damaged: they truly do not have the brain structures needed to make good judgments, and even when they do, it's mostly an accident. I have former students at Yale and Brown and Harvard right now, and they all had moments of tremendously bad judgment (right about the time I was bailing a Validictorian out of jail, I realized how very true this is).
That said, Serbrider, you really seem more interested in why you can't do what other people can do than in figuring out how you can overcome your challenges. You keep talking about your experience in Serbia. I taught a LOT of Serbian refugees for a few years there--I KNOW you've grown up with kids that watched their parents get shot or raped, who lived in Chicken houses converted into refugee camps, who know what to do when the bombs start falling or the bullets start flying. It really does baffle me that someone whose seen that could be so quick to say that its not their fault that they can't control their own destiny. I really think you are capable of finding a way to make this work, if you just have faith that such a way DOES exist--you just have to be determined to find it.
And I agree on the portion sizes. I really, really think you are systematically underestimating. It's a common problem. A scale is $20 and I would really recommend one.
My mom and dad cook the meat... so it was AFTER it was cooked. And the calorie count I used said the portion "cooked"... so I thought it was accurate.
It wasn't too harsh. And I'm not all that concerned. Maybe I am underestimating... but I really am not eating all that much. I have my meals, I have my snacks... and even if I AM underestimating... that is a GOOD thing, because it means I am eating more than I am calculating it all up to be... which IS a good thing, because I've been trying to aim for 1500...
This morning I had 8 fl oz of Tropicana Orange Juice, 1 banana, and 5 medium sized strawberries. That's it. And I am FULL. Like... stuffed type full.
Now... did I calculate that incorrectly? Please tell me if I'm wrong. I'm wanting to do this RIGHT... but when you guys are just telling me I'm wrong and not telling me how to do it CORRECTLY, it's not helping much... and I do continue to ask questions. I did plan this morning. And yeah... it helped... some. But I do live in a household with 3 other people... big eating people... and there are times when I go for something... and it's gone, so I have to change my "plan".
So yeah... with the meat (which I'm trying to avoid period... mainly because I don't like meat), maybe I did underestimate. I don't have a very accurate digital scale (going to invest in something that soon, I'm hoping I'd be able to find SOMETHING at goodwill... if not... I'll stop by walmart) so I was going by portion sizes of what I was told was a decently accurate way to measure. I was wrong. I'm sorry. But how do I get it RIGHT... instead of just telling me that I'm wrong... tell me how to do it RIGHT please.
Oh... and I have been losing. I lost ~3 lbs the first week (gained two pounds back in Orlando), and I don't know where I am now... but I'm feeling great. I'm not tired like I used to ALWAYS be... my headaches are diminishing (I used to have them daily... now it's like... every couple of days a little bit of something)... and I haven't been having heartburn recently... and that's something else that used to always happen. So I must be doing SOMETHING right... even if everything else is wrong.
Thank you so much for your advice and... well... bluntness. I do need it. Sometimes I get so clouded up in my excuses (like my cholinergic urticaria, which I DO have, and it DOES get bad, but so far it hasn't been impending my running and such) that I refuse to see the truth... so I do need it.
I am now off to:
1. Stop by Foot Locker or Sport Authority and get my feet fitted for running shoes.
2. Go find and buy the pair of running shoes at either Platos Closet or Kohls or something.
3. Run by Goodwill to get a pair of size 12 jeans and a size 12 dress so I can begin the whole "try on" weekly.
Some of what I'm saying are excuses... and as soon as I see them clearly as such... I can get through them. But there are other things that are not excuses. Like the fact that my family plans things literally two hours in advance. It's the European way (at least Eastern European), and that's how our mindset is. And so... I can plan out my day... and then suddenly all of it is shattered because of this or that that suddenly came up. So yeah... I'm not discounting ANYTHING ANY of you guys are saying. Sometimes it just takes a while to sink past the excuses and illogical reasonings in my head before I make a "change" as you guys call it.
It doesn't mean I'm not wanting this. It doesn't mean I'm not striving for this... it just means that just because I don't immidiately start bowing at your feet and praising your wisdom (and yeah... you guys do have a lot of wisdom... and I definately respect it, and probably will bow to it in a couple weeks), doesn't mean I'm not making changes in real life, I'm just sitting down doing absolutely nothing and saying "oh... can't do that", "oh, can't do that either". No. I really am making changes, and am bowing down to y'all's advice... I just don't broadcast every single one onto here.
ETA: Thanks for the word on the brain damage. Really appreciated. (though I do have to agree somewhat)
You guys also have to remember that on here... I'm thinking things through... and then I spend HOURS (no... honestly... literally... HOURS) thinking over all of it and how I can overcome those challenges... I just don't always post every single way on here. I continue to ask questions... yes. Is that wrong? I was always taught that asking questions was a good thing. Not a bad thing, or a thing to be put down when I challenge the answers. And... umm... Serbian refugees aren't the epitomy of what Serbia is. Yes, I have grown up with kids who have watched all of those horrors, seen all of these things, but it was never pounded into my head. Except for the whole "YOU DID THIS" (because we are americans and those were american planes). Part of the things with the Serbian mentality is that yes... there is evidence of it all over the place. But apart from talking about how "poor and destitude" they are (all while sitting in their kitchen, watching TV, their kid has a video game, and they have two country homes ready and waiting any time they want it), they don't go on and on about how they had to "overcome struggles", and "beat the odds". Serbian REFUGEES have a far different mindset than the Serbian PEOPLE. Trust me. I've experienced BOTH.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... just because you guys don't see the evidence of change on HERE... doesn't mean it's not happening on my side of things.
Neither foot locker nor sports authority can properly fit you for running shoes. --- at least none that ive ever been to are set up with a treadmill/ camera to analyze gait, and the instep/pressure pads.
I mean it. Teenagers are brain damaged. And I am saying this as one of the most popular teachers in my school, as someone well known for "getting" kids. It's no more an insult than saying that 8 year olds are "short". It's just part of the maturing process. There are certain types of judgments that all teenagers are really bad at--their brains are undeveloped. Things like estimating portion sizes and figuring out how to plan things, and evaluating risk/reward are exactly the sorts of things teenagers are bad at. This should reassure you. YOU WILL GET MUCH MUCH BETTER AT THIS, in the same way that an 8 year old will get much, much taller.
I don't expect that Serbians "hammered" these things at you. My refugee kids certainly didn't: it came up in college essays, mostly, or other sorts of essays. Or in passing conversations. It doesn't matter whether or not they "hammered" you with it: what matters is that you figured it out, and that you've seen that people that aren't smarter than you, aren't tougher than you, aren't better than you in any way, have figured out how to overcome all sorts of challenges, and if they can do it, you can to. It's about inspiration, not comparison.
Neither foot locker nor sports authority can properly fit you for running shoes. --- at least none that ive ever been to are set up with a treadmill/ camera to analyze gait, and the instep/pressure pads.
This seems like an unreasonably high standard. Surely you don't have to go somewhere this elaborate for a beginner looking to run < 10K at a stretch? Because I know dozens of runners that haven't done this. You are making it sound like if she doesn't go to this extreme, she might as well just pick shoes that mostly fit out of the bargain bin at Aldi.
This seems like an unreasonably high standard. Surely you don't have to go somewhere this elaborate for a beginner looking to run < 10K at a stretch? Because I know dozens of runners that haven't done this. You are making it sound like if she doesn't go to this extreme, she might as well just pick shoes that mostly fit out of the bargain bin at Aldi.
True, any shoe may be better than what she has -- but if she gets serious (and she said she wants to get into marathoning) and can't afford to buy more than one pair of shoes, she may want to get the best shoe she can right off the bat.
Keep asking the questions, it's the only way to help get you the answers you need.
A food scale was the best investment I made and some small measuring cups. It opened my eyes for sure.
The big thing about this process is being able to adapt and continue on your journey regardless of the changes that life throws at you last minute. You'll learn all of this as you progress. It takes time.
Keep going, you'll get it. Start with the basics when you can. Portion. It'll fall in to place. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. Your body will want more food and tell you. Just make sure you give it GOOD stuff.
