Also you could add heatlhy drinks. For instance when I do a major walk in the morning if I'm hot and tired but not hungry I'll have a small glass of chocolate milk. Even with skim milk and just a touch of chocolate syrup you're looking at 200 calories easy. Likewise on most juices. The actual fruit gives you the fiber but if you can't handle it juice still has plenty of calories and nutrients.

Cebsme - what about almond, cashew, or sunflower seed butter? Or veg sticks with hummus? I make horseradish hummus and put it on everything my calorie plan allows. If you can tolerate almonds, almond milk (mmm chocolate almond milk) is ~120 calories.

I rarely ever get hungry, so I use snacks to bump up my calories. For example, I wasn't hungry at all today. I forced down a soy yogurt and some berries for breakfast, had a small salad for lunch, and stir fry for dinner. All of that came to about 800 calories. Add in some snacks that don't make me feel full and I came in at about 1400, lower than I hoped for, but I'll do better tomorrow!

The almond butter, cashew butter and sunflower butter should be okay. I plan on buying something next time I head up to trader joes, because we dont have a lot of that stuff around here.

I used to drink soy milk, which has been a big problem for me getting used to because I cant handle cows milk. I will buy some almond milk tomorrow when I go to school as I will be by the grocery store. We are also getting 3 goats next weekend and one of them is producing milk, so I think I will try that as well, regardless I can use it for other things like ice cream.

Today I got up to 1450 so far. GWF says I should eat 1910. I dont know if I could do that, but I think I would like to shoot for at least 1600 a day, strangely because I used to never have trouble getting up over 2000-3000 a day. I do eat snacks however I think I need to make them higher in calories, since meals are hard for me to get too higher.

One of the hard things for me is breakfast, I am trying to get used to it but its hard. I know its good for me and it can help boost my metabolism.

Trader Joe's has sunflower seed butter - it's absolutely amazing. Just keep it in the fridge, it'll last for ages.

I've always struggled with breakfast. No one in my family is a big breakfast person, so I had to train myself to eat something in the morning. What's worked for me is getting it ready the night before. My typical breakfast is steel cut oatmeal (which I make twice a week and pre-portion) with some almond milk and frozen blueberries on it. I put it all in a to go container, and nuke it after I've had enough coffee to safely get the spoon to my mouth.

I don't like breakfast, it's just not my thing. But I've found if I eat it, I actually make smarter choices for the rest of my day, food wise. Something about knowing I choked down breakfast reminds me all day to stay out of the area with the vending machines, or eat the lunch I packed instead of going to the awesome sushi dive down the street.

You absolutely need to eat more than 1000 cals a day. I'd say that at any weight, but especially at your current weight. Add cheese to the lunch sub, and since you're having problems getting calories in, use full fat cheese and sour cream. If you must, swap out the turkey burger for a hamburger. However, just watch that you're not adding things that you're not tracking. Was there butter, mustard or mayo on the sandwich? Did you take any condiments with the burger or fries? How was the burger cooked (any fat added)?

You've had some good suggestions. It's up to you if you take them. Seriously, an ounce of most nuts are going to be ~150 cals, that's not a lot of food.

The breakfast thing is a problem for a lot of people. I used to be one of those who skipped breakfast, but I don't any longer. Consider having non-breakfast foods for breakfast. I know one woman who has pizza for breakfast most mornings (homemade using flatbread and chicken). I couldn't face it myself, but she detests eggs.

Cebsme - It might not be the same for all, but I seriously do not lose weight if I eat too little. Over the years I recognize that I would start a sub-1200 calorie diet and feel great. I suspect it was my body being thankful for good food, not the usual crap. However, a couple of weeks, or a month later I'd be losing no weight and wondering why I was depriving myself.

Seriously ladies - sit down each night and plan your meals for the next day. I've found it very helpful, both on hungry and non-hungry days (although to be fair I'm almost always hungry so the non-hungry days are rare). However, it doesn't leave me sitting at the end of the day looking for things to eat. Frankly that would be dangerous to me and I could see myself eventually eating crap to make up the calories.

From experience, NEVER skip meals... Your body ends up stockpiling what you do eat, and makes it harder to burn off. Oh boy, do I know this.

Have you tried doing mini-meals? It might make you feel less like you're just eating for eating's sake. Especially if you find snacks you really like.

Good luck!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the tips, advice, and especially support in this thread. Today I have gotten up to almost 1500 calories so far, and I feel like I still made healthy choices. I am not hungry, but I am not overly stuffed. I have my gym class tonight and feel like I have enough energy to get through the full two hours. According to my GWF I have already burned off every thing I have eaten and then much more, but its not like I ate it all and then started burning, they have both been through out the day until now. I still dont think that I can get up to the 1900 that GWF is suggesting, but I can see 1500/1600 now, that doesnt seem so hard to reach and still be rather healthy.

Actually no, there weren't any condiments on the sub. I normally get mayo and instead used banana peppers to get the flavor without the calories. Same with the turkey burger/fries. The turkey burger was also baked so no oil added.

I have however found some great solutions in the past two days. I've added in a protein shake in the evening which adds in another 100 calories. I've also been sneaking in extra calories via bananas. Yesterday I hit 1600 and felt great. Just takes a bit of practice.

if you uder your calories you'll lose weight. "starvation mode" is not really an issue unless your 95 lbs or something

Starvation mode exists in different levels far before 95lbs. Something I dont like to talk about, I am a recovering anorexic. I never got down as low as 95lbs thankfully, but yes I did go into starvation mode. This is one of the reasons its important for me to try to get enough calories, not overdo things and think easy fix. Even when I havent been trying to loose weight I have ALWAYS had to keep a food journal since I went into recovery.

I also cant stand the term "starvation mode" its very misleading.

Yes, and no. The term starvation mode is probably the worst term to use. I'm going to copy something in that I just posted in another thread. It was about some people needing to eat more to lose weight.

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It's hard for a lot of people to grasp, but for me it works better. It kind of goes this way:

Higher calories
- more energy
- move around more, not exercise, just do more
- more energetic workouts
- better sleep
- consistent weight loss

Lower calories
- less energy
- spend more time on the couch
- go through the motions during workouts
- insomnia
- lose fast (sometimes), then lose next to nothing

I adding the sleeping stuff before I finished up the post. I really didn't think about it, but I do seriously sleep better. When I was on lower calories I would lie awake at night just wanting to go get something to eat. Now, I plan a snack before bed (usually protein shake and fruit), and sleep extremely well. An interesting point is that I'm well over 100 pounds lighter than when I last started to lose weight, and actually eating more (started at 1600-1800, eating 2000 now). That really just kind of floors me.

I do eat more on days I do weight training (in the form of a post-workout shake), and I generally take a break every 12-weeks. Having said all that (in the interest of full-disclosure) I'm currently about 9 pounds heavier than I was in March. Primarily because I let everything (food and exercise) go to **** during the final weeks of school and exams). I proved, that for me, planning really is everything.

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I'll add a little more here. My current maintenance level appears to be about 3000 calories a day. My activity level at my current weight requires that amount of fuel to maintain. When I eat 2000 calories a day my 'system' works well, and I lose weight. I recognize that in the past when I tried to eat under 1200 calories a day I was truly starving my system. Yes, I would drop weight very quickly, and then suddenly I would stop. I couldn't understand that, and would try to eat less. What I recognize now (and people who know me in real life comment on) is that I have a ton of energy at this calorie level. At under 1200 calories I would workout, however, I did nothing else physical during the day. I wouldn't walk any further than I had to, I wouldn't take stuff upstairs - just leave it on the step until I was going, in fact, I would do as little extra movement as I could get away from.

At that calorie level my body was telling me I wasn't giving it enough fuel - to slow down. Oh, and every cold/flu/bug going around - I caught it. The magic 1200 number isn't a real one. It's just a number that most nutritionists feel you should eat to get the proper level of nutrients. Each person has that magic level that they should stick to. The problem is that it's not always easy to find. What works for one person may not work for someone else.

However, let me point out that my 80-something mother, who is ~120 pounds maintains that weight eating just slightly less than I do (we eat different breakfast, lunches, etc. but the same dinner). I would say she eats ~1800 cals a day. Oh yes, and then there's the chocolate bars (family size) and the candy she buys every week when she goes out. I call her the poster child for NEAT (I'll give you a link in a minute). She's almost always on the move. Not that she doesn't have a nap/lie down now in the afternoons, but she's always moving around. I try to emulate her, but it's tough some days.

More information on NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)
http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/re..._lab/about.cfm