Okay, I'm having a similar problem to the one britomart was having. When I add up my calories today this is what I get:

210-turkey deli sandwich from Subway
+40-vinagerette added to sw

130-Strawberry yogurt bar

240-Garlic chicken with veggies and pasta
+50- toasted bread

100-yogurt

=770 ??????????????!!!!

How can that be? It doesn't seem possible. I'm only eating a small amount at a time, and I'm cutting out most fat (ie. mayo on the sandwich I miss you mayo). But I'm eating when I want. There are times when I feel like I want to eat something, but not because I'm hungry, because I feel like I should be eating (old habits...).

When I added up my calories from what I can remember of what I ate yesterday, I got about the same amount.

Now, I know undereating can hurt weight loss, but it seems like I am consuming more than this. I remeber everything I ate today, and most of the nutrition info came from on the box. And I feel like, if I shove anymore food in me, I'm not going to lose weight. I'm really short (4' 11'') and weigh 209 and I'm not really sure how many calories I should be consuming, but I think it should be more than 800...

What am I doing wrong?

Are you eating breakfast?

That list looks like you've skipped brekky and gone straight to lunch so thats about 300 or 400 calories you could add right there

A good, healthy, solid breakfast is one of the essential ingredients in weightloss and maintanence

Livi

I didn't wake up till 9:30, had some classes, and ate on my break at noon. I'm not big on eating in the morning, it makes me ill, and by the time I feel like I could eat, I'm in class.

If you're a person who doesnt like breakfast try something like a fruit and yoghurt smoothie...

It really is important to have some form of food or fuel not long after waking as it fires up your metabolism for the day and gets your brain, energy and focus pumping.

Apart from smoothies you could try making healthy muffins and having one for brekky, have plain fruit or just yoghurt - even one of those protein bar things would be beneficial

Either that or include things like nuts and legumes in your diet, esp nuts as they're a great on the go snack. There is also dried fruit or a multigrain roll etc etc

A typical day for me looks something like this

Breakfast - homemade muesli with low-fat yoghurt (300)
Snack - Slice of rye bread (80)
Lunch - Salad with a protein i.e. a boiled egg or tuna (usually 250)
Snack - Fruit (around 80-100)
Dinner - Tonight for example was ratatoulie w/kangaroo sausage (250) with 3 x slice rye bread toast (240)
Snack - homemade banana & mango muffin (175) plus handful of cashews (75)

total = 1470

It's funny that our ideas of eating "healthy" have come to mean eating so little. There were some really awesome suggestions in the other thread about this, like more protein and dairy, or some nuts...... Plus, since you miss mayo so much, why not allow yourself a little bit (preferably light) on your sub? If you get the light kind, you can still keep your fat down, and throw some extra calories in. On high cal days, don't have the mayo, but otherwise I don't see a problem with it.... And how about adding a little to your snacks? Would you be comfortable doing that? Believe me, I know how tough it is to stay in the "I'm eating healthy" mentality while pushing UP your calories....... But I've lost another pound in the past four days, by eating more calories than I probably have all summer (1600).......

Call me a pessimist if you will but I have reservations about restaurant foods. When I look at a subway menu, there is sooo much small print, I don't really know what I can have that will still only add up to 210 cals. If I make a turkey sandwich at home .... for instance with Lyria's rye bread ... that's 160 cals already with nothing on it. If I used the whole wheat bread I have in the kitchen ... it's 220 cals.

I'd have to agree with susan. Bread is a lot in itself, and then you add everything else. I've been doing some reasearch about calories in restaurants, and it adds up really, really fast. It's quite shocking actually.

I am right there with you SusanB, how can Subway's bread have so few calories versus bread you buy at the grocery store?

I'm trying to eat breakfast today, even though I woke up at 11...my day off

Where can I get a good estimate of how much I should be consuming a day, calorie wise?

umm, Lyria, are you saying you ate a kangaroo? Is kangaroo sausage really kangaroo?

I also see no fruit in your menu. Fruit is very good for u (and each piece is about 100 calories)

A good website to help with working out what calories are in your food is calorieking.com or fitday.com..you can also track in fitday. It shows you the break down of your calories with respect to % cals from fat, carbs and proteins, which can be useful.

There are many nutrition websites out there, as well as basal calorie rate calculators. You can use these to work out roughly how many calories your body burns in a day, just by being a live. Ideally you shouldn't eat less than 1200 calories a day, otherwise your body can go into starvation mode or you can slow down your metabolism. I'd actually start looking at how much you eat "normally" in something like fitday when you were maintaining/gaining weight and reduce from there. Most people seem to lose weight when consuming in the range 1200-1800 cals, dependent on personal factors.

In terms of balancing carbs, proteins and fats, it depends on what dietary methodology you adhere to, but a good mix is 50% cals from carbs, 30 % cals from protein and 20% cals from fats.

You should also look at eating approx .5-1gram of protein per KG of bodyweight each day.

Hope this is somewhat helpful?

p.s you should also aim for at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day. A serving is what would fit in the palm of your hand.

Kangaroo is becoming quite common in many households now and you can find it right next to the chicken breasts in my supermarket (in Australia).

I haven't tried the sausages, but have had the steak. I am planning on barbecuing some tonight for dinner actually. Its very lean, with little to no fat or connective tissue and is best described as a game meat I guess. Its cheaper than chicken breasts (from where I buy it) and it can last up to 2 weeks in its packaging in the fridge, which is handy.

A 200g serving has about 195 calories with 2g fat and 44g protein.

I think we are the only country to eat its national emblem - both emu and kangaroo

*GASP*

But.. but... but... Kangaroos are cute!

(Ignore me please, I'm a vegetarian who only eats a little fish. And fish? Not cute. Chickens? Cute. Cows and pigs? Adorable.)

Thanks for all the tips, and info on the websites.

And I am fairly certain in the last 2 days I have definatly met my calorie quota. Darn halloween.