2000 calories... I CAN'T DO IT!!!

MidgetDogg

MidgetDogg

Cathlete
I hit and passed my goal weight and have started maintenance. According to the Nutrition software and Livestrong.com, I'm supposed to be eating just over 2000 calories per day. Now that I'm eating clean and have eliminated junk from my diet, I'm struggling to get that!

So many of the foods that have become my favorites make me feel full with fewer calories. And my grocery bill is through the roof!

But I must admit, I've learned to enjoy cooking and have found a lot of tasty recipes.
 
RapidBreath said:
The trick is to add as much healthy fats as possible. They are chock full of calories but are still clean.
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Yeah, I put big globs of goat cheese and slivered almonds in my lunch salad. And I have a handful of almonds as a snack... Mmmmmm goat cheese. Can't get over how big an ounce of it is.
 
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At one time I was calorie staggering. My deficit days were around 1500 calories and my maintenance days were around 2000. I was hungry on deficit days but truly struggled to eat 2000 clean calories on maintenance days so I just wanted to say that I know how you feel.
 
Same here! That's a lot of calories, especially when you eat clean! Can you imagine the size of the plate with just veggies? OMG!
 
Why do you have to do this because some book says so? If you are not that hungry and cannot afford the food bills, what is wrong with eating to satisfy hunger, according to each day's activity levels and biorhythm fluctuations, and cover nutritional bases and stop at that?

Clare
 
Because that would leave me with too few calories for the day and I would lose more weight than I want. I'm pretty much satisfied when I've hit about 1300 calories. And I burn 600 - 1000 a day through exercise, depending on whether it's a running or walking day, or a long run day, and if weights are done on that particular day. That doesn't even include the running around I do in the everyday movement. I don't want to lose any more weight, and indeed, I would like to see a little of that muscle that I'm working to develop. Can't do that if I'm so low.

On lower intensity days, I adjust my calories. Like for this week, I'm in my break between Meso 2 and Meso 3 of STS, so on the Walking days, I'm keeping the calories around 1500. Which, technically, is still a bit low.

This is the first time I've ever really paid attention to my caloric intake, and exactly what I'm eating to get the right amount, and the first time I've ever gotten the results I have. I think that there's definitely something to the science! I've been my "goal" weight most of my life, with a few incidents where I've popped up about 12 lbs., but I've never had the muscle definition and complete flatness on my abs that I do now. Just going with my instincts on how I feel hasn't ever worked as well.
 
syzygy314 said:
Same here! That's a lot of calories, especially when you eat clean! Can you imagine the size of the plate with just veggies? OMG!
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LOL - that was me last night trying to choke down all the broccoli I put on my plate. I LOVE broccoli, always have, but I just couldn't finish it all. Fortunately, my dogs love it too.

I think the only things they don't like from my clean diet is overripe bananas and celery. Can't blame them on the banana.... I hate them once they aren't bright yellow anymore.
 
maddiesmum said:
Why do you have to do this because some book says so? If you are not that hungry and cannot afford the food bills, what is wrong with eating to satisfy hunger, according to each day's activity levels and biorhythm fluctuations, and cover nutritional bases and stop at that?

Clare
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ITA!

If you are finding, though, that you are losing more weight because of insufficient calories, more calorie-dense nutritious foods (like avocado, nuts and grains) can help.
 
MidgetDogg said:
I think the only things they don't like from my clean diet is overripe bananas and celery. Can't blame them on the banana.... I hate them once they aren't bright yellow anymore.
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To me, bananas aren't ripe until they are freckeled!

Save your 'overripe' bananas by freezing them and putting them in smoothies (that also adds calories) or blending frozen bananas to make 'ice cream'.

An excellent natural electrolyte-replacment drink is blending up bananas and celery (maybe two things you don't like, when combined, will taste better to you?). If you don't have a high-powered blender, make sure to remove the strings from the celery, and chop it up into small pieces before blending.
 
kathryn said:
Save your 'overripe' bananas by freezing them and putting them in smoothies (that also adds calories) or blending frozen bananas to make 'ice cream'.

An excellent natural electrolyte-replacment drink is blending up bananas and celery (maybe two things you don't like, when combined, will taste better to you?). If you don't have a high-powered blender, make sure to remove the strings from the celery, and chop it up into small pieces before blending.
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Great suggestions. I had never thought of freezing bananas, but this sure beats throwing them out. And I can't wait to try that drink!

Stebby
 
Stebby said:
Great suggestions. I had never thought of freezing bananas, but this sure beats throwing them out. And I can't wait to try that drink!

Stebby
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Just be sure to peel the bananas, as it doesn't work too well to freeze them whole (the skin is hard to peel off, the 'strings' stick, etc.

I break them into chunks and put them in freezer bags.

It's also sometimes pretty easy to find perfectly ripe bananas (freckled, but not bruised) by the bag at a discount, usually 10-20 cents less per pound than the other bananas. I buy these often, and peel and freeze.
 
I can't even imagine having this "problem" since I love high calorie foods like nut butters. You can rack up a lot of calories pretty quickly with nuts or nut butters.
 
Olives are high in fat (and calories) as well. I think the others are right that healthy fats are the answer to your dilemma.
 
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