Having trouble consuming enough calories

Jigglearsefupaflap

I am moderately active every day. Bmi of 34.5. I am having trouble getting more than half of my targeted caloric intake. I'm trying to stay low carb. Any food recommendations? Should I decrease my activity so my target for calories go down? Trying not to turn what I do eat into stored fat. Thanks!

p0wer_lifter

Eggs, chicken, steak, tuna, avocado, nuts and seeds, olive oil. These are all calorie dense and low carb.

Some thoughts:

Are you vegan? Vegan and low carb would be difficult, though nuts, avocados, coconut, and olive oil are all vegan, low carb, and calorie dense.

How low carb?

How many calories are you trying to eat every day? I can’t imagine that exercising less in order to lower calorie requirements would be recommended.

maxb

It's a misguided question IMO, but if you really want more calories without carbs, the obvious answer is fat: butter, olive oil, sunflower oil, animal fat, etc.

Jigglearsefupaflap

Out of fear of negative comments I didn't specify that I'm also on a prescribed appetite suppressant. My apologies for any confusion. Since I've asked I've come up with a meal replacement smoothie recipe that contains 400 calories. Thank you for the replies. I think I got it figured out. 😊❤️

Susan_RD_101

@Jigglearsefupaflap

Thanks for the update! When working with individuals taking appetite suppressants, I suggest they track their hunger peaks in the day. Typically, we can usually get more food in earlier and later in the day, outside of the drug's peak activity. It can be helpful to let go of traditional meal times and just focus on easy to consume foods and beverages when appetite is very low.

Also, note that hunger = physiological need for food and appetite = drive for food. Your hunger can still be present even when appetite is low.

Kind regards,

natasor

Huoaaa!. What is your problem? say "huuray" Your BMI 34.5 it's more than obise of second grade. Your food intake has to be low as possible. You are better try to cut till your will feel little hungry. This is suppose to feel a person to live hapy and healthy life. When you reach BMI 20.5 then we will speek about food shortage

BobC

Like the original poster I am also having a hard time taking in more than 1/2 my daily calories of 1950. Even eating every 3 hours/ 5times a day I'd need 400 cals per. Do I need to take in the 1950 a day to raise my metabolism? What am I missing? My brain tells me less intake for losing weight. Please advise.

p0wer_lifter

Is the issue that you can’t eat more or can but not sure how to get enough calories? Assuming the latter, then I’ve found that more exercise does the trick. Burn more and eat more.

Again, if the issue isn’t that you just can’t eat more, and rather that you aren’t sure how to get there, then I would recommend more high calorie foods. Avocados, almonds, olive oil, seeds, garbanzo beans. If not a vegetarian, then salmon, sardines,

an avocado - 225 calories

an ounce of almonds - 175 calories

a tbsp of olive oil - 125 calories

1/2 cup garbanzo beans - 110 calories

add 2 tbsp sunflower seeds to a lettuce and tomato salad and you’ve just eaten about 750 calories with just a 1 salad meal. If you can eat salmon, then 6 ounces will get you to your half-way point. This would be 1 meal for me, but split it into 2 and you’ve still got half a day to eat more

The ‘less calories to lose weight’ mantra is a fool’s chase as your body will chase you down a viscous tunnel, a spiral that will land you in a dark, cold, and horrible cave. With bats. And snakes. I hate bats and snakes.

When I am in a cutting phase, I eat an average of 2800 calories a day and lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week. The trick for me is lifting heavy weights and high intensity aerobic work. Here, heavy and high intensity is relative - work hard for where you are.

I hope this helps, and good luck to you.

p0wer_lifter

‘less calories to lose weight’ is a fool’s mantra that will lead you on a spiraling descent to nowhere. There’s only so much that you can lower calories as your body fights your attempts to starve yourself. The answer lies on the other side of the equation, on the burn side.

Exercise more with resistance training and with a mix of high-intensity and long steady state cardio. Then eat more food.

Susan_RD_101

@BobC

Out metabolism is influenced by genetics, body size, physical activity, AND the volume of food we consume in a day.

1950 is not an abnormally large amount of calories and I do think that if you are consistently undereating, you are very likely pushing your metabolism to a lower range.

You may want to consider adding some activity as this helps to increase hunger cues. Liquid calories tend to be less filling than solid calories and adding some energy-dense foods, like nuts, seeds, avocado, plant-based oils, nut butter, etc. can quickly make up a deficit.

Hope this helps!

BobC

Thanks power. Thanks Susan. I'll try some nuts and smoothies to get up to the 1950 and see how things progress.

BobC

Thanks Antwon. My metabolism must have been in hibernation. I was living on coffee and one meal a day. I'm up to 1600-1700 intake now and aiming for the 1900-2000 along with walking 5 miles/day and a vigorous 30 minute workout. Pounds are falling off this first week. Now to fine tune it and get my metabolism right. Thanks to the 3 commenters for your advice.