Discouraged by Consumed/Expended Balance
I've only eaten breakfast (granola with milk), snack (some mixed nuts), and lunch (egg salad sandwich with greens, a small amount of fritos & 1/2 orange) and I'm already over my Target Kcal balance (1384 consumed and 1389 expended). I wear an apple watch and sync activity. I've walked 3 miles so far today. I'm only trying to lose 1 pound per week over 8 weeks, so my targets seem reasonable. Do my consumed calories seem off? I'll likely do another walk, but it doesn't add up to that much. Yesterday I ate 2 large salads with just balsamic vinegar, veggies, legumes and grains and was also over. What am I doing wrong or what am I missing? I'm discouraged!
Best Answers
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DISCLAIMER: I have no qualifications, this is only based on my experience & looking up food nutrition
Granola (453cal/cup) + chips(fritos: 160cal/28g[single-serving bag]) + nuts (generally 50cal/tbsp) should be a sometimes food in a deficit as they are really calorically dense, especially if the deficit is only 1384
Also granola is sweet and for me if I eat sweet in the morning I will be hungry throughout the day
Also a portion of veggies legumes & whole grains is low calorie but a large portion of whole grains is not (large portion of veggies though generally still is low cal)
Also if the sandwich has mayo (94 cal/tbsp)= high cal, if eggs are scrambled in much oil(120 cal/tbsp) = high calYour consumed calories make sense but I think ur expended is probably higher but then again I don't know your height & weight & gender
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Sounds like you are trying to eat a nutritious diet which is that most important. I eat mainly plant based and it's misleading because most think it's veggies that are low calorie. It's easy to get calories in grains beans and nuts.
If you like yogurt try some Greek yogurt with afee T of granola for crunch. If you have a salad try a few chopped nuts and apple. My fav salad is ChickFilA market salad but you can dupe it at home. It has grilled chicken and a small packets of granola, almonds and bleu cheese crumbles. It has a few fresh blueberries strawberries and some apple cubes Super filling. Most of the calories are in the dressing so I only use a small amount. Good luck on your journey!
Answers
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Thank you for the thoughtful feedback, Whoops. Life is always a learning process. I think you are right about my expended calories. When I look back at my Apple watch, in the fine print of the Fitness app, at the end of the day I seem to be averaging 1800 expended calories. This is more encouraging. Thanks for prompting me to take a closer look. Best wishes!
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Thank you EmmaSurf. Appreciate your input. I mostly plant based and you are right about the calorie creep. I use very little dressing on my salads too. I'm beginning to think my gain is more about slowing metabolism*, than it is about calories - but I'm going to keep on trying - to eat healthy, get sufficient exercise AND maintain a healthy weight. (*I'm a 60-something year old woman - slower metabolism happens!)
Best to you EmmaSurf!