Best way to increase calorie intake?

[opal630]

So yesterday I thought I'd eaten too much, never counted calories before, I signed up to Calorie King to see how much it would add up to.

So I was very surprised to see that I was 300 calories under my recommended calorie intake for the day . Today, I entered my food again and with my exercise added it tells me I'm 300 calories under again . Some things I couldn't find the exact equivalent so I picked something that was sort of the same but some of the items I selected in CK had slightly more calories.

Is it okay to be under calories that much? I think because I weigh so much it says I have to eat more. What sort of things are still healthy but help to get your calorie intake up? I can't handle the sugar levels of most fruit so I tend to restrict my fruit intake if I want to stay awake during the day. Plus I'm vegan so no meat or dairy.

This is what I had today:

Breakfast
1 1/2 cups Norganic cornflakes
1/2 cup soymilk (lite with added calcium)

Lunch
2 sushi rolls (1 vegetarian, 1 avocado)

Dinner
Tofu cooked in soy sauce ~100 grams
1 potato
1/2 cup broccoli

Snacks
3 low fat oatmeal cookies (55 calories each)
50 grams mixed raw nuts
150ml apple juice (yet to have)
20 grams vegan dark chocolate

[ali]

Hey, Im not an expert on the subject, but im sure some of our resident experts will help you out soon!

In the meantime I will offer you my opinion. I think what you are eating sounds about right for the day, its healthy and you dont look like you are eating too little, however I dont know your weight and activity level so its hard to tell.

A note about calorie king, when you enter the exercise it says that you are under your calories for the day because it thinks you should eat your exercise calories burned. For example, if you consume 1500 calories and that is your daily limit, but then you do exercise which equates to 300 calories burned then it will say you are 300 calories lower than your daily intake, even though you have consumed the whole 1500 calories for the day. However, you dont need to eat your deficit calories, and its often better that you dont. The whole reason for exercise is that we burn more calories during the day to help with weight loss, combined with eating less during the day.

Just aim for your daily calorie intake and ignore what calorie king says about the deficit calories. I just go by what Ive eaten and any I burn in exercise is just more calories gone! Having said that, if you are still hungry after exercise you can eat the deficit calories but you dont need to. Just go by what your body tells you! If you are still hungry, genuinely hungry, then eat more.

Your daily meal plan does look good though.

I hope that helps, i tend to ramble a bit and im not sure if you will be able to understand that! Hehe sorry! Good luck with it!

[opal630]

Thanks for that Ali. Very helpful. I was wondering how I was going to fit more food in. Without the exercise I was close to my recommended calories.

[milkyway]

Ali's right re Calorie King.

I think what you're eating also sounds fine.

The other thing to consider is that I don't think Calorie King calculates net calories vs gross calories... so in that hour you are exercising, you might for example burn 500 calories but if you were sitting on the couch, you may have burnt 100 anyway. Calorie King will record the gross figure (e.g. 500 calories) vs the net figure (e.g. 500 - 100 = 400 calories.

A lot of this weightloss stuff is about trial and error and I'm sure you'll figure out what's working (& what's not!) for you.

[Mandie]

As above!

Don't worry so much about the exercise side of things, just eat to your recommended calorie limit and you should be right. Put the exercise in, of course.. you have a little breathing room if you work out to eat a little more that day.. but don't over do it!

Key to weight loss is to eat less AND exercise... not exercise and eat to make up the calories

[Chelle]

Ali right, but if you feel like you need to have a little bit more calories you could alway have a milo, that what a few people on here do.