Tips to eat enough?

[OllieCrafoord]

Hello!

I'm trying to lose weight and I'm on a medication, Saxenda, to help this. Per my dietician, I'm supposed to eat around 1,800 calories a day (and per the Fitbit app: 1,900) but I'm only managing to eat around 700-800 calories a day. I'm super new to counting calories but I've previously had anorexia so that's where my bad eating habits come from. Are there any tips for eating enough calories or is this a stupid question? 😄

Thanks in advance! 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @OllieCrafoord - congratulations on taking this big, first step! This is not a stupid question. There are no stupid questions in the forums. Have you started tracking your food in the Fitbit app yet? My efforts have always been to lose weight. But whether you’re trying to lose or gain, it’s important to write down everything you eat. Here are a few ways to add calories to your diet. 

• Committ to drink a Premier Protein or Ensure once or twice every day. They taste good and are loaded with vitamins and nutriments. At about 160 calories each, you can deliciously add calories to your day.
• Use whole milk in your cereal, etc. that has more calories than other milks.
• Oatmeal is a healthy breakfast food. If you like that, add a pat of butter to it (about 100 calories). Also add some frozen fruits. My hubby likes blueberries but you can add your favorite fruit. 

Hopefully others will chime in with their ideas.  Good luck! Please let us know how it goes. We are here to support you. 

[MarilynBeth2]

Ensure Plus has 350 calories a serving.  I substitute it for a glass a milk giving me 200 additional calories.    Eating more can be just as challenging as eating less.  Fitbit has my calories too low even with using personalized settings.  I also find the red whoops to be less than motivating.  I need to see that red whoops most days in order to keep my weight up.  One can't lose weight forever or one would starve to death.  

[OllieCrafoord]

Eating more is ridiculously hard. My dietician says my body is in 'starvation mode' and storing all the food I eat because I don't eat enough so it's impossible to lose any weight this way. I asked her about how to eat more and she didn't have a lot of ideas herself so I appreciate the responses given here 🙂  We don't have any Ensure brands here but we have protein milkshakes with lots of vitamins in them. Do you think that might be kind of the same thing?

[MarilynBeth2]

When I needed to get my weight up when I was donating plasma, I would drink protein drinks.  I get my Ensure from the VA so I don't pay for it.  Protein drinks are cheaper and work just as well.

[emili]

hey there @OllieCrafoord . First I echo the congrats on this major step. I don't have the undereating problem myself, but I can imagine it is an extreme similar to overeating. you can't help it unless you consciously help it- which is so hard. try building snacks into your day that don't feel like eating. make yourself a snack bag that you carry around with you to have a nibble. put in things you enjoy and mix it with things that are good for you such as nuts, dark chocolate chips, some dried fruit, pretzels - that sort of thing. I have a huge problem with snacking while I am drinking- huge. So I pack these snack bags and bring them with me to places that allow outside snacks. It lets me graze and its controlled by me so I know how many calories I am consuming. I have become quite infamous for my little bags of goodness and have on occasion made them for friends.. 

[SunsetRunner]

@OllieCrafoord - how are you doing today?  Have you found any of the protein milkshakes with lots of vitamins in them? Have you tried them?  I had another thought. Try snacking on nuts. They can add some healthy calories to your diet. 

[SebWotan]

This is a good question. Here are some tips I used to increase my calorie intake:

- Eat wholegrain bread, oats, pasta. Those are more calorific, contains more fiber too

- Eat carbs at every meal: grains, pasta, beans and pulse, bread

- Eat nuts: walnuts, almonds, cashew, pecan nuts. Without added sugar or salts. 25 g of nuts is roughly 150 cal. 

- Cook with and add a spoon of olive oil (100 cal)

- It is easier to eat 4 meals of 500 cal each than 2 or 3 larger meals

[OllieCrafoord]

I have cashews that I eat as a snack. I also got some shakes that are 146 calories each. 🙂

[JennyTheUnfit]

My brother was very underweight at one point and after seeing the doc they realised he was eating way too few calories. He got his calories up by eating peanut butter and nutella out of the jar with a spoon 🙈

[SunsetRunner]

That’s a great idea, @JennyTheUnfit !  As a kid, we were not allowed to do that. So doing it now, would be like enjoying a guilty pleasure. 

[GeorgyGirl66]

I sometimes drink the Atkins shakes. They have calories,and decent protein, and they taste pretty good, too. If I am not taking in enough calories, I will grab one and drink it. It's filling and I treat it like a "snack". They have really good coffee flavors. My favorite is the Caramel.

[LindaMtl]

I have finally found what works for me after struggling to put on weight for the last couple of years (7 kilos). I worked with a dietician, rad tons of articles and tried everything that was suggested. But I needed something easy that I could follow daily, regardless of my activity. Here’s what I do: make a point of eating something healthy every hour or so, write down what I eat to make sure I get enough protein and carbs, substitute some of my water for caloric drinks such as chocolate milk, force myself to take a couple of more bites even if I feel full. I began 6 weeks ago and have put on 1.5 kilos, so will definitely continue. I hope this can help you. Good luck. 

[keyy]

Ideally, if you want to add weight then do resistance training to build lean muscle - will require moderate increase in caloric intake and protein but otherwise, stay away from processed foods - especially sugary ones like chocolate milk, otherwise you run the risk of elevating visceral fat and risk of diabetes - insulin resistance.  That's something bears leverage relative to diet of fatty salmon and berries, where insulin resistance leads to pronounced fat gain which they need for hibernation - otherwise, certainly not ideal an strategy for humans. ; )