OMG I'm back in the 600s again

Ok SO....

I started lifting and doing HIIT a little over 6 months out but after a couple of weeks I got very physically tired. I realized it was because my calories were too low for this level of activity so I've been trying to increase my calories. Also, I have a bodybuilder/trainer consulting with me and he said I will NEVER build more muscle without increasing my calories (he wants me at a minimum of 1600 eventually to build muscle). He told me that I will probably have to drink some of my calories for a while until I can eat more.

So I temporarily dropped the HIIT and have been trying really super hard to increase my calories and protein. I had gotten my calories up to the 800s and my protein close to 100 for a while, but it takes SO much effort because I still have a lot of restriction. I've started slacking and slipping back into the 600s. My calories yesterday were 640 and protein was 57. GULP!!  And my calories were only this high because I ate 1/2 c. of nuts (which upset my tummy). When I eat a lot more during the day, then my fluids suffer drastically. You'd think I'd have some balance by now. sigh

I have to admit here that I also have this fear that I will gain fat rather than muscle. A part of me knows that I NEED to eat more, but another part of me is completely terrified that I'll get fat if I increase my calories too much (I'm still scared to get to 900). I need to get over this mental hump or I will never reach my fitness goals!

I would love to know what folks who are at maintenance or people who eat closer to 1,000+ calories are eating every day. I've added peanut butter to my protein shakes a few times to help. I really prefer to stick to the lower carb side of things so that I don't start having cravings. 

HI Mandy ~ I eat 1000/cal/day and I lose 2lbs/week.  You can loose weight if you eat up to 1500/cal/day and it's healthy for you.  dont be scared, you want to do this right, so listen to the pro :)

Thank you!

He wants me at a bare minimum of 1600 calories a day. That goal seem insurmountable to me right now.

The thing is that it's so much easier to NOT eat than to eat. I rarely experience hunger, and get full so fast.

The intelligent me knows that all the bodybuilding experts who are telling me to get a lot more calories are right, but the eating-disordered me says "dont do it girl, they just want you to get fat again."

But, I really am trying!

do you have one of those apps that count cal and exercise activity?  doing the math will help you see exactly where you are and as you know lifting burns a heck of a lot of cal.  i use Far Secret and i love knowing where i am on the math of weight loss.

I was using sparkpeople but found it tedious to add the foods electronically. Now I just write everything down on paper taped to my fridge.

what I eat during my everyday breathing in and out life is is mostly boring maybe, but its delicious AND helps me to know what is going in that day versus how much I am expending.   I have 4 meals of 2 ounces of ground beef with a slice of cheese and salsa.  IF I am having a really heavy exercise day, I add 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil to each of those. Or if my body is churnin and burning and my basal is up near 2000, then I have 3 ounces of ground beef, slice chee and salsa with the coconut oil.  I tweak this and go back to chicken or turkey if I need lower cals.   I will have 2 protein shakes per day - honestly that is more because at my yearly labs I was protein deficient more than a need for calories or protein.  boo.    I also have 1 sweet snack of Naturally More Peanut Butter mixed with Hershey Dark Unsweetened cocoa wrapped in Havarti cheese.  That's my most carby thing of the day, some days if I have a lot of extra calories at the end of the day, I will have 2.    So - saying the 2 ounces of beef MexicanMash without oil x 4 and 2 protein shakes mixed with almond milk, plus my 2 coffes with almond milk and 1 of the PBCocoa things - that gives me 1549 cals, 28.1 total carbs, 94.2 percent fat.

So, you can see, I do not eat VOLUMES, but I tweak my what I eat up and down by making different choices, in the same format.

Does that make sense?

Now, granted, I eat higher fat and lower carb than a lot of folks, but *disclaimer* its not that I am saying everyone oughta, but when I am lifting, that is what keeps me energized, focused, not bingey, and my body runs best on it, and I stay lean this way.  Truthfully, when I am in the midst of heavy workouts, I strive to keep my macros at 65 percent fat, 30 percent protein, and 5 percent carbs.

But like right now? I am feeling a little halloween caramel love handle action *YUM!* and so I just cut the PNBCC burrito snack out for a few days and I will be back to regular ol and can add it in.

Honestly the whole automating my eating has been a lifesaver.

Good luck honeypie!  No fear!  Its wasting all your good HIIT energy!

*squeeze*

I realized a couple weeks ago that the only way for me to get that many calories is to really increase my fat intake.

I posted a bit about this on the exercise board, and MacMadame told me to ditch the cottage cheese since it's so low in cals and add higher calorie foods like nuts. I was eating a lot of turkey breast, other lunch meats, cottage cheese, etc. Stuff that isnt exactly loaded with calories. lol

I'm like you in that I prefer to eat the same things every day. Too much variety confuses me and it's easy to lose track of being exactly where I want to be calorie/protein-wise.

My husband eats the same stuff all the time.  I would have told you that would not work for me.. but I just did not *want* for it to work for me.  My old chubblin self wanted variety, lots of foods, different tastes and.. well. You know.  She liked to think about the foods all day.

My not so chubblin on the outside me KNOWS too much variety makes me think about what is next to eat!  How can I make it different.. is it time to eat??  it MUST be time to eat (insert rationalizations!)

Pork, beef, dark meat are good for tweaking the cals up!  Its good though, to KNOW how to eat the same *amount* (so your tummy knows it is still full! its not starving!!) but be able to make the calories your *****es!! 

the coconut oil is one of my favorite good fats (aside from avocados straight up) and MACADAMIA NUT OIL! Oh yumz.  I will also put that in my protein shakes too for a caloric boost. 

I will look into those oils. So no greasy flavor or anything?

Not at all.  The coconut oil (I use virgin cold pressed) does not even taste coconutty.  You can taste the macadamia a bit.  I get both of them cheapest at netrition.com. They have 5 dollar shipping, which is great when you order pounds of things from them!  Shipping can kill ya!

With the coconut oil, I tend to put it in my MM after I have nuked it, not before.  I cook a lot with the macnut oil.