Help! Calories...

[IrishRain]

One thing that has been a very noticeable trend in my food logs lately is that my calories are way too low. I'm talking barely breaking 1000 a day. For example, I just had dinner and I'm at 950. What can I do? I even tried eating a big breakfast this morning. A ton of bacon and eggs adding up to about 700-750. Who knew eating enough could be so hard?! Haha.

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: Help! Calories...

what ARE you eating? got a menu? if you're eating about 700 calories at breakfast and with lunch + dinner are only getting in another 300 total????

what else are you eating? this could help everyone who answers you to give suggestions based on what you like.

[IrishRain]

Re: Help! Calories...

Unfortunately, because of the way my college set up the meal plan, there is no "breakfast and lunch". It's just brunch. So I'm basically getting two meals a day, brunch and dinner.

At breakfast, I have eggs and bacon/sausage or I have an omelette with tomatoes, onions, bacon, etc. Sometimes I'll grab some celery and cream cheese to go.

At dinner, I usually grab some grilled chicken or a couple turkey burgers and eat them with broccoli or tomatoes and lettuce or green beans.

I would eat more outside of these two meals, but it's really hard to find a legal snack on campus. :/

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: Help! Calories...

wow. hmmm. first thing's first is you should be eating more throughout the day - if it's hard to get a full 3 meals in per day - what about snacking? Do you have breaks between classes? Are you actually hungry between classes? One thing that is important to remember - as far as your metabolism goes, you really should not go more than 6 hours (i think it's 6, per the book) without eating. so if you're eating around let's say 10 a.m. then you should at the latest, again, eat around 4 p.m. and then again around 10 p.m. - that may sound late, and you don't wanna eat TOO much around that time (as i remember very well in college - late night eating, for me at least - always led to binging)...

but maybe even make sure to eat every 4 - 5 hours...take snacks of pepperoni in a snack-size ziplock?...vegees such as sliced red/yellow/orange peppers (with a small container of blue cheese or caesar dressing)....boiled eggs are always good too.
string cheese. there's a ton of things to eat to keep your metabolism going and to get more calories in.

this is all assuming you have a fridge in your dormroom?...most college students have a mini fridge - which obviously would be a TREMENDOUS help.

i wish you luck!

[EverLosing]

Re: Help! Calories...

I had the same problem in the beginning. My solution initially turned out to be tuna! 100-150 calories for a can and with added mayo (you NEED that fat) it turned out to be around 300 calories total. It really helped. Here's a link for portable snack ideas. Most of these are easy and you could easily do it in the dorm. Being prepared is soooooo KEY. You won't get to goal by luck. Check this out.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/main-atkins-diet-forum/70620-portable-snack-ideas.html

[chinadoll]

Re: Help! Calories...

Also keep blocks of cheese and boiled eggs (get them at brunch) in the mini fridge in your room. same goes for a few veggie stix from the caf and you can buy some sour cream to use as a dip.

[fresh]

Re: Help! Calories...

Unfortunately, because of the way my college set up the meal plan, there is no "breakfast and lunch". It's just brunch. So I'm basically getting two meals a day, brunch and dinner.

At breakfast, I have eggs and bacon/sausage or I have an omelette with tomatoes, onions, bacon, etc. Sometimes I'll grab some celery and cream cheese to go.

At dinner, I usually grab some grilled chicken or a couple turkey burgers and eat them with broccoli or tomatoes and lettuce or green beans.

I would eat more outside of these two meals, but it's really hard to find a legal snack on campus. :/

If you can, I suggest getting a mini-fridge. You can keep snacks in there.

[IrishRain]

Re: Help! Calories...

I do have a mini-fridge, yah. I think I'll start sneaking some tuna and boiled eggs from the "salad bar" (how are those things salads, haha?) in the little cardboard coffee cups. Usually I'm not hungry after lunch, but after dinner I seem to get hungry really quickly (like an hour later) though it passes within half an hour. It's all quick strange.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'll try to follow the ones that don't involve me buying stuff outside of the meal plan. (I'm a poor college student, don't you know? )

[EverLosing]

Re: Help! Calories...

Be very careful about pulling tuna off the salad bar. You have no idea what type of mayo they're using. It probably has added sugar. Simply ask them. Tell them you need to know exactly what brand of mayo is used. I imagine it's some industrial brand we've never heard of with sugar added. Tuna is less than a dollar per can. The only added expense is the mayo....I use Hellman's brand with no ill effects.

[IrishRain]

Re: Help! Calories...

That's the good news, actually. There's no mayo in the salad bar tuna. At least, usually. There was once or twice that I've seen. But normally I have to add it myself. And they have regular Hellman's mayo in a dispenser to the side. So I'm set on that front.