Need more calories.
 

Hi everyone,

The last few days, my calorie count at fitday has been around or under 1,000 calories a day. I know I'm supposed to be eating either 12X my current body weight, or 12X my goal weight or something which would be closer to 2000 calories a day.

I've been eating stuff like a mock danish every morning and salad and meat for other meals.

I don't want to go into starvation mode and slow my metabolism so I need to increase my calories.

How can I increase my calories, without increasing carbs?

Add in all the foods I have to limit! Butter, mayo, cream, nuts, salad dressings, cheese.

I've been doing this for almost three weeks, but I want to stay on induction for a month or two so no nuts for me. I guess I can add more butter and stuff. I'm also keeping my cheese under 3 ounces a day because of induction. The mock danish has 2 ounces, so I can only have one more ounce for the rest of the day.

You can have 4 oz of cheese in induction, I do believe. Maybe a cup of herbal tea with real cream?

The best way to add more calories without adding more carbs is by using fat. Cook your meats and eggs in butter or olive oil, use full-fat salad dressings on your salads, use mayo and make tuna and chicken salad. Put plenty of butter on your veggies. Choose fattier cuts of meat and poultry.
A day or two at 1,000 calories or less isn't going to do permanent damage, but you really don't want to stay that low for long.
You might also find it more helpful to get the calories in if you eat several small meals instead of 2 or 3 larger ones.
You should also be eating more veggies than you're eating. You do know that you can subtract the fiber from your total carb count, right? You should be eating 20 grams of carb per day after the fiber is deducted.

Thanks for the tips guys. On induction, aren't you supposed to stick to 3 cups of veggies? I usually have a salad or two. I'm sure that is equal to 3 cups. I'm going to have spaghetti squash this week, so that will be more veggies. :)

Jason...

The 3 cups of veggies is only a guideline because it's assumed that you will be using some of the other allowed foods on induction that also contain carbs such as cheese, lemon juice, coffee and cream. If you aren't using those, you can surely fit in quite a few more veggies and still stay below 20 grams of carb. Don't just stick with lettuce, either; expand your horizons a bit and try some new veggies. You might be surprised at what you find that you like. :)

you gotta eat... I never have problem doing that :)

Why?
 

If you are satisfied with the volume of food you are eating, and not having hunger pangs and cravings, why eat more? I think it would be silly to ingest more food, ie calories, ie, pounds, if you don't need or want it!!!

That starvation thing is, in my opinion, pretty much a myth. I'm still a pretty hefty guy, and I do not eat much at all. I'm still losing weight ,and I'm happy with how much I eat. If you can eat less now, that means you can eat less any time. And that is what we all have to do.

If you are not eating enough, and you are having cravings, add a little protein or a little more olive oil when you cook. If not, enjoy what you are eating now and don't worry.

Good Luck!

For a guy, maybe 'starvation mode' is a myth. You may never experience it since you don't produce estrogen in the amounts that women do. For women, it's REAL!!!! More calories from fat are often the answer and the solution.