Do I need more calories?? page

[Moll]

Hello Primal friends! I'm brand new to the scene. I started eating Primally on Tuesday of last week, so I'm on day 6. I'm also a brand new meat eater - I've been vegetarian for 17 years and vegan for the last 5. I'm extremely knowledgeable about macro nutrients as far as NON-meat food goes, but since I don't have a clue as to meat, I used Livestrong's Daily Plate to track my calories for the last 2 days. The first day I clocked 997 cals, and the second day (trying reeeeally hard to EAT) I got in 1180. Yesterday's nutrient breakdown was 55% fat, and 22.5% for both carbs and protein (the banana got me). I'm definitely going for weight LOSS - I'm female, 27, 5'4, and 190 lbs. I wasn't at all hungry yesterday after about 900 cals, but I tried to make myself eat because I don't want to deprive my body of what it needs. So does anyone have any advice? Should I take a shot of coconut oil once in a while (lol...but seriously)? Is it ok to have that much of a calorie deficit? I'd like to be able to "listen to my body," but I find that I'm slow to actually recognize physical indicators. Anyway, sorry for the mass of info, I just want to be as successful as possible, and any advice people have would be wonderful! Thanks, everybody!

[Dirlot]

Can you give an example of your meals and portion sizes...calories seem low.

[Moll]

Sure - thanks for the reply!


Cod - 6ish oz
Spinach - 1 cup
Olive Oil - 1/2 Tbsp



Lettuce - 3? cups
Onion - 1 Tbsp
Cucumber - 1/2 cup sliced
Avocado - 1/2
Pepper - 1/2 cup
Smoked Whitefish - 2-3 oz
Olive Oil - 1/2 tbsp



Bacon - 2 slices
Kale - 1 cup
Garlic - 1 clove
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
Green Beans - 1 1/2 cups
Olive Oil - 1/2 - 1 Tbsp



Banana - 1 med
Hazelnuts - less than 1/4 cup


2 Eggs
1/2 Tbsp Coconut Oil


Those are divided up into "meals." I tried tracking calories w/ livestrong and also by hand using nutritiondata.self.com and while they weren't exact, the difference wasn't big enough to be real noticeable. Honestly, after each of those meals I felt completely stuffed and wasn't interested in eating more.

[RobinNM]

If you're not hungry and you're not feeling any other symptoms such as lightheadedness, fatigue, etc., then I'd say that your physical indicators are not that far off and listening to your body in this instance is okay. 1200 calories is a decent amount to shoot for in your case for weight loss (I'm a believer in the calories in<calories out model) and you're not that far off. You may find yourself getting hungrier as your body becomes more used to animal products again and that's not a bad thing, either. You're only six days into a pretty massive paradigm shift and so your body needs to adjust to that a little bit more, I'm thinking. You're on the right track to my way of thinking.

[Moll]

Thanks, RobinNM!

I feel basically energetic physically - but I do feel a little tired/fuzzy at times and I'm not sure whether this is a result of not getting enough calories, or just typical carb flu. I'm indeed aiming for around 1200 calories - my reason for counting for a couple days was to see if I was generally in range of that. I guess it won't hurt to keep doing what I'm doing for a couple weeks, and if these potential carb flu symptoms don't let up, I'll try eating more. Hopefully you're right about getting gradually hungrier! This is the strangest "diet" phenomenon I've ever experienced lol - less food AND less hunger.

[teach2183]

Just keep an eye on your weight. I find that when I don't eat enough calories I actually gain weight. I have to be sure I am full pretty much all day, as weird as that sounds.

[Drumroll]

Unless you're doing a fast (and there are lots of reasons you might), then I'd recommend eating close to maintenance level. Of course, I have no idea what yours is. But if you stick to near that level, then you can easily make a slight deficit through exercise. And when you do that, the pounds will come off (if that is your goal).

On the other hand, if for some reason, you cannot exercise to create the deficit, then you can take your maintenance level and subtract about 200 calories and shoot for that. I would not, however, go much below that. You want to be eating enough to maintain a healthy thyroid. You won't have much weightloss if your thyroid is unhealthy and not able to produce the necessary hormones.

A note of caution though... You should have a day every once in a while where you consume significantly more calories than you normally would. A long term calorie deficit can be very hard on the body and it will appreciate a day to "recover" from the stress of such a deficit.

[Moll]

Thanks, you guys. I need to work out my maintenance level again - I think it's changed. And yes, what I DON'T want is to gain weight. I guess if I can start losing, my calorie needs will go down and I won't have to worry about eating more than I actually want! Thanks for the recovery tip, Drumroll!

[Moll]

Oy, maintenance level is around 2100. I guess I'd better aim much higher than 1200/day. This is not the type of challenge I was expecting!

[Drumroll]

Oy, maintenance level is around 2100. I guess I'd better aim much higher than 1200/day. This is not the type of challenge I was expecting!

2100? If that's the case, you should be aiming for eating that level and exercising. Perhaps 1850 - 1900 calories is a good goal for a day when you can't make it to the gym.