Carbs to balance hormones, how much? page 6

[NDF]

Right now I am eating high carb and high fat I think. The 23 g was a mistake, I actually eat about 80g. I am sure I can raise it to about 100 somehow. Just still figuring things out.
I also need to watch my calorie intake since I drop weight quickly. Lately I have been gaining, so I think eating more carbs can help with that too.

Would you mind posting a days worth of food so we can maybe show you where/how to increase your intake? An easy thing to do is just eat larger portions of what you are currently eating (except for your fats because I think you are getting enough of those as it is)

Also, the carbs you eat to hit 100g (minimum) a day are those from potatoes, rice, dairy, fruit, carrots, peas and legumes.

Things like broccoli, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes(unless you are eating them 2-3 whole ones a day), cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cucumber, onion, etc don't count towards that 100g minimum.

[Mireia]

NDF

Sure, I can post yesterday since I wrote down pretty much everything.

1 Banana baked with chocolate sauce (honey+olive oil+ cocoa powder)
1 slice coconut flour bread with 1 tbs honey and 1tbs of butter
1/2 carrot raw
3/4 sweet potato, baked
1/2 Zucchini
2 ground beef patties (about 440 cal)
1/2 onion
2tbs of olive oil
2 slices coconut flour bread with 2 tbs of honey and raw butter
1 ground beet patty
1 Banana raw
1 Apple raw

The coconut flour bread had about 4 eggs.

Was about 2200 cals, 144g of carbs (all carbs), 99g of fat, 72g of protein, 82g of sugars (from fruits and sweet potato etc.)
That mans 33% carbs, 16% Protein and 51% fat. On other days I had less protein when I did not eat as many eggs.

[NDF]

Are you eating sold meals or snacking?

Your total calorie level looks decent, though if you are looking to gain I'd recommend aiming more towards 2500 calories.
Your macro split is okay. I'd recommend eating more protein for sure though.

What about adding some eggs at breakfast? Have you ever tried making a "sweet omlette"? It sounds weird, but it's actually quite delicious. I was thinking maybe make a 2 egg omlette and use your banana concoction to fill it.

also, how about doubling up that beef patty at dinner?

I think you could bring fat levels down a bit. 99g a day is a bit overkill. I'd suggest lowering the fats just a bit and bringing those carbs up. You can do this by cutting down on the size of your additional fats (Use 1 tbsp instead of 2 of your oils and butters) and increasing your carb portition sizes( eat the whole sweet potato instead of just 3/4 of it, have 2 apples and 2 bananas instead of just 1, that sort of thing)

[Mireia]

Sometimes I do eat additional eggs. I just don't know how many eggs a day are good? I eat 3-4 as a standard. So an omelette would add about two and make it six.

Today I ate a bit more fruit so I should hit 150g of carbs.
How much do you think the fat intake for someone not breastfeeding should be? Then I can make sure to be a bit higher than that.
I agree, 500 cals more would probably help me gain more. My fitness pal calculated that with 200 I will gain 1/2 pound a week vut that is without breastfeeding.
I ate more meat today and a whole sweet potato. I usually eat a whole but the last ones we bought were so tiny.
I eat rather large meals. Usually three large meals and snack inetween. For example : 5 burger patties (self mad), 1 sweet poatato, 1/2 onion and 1/2 zucchini for lunch. The plate was certainly full.
I do snack more in the evening, my appetite goes down a bit, the beef patty was a snack so to say

[NDF]

A breastfeeding mother needs an additional 600 calories a day to supply good quality breast milk.(Thomson AM, Hytten FE, Billewicz WZ. The energy cost of human lactation. Br J Nutr. 1970 Jun;24(2):565–572.)

If you were at a "normal" BMI and weighed say 120lbs, you'd need approximately 1900 calories (for your current activity level) plus the 600 for breast feeding, bringing you to 2500 calories. So I definitely think that would be an appropriate number to aim for.

As far as fat goes, the minimum recommended fat intake is 0.4-0.5g/lb BW. If I were you, I'd use your target body weight to make that calculation. So again, assuming 120lbs is your goal, you are looking at a minimum of 48-60g a day as a minimum.

So far we've got:
540 calories from fat (60g)
480 calories from protein (120g - a little extra protein since you are breast feeding and gaining weight)
400 calories from carbs ( the 100g minimum)
and lets say 400 calories from veggies
that's about 1820 calories
2500-1820= 680 left.
I'd increase your carbs more so than fat.... maybe go with an additional 140g carbs and then another 15g fat.
So something like 120g protein, 240g carbs(not including fibrous veggies) and 75g fat.