1780 calories by noon and still hungry

[Calgary_Girl]

I've lost 25 lbs. since March and this is my typical breakfast :

2 slices whole wheat toast w/ 3 tbsp. of egg whites
1 c. skim milk

I usually get a coffee at work with skim milk and that's it. I'm good until lunchtime with just that. If I'm feeling like I can't make it until lunchtime, I'll munch on a bag of baby carrots or have a small granola bar (70 calories).

Not saying this amount of food will work for you, but it does for me.

 

[simple girl]

Anyhow, if I had this thread to do over again, I'd probably emphasize that my weight is at an equilibrium point. 1800 calories by the time I finish lunch isn't necessarily the problem. The problem is that I'm still hungry all day long, some of which is, admittedly, boredom hunger. Still feels like hunger. The point of mentioning the magnitude of calories that I eat is more to emphasize that I need filling things that are fairly cheap in the quantities I am eating, otherwise my food costs will go through the roof. And did I emphasize enough how lazy I am? ;-)

Can never have too many ideas...

Healthy, cheap, really filling, but takes some time to cut up veggies (can do ahead of time and have enough for a few days made up):

beans (black, pinto, or chickpeas, etc.)
veggies (whatever you like - carrots, celery, green/red pepper, cucumber, tomato, etc.)

mix the above together with your favorite lo-cal dressing. Stuff a whole wheat pita with them.

Or, mix them with lo-cal dressing and brown rice - eat as is.

If you want a little extra fat and flavor - add some black olives. Yum.

Warning - be careful of increasing your dietary fiber too quickly! LOL

If you like chili, let me know. I have a vegetarian chili that is healthy, easy to whip up, and freezable.

 

[Zoocat]

So, here's what I've eaten so far today:

1 cup oatmeal with a dollop of peanut butter: 400 calories
Half a peanut butter sandwich: 250 calories
1 Nature Valley peanut butter granola bar: 180 calories
1 apple: 80 calories
3 pretzel rods: 120 calories
2 ham/swiss/lettuce/mustard sandwiches: 750 calories (5 oz ham, 2 oz cheese)

So I'm up to 1780 calories for the day, just after lunch. And I am hungry enough to be distracted (not that I need help in being distracted). Today is not unusual; this is pretty consistent. Though my hunger level definitely
Anyhow, does anyone have ideas on things to bring into work (lunch and/or snacks) that might help me out here.

Ok, I'll pretend to be a nutritionist. I've actually read a lot about nutrition even I haven't been able to use much of it to my advantage in losing weight.
Others have suggested more protein. I'll second that. You're eating too many simple carbs. That's why you're hungry.
Add some sliced turkey on your sandwiches rather than peanut butter. Ham and cheese have a lot of fat, which is good for fufilling the appetite but not so good heart wise. Focus on lean protein.
Have a protein shake with your oatmeal.
Lose the granola bar, instead add a handful of raw almonds to your apple snack.

Good luck! And congrats on losing 70 lbs. Wow!

 

[Kronk]

I've been reading a lot about protein. It seems to be pretty controversial. The normal recommendation is 0.37 g per pound of body weight. In my case, that's about 71 g of protein, which seems like hardly any. More active people can deal with more. But the heavy protein-loading diets seem like a bad idea. Again, this is from Googling "how much protein" or "too much protein" or things like that. Anyhow, I'm not sure I'll be going with protein shakes or anything designed to boost protein intake.

I'm thinking I'll go on the high side of protein, at around 120g. I'm currently trying to figure out what combination of foods would give me around 2600 calories, 120g protein (18.5%), 1470 (good) carbs (56.5%), and 72g (decent) fats (25%). Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. We'll see how my body reacts to changing up my diet, and whether I get any sort of weight gain/loss or muscle gain/loss.

In the meantime, I've replaced the granola bars and pretzel rods (which were pretty much eaten because of boredom and the fact that they were free at work) with baby carrots. I've yet to go to the grocery store (there's laziness again) to stock up on healthier alternatives for some of my other foods.

Oh, and regarding weight lifting, I probably should add that. Still, between martial arts classes, tennis, driving back and forth, and showering afterwards, this week I think I'm spending around 19 hours doing this sort of thing. Makes the motivation tough to add any more. I'm also still recovering from a nerve injury last year that resulted in a "winged scapula" and has made any sort of upper body lifting problematic. I thought I read somewhere that the common "35 calories burned per pound of muscle" was highly overstated, but now I can't find those articles.

 

[igsoy]

Hey, Kronk. I think that protein figure you mentioned is for your BMR, not for trying to improve at your martial arts or doing lifting. Our trainer told us to shoot for .8g-1g times your muscle mass. (she has a scale that tells you how much this is) For me that is 91 lbs of muscle so I am shooting for about 75g-80g protein each day.

If you only eat enough protein for your BMR, then your workouts will not be building as much improvement in strength or endurance or whatever you are going for.

So, yeah, I would say your idea for 120g is a pretty good area for you.