Struggles with Eating Enough

Who knew that eating enough calories would be something with which I would struggle?  I've been trying to track my calories for the last 3 weeks or so and while I can't always count the exact calories in my foods, I do guess a bit. I use the MyFitnessPal phone application to track my weight and calorie intake. I search for what I'm eating and sometimes there is something similar in the database that I log. Would I rather be exact? Yes, but I am fine with approximations since I'm not in fear of over eating in calories.

I started my journey on January 26th with a 10 day cleanse. During that time I lost 10.6 pounds, but I figured that I would gain most of that weight back once I started eating again, well I thought I would (again, let me state that I wasn't trying to lose weight with my cleanse!). My friend Michele pointed out I wouldn't gain much since I was going to be eating a whole food plant-based diet and she was right, I actually only gained a pound back.  It has been 6 weeks since I started this journey with the clanse and I've lost an amazing 22.2 pounds thus far. It's actually shocking. I didn't realize I was losing so much until I told a friend about a week ago how much I'd lost and she was so excited for me. It made me realize wow... okay, that's kinda big.

Losing so much weight so fast wasn't my goal, but its actually pretty heady. Especially if you have food issues.  I find myself in battle with myself at time, the restrictive part of my brain wants to see how long I can go without eating, how much weight can I lose? I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not eating in this manner to lose weight, I'm eating in this manner to be the healthiest version of myself! Weightloss just happens to be a sideffect!

Anyway, I've been trying to count my calories as best as I can to enure that I am eating enough calories and honestly, I am never eating enough calories!  I average 1,100 calories most days and on good days up to 1,300-1,400 calories. I really shouldn't be eating less than 1,600 calories (or so I thought) so I decided to talk to Kasia about this and possibly my doctor if I can get to her. I wish I could go to see Dr. Fuhrman, it would be awesome since he's a proponent of this way of eating. Kasia first said that yes, I am losing weight too fast, but upon some thinking, she didn't think 1,200 was dangerously low. She stated most doctors will okay 1,200 calorie diets for people trying to lose weight, and since I am not at my ideal weight, I was fine.

I will keep trying my best to keep eating! I haven't had anything processed or filled with unnatural [added] sugars since I started (other than the occational evoo - I can't control foods I don't cook!) and I feel great! I feel like I can do this forever... I've actually gotten to a point where the smell or sight of meats grosses me out (honestly, that happened quick for me, like I said previously, I flipped the switch in my brain when I made the desicion to do this).

Although I'm still not eating enough, I'm not beating myself up about it, I'm not eating crap to build the calories when I get to the end of the day, I just go on and tell myself hopefully I'll do better the next day. If you don't meet your goals after actually trying, you can't beat yourself up over it... just plan to try again the next day. If you're having the opposite problem as me, and you slip one day or one meal and eat too much or the 'wrong' foods, just vow to do better at the next meal and the next day. Don't just give up!

What have you been struggling with lately?