Dear Kayla,
First of all, thank you so much for all your podcasts, YouTube, and advice you give. It has been so helpful to start me on the weight loss journey. I’m just curious to know roughly how many calories you consume in your one meal to make sure you’re full enough to carry you through the next day?
Many thanks,
Tina
Dear Tina,
Weight loss does indeed come down to calories in, calories out. But, I hate counting calories, which is why I don’t do it. I instead rely on satiety cues, non-distracted eating, and watching the scale. Since I don’t count, I’ll give you my best estimate: I’m probably consuming about 1700-1800 calories a day.
I am basing my estimate off of several things:
1. My recall of approximately how many calories a dish has.
This is really where the trouble begins. I cook most things I eat from scratch. I eyeball most amounts. I don’t measure the oil that goes in the pan. I just pour until there’s plenty, so that the food won’t stick. If I’m making a PB&J, I don’t skimp on the jelly or the peanut butter. When I put mayonnaise in my bowl of rice and beans, I put in the amount I think tastes the best. If I put cheese on something, I layer it on pretty heavy handedly. Last night I made a pizza with sausage, cheese, and onions. I can’t tell you even how many handfuls of cheese I used. I can’t remember with any degree of accuracy how much sausage I used either. I only remember that it was delicious.
2. My recall of approximately how much of that thing I ate.
Again, there’s a great deal of guessing involved. Last night I had a half a pizza. But even if I was able to accurately tell you how many calories were in the entire thing, it’s possible that my half wasn’t exactly half. I also had some peanut butter and chocolate chips as a quick dessert. How much? It was maybe a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter, and enough chocolate chips to coat the peanut butter. This gets even vaguer when I try to recall amounts of spaghetti. How many scoops did I get? And how consistent are those scoops? Don’t even get me started on the complexities of bowls of chili with various toppings.
3. The Mayo Clinic’s calorie calculator estimate of how many calories someone of my weight, height, age, and sex would need.
Calorie calculators on the Internet vary wildly. This particular one says 1700-1800 calories, which sounds about right to me.
Now, it’s possible if you followed me around and weighed and measured my food, you’d find I’m eating more calories than that. It could be the Mayo Clinic is underestimating my caloric needs, and I’m underestimating how many calories I’m eating. But none of that really matters to me. It’s a non-issue. What matters is that I’m maintaining my weight where I want it to be.
Unfortunately, this is a moot point when it comes to how many calories you need, Tina. The caloric needs of people who are the same height, weight, age, sex, and activity level may vary by 30%.
Now, let’s tackle eating enough so that I have plenty of energy to get me to my next OMAD. It takes trial and error. I’ve practiced for over 8 years now, and I basically know how much to eat at a meal. Sometimes, if a meal is unfamiliar, or if I’m in a rush, or distracted, I might guess wrong. But here are some tricks that help me:
- If I eat a high fiber meal, like beans and rice, I need to make sure to add some extra fat so that I consume enough calories. The fiber makes me feel fuller initially, but the next day I’m depleted, because they have fewer calories. Mayo, butter, or dressing helps in those situations.
- Super high lean protein meals also make me feel fuller in the short term, but I need to make sure I add some carbs and fat so that I’m not running on empty the next day. For example, if the main entree is boneless skinless chicken breasts, I might add in some potatoes and some sort of dipping sauce.
- Carb only meals, like pancakes with only syrup will not last. I need to add some butter to the pancakes, and eat some bacon, sausage, and/or eggs to the equation to make it sustain me.
Ultimately, the scale lets me know if I’m consuming the correct amount of food at my OMAD. If I’m staying in my maintenance range and my energy is good, it tells me that I’m staying in the sweet spot. Remember, it takes trial and error to get there. Some days, you’ll undershoot. Some days, you’ll overshoot. Just keep learning and adjusting your amounts until you find what works for you!
Sincerely,
Kayla Cox