How to tell if I am eating enough (food volume vs. calories)

You can eat a balance of both. You don't have to eat only high volume low cal foods, and you don't have to eat only calorie dense foods. Eat what sounds good, eat when you are hungry, and stop weighing yourself everyday.

yes. do that. I remember being hyper health-conscious at one point. I ate a ton and definitely met my caloric needs, but I always felt tired and on edge because I was so mentally drained from trying to track everything, not so much amount but quality of food, that went into my mouth. (I probably actually consumed TOO much fiber). The thing is, I still eat very healthy, but I don't pay much attention anymore. Now, if I want to eat some ice-cream I will. I also cook with oils when I used to not do so at all. It helps me to imagine that with so much calorie expenditure, a little bit of junk will actually do me good. Remember, we are not stone-age cavemen. We do not need to eat raw foods like them (an often quoted argument for eating whole-foods) because we are making a conscious effort to exercise and burn calories when they made a conscious effort NOT to.

Yeah, for the past couple of days I've been consuming around 140 g of fiber (!!!!). Lot of high-fiber wraps/breads, oatmeal, vegetables, etc.

Especially in the bodybuilding community, it's common to try to maximize food volume per calorie, especially when cutting. I guess my mind's been sort of infiltrated by that.

coleiolio wrote:

You can eat a balance of both. You don't have to eat only high volume low cal foods, and you don't have to eat only calorie dense foods. Eat what sounds good, eat when you are hungry, and stop weighing yourself everyday.

The issue is that since practicing what I have been doing for the past couple years, I've sort of lost a true sense of hunger, if that makes sense. Like, I could feel stuffed eating 200-300 calories of vegetables, but if I know I still have calories left to eat, I'll force-feed myself or simply feel hungry again simply because of the calorie counting.

So.... Eat 150 calories of vegetables and the rest from calorie dense foods like avacados, tahini, olive oil. Or icecream, cake, cookies, etc.

coleiolio wrote:

So.... Eat 150 calories of vegetables and the rest from calorie dense foods like avacados, tahini, olive oil. Or icecream, cake, cookies, etc.

But I guess the question remains how do I know if it's enough/not too much?

well if you are gonna obsess over calorie counting then you know its enough because you tracked the numbers.

If you can't feel hunger because of whatever like you said, then just eat at the numbers and do so balancing the nutrient dense with the calorie dense foods.

Get a cup or two of veggies each meal, fill the rest with higher calorie foods, whatever you have left for the day enjoy in some treats (beer, sweets, avocados, whatever you want).

Just don't let it control your life like it is right now. If you honestly aren't having an eating disordered than you can still make yourself reach a number any way possible and not feel guilty about what it was filled with.

how do you know its enough? because you either tracked it to know it was enough or stopped obsessing and your body let you know it was enough

Yeah, I'm just confused because I see so many different approaches to how many calories one should eat. Some day running burns a crapton of calories and you should just eat till satiety, while others claim high mileage slows metabolism down and find themselves gaining weight on minimal calories even while running 100+ mpw. I guess I'm just trying to find some middle ground here.

Also, if I wasn't so focused on calories, I think I'd probably overall eat better, rather than only focusing on a number and applying that to the health value of a food.

running burns calories

100+ miles is alot of calories.

use whatever calorie counting app you use and accurately track the exercise. eat back whats burned.

Its math, quit buying into metabolism bs. If you can stuff yourself with 3000+ calories of fiber then do it, but you're gonna feel bloated. Fill your calories any way you want just get both quality and anything else.

Fuel the fire and quit overthinking it

konrad1198 wrote:

Also, if I wasn't so focused on calories, I think I'd probably overall eat better, rather than only focusing on a number and applying that to the health value of a food.

You're absolutely correct in this assumption. Being too conscious of the foods that can go in your mouth can dramatically narrow down the variety you consume. In reality its best to eat a little of everything.

Please don't stop eating 'heavy' foods just for a number on the scale in the morning.

It's false logic anyway.

Do you need to weigh yourself more than once per week or month? It sounds like it isn't giving you anything positive.