My lifestyle has gotten progressively more and more active. I love my workouts and fitness classes. My internship involves me running around a huge dining hall and being on my feet the entire time. I spend a large portion of my days walking around campus to classes and activities.
All of these things have contributed to the fact that I have lost weight. Weight that I did not really need to lose. Even though I fuel myself very well and am eating all day long, I am finding that I need to eat even more to keep up with the demands of my lifestyle. If you use up all that energy, you need to replace it! So for the past few weeks, I have been making an effort to up my calorie intake.
Several formulas have come about throughout the years to estimate caloric/protein/carb/fat needs for an individual and it can overwhelming to know what to trust or where to even start. It does take time to research and understand, and it also involves trial and error to figure out what works and doesn’t work for you…because like I’ve said before, every body is so unique and individual. I will put up two links that have good info in them in case anyone is interested:
Learning Caloric and Macro Needs—>a lot of info…took me several times of reading through before I began to get a grasp on it, but really accurate explanations and breakdowns.
Calculating Caloric and Macro Needs Spreadsheet—>very cool. Allows you to enter your personal stats and it automatically shows you numbers based off several different formulas.
I also decided that I would try out My Fitness Pal to track my nutrient and calorie intake in order to then make sure that I was actually getting that amount. At first, tracking everything was a tedious task, but after some time, it became a very easy process. My Fitness Pal remembers your favorite meals and foods, so the more you log, the easier it becomes. You can also create your own recipes with complete nutritional stats, which has been an awesome tool for me.
WIth that said, I haven’t really been eating anything too different from what I normally eat because I already eat all the foods I love! Sure if I want to treat myself to something out of the usual, I see nothing wrong with that, but that is what I have always done.I also definitely do not show photograph everything I eat. I would have to have a camera attached to my hip 24/7 if I did that, haha. Basically I’m just focusing on larger portions, loading up my plate, and going to back for seconds…or thirds.
And i’m not minding it one single bit. 
cooked overnight oats with greek yogurt, blueberries, cookies and cream casein, cashew butter
a square giant muffin top with dried apple
and frosting, duh. These things are so fun to eat!
ezekiel bread, egg whites, goat cheese, smoked salmon, sprouts, spinach, cantaloupe
egg white, almond butter, mashed blackberries, and grape jam grilled sandwich
pumpkin protein dough with two big nut butter scoops: one sunflower butter and one peanut butter
chicken, roasted broccoli slaw, coconut oil roasted kabocha…marinara post picture
My ice cream got a little wild last night…
…and turned into a Dairy Queen Blizzard.
um, yeah.
I took a peanut butter caramel surprise bar, broke it up and mixed it into my usual ice cream base.
Deeeeelish.
Look at my cool new baking gear that I picked up on sale for only 4 bucks!
heart shaped donuts. My life is complete.
BOOM.
I pretty much followed Little B’s cinnamon bread recipe found here, except I used my beloved cinnamon bun protein powder and subbed in pumpkin for the applesauce.
These little guys are tasty.
especially with the new Laughing Cow cinnamon swirl wedges:
But then I realized that I could just make my own by mixing in cinnamon and stevia into my normal cream cheese, which I will be doing after I finish these off. They are good though!
***
I’m feeling fantastic energy-wise so I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing!
Happy Wednesday to you all!
Kristi
Good for you for realizing this!
And uhhh…I don’t even has a donut pan and you have a heart shaped one?? I love it
Yaaaaay more food!! =0) It’s always fun to get to ADD calories, haha.
I love your pink plates!! I want!
Also those heart-shape doughnuts are adorable.
Can you tell I’m a visual person?
All of your eats look AMAZING!!!! And I’m not even kidding — they look SO good!!!
I’m so glad that you’re finding that balance with yourself. I know that when I listen to my body I am so much happier. 
I always love your meals!!! So awesome looking. Good for you for realizing you need to increase your intake! I know its not always easy but it will be so great for you
It’s awesome that you were able to increase your calories. I love when I get to eat more food!
Good for you for realizing that you really didn’t need to loose weight & decided to up your calories
Constant inspiration girlie!
So about your “blizzard” – yeah it sounds great
Good for you for realizing this!
You rock sista– your body is SO gonna thank you!! And hey, who wouldn’t wanna be able to eat more nut butter??
And umm two things: #1 that blizzard idea with the protein bar? EPIC!!!!! TOTALLY gonna be recreating that. and #2 I am so jealous of that wicked amazing heart shaped donut thing– that has to be the cutest baking tin EVER!!!!
Good job for recognizing you need more. Sometimes things just gotta be adjusted
I agree with everyone else, you rock!
Thanks for sharing all this, you are really inspiring. Upping the cals can be difficult( for me it is anyway), guilt can get in the way of properly nourishing the body. And society is aaaall about encouraging everyone to eat less these days:/.
All your food looks SCRUMPTIOUS! And thanks for the tip with the laughing cow- we don’t get any cool flavours over here , so ill have to have a go at flavouring it up myself:).
Xxx
Good for you for recognizing it! Some of my tips are:
* Add nut butter/nuts/avocado to EVERYTHING, haha
* Honey on everything, too!
* Dried fruits
* Granola
* Bars (it can be fun to wrap them in a slice of bread with some yogurt, or without, as a tasty snack!)
* Have a nice bedtime snack
* Ensures and similar drinks randomly in the day
And, of course, enjoy ice cream!!!
that one sandwich with the jam looks amazing, I’m so pinning that.
xx,
LLE
mmmm, great tips! I pretty much do them all, except the bar idea I have never heard of. Cool idea!
That is seriously the cutest pan ever. I definitely need one of those, so I can bake boys cheesy heart things like donuts haha. They probably would love me even if they were in th shape of a heart.
Greek yogurt in oats. I definitely need to test that out. Your eats look soooo good. Esp that sandwich. Come coook for me haha
savory/cheesy donuts are on my list to make with them soon. Yum!!! Your boys would definitely love you!
I always love your WIAW! Your food always looks so delicious!!! Hope your weight gain goals go well!
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU SWEETIE! Best WIAW post ever and you know I love all of your WIAW’s
I really need to make those muffin tops…
YOU’RE AWESOME,GIRL! You can be so proud of yourself for increasing your calories,really!
But… But… Cinnamon Swirl Laughing Cow cheese?!?!!! Aaaaah,sounds so good! Why do I live in Germany,whyyyy….. That’s so depressing.
Wow, these are all awesome edibles! I am loving the heart shaped tray…and cinnamon swirl laughing cow?! Sounds amazing, I need to find myself some of that. Good for you for listening to your body and eating more. That grilled sandwich sounds like an incredible combination!
good for you for taking care of yourself!
I feel ya on not eating enough, I think that is my problem too, even when I thought I was eating enough, but no! I am working on things, everyone is different so I am going to try a different couple things and go from there!
LOVE the heart donuts, looks so yummy!!
Love ya girl!!
Ooh your foods look delicious! I also have trouble eating enough, because I run a lot.. But I’m really focusing on it because I know it could hurt me in the long run. Thanks for the links, I’m gonna check them out!
I’m sure you burn a ton of cals with your running girl! let me know if you have any questions on the links! <3
So proud of you for realizing you needed to up the cals to improve your health! Its a big realization when you figure out your not eating enough even though you think you are. I definitely suffer from that problem too, especially seeing people eat such little amounts and I require more calories. Everyone’s different and I’m so glad your taking care of yourself! Don’t want your work to suffer. I so wish I had an ice cream maker so I could make your “blizzard” looks awesome.
Yeah, I eat so much more than a lot of the girl’s I’m frequently around. The important thing is not to compare to others because everyone is so different. I’m not going to eat less just because someone else is..that makes no sense!
Hey Kristi I don’t comment here a lot, but I just want to say that I Love all of your recipes!! This is awesome that you’ve realized you needed to up your cals — that is such a hard thing for so many people. I also just want to let you know that I nominated you for a One Lovely Blog award! details are on my latest post if you want to partake
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by and thank you so much for the nomination!!! You are awesome!
Hi! I haven’t commented before, but just wanted to say that this all looks so yummy and healthy! and cinnamon cow cheese! what!? Im gonna have to get on that!
It’s really amazing how most of the time, we (and I mean mainly girls) can eat SO much more than we think. I think it’s awesome that you realized that and I mean hey…more food is always a winner in my book!
thanks for blogging!
thanks for commenting Sara! Yep, I couldn’t agree more that most women eat much less than they actually need. Their bodies eventually get used to this lower amount of food…aka their metabolism drops. NOT a good thing! Bring on the good food!!!
Good for you for doing this! I jumped on the upping the cals bandwagon a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t be happier or more comfortable with my decision. Everything looks GREAT – you know I love that smoked salmon sandwich
It takes a lot of self-discipline to realize you need to eat more and I’m so happy you’ve taken the steps! I commend you and your efforts and wish you the best of luck! Your food looks delicious-definitely bookmarking this page for ideas!
Do u track ur exercise too on myfitnesspal? If so how do u determine the calories burned? I tried it and noticed that it doesn’t log strength training as burning any cals which i kno is false!