Not enough calories

Help! I am working on the following goals -- and as I adjust my diet daily -- I can't get enough calories and keep my sodium, fat and carbs on target:

These are my goals:
<1800 Calories
<2400 Sodium
<40 Fat
~~80 Protein
~120 Carbs
>30 Fiber

I have introduced fresh, organic black beans to my diet. I eat egg whites w/o yolk. I drink fat free milk. I have cut sugar and cream from my coffee. I have replaced iceberg and other lettuces with spinach for salads and sandwich toppings. When I can't have a fresh vegetable, I drink low-sodium V8.

Ideas about how to increase my caloric intake without increasing carbs, sodium and/or fat?

Thanks!
~Chowmowch

Are all those targets equally important? I find that when tracking day after day, it's really hard to balance so many targets. I find it works best for me to prioritize. I focus on calories and protein. I don't really worry about fat since it's not a problem unless it's increasing your total cals, which is already accounted for. Eating things that fill me up and offer a lot of "bang for your buck" calorie-wise keeps my fiber up, pushing for more protein tends to keep the carbs a little lower and doing most of my own cooking (and minimizing processed foods) keeps sodium in line. Rather than focusing on hitting so many targets, it might be worth it to focus less on exactly WHAT you eat but on HOW you eat. More whole foods, fresh produce & fruits & veggies, with a focus on protein, should help you to get closer to a number of your targets. I'm afraid you might burn out pretty quick with the amount of effort that needs to go into your daily food plan as it currently stands.

40 fat is 360 calories (1 fat being 9 calories)
80 protien is 320 calories (1 protein is 4 calories)
120 carbs is 480 calories (1 carb is 4 calories

that makes around 1160 calories. So you cannot increase your calories and keep your macronutrients the same as now. You have to go and start eating more protien or more carbs (if fat is your concern)

Liv - Where did you get that info from? I've never heard of that and would like to look int that more. Thanks for sharing

Liv is right - your current targets don't allow for any more calories. Unless your protein is a minimum? You could add more lean protein - low sodium turkey for example or add a protein shake to up your protein count. And eating fat doesn't make you fat - contrary to popular belief. It is more calorie dense, so you have to be careful how much you consume, but it is definately not a bad thing.

Good call, Liv- I didn't do the math.

You could always drink. That's not accounted for in the current set of targets and alcohol has 7 cals per gram

I'm trying to eat more calories, too. I have been eating around 1200 and have lost no weight! So, I changed my exercise routine and I'm supposed to eat 2100 calories today! I'm out of ideas of what to eat until I can get to the store and buy some protein powder to make a shake; maybe with a banana?

Wow! Thanks for the excellent information! My protein and carb numbers are averages for my range that I am trying to balance.
Daily - I want my protein to be between 45-120 and my carbs to be between 90-150.

I am learning as I work on all of these goals, that to maintain overall health -- whole foods are the way to go.

I am targeting fats for myself because I tend to crave high fat foods. I would like overall to learn to balance a diet that is 20% Fat, 40% Protein, 40% Carb. Those are goals -- but not set in stone. Working towards these numbers daily is teaching me how to plan meals and balance my daily intake.
I'm targeting sodium for my husband who just got a bad report from his doctor. We both need to loose 40 lbs and he needs to lower his salt intake dramatically. I'm a salt-addict, but my blood pressure remains low for now. I am reducing to set a good example for my children and to support the man I love.

So -- adding a glass of wine to my night sounds like the best idea! )

heathnutmom: one tip that I recently found to be a great truth: pick one day out of every 7 to allow yourself a "more natural" intake of calories.

Here is one response I think is pretty good- though I don't wholly agree with all of it:
" if you have at least one cheat meal a week, i would do a whole day, your body will be less likely to feel deprived. it would be easier to stick to your diet during the week and resist tempting food if you knew...."well i can have that on saturday"....secondly, it will keep your metabolism guessing. if you haven't heard of calorie shifting, i would suggest reading about it. theoretically, your body gets use to a certain amount of calories consumed a day and your metabolism adjusts to this number. if you ate 2000 calories one day, the next day your body will think you will do the same but say you don't.....you end up losing weight faster this way. As long as you are watching your portion size, cheating will actually help you lose weight.