Help Hitting Macros
I (27M) have been on a bit of a weight loss journey for over a year now and have lost about 34 pounds and am where I think I should be based on weight alone (188 -> 154 at 5 foot 10 inches). I am in that more annoying skinny fat stage now and am starting to work on losing that softer look. For that I saw it's recommended to eat closer to maintenance and spend more time lifting.
For context, I have been eating basically at 1700 calories a day and work out 4-5 times a week with a mix of lifting (PPL) and cardio (running, walking, biking, whatever seems fun). But I want to get close to 2300-2400 now (2600 is my recommended maintenance) as my lifts have gotten better but not as much as I wanted, cardio is good though (ran my first 5K just a few days ago!). I read that I mainly need to make sure I hit about 1 gram of protein per pound so Ive been hitting about 150-160 g protein for almost 6 months now. But Im actually not sure how to increase my calories without just eating a bunch of random stuff. This is a weird problem to have, I used to easily eat 3000 calories a day, but now that I haven't in a while, and am trying to stay to healthier foods, im not sure what to do!
I am pretty good about weighing my food, so here is an example of what I ate yesterday, and on most days:
Pre-morning run (~200 calories, ):
- banana, protein scoop
Breakfast (~500 calories):
- milk (200g), 2 eggs, chicken sausage, grilled chicken (50 g), cheese (15g)
Lunch (I dont eat lunch normally, it doesnt work with my schedule so I snack instead)
Snacks (~500 calories)
- Apple, peanut butter (30g), cottage cheese (200g)
Dinner (~700 calories)
- 4 tortillas, grilled chicken thighs (200g), rice (150g cooked), corn, vegetables,
At the end of the day I have eaten roughly 1900 calories and have hit 160g protein, 81g fat, and 118g carbs.
This means I still have about 400-500 calories left to eat? What would y'all recommend? Like I could just eat a bag of chips or a cupcake or something random, but that feels wrong to do, especially daily.