Uneaten allowable calories

fnub

If you want to lose weight, it seems simple enough. Calories in VS calories out. Some people are saying that I should those daily uneaten calories. But to me it just seems like extra calories that you'd eventually have to get rid of. I do feel hungry most of the time. But I just tell myself that's the feeling of losing weight. It seems to work.

So which type are you? Do you eat only a portion of your calories or do you consume them all? And do you eat the red ones last ;-)

redfisher1974

I try and eat all of them, Mind you I do not use the numbers MFP spits out for exercise as my machines in my home gym give me numbers 50% less then the ones on here.

Sued0nim

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

Liftng4Lis

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

+1

ana3067

If you regularly feel hungry whilst dieting, you're doing it wrong

999tigger

ana3067 wrote: »

If you regularly feel hungry whilst dieting, you're doing it wrong

+1

Its your choice, but you shouldnt feel hungry in what is meant to be a lifestyle change.
If you have eatback calories available then its your choice whether to eat them or not. If you are hungry eat them, but if you arent then I don't bother. Some people limit themselves to a % of eatback calories becayse of percieved exaggeration of MFP counts.

Some week i eat some and others I dont bother. Up to you.

Francl27

First, being hungry all the time is not sustainable. Second, there is such thing as losing weight too fast (you're more likely to lose muscle as well). If you're hungry, eat those calories.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

This sounds like a really easy way to become miserable in a hurry, and ending up bingeing so often that all your lost weight comes back on and then some.

"Punishing" yourself into weightloss is never a good idea, and is certainly not sustainable in the long run.

jcbailey89

I don't let myself go hungry. Some days, I might only eat 1000 calories and another day, 2500. I try to stay close to my goal for the week.

Christi102012

I try not to eat all of my exercise calories back but I do tend to eat some of them (usually up to about half). If you're still hungry and you have calories, then eat. Heck, I had a ton of extra calories yesterday that I didn't eat back. If I happen to go over today I'm not going to feel bad about it. I only do a 24-30 hour window though. Just because I have all those calories from yesterday I won't let myself use them on Friday for example. Technically speaking I think you can, you just have to be down I think 3500 calories for the week to lose a pound (if I've got that wrong someone please correct me).

Kalikel

Depends on the day. Some days, I'm hungrier than others! So, I go over the goal or under it, depending on how hungry I am.

I wait until I'm hungry to eat, for the most part. I have to arrange food around pills, so sometimes I have to eat something when I'm not hungry or I remain hungry until it's Pill Time, but I try not to do that.

I don't go entire days being hungry.

lemurcat12

Francl27 wrote: »

First, being hungry all the time is not sustainable. Second, there is such thing as losing weight too fast (you're more likely to lose muscle as well). If you're hungry, eat those calories.

This. I think when you are really motivated at first being hungry can be okay, but a lot of that isn't real hunger but getting used to having less. I think fear of hunger or just longterm hunger being unsustainable and people associating it with dieting is why so many do silly things like eating one way for a diet and then back to how they ate when gaining weight after or just put off or stop a diet, because it seems so unpleasant.

I haven't been hungry and I've enjoyed how I eat (although sure every once in a while I'd like to eat more than my calories allow), and thus I'm okay with the idea that I'll mostly eat like this forever.

So no, OP, I don't think trying to be under substantially is a good goal. I'd say pick an overall goal that makes sense to you in terms of the overall deficit and then try to eat around that level. I don't eat back exercise, but I factor it into my overall goal.

NerdieMcChub

I try and eat my allowed calories... but in my case, it's not as simple as calories in vs calories out. I won't eat if I'm not hungry and if I am hungry, truly hungry, and I went over my 1300 calories, I will eat something low-calorie and healthy.

zenabby

If you are eating your planned calories and still feel hungry all the time, then either you need to increase or calories and/or look at the food/water you are eating. If you eat a candy for 150 calories (not saying you are), eating 10 candies will still make you feel very very hungry. But if you include lots of fiber, water, veggies etc, and eat in smaller intervals you will feel that you can feel a lot less hungry with the same calories. But I agree, you can never run long on hungry.

frksfrau

Some days I don't eat all of my calories and other days I go over. I don't do either consciously, it is just the way I eat. But, if I add everything up for the week, I am pretty close to hitting the mark.

funchords

1. If you're hungry, eat. Period, full stop. Even if you go 200 calories over your allowance, you're still at a good deficit and you'll still lose weight. Hunger is a warning sign and you don't want to get into the habit of ignoring your body's signals.
2. When you've reached your goal, you need to eat normally. So if your deficit is normally 1500 calories because you're losing 2 lbs. a week plus not eating your exercise calories, that's 1500 additional calories you need to eat when you switch to maintenance. That's double the intake for many dieters!

Now I can't say that I eat all of my exercise calories, but I do eat back more than half of them. And I certainly won't let myself go hungry ever, especially if I have hundreds of calories left in my allowance.

Ninkyou

I'm the type that enjoys cramming as much yummy food into my mouth as possible while maintaining my calorie goal.

I also agree with the others about sustainability and I don't think you should ever truly feel hungry. If you feel hungry, there's probably a good reason for that.

katherine_startrek_fan

I agree with the above. Doing MFP for over six months and dropping over 40 pounds, it is the rare exception that I ever let myself get really hungry because it always leads to eating too much.

TimothyFish

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

Really? What do they win?

At the end of the day, the food a person eats should be what is required to fuel their activities. In order to lose weight, a person must eat less than what is consumed by their activities, so the body is forced to use the fat that has been stored for future use.

SingRunTing

I do the TDEE method, so I eat the same number of calories everyday (exercise calories are built in to the goal, for anyone who doesn't know). I usually eat right up to my goal with about 20 calories to spare. Every once in a great while, I'll leave 100 calories at the end of the day, but I usually eat right up to my goal.

TavistockToad

fnub wrote: »

If you want to lose weight, it seems simple enough. Calories in VS calories out. Some people are saying that I should those daily uneaten calories. But to me it just seems like extra calories that you'd eventually have to get rid of. I do feel hungry most of the time. But I just tell myself that's the feeling of losing weight. It seems to work.

So which type are you? Do you eat only a portion of your calories or do you consume them all? And do you eat the red ones last ;-)

the problem with being hungry all the time is, well, that you're hungry all the time... doesnt sound fun and is likely to make it harder for you to stick to your diet.

also there is such thing as too large a deficit - how large is too large is debatable and depends on individual circumstances and how much fat you have to lose. but it is hard to get all of the nutrients that your body needs if you're not eating many caories.

personally i go for eating as many calories as i possibly can, while still in a deficit.

earlnabby

I almost always eat to within 100 calories of my calorie target. The exercise calories may or may not get eaten back depending on the day and how hungry I feel. If I do, it averages to about 50% of them.

GoBrianGo

I keep an eye on calories and carbohydrates. This is a tip from the diabetic crowd. Yesterday, for the first time in recent memory, I left food on my plate. I was full. What a pleasant surprise. When still eating to stuff myself I never left a crumb.
Maybe you are in a shifting phase, wandering your way to a new normal.

amusedmonkey

I eat all my calories, but not necessarily within the same day. I eat randomly, depending on my hunger, feelings, and preferences. I could eat 1000 calories one day, for example, and not be hungry. In that case I just finish the day without eating all my calories, and put the extra ones "in the bank" because I know there will be a day when I may be craving some things that are higher in calories and those banked calories might be exactly what I need. I could also eat all the calories, and then some - deep into the red! In this case I "borrow from the bank" and make up for it on days I don't feel like eating much.

I'm 100 pounds lighter, so apparently random eating without ever being hungry or sulking over something I can't have works best for me.

ncfitbit

Can I just say how much I love all you reasonable MFP folks?!! I mean I just really, really love you all. I thought the same as OP at first, but quickly saw that people like you were losing weight by eating a lot more than I thought I could because of all the dumb diets I'd ever been on that said I couldn't eat over 1200 cals/day!

SLHysell

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

+1

I'll third that notion.

cwlsr

I will keep it short! MFP allows you to adjust your lifestyle if you are willing to make the adjustments. If done properly you can eat more and still lose weight and not be hungry. Eat three balanced meals, at least 2 small snacks between meals and drink the 8 cups of water to flush your kidneys of the fat that you are burning. Log and measure everything. If you are eating out then check the nutrition tables on the internet for the type of food you will be eating and log it. If you stay below the calorie count that MFP provides for you by a small margin then will accomplish your objective. A healthy life style can be fun. The best to you in your desire to become healthy. Diets don't last forever but a healthy life style change does.

Sued0nim

TimothyFish wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

Really? What do they win?

At the end of the day, the food a person eats should be what is required to fuel their activities. In order to lose weight, a person must eat less than what is consumed by their activities, so the body is forced to use the fat that has been stored for future use.

Sanity

JoyeII

fnub wrote: »

I do feel hungry most of the time. But I just tell myself that's the feeling of losing weight. It seems to work.

If you're hungry most of the time, you're not eating enough calories and maintaining your calorie deficit will be difficult in the long term.

Pootler74

rabbitjb wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

At the end of the day, the one who loses weight whilst eating the most calories, wins!

I don't believe in self-flagellation

Really? What do they win?

At the end of the day, the food a person eats should be what is required to fuel their activities. In order to lose weight, a person must eat less than what is consumed by their activities, so the body is forced to use the fat that has been stored for future use.

Sanity

And their muscles.

Your body will eat both fat and muscle when in a calorie deficit. It doesn't know the difference. Eat too little and you'll lose more muscle. And muscle burns fat, so you want to keep as much of it as possible if you want to lose weight. That's why you'll see so many recommendations to 'lift heavy' on here, or at least do some strength training exercises.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I'll share a different experience... I have been doing this since Jan. 1, 2014 (with about 6 weeks off in late April-May due to health issues).

I still feel hungry every single day. I eat back all of my exercise calories, and target 0.5 lbs./week (this doesn't happen every week, but over a long period of time, it is not far off).

Some people will tell me I'm "not dieting right." I've tried different tactics within a deficit to feel more full - lots of water, lots of low-density foods (lettuce and spinach), LCHF, Paleo (which turns out to be practically LCHF). It doesn't matter what I do, I will be hungry.

In order to not be hungry, I find that I need to eat 3,000-5,000 calories per day (more if I exercise, as that tends to make me hungrier). Is it sustainable to continue to be hungry? Yes in the mid-term, no in the long-term. Everyone tells me that as I continue to lose weight and eat less, I'll eventually become less hungry. I restarted June 1 and it is now Dec. 1... how much longer will it take? The answer is: While it may work for some people to just lose weight and automatically become less hungry, that is not how it works for all of us. Rather than try to keep telling myself that I will someday be able to lose or maintain weight without being hungry, I feel it is better to acknowledge and accept the reality that I must choose between being obese or being uncomfortable. As far as being unsustainable in the long-term, I intend to hold my weight down as long as I can stand... hopefully that will be a few years at least.

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of responses telling me that I am wrong and that I'm not really hungry or that I am not doing something right. Just know that I have heard it all before and know it doesn't work so well for everyone.