Struggling to eat all my calories

missslm88

I'm 5"3 and 196. I'm currently on 1500 cals but I'm struggling to eat them all usually 200-300 less, I'm losing but want to know if this eating less will eventually ruin my hard work thanks in advance

tulips_and_tea

How long have you been eating this way? Your profile says you have 54 lbs. to lose, so were you over eating for a long time and this is a recent change? Just need more info in order to offer any kind of help.

rand486

These forums like to go a little crazy about minimums, and whatnot, but the truth of the matter is, as long as you're getting all your vitamins and minerals, you're gonna be fine.

That said, you may want to look at getting a digital food scale, and ensuring you're logging your food accurately. 1200 calories, while doable, doesn't often lead to satiety! You may be under-logging!

honkytonks85

A few things.. firstly, I hate to be blunt, but you obviously can eat enough to have become overweight in the first place so I am sure you could work something out. Also, if you're not weighing your food there's every possibility you're eating slightly more than you think. I don't weigh because it's too much hassle so I like to give myself a little bit of a buffer to make up for it (eg I will aim for 100-200 calories less than my target).

Finally and most importantly, a 1200 calorie deficit is fine and will not hurt your weight loss efforts (in fact, you'll lose weight more quickly at 1200 than 1500).

karen_fitzgibbon

Here's the thing, I'm fat. I've got about 90lbs to lose. I really haven't changed my diet, just cut it the chocolate and ice cream and soft drinks.
I still eat the same cereal for breakfast, fruit or yoghurt for snacks, meat and veggies or pasta dishes for dinner and apparently I don't eat enough.
My gp says that it could possibly be that my metabolism is being dumb.

I can't help you but I can sympathise and understand where you are coming from

karen_fitzgibbon

Ps I'm struggling to get past 900 a day. That's with logging everything I eat and drink. But no. I don't weigh my foods either

retrolina

Since your profile states that you have excess weight to lose, you once ate at a surplus... So, you know what it takes: eat a little more.

If you for some reason are put off by eating "big volumes" of food, just eat calorie dense foods.

50g of nuts = 280 calories
80g of condensed milk in tea or coffee - yum! = 290 calories.

ana3067

karen_fitzgibbon wrote: »

Ps I'm struggling to get past 900 a day. That's with logging everything I eat and drink. But no. I don't weigh my foods either

I'd guess you are eating more than you think, which could be OP's problem too. If you both opened your diaries it'd make it easy for people to offer suggestions about where things are going wrong and why you are not seeing the desired results. I know that for myself, if I don't eat enough (and my "not enough" is even just 1800 as my SUPER bare minimum) my workouts suffer, and I'm more lethargic, so as a result I am burning less. This could be an issue you are also suffering with.

Kalikel

It's possible that you're taking in more calories than you guess. If you feel strong and healthy and are losing weight, don't second-guess it. Just go with it.

LAWoman72

karen_fitzgibbon wrote: »

Here's the thing, I'm fat. I've got about 90lbs to lose. I really haven't changed my diet, just cut it the chocolate and ice cream and soft drinks.
I still eat the same cereal for breakfast, fruit or yoghurt for snacks, meat and veggies or pasta dishes for dinner and apparently I don't eat enough.
My gp says that it could possibly be that my metabolism is being dumb.

I can't help you but I can sympathise and understand where you are coming from

I hate to put it this way, because I fully sympathize, but obviously just cutting out the chocolate, ice cream and soft drinks isn't working. Your GP says it's your metabolism, but if you're not counting your calories, how do you know you're just plain eating too many calories?

Again, I truly am not trying to be blunt. I have tried the same things you have. And I wondered many times whether it was my metabolism, but once I did start very accurately counting my calories, I did start losing weight...it was as simple as that.

Good luck on your journey!

missslm88

Hi all thanks for the feedback I do weigh all that I consume I'm getting all my vitamins and minerals, the excess weight I have is from binge eating when I was depressed but I solved them issues before I started my weight loss journey 3 weeks ago ( wow feels way longer lol) my meals have always been fairly healthy home cooked (portion sizes used to bit a bit bigger) but basically the only things that have changed is I now portion correctly and have stopped the binges of crisps( easily 3-4 bags a day

Sued0nim

karen_fitzgibbon wrote: »

Ps I'm struggling to get past 900 a day. That's with logging everything I eat and drink. But no. I don't weigh my foods either

You have no idea how many calories you are consuming if you don't weigh the foods

Sued0nim

missslm88 wrote: »

Hi all thanks for the feedback I do weigh all that I consume I'm getting all my vitamins and minerals, the excess weight I have is from binge eating when I was depressed but I solved them issues before I started my weight loss journey 3 weeks ago ( wow feels way longer lol) my meals have always been fairly healthy home cooked (portion sizes used to bit a bit bigger) but basically the only things that have changed is I now portion correctly and have stopped the binges of crisps( easily 3-4 bags a day

sounds like you've got it then - if you need to eat more bring back a bag of crisps - you should learn how to eat foods you binged on in moderation and not deprive yourself of things you love (Multipack Quavers only have 85 calories but a pack of Walkers will be 130)

TimothyFish

Eating less than 1500 isn't going to hurt anything. Short people need fewer calories anyway.