Am I eating too little calories

angelofhope37

I have been eating 1300 calories per day but this has left me starving everyday espescially in the evenings.I changed it to 1500 now.Do you think I was eating too little?How many calories have you been eating to lose weight?

robert65ferguson

How did you arrive at your target? Raising your calorie target can help with your hunger issues. Another alternative strategy would be to consider a Lower carb approach as opposed to a lower calorie approach. All calories are not necessarily the same. Have a look at the lower carb forum and read over the various threads. Significant numbers of people with Diabetes have had success with the lower carb approach. It is all down to personal choice at the end of the day. Some diabetics using a lower calorie approach experience hunger problems because of the sharp dip in blood sugar which occurs. Reducing carbs reduces the sugar spike which in turns leads to a lower dip as insulin deals with the sugar spike. Another approach would be to monitor your sugars using post prandial checks to try and identify those foods causing you to spike and then reducing or eliminating them from your diet. A good information source for you could be Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Rhul which I found to be very helpful. Hope these suggestions are helpful to you.

KristyRunyon81

I agree with Robert. Not all calories are the same. I find I can eat a lot of vegetables for very few calories and they keep me full. Also, lean protein has a decent number of calories but is good for you and will fill you up. Definitely take some readings 2 hours after eating. Keep track of what you are eating, what keeps you full and what doesn't stay with you long.

And remember, this is a lifestyle change, not a diet.

angelofhope37

Thank you Robert.....1300 calories is what mfp suggested.If I eat that little then I cant even sleep at night because of the hunger.

Afura

No offense to MFP, but I don't trust it's recommendations. I think MFP recommended something like 1400 calories for me, but a check on another calculator, I like Scooby's Workshop, it let's you fiddle with some of the calculation. - http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Unknown

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shinycrazy

To figure out what your calories are you can find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. This is what you burn if you stayed in bed all day.

1lb equals 3500 calories, divide by 7, that 500 calories a day that you need to lose a pound. Subtract 500 from your BMR number either with eating less calories or more exercise. Be careful about estimating calories burnt doing exercise, imho MFP overestimates calorie burn which might lead you think you can eat more calories that you should to get the deficit. Good luck! I've lost 70lbs this way.

KeithF6250

Of course the number of calories per pound depend on whether it is a pound of fat, protein or water. There are a lot of moving parts.