Help! I can not eat less than 1500 calories a day!

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Gulen28
Gulen28 Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Now, is this a problem? I'm very new in this calorie counting thing and in MFP. This website told me I have to eat 1300. Whatever I do, I'm always around 1500. With exercise I can go below but I can not possibly exercise every day.

Any thoughts?

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Replies

  • afatpersonwholikesfood
    afatpersonwholikesfood Posts: 577 Member
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    Are you set at 2 lbs per week? If your calories feel too low, go for a slower rate of loss.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    Experiment with the settings. If you have a "two pound a week" setting, change that to .5 pounds per week. You will get more calories and it will be sustainable. As for "whatever I do, I'm always around 1500," what does that mean? When I think of "whatever I do" in this context, it means stop eating when you reach your calorie allotment.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    Why can't you exercise every day?
  • mom2ava07
    mom2ava07 Posts: 186 Member
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    For one, how much are you trying to lose and how overweight are you? If you don't have a lot to lose but yet have your weight loss goals set too aggressively (trying to lose weight faster than you should) the app could have your calorie goal set pretty low making it hard for you to stick to. That may not be the case, but just a thought.

    Also, if you are new to calorie restriction you will take some time to get used to consuming less food. You will be slightly hungry at times eating at a deficit. The trick is using your calories for more filling foods. Foods high in protein help. I personally liked snacking on almonds to help me fill up, or even protein snack bars (not the meal replacement ones).
  • Magic_Chicken
    Magic_Chicken Posts: 141 Member
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    If your happy with 1500 then stick with it, you will still loose just not as fast as you would at 1300. Mine is set at 1300 also but I struggle to stick to it so usually go up to about 1500/1600. Have lost nearly 4 kg in last 3 months, not a huge loss but its still a loss and i have not given up yet
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    You could also play around with what you're eating during the day. If you go low carb, try mixing a few more in - or if you're all carb, try adding a little protein. Also, make sure you're eating good fats. Your body might be sending you hunger signals because it's looking for more of one of the Macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbohydates).
  • Gulen28
    Gulen28 Posts: 52 Member
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    I'm set at 1.5 lbs per week. I thought about lowering it to 1 lbs a week, but then I don't want to end up eating more .In other words, I'm torn between fear of eating more if I allow myself to take more calories in and the constant guilt of always being over 1300.

    Funny thing is, I'm still loosing more than 1.5 lbs a week even if I'm over 1300 calories a day? Confusing...
  • Gulen28
    Gulen28 Posts: 52 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    Why can't you exercise every day?

    Because some days I work from 7:30 am to 11 pm nonstop and I have min 2 hours commute every day on top of that.
  • gothicfires
    gothicfires Posts: 240 Member
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    If you are looking to eat about 1200 calories a day and still be content and full then you need to go high protein and high fiber. Go take a look at my food diary for the past few days. Ignore the Ice cream, If you eat 4 oz of meat, 1/2 cup of rice and 2/3 cup of veggies 4 times a day you will get 1200 and have a huge amount of food to eat. I eat my veggies frozen and more with my fingers than a spoon so it takes me 20-30 minutes to eat. I never feel hungry. I know my diary is only 3 days old but I did this method a few years ago and lost 15 pounds before getting distracted. So it works. Your brain and your tummy are both happy.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    Gulen28 wrote: »

    Funny thing is, I'm still loosing more than 1.5 lbs a week even if I'm over 1300 calories a day? Confusing...

    X) Lucky Duck! If you're losing, then by all means, up your calorie intake. The MFP system is great as a calorie deficit guideline, but it's not the end-all, be-all truth. That's a great loss rate!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    afatpersonwholikesfood wrote: »
    Are you set at 2 lbs per week? If your calories feel too low, go for a slower rate of loss.

    This. It looks like you only have 21 lbs to lose, so 1 lb/week is a good goal.

    Also, think about doing the TDEE method, where you estimate your average maintenance (based on exercise over a whole week) and then eat the same every day. You can kind of do the same by banking some exercise calories on days you exercise more and using them on days when you don't exercise. (I switched to TDEE method because I couldn't stand the low calories I was getting on off-days either.)

    I suspect you can lose on 1500, however, if you do exercise regularly. I'm currently doing 1610 during the week and 1800 on weekends, and I'm 5'3 and close to goal.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    If you are losing weight just fine on 1500 calories and feel good, just change your calorie goal to that and keep going. No reason to suffer when something is already working.
  • Gulen28
    Gulen28 Posts: 52 Member
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    SherryTeach wrote: »
    Experiment with the settings. If you have a "two pound a week" setting, change that to .5 pounds per week. You will get more calories and it will be sustainable. As for "whatever I do, I'm always around 1500," what does that mean? When I think of "whatever I do" in this context, it means stop eating when you reach your calorie allotment.

    "whatever I do" for me means eating small and healthy portions and also means trying really hard to cut carbs and increase protein.

    If I reach my 1300 limit by late afternoon, I can not NOT have dinner, because I feel bad when I do: I may have a slight blood sugar regulation problem that if I don't eat every 4 hours I feel terrible.

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Gulen28 wrote: »
    I'm set at 1.5 lbs per week. I thought about lowering it to 1 lbs a week, but then I don't want to end up eating more .In other words, I'm torn between fear of eating more if I allow myself to take more calories in and the constant guilt of always being over 1300.

    Funny thing is, I'm still loosing more than 1.5 lbs a week even if I'm over 1300 calories a day? Confusing...

    Maybe your activity level is set to low.

  • Gulen28
    Gulen28 Posts: 52 Member
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    mom2ava07 wrote: »
    For one, how much are you trying to lose and how overweight are you? If you don't have a lot to lose but yet have your weight loss goals set too aggressively (trying to lose weight faster than you should) the app could have your calorie goal set pretty low making it hard for you to stick to. That may not be the case, but just a thought.

    Also, if you are new to calorie restriction you will take some time to get used to consuming less food. You will be slightly hungry at times eating at a deficit. The trick is using your calories for more filling foods. Foods high in protein help. I personally liked snacking on almonds to help me fill up, or even protein snack bars (not the meal replacement ones).

    I'm trying to loose about 15 lbs. I don't know how overweight I am, that's another confusing thing: I'm 41, 5' 7" and currently 164 lbs. Some websites say I have to be maximum 136 lbs, but the last time I was 136 lbs I was 15 years old!
  • gothicfires
    gothicfires Posts: 240 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Gulen28 wrote: »
    "whatever I do" for me means eating small and healthy portions and also means trying really hard to cut carbs and increase protein.

    If I reach my 1300 limit by late afternoon, I can not NOT have dinner, because I feel bad when I do: I may have a slight blood sugar regulation problem that if I don't eat every 4 hours I feel terrible.

    Sorry but this doesn't make sense. If you've reached your calorie limit by late afternoon then you are eating too much. Take the total number of calories that you want to eat each day and divide them by the number of times you eat in a day. For me that is 4. That means each meal is 300 calories. I can fill a 10inch plate with 300 calories.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I don't believe in "trying;" it is the "doing" that counts. I also prefer to eat small, frequent meals. At the beginning I pre-logged the whole day so I would know that I had enough food to take me from breakfast to bedtime without running out of calories in the middle of the afternoon. Even though I don't do that so much now, I have a little mental calculator in my head that keeps my choices regulated so that I have room for dinner and an evening snack. But all of this is moot: you are losing more than 1.5 pounds a week at 1500. That sounds good to me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    shadow2soul wrote: »
    Gulen28 wrote: »
    I'm set at 1.5 lbs per week. I thought about lowering it to 1 lbs a week, but then I don't want to end up eating more .In other words, I'm torn between fear of eating more if I allow myself to take more calories in and the constant guilt of always being over 1300.

    Funny thing is, I'm still loosing more than 1.5 lbs a week even if I'm over 1300 calories a day? Confusing...

    Maybe your activity level is set to low.

    Yeah, this is common. I changed mine to lightly active.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    Gulen28 wrote: »

    "whatever I do" for me means eating small and healthy portions and also means trying really hard to cut carbs and increase protein.

    If I reach my 1300 limit by late afternoon, I can not NOT have dinner, because I feel bad when I do: I may have a slight blood sugar regulation problem that if I don't eat every 4 hours I feel terrible.

    Okay - not sure about this. If you have a blood sugar regulation problem, cutting carbs too severely may not be in your best interest. Ask your doctor or a licensed dietician about this. Carb cutting does very little for weight loss anyway, but if your doctor has advised this, then that's a lot different.

    If you listen to anything on these boards, recognize this one fact: Any weight loss plan you choose has to be sustainable. If you can't live on 1300 calories, then that deficit is not for you. If 1500 calories will continue to net you losses, then there is nothing wrong with upping your total. There's nothing to feel guilty about if you're losing.

    My Fitness Pal is not a doctor or a dietician - it's a computer program. If you input certain perameters, it'll give you a guideline to work from, but it does this without knowing you and what your body needs. If you're honestly starving, then listen to your body before you listen to MFP.
  • kjm3579
    kjm3579 Posts: 3,974 Member
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    Check out this calculator: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    You can change your goals on MFP to reflect the results you get from the calculator but remember to set exercise calories to 1 on MFP to avoid eating too much as your exercise calories will already be included in the IIFYM calculations.

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