Why does it matter if I don't always eat all of my calories?

lc355

I feel healthy, have plenty of energy and am not hungry. I don't feel like I'm dieting.
I have about 10lb to lose but am not in a hurry (currently about 143lb and 1.66m). I started logging again to get an idea of what I was consuming with the idea that I could make small tweaks along the way and because it makes me pause and think before I reach for that second bag of crisps. I seem to be averaging about 1300 calories a day which seems a low number when I'm not trying to lose weight aggressively.
Please be kind. I am weighing electronically and not secret eating.

KarenJanine

A large deficit means your body will resort to burning muscle as well as fat for energy, especially if you're not doing any resistance training. The result is that BF% stays the same (or even increase) even though scale weight decreases.

ETA: I've just looked at your diary and your protein intake is very low, which will compound the above.

As you've only got 10 lbs to lose, your body does not have a lot of fat reserves to use for energy. You should only be aiming to lose around 0.5 lb per week to ensure the majority of your loss comes from fat, not mucsle.

yarwell

It doesn't really matter. If you have adequate protein (say 75 g/day) intake you won't lose muscle. If your weight loss is reasonable then the calorie intake is appropriate.

lc355

Ah okay thanks.
Would really love some tips on getting protein up. I've never eaten meat (30+ years) and while I like peanut butter, cheese and nuts there's only so much of the stuff I can eat.

yarwell

http://greatist.com/health/complete-vegetarian-proteins might help. There's a lit in the Food & Nutrtion section occasionally of vegetarian / vegan protein sources. Too minority interest for me ;-)

There are 20g whey protein drinks in stores, and bars of protein powders if you like that sort of thing.

KarenJanine

I'm a non-meat eater too (occasional fish).

I usually have a whey shake with milk in the morning.

I also eat a lot of cheese (lower fat varieties can help keep calories down (e.g. cottage cheese, edam, light Babybel), Greek yoghurt, eggs, peas and beans and meat replacements (Quorn, tofu, etc).

Protein bars can also help. There are now more mainstream higher protein varieties in supermarkets (e.g. Nature Valley) which are cheaper than specialist ones in sports nutrition stores (e.g. Quest bars) so there's something to suit all nutritional and budgetary requirements.

RodaRose

lc355 wrote: »

Ah okay thanks.
Would really love some tips on getting protein up. I've never eaten meat (30+ years) and while I like peanut butter, cheese and nuts there's only so much of the stuff I can eat.

I eat vegetarian a few days a week so I understand. Some suggestions that you can consider:
In order to increase protein, most likely you will have to decrease carbs a little.
For example, reduce the biscuits, bread, chips when you can.
Increase soy milk, cheese, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, mixed veggies.