Anyone else find themselves consistently under the calorie goal?

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  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    sarahhippo2014 wrote: »
    Can anyone tell me if you have to log veg and Salad most diets I've been on before list them as free foods so I'm a bit confused , any help/views greatly appreciated

    They might not have a lot of calories, but they still have some so they need to be logged. Do that for a week and see what your totals are for them.

    One of the sites I saw had a lady that wasn't weighing fruit since Weight Watchers counted it as 'free' foods. When so actually started weighing and logging, that was 300-400 calories a day she wasn't counting. That adds up!
  • sarahhippo2014
    sarahhippo2014 Posts: 5 Member
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    Yes guess so I'm just thinking of all other diets where you don't - thanks
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    sarahhippo2014 wrote: »
    Yes guess so I'm just thinking of all other diets where you don't - thanks

    That's because they're diet plans, designed to make you drop weight fast but will do nothing to help keep it off once you stop that diet plan (as well as not always being a healthy option). By logging everything and adjusting your eating habits, you'll set yourself up to keep the weight off long term.
  • sarahhippo2014
    sarahhippo2014 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks dubird I am just starting again so I might do as you suggest, I wasn't thinking about fruit as I know have to include that as can have 50+ cals per piece but wasn't sure about lettuce etc
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    sarahhippo2014 wrote: »
    Can anyone tell me if you have to log veg and Salad most diets I've been on before list them as free foods so I'm a bit confused , any help/views greatly appreciated

    Weight Watcher factors veggies in so you don't have to but MFP does not so you should.

  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    sarahhippo2014 wrote: »
    Yes guess so I'm just thinking of all other diets where you don't - thanks

    Those other programs also give you a smaller calorie goal to make up for the "free" fruit and veggies, and they do limit the amount that you can have. A lot of people make the mistake in thinking that free means unlimited amount.
  • ellarishee
    ellarishee Posts: 25 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    No...I have to plan to try to keep to my goal. Being under is just out of the question.

    Yep.
  • trishroutley
    trishroutley Posts: 5 Member
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    I weigh everything and am consistently coming under every day.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    jamielynette1 wrote: »
    I feel like I eat so much all day, logging in everything accordingly, but I always fall short!! Sometimes I feel like I should eat something just to fill it up, but I'm not even hungry. Do you have a go to snack when you're trying to reach your goal? Or do you just not worry about it? Thanks!

    If you're not falling short, you're over your limit, which is what we're all trying not to do. :smile:

    I've been under every single day for 144 days, and have lost 17 kg.

    What's very important is not to be too far under. The person who eats the most and stays under wins.

    My biggest lesson is learning to eat back most of my exercise calories!
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
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    I try to be about 50/100 under, just in case I haven't logged accurately.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited September 2015
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    Orphia wrote: »
    jamielynette1 wrote: »
    I feel like I eat so much all day, logging in everything accordingly, but I always fall short!! Sometimes I feel like I should eat something just to fill it up, but I'm not even hungry. Do you have a go to snack when you're trying to reach your goal? Or do you just not worry about it? Thanks!

    If you're not falling short, you're over your limit, which is what we're all trying not to do. :smile:

    I've been under every single day for 144 days, and have lost 17 kg.

    What's very important is not to be too far under. The person who eats the most and stays under wins.

    My biggest lesson is learning to eat back most of my exercise calories!

    ^^ this
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
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    I'm starting a new approach.

    I'm on 1500 calories per day (I LOVE being able to eat this amount and still lose weight! Goodbye 1200!) and I find myself being 50 under on some days, 60 under on others, 20 under on others. From now on, I'm going to add up the amount of calories I've gone under from Monday-Friday and use the banked calories at the weekend for a treat. Yay! :D
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    PinkPixiexox wrote: »
    I'm starting a new approach.

    I'm on 1500 calories per day (I LOVE being able to eat this amount and still lose weight! Goodbye 1200!) and I find myself being 50 under on some days, 60 under on others, 20 under on others. From now on, I'm going to add up the amount of calories I've gone under from Monday-Friday and use the banked calories at the weekend for a treat. Yay! :D

    Go, @PinkPixiexox ! Good luck!
  • Steve4239
    Steve4239 Posts: 62 Member
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    on average i come in at around 15% under my goal each day but as i'm loosing weight i just count it as a bonus. it comes in each week as under goal by 1000-1200 calories. so as long as i'm not too hungry in the evening then i don't eat after my last meal. As for scales i log accurately because if you scan the box on cereal you would be incredibly surprised what 30 - 40 grams of food is. if anything i overestimate my food and try to leave a small amount at the end of a meal to allow for calorie inaccuracy.
  • Steve4239
    Steve4239 Posts: 62 Member
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    PinkPixiexox wrote: »
    I'm starting a new approach.

    I'm on 1500 calories per day (I LOVE being able to eat this amount and still lose weight! Goodbye 1200!) and I find myself being 50 under on some days, 60 under on others, 20 under on others. From now on, I'm going to add up the amount of calories I've gone under from Monday-Friday and use the banked calories at the weekend for a treat. Yay! :D

    if you use the mobile app it will tell you how many you are under each week under nutrition calories under weekly goal
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
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    Steve4239 wrote: »
    PinkPixiexox wrote: »
    I'm starting a new approach.

    I'm on 1500 calories per day (I LOVE being able to eat this amount and still lose weight! Goodbye 1200!) and I find myself being 50 under on some days, 60 under on others, 20 under on others. From now on, I'm going to add up the amount of calories I've gone under from Monday-Friday and use the banked calories at the weekend for a treat. Yay! :D

    if you use the mobile app it will tell you how many you are under each week under nutrition calories under weekly goal

    Fantastic!!! Thank you so much for this!
  • timtakel
    timtakel Posts: 50 Member
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    If you are way under your goal, it isn't your goal anymore, your goal will become to be under your goal. That's why I would lower it. I've set my goal to the lowest amount of calories I need to consume to stay healthy and not hungry. I'm often 10 - 50kcals over it, that's ok. If you are constantly 100kcal or more over your goal, set is higher again. Over time you will find the perfect goal for you. Also you don't need to have the same goal everyday. After I learned that I can't keep my goal at weekends, I raised it only for Friday and Saturday.
  • Monklady123
    Monklady123 Posts: 512 Member
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    Well, yesterday I was under by about 500 calories. But -- that's because I wasn't feeling well at all. :p If it was like that day after day then I'd have a problem -- Otherwise it doesn't happen often, and I always figure I've miscounted something. For example I don't usually measure my coffee creamer anymore. At the beginning I did so that I could see how much I needed to get the coffee as light as I like. Now I just splash the creamer in without measuring. Not the best idea obviously but in the morning I'm seriously lazy and want that coffee RIGHT NOW! lolol. But, I'm sure it's more calories than I'm putting into my tracker, so if I'm under by 100 calories or so at the end of the day I just figure it covers the creamer. Otherwise I measure and weigh everything.

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