Can't understand not being able to get all your calories...

hannamarie88

I am usually under 100-50 calories every day and MFP currently wants me to eat 1400 calories a day. I have committed to this change and I plan all my meals meticulously and track everything. I eat less. Drink more water and feel full faster. I'm not starving myself; I eat when I'm hungry and have healthy low cal snacks if I need a push til dinner time.

It is challenging to hit that 1400 mark sometimes because of all my planning. I need to cut out the junk and sugar - my biggest challenge. I've stepped up my exercise, but I know it is bad to eat under the amount recommended. Sometimes. It just cannot be helped. I have many times suffered because of eating too little. I don't lose weight and then I'm mad at myself.

WendyTerry420

I workout enough to burn off MORE than MFP gives me in calories. I get 1345 (my own setting) and I burn about 1500 at least daily. So for me to eat ALL of that back as well is hard. How is that hard to understand? I'm not able to eat close to 3000 a day, even when I was fat I never ate that much at all. How is that blowing your mind?

You burn 1500 just doing exercise...deliberate exercise. So do you live at the gym?

WendyTerry420

I looked at your diary. You eat fries and cake and your cals are set way low. That's how it is never an issue for you

The sodium alone would keep enough water in my body that I' have trouble working out. Wow. I've never ever ever had such high fat foods...for breakfast? I'd be sick on that diet even when fat.

Cake.... it's what's for breakfast...

WendyTerry420

It actually amazes me that people DON'T understand why it's harder to eat enough when you are eating right. You worded it excellently.

"Eating right" is subjective.

hookilau

I have had days were I do not meet my calorie count mainly because I am eating foods like celery and watermelon, low calorie or "negative" calorie foods. The gaining weight part of being under calorie intake is that your body is not knowing when it is going to get the proper nutrients next so it holds on to everything that you give it. It puts all the food into fat stores making you gain weight. That is what is commonly called starvation mode. Your body enters starvation mode when not giving proper nutrients for a period of time. I have a few friends that do not eat enough in a day and this happens to them and I have other friends who don't eat enough and are super thin. Depends on the individual.

aha!!!!
i knew it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a seemingly logical thread earlier today that said something goofy about wanting studies that indicate metabolic slow down was NOT the cause of weight gain.

Since I have metabolic disorder, and due to that, I gained weight....I asked for clarification and the answer sounded like 'starvation mode' to me. The explanation post read like some kind of code that I had to read out loud several times before I came to the above conclusion.

hookilau

If you don't eat enough your body stores all it can in fat and when it does burn energy it burns muscle over fat. So weaker body and fatter body. Starving your body can cause weight gain. That's why all those staving kids in those commercials have little beer bellies. The body is trying its best to optimize your energy take less calories to burn muscle than fat. Thus your BMI is lower. Body is protecting you but at the same time making your fat percentage go up. Every carb that you take in is stored instead of burned as energy

I'm afraid your understanding of biology is way off. Just because it's written on the internet does not mean it's true

Yeah, I thought this was off too....I thought the large tummies of starving children were due to ascites.

ShengHuo

The belly distention of starving children is caused by a protein deficiency. Fluid from the lymph system can't be cleared properly and leaks into the belly.

WTH is that????

It's called kwashiorkor. It usually occurs in parts of Africa, and the meaning is something along the lines of "possessed by a spirit." It occurs when the child is getting adequate calories, but not enough protein. The main cause is when women have children close together. A one to two year can't eat the food adults eat (here that's the still mainly a baby food stage and a blender isn't available), so when the new baby comes they stop breastfeeding and get a porridge that is soft and mushy so they can eat it. As a result of too little protein the kids aren't able to build up muscles and their legs and arms appear skeletal. Like was mentioned, the lack of proteins also causes water to leave the blood vessels and collect in the abdominal cavity, so they have distended bellies.

But it is actually really difficult to find non-reduced fat cheeses.

Really? Full fat Yogurt is getting to be really difficult to find, but I never have trouble finding full fat cheese. Which is good, because I consider low fat cheese to be an abomination.

The cheap block cheese is almost always reduced fat and made with 2% milk, not whole. Fancier cheeses are more likely to be full fat, but that is rarely in the budget.

hookilau

The belly distention of starving children is caused by a protein deficiency. Fluid from the lymph system can't be cleared properly and leaks into the belly.

WTH is that????

It's called kwashiorkor. It usually occurs in parts of Africa, and the meaning is something along the lines of "possessed by a spirit." It occurs when the child is getting adequate calories, but not enough protein. The main cause is when women have children close together. A one to two year can't eat the food adults eat (here that's the still mainly a baby food stage and a blender isn't available), so when the new baby comes they stop breastfeeding and get a porridge that is soft and mushy so they can eat it. As a result of too little protein the kids aren't able to build up muscles and their legs and arms appear skeletal. Like was mentioned, the lack of proteins also causes water to leave the blood vessels and collect in the abdominal cavity, so they have distended bellies.


Hey, right thorough explanation thanks....

pinkraynedropjacki

I looked at your diary. You eat fries and cake and your cals are set way low. That's how it is never an issue for you

True dat.

Yesterday my grandma taught me how to make her angel food cake recipe You know people have that meme, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" I totally disagree!

Maybe what I should have said was I can't understand that kind of will power...Milkshakes are like 750 calories...and delicious....easy fix, right? Or granola bars even have around 200....

But I have really appreciated everyone sharing their story...So funny how different everyone's journey can be! You are all superstars!!!

Whoa 750 wasted cals on a milkshake? I can make one for 100 cals easy. Almond milk (40 cal) & simply less ice-cream (60 cal). It's even got the flavoring in it & actually that makes it a thickshake instead for 100 cals.

You are eating way the wrong way & who on earth would just waste 750 cals on something that is not really going to either fill you up or keep you from going for more?

pinkraynedropjacki

I workout enough to burn off MORE than MFP gives me in calories. I get 1345 (my own setting) and I burn about 1500 at least daily. So for me to eat ALL of that back as well is hard. How is that hard to understand? I'm not able to eat close to 3000 a day, even when I was fat I never ate that much at all. How is that blowing your mind?

You burn 1500 just doing exercise...deliberate exercise. So do you live at the gym?

Nope but I'm deliberately walking all ay, not cause I have to for work (I cant work) but cause I need to in order to reduce pain. That's after going for my 10km run, or my workout here at home...or both. I'm actually not part of a gym....was once....went about 4 times in 3 months.... hated it.

Francl27

I weigh everything and I still struggle with meeting my calorie goal. It's actually pretty easy - I got fat because I was eating a lot of calorie-rich food when I wasn't hungry. Now that I avoid high calorie foods and try not to eat when I'm not hungry, it's much harder to actually eat 1800 calories a day.

Like, today. I had some cereal for breakfast and it actually kept me full until lunch. Then I had a burger... but not a 800 calorie McDonald's burger with fries and soda, but a grilled chicken breast on whole wheat bread with some tomatoes. I even put some light mayo on it. 316 calories. Kept me full for a while, I made myself eat a protein bar at 3pm because I need more protein, then I got a tiny bit hungry at 5pm and got two huge apricots. Then forced myself to have dinner, I had two tacos (instead of the 5 I used to eat when, again, I wasn't that hungry for 5), just used low fat cheese and sour cream instead of full fat, and 95% fat beef. I wasn't hungry but still got dessert, a 100 calories frozen yogurt cup, instead of 500 calories of ice cream... and I still have 575 calories to go. I didn't workout today though so I don't feel too bad about it.

I mean, I could go for full fat stuff but I try to stay under my macros so I usually don't even buy the stuff. I can't even remember the last time I was really hungry (to be fair, I had gastro last week and still waiting to be starving from undereating for 5 days). But believe me, I have no problem eating when I'm hungry... I'm just not, and I don't want to go back to the trap of eating just because I can. I don't exactly deprive myself either, I have ice cream, pizza, frozen yogurt... maybe it's the high protein diet, who knows. I'm just not hungry.

Sieden76

Usually, those people are miscalculating and/or lying to themselves and/or depriving themselves to be dramatic.

It's just so "amazing" how a 350 pound 5'3" female that's 35 and has been overweight her whole life eating tons of god knows what can download MFP and magically 6 days later "can't bear" to eat 1400 calories in a day.

Excuse me.... haven't you ever just not had an appetite? Well, that's what it's like. I eat just fine now but in the beginning I had the same problem. I was starting to work out and my body wasn't used to working out, wasn't used to even moving. I had been eating maybe one meal of fast food a day for the longest time. When I really sat down and tried to eat 3 healthy meals, it was very very difficult. I just didn't want to eat at all. I had to force the food down and even then, I wanted to throw it back up. I made a post here when I was new asking for help and people even said that I was headed for an eating disorder even though I wasn't. I knew how it sounded though. Don't sit there and say that people are being dramatic. Just because you didn't go through this, doesn't mean that others don't because I'm willing to bet that a vast majority of the people actually do. When we embark on this fitness journey, we go through a lot of changes that our bodies just aren't used to and it only makes sense that our stomachs react to those changes too. It takes time to learn how to eat properly but it happens and over time we do it and we move on. Now I have no problem eating enough. I even moved to a 100% raw vegan diet and had a little bit of a problem at first just consuming enough fruits during the day but now I have no problem eating enough. Just remember that healthy foods take up a lot more space than SAD (Standard American Diet) foods do.

droppinlbslikeangels

Some days I feel like I could eat half a lb of pasta by myself. With a side of garlic bread!

And then I have days like today. I cleaned out the fridge I share with other people and I don't even feel like looking at food right now, nevermind cooking and eating it. ~500 calories below my 1210 limit... ugh. :sick:

ncmedic201

Some days I feel like I could eat half a lb of pasta by myself. With a side of garlic bread!

And then I have days like today. I cleaned out the fridge I share with other people and I don't even feel like looking at food right now, nevermind cooking and eating it. ~500 calories below my 1210 limit... ugh. :sick:

I have that problem once the weather turns nice. Come winter I'll want all the yummy higher calorie meals, but this time of year I want cold refreshing fruits and veggies! If I've spent time in the heat though, I totally lose my appetite.

MsEndomorph

The healthier I eat, the harder it is. I'm not a huge meat fan and I try to eat clean so it can be a challenge. Have you ever tried to eat 1200 calories worth of Brussels sprouts?

On the other hand, this week I've been eating like crap and the calories have just been flying out the window.

My appetite also fluctuates a lot. Most days I have to set a reminder for myself to eat 6 times a day, and then it all catches up to me and I want to do nothing but binge for a few days. Not super healthy, but it's how I gained weight to begin with. Going way too long without eating and then eating huge amounts of food once I finally realized I was starving.

SiempreBella

Usually, those people are miscalculating and/or lying to themselves and/or depriving themselves to be dramatic.

It's just so "amazing" how a 350 pound 5'3" female that's 35 and has been overweight her whole life eating tons of god knows what can download MFP and magically 6 days later "can't bear" to eat 1400 calories in a day.

This

redraidergirl2009

everyone's bodies are different. For example, a 5'8" 20 year old woman would burn far more calories than shorter older woman. Some people's activity levels vary, ect...Personally eating 1600 daily maintains my weight, 1800+ I gain. I stay around 1300-1500 and lose 1lb a week. I also exercise 4 days a week in addition to my active job I work 4 days a week for 5hr shifts.

gfroniewski

Honestly, on a workout day that I also wait tables it is pretty hard to meet my calorie goal sometimes. I mean, lunch after work, the appropriate snacks and breakfast, usually a lean and green dinner. But burning a lot of calories means you have to eat a lot of calories! At least it means I can "splurge" sometimes.

MsEndomorph

Usually, those people are miscalculating and/or lying to themselves and/or depriving themselves to be dramatic.

It's just so "amazing" how a 350 pound 5'3" female that's 35 and has been overweight her whole life eating tons of god knows what can download MFP and magically 6 days later "can't bear" to eat 1400 calories in a day.

This

Oh whatever. There's no way y'all know the ins and outs of enough MFP-ers psyches to know what's "usually" going on - framing it as fact doesn't make it so.

librarianjenne

This is SO not true for me. Of "healthy" or not so healthy foods. I've never had pie on Thanksgiving until a couple of hours after the main meal because I'm too full. At the end of the day if I'm full and have calories left, I don't think "I don't want any more healthy food". I think "I'm full, why would I eat more."

But then I don't think all I can eat is "healthy food", either. So, maybe that is the difference.

I cannot stand being overstuffed. If I'm full, I'm done. My weight gain came from drinking my calories, going from an active life to a sedentary life, and then doing grad school while working and parenting. I also have a bad thyroid, so getting that balanced has made a huge difference for me in many ways (energy and concentration for planning healthy meals & the energy to work out.)

I am one of the people who doesn't always eat all the calories I should (Friday I did because I had a planned treat of large french fries and an extra soy latte.) I'm vegan, don't always have an appetite, and try to eat fairly healthy when I do eat. I've always struggled to balance my eating, even before I was vegan. I tend to have days where I eat next to nothing followed by days where I eat everything. Oh, and in spite of my attention, I still find myself going over on sugar but way under on carbs.

I don't think it's an enviable problem. I have blood sugar problems because I forget to eat. (Yes, I am that special kind of stupid.) My energy isn't balanced and it takes a lot of focus to eat right, but I know I have to. Today I learned of a great trick-- setting the alarm on my phone to remind me to eat! Why didn't I think of that?