Am I Undereating?

jrdrummer20

Hello all

So I am steadily losing weight, but I get paranoid when the app tells me to eat more, I overeat by my 1800 a day BUT I am exercising lot more so my net calories are always under by average 4000calories a week

My mind feels guilty when I over eat past 1800 but with my outgoing calories I am under most days

Is it ok to eat some of those calories I have burnt

I am paranoid I will slow my weight loss but I feel hungry sometimes and weak others

itsbasschick

how fast are you losing and do you feel weak or beat?

rockymtranger

It looks like you might be undereating at breakfast, which isn't fueling you up for the day. Try shifting some calories from dinner, when you're winding down from the day, to breakfast, when you'll be more likely to burn them after eating them, and see if that helps.

itsbasschick

rockymtranger, the OP is concerned he may not be eating enough - as far as we know right now (hopefully he'll let us know more shortly), he feels fine.

evildeadedd

You say you feel hungry and weak. That's not good. How much are you losing a week? how much do you have to lose overall? Those are the best indicators of if you are eating enough.

jrdrummer20

Ok so on average I lose 3-4pound a week, I have 100 pounds to lose in total, I've lost 30 so far, I feel a bit weak from time to time, but I just like my food, and basically what I'm tiring to figure out is if I fancy something extra and I'm going over my daily 1800 but burning more through exercise, will it hurt to have a bit more say 2000 or 2200 when I am left with a weekly deficit of 4000!

Thanks for replying

evildeadedd

When you say you have a weekly deficit of 4000, do you mean 4000 calories LEFT from your goal? So you average around 600 short of your daily goal? Then yes for the sake of the god's eat a burger brother. MFP gas the deficit built into your calorie goal already, you should be NETTING close to 1800 (food - exercise). If you log you burned 500 calories in the gym, eat back a couple hundred.

PAV8888

A deficit of 20% of your total daily expenditure (25% while obese) is considered relatively safe.
A 1% rate of loss a week is considered relatively safe especially if you are still obese.
The margins and size of tolerable deficits reduce as your % of excess fat reduces.

A smaller deficit will slow down your weight loss.
A slower rate of weight loss is an appropriate goal in your case.

Your current deficit is excessive.

Your MFP goal already include your target deficit. As such your daily goal should be to achieve your MFP goal; it should not be to exceed it.

If your MFP goal needs adjusting to reflect your real goals then do so. However, it is my belief that MFP goals are plenty aggressive enough.

You are setting yourself up for failure when your weight loss slows down and you have no more room or ability to eat less.

To some degree our bodies dynamically adjust to deficits.

I happen to believe that the more you manage to net while losing weight... the more margin you will have in the future to either continue with weight loss or to have an easier time maintaining.

Your win condition is not reaching -130lbs in 12 months or less. Your win condition is to maintain a significant loss of body weight for several years!

Getting to -130 in 12 months and bouncing back by month 24 is a heck of a lot less successful than spending 60 months to get to -130.

*Congratulations on the loss so far: NOTHING to sneeze at and well done. You've proved to yourself that you can do this: now it is time to optimize for long term success!

brrrycicle

My two cents would be to end up AT 1,800 calories NET for the day. Burns are usually inflated on most apps, so I generally eat back only half my calories. So if you burn "500" at the gym, eat back 250 of those, even if it puts you over your daily limit... You still want to stay as close to that calorie goal as possible.

The main reason for this is sustainability. You're losing A LOT of weight FAST. This won't be forever and you will eventually taper off to smaller and smaller loses. Set yourself up for success and eat as close to your limit as possible so you don't physically/mentally burnout, or lose too much muscle mass (which can happen if you're too aggressive).

Congrats on your progress, and don't feel guilty! You're doing a GREAT JOB! Enjoy the journey... Slower loss = sustainable loss.

brrrycicle

BTW, I do agree that your deficit is a bit aggressive. I eat more than that and am still losing at 179 lbs (5'11). Try upping your calories, you'll still lose. You should never feel weak or tired. Good luck!

jrdrummer20

brrrycicle wrote: »

BTW, I do agree that your deficit is a bit aggressive. I eat more than that and am still losing at 179 lbs (5'11). Try upping your calories, you'll still lose. You should never feel weak or tired. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your kind words and advice everyone

I feel really supported, man MFP is awesome x

itsbasschick

if you feel weak or hungry, have some additional protein. it's hard to give up a fast weight loss rate, but you don't want to break down your muscles, and 250 more calories isn't going to stop your weight loss.

you're doing great, and slowing things down a little but feeling better will only make the journey better!

jrdrummer20

evildeadedd wrote: »

When you say you have a weekly deficit of 4000, do you mean 4000 calories LEFT from your goal? So you average around 600 short of your daily goal? Then yes for the sake of the god's eat a burger brother. MFP gas the deficit built into your calorie goal already, you should be NETTING close to 1800 (food - exercise). If you log you burned 500 calories in the gym, eat back a couple hundred.

Yeh so I aim for 1800 a day but due to my exercise I am averaging a net deficit of 4000 calories to eat!!

Haha I would love a burger

loulamb7

Your goal should be 1800 net calories a day. Looks like your eating <1200 net calories a day, which would be under-eating. If your logging is accurate, eat more.

itsbasschick

jrdrummer20 wrote: »

evildeadedd wrote: »

When you say you have a weekly deficit of 4000, do you mean 4000 calories LEFT from your goal? So you average around 600 short of your daily goal? Then yes for the sake of the god's eat a burger brother. MFP gas the deficit built into your calorie goal already, you should be NETTING close to 1800 (food - exercise). If you log you burned 500 calories in the gym, eat back a couple hundred.

Yeh so I aim for 1800 a day but due to my exercise I am averaging a net deficit of 4000 calories to eat!!

Haha I would love a burger

that would mean you're exercising 1200 calories - keep in mind that most exercise machines, sites like MFP and many things like fitbit go over on burn - way over, usually.

and there's no reason not to have a burger for dinner some evenings. save 400 or 600 calories for dinner and splurge! i had pizza the other day and didn't go over. and it was yummy!

jrdrummer20

loulamb7 wrote: »

Your goal should be 1800 net calories a day. Looks like your eating <1200 net calories a day, which would be under-eating. If your logging is accurate, eat more.

Yeah I mainly buy prepackaged food (cereal bars, chicken slices, microwave jacket potatoes, packs of caulirice) so all my calories are pretty spot on and I log everything- in my opinion I would only be cheating myself

Seffell

Guys! What's going on with you? It is obvious from his screenshot there! He is eating 4000 net below his goal of 1800, so it says on the pic! He's eatinhg about 1000 a day! See the diagram and the text below it! He is weekly averaging at 1180 food.
@jrdrummer20 This is dangerous! You should increase your calories imediately! You're going to get ill! This is too low even for a thin woman.
Good luck and enjoy the extra 700-800 calories