Not Enough Calories?

julianniebananie

Hi, everyone! Lately I haven't been feeling well when I'm only eating 1200/1250 cals per day. Although that's what MFP calculated was healthy for me in accordance with my goals, I'd been experiencing headaches, lethargy, and the like. (In other words, I wasn't feeling very healthy, and I have been eating a vegan diet of predominantly fruits and veggies, so I know it wasn't the quality of what I've been eating that was the problem.) I've since changed my settings to give me about 300 more calories per day.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

shadow2soul

Are you exercising and were you eating the exercise calories?
Did you set your activity level too low?
Did you choose a calorie goal that was too aggressive for what you have to lose?


~I had the same thing happen when I decided to skip eating exercise calories/fitbit adjustments and stick to 1300 calories. ~

itsbasschick

i felt awful - weak, lethargic and dizzy - when i first started on MFP, but i have diabetes t2. i woke up every day so dizzy i could barely get out of bed. then i started eating more but smaller meals so i never got hungry, and also ate something right at bedtime. that helped a lot. and now i'm using a less aggressive weekly loss amount, which helped a lot.

but it sounds like what you're eating could be part of the problem. fruits and veggies have very little protein. there's nothing healthy about eating no fat, complex carbs or protein - just sugars and fiber. are you eating lots of complete proteins like soy or maybe quinoa, although quinoa doesn't have much protein although it's complete.

MlleKelly

Are you new to veganism? Are you balancing your macronutrients? Have you recently cut out high-sugar/processed foods or caffeine that used to be an integral part of your diet?

Just some things to think about if you're feeling headachey and tired and sluggish.

dpessoa

I ate vegan for about 6 months and lost around 30 pounds during that time. I found that since my activity level was high, all I needed to do was eat every time I got hungry. If your diet is really low in protein/fats eat a big spoonful of peanut butter when you need a boost. That'll get you about 200 calories and add a good amount of the macro nutrients that you are likely lacking.

itsbasschick

if your diet is low in protein, eat more protein. peanuts/peanut butter have twice the fat as protein, so perhaps not the most reliable way to get protein unless you have tons of daily calories to spare.

rankinsect

inshapeandconfident wrote: »

Hi, everyone! Lately I haven't been feeling well when I'm only eating 1200/1250 cals per day. Although that's what MFP calculated was healthy for me in accordance with my goals, I'd been experiencing headaches, lethargy, and the like. (In other words, I wasn't feeling very healthy, and I have been eating a vegan diet of predominantly fruits and veggies, so I know it wasn't the quality of what I've been eating that was the problem.) I've since changed my settings to give me about 300 more calories per day.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Also, don't confuse "vegan" food with "quality", whatever you intend that to mean. It's actually harder to be healthy on any very restrictive diet compared to eating a wide variety of types of foods. If you're vegan for ethical reasons, more power to you, but be aware that the downside is you need to spend more time ensuring you're eating a healthy diet.

Vegans in particular need to pay close attention to several nutrients. B12 is the biggest one, you absolutely must take supplements for this, but iron and protein are a lot easier to get in animal products than plant products and you may be deficient here. Anemia, for example, can cause both lethargy and headache. If you plan to stick to the vegan diet, do your research on meeting your nutritional needs, and talk to your doctor about this - you might want bloodwork to check for nutritional problems like anemia.

julianniebananie

Hi everyone, thanks for the concern about veganism, but I do eat a lot of tofu, nuts, and seeds in addition to the fruits and veggies, plus a vitamin supplement. I've been vegan for a year now, and have gotten my blood checked twice since then. And yes, I have been eating the calories I've exercised off. I was concerned about the number of calories