Eating too little?

alisonkling

Hey y'all! According to MFP my calorie goal is 1,280/day. With this I'm supposed to loose 1 pound/week. I usually will earn at least 250 calories more. I generally try to keep my consumption between 1,000-1,100 calories. Do you guys think this is too few? Am I sabotaging my weight lose?

WBB55

"sabotaging"? Meh, maybe not. But what you are doing is setting yourself to binge after a few days and be miserable when you don't have to be. I myself would probably start off by "eating back" half of my earned calories. So in your case if you "earn" 250 calories and your goal is 1280, this would mean a TOTAL of 1405 calories. Make sure you're weighing your food on a digital scale to ensure you're actually eating the calories you think you are.

TavistockToad

So you eat net 850 cals?

No that's not healthy.

richardgavel

When I was still losing, I tried to earn a bigger deficit via exercise. But it sounds like you're trying to do it by eating fewer calories. While the net calories may end up the same, there is a difference in hunger, nutrients ingested, etc. I also think it's more sustainable, assuming the exercise doesn't create additional hunger equivalent to the calories burned.

AmyRhubarb

Goal means goal - something you should be aiming for and trying to reach, not fall well short of. Keep in mind that the goal MFP has given you has you at a deficit before any exercise. That means you could eat 1280 calories every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight, because 1280 is fewer cals that what your body burns all day with daily activity (sleeping, walking, chores, shopping, work, etc). If you're burning off more through exercise, and then coming in way under goal, you're creating a HUGE deficit for yourself, which may seem like a good idea at first, and may get you some quick results on the scale, but it's not sustainable, allows zero room for say a vacation, birthday party, dinner out, heck even an ice cream cone or frozen yogurt on a hot summer night is unlikely to fit into that goal.

My goal is to eat as MANY calories as I can while still losing. It's sustainable, it keeps me well-fueled for workouts and daily life, and it works - I've lost 25lbs and kept it off for nearly 4 years now.

Don't sell yourself short by trying to eat super low cals and lose really fast - it's not worth it.

janjunie

The only thing you'll be sabotaging is your energy, health and your lean body mass...but who needs those things anyways.

godlikepoetyes

Try using the calories MFP gives you. And eat back ALL of your exercise calories. See what happens. Are you afraid that you won't lose if you don't cut your calories back yourself? So many people on MFP seem to believe this, that they won't lose weight if they eat the calories MFP gives them. For a few, very few, eating these calories won't work, but for most people, it will.

godlikepoetyes

My goal is to eat as MANY calories as I can while still losing. It's sustainable, it keeps me well-fueled for workouts and daily life, and it works - I've lost 25lbs and kept it off for nearly 4 years now.

Don't sell yourself short by trying to eat super low cals and lose really fast - it's not worth it.

This. Amen.

ianwilson67

i seem to eat just to make up my calories, i eat a lot of turkey breasts during the day and they are low calorie, but keep me feeling full, so i'm always in calorie defecit i can't see the point of eating just to make up my calories when i'm not hungry? i'm a large bloke but i find it hard to even eat 1000 calories a day never mind the 1900 mfp allow me.

dlkfox

ianwilson67 wrote: »

i seem to eat just to make up my calories, i eat a lot of turkey breasts during the day and they are low calorie, but keep me feeling full, so i'm always in calorie defecit i can't see the point of eating just to make up my calories when i'm not hungry? i'm a large bloke but i find it hard to even eat 1000 calories a day never mind the 1900 mfp allow me.

I can't see your diary but I will bet you are eating more than 1000 calories a day. (I hope you're eating more than a 1,000 a day!) Men should be eating a minimum of 1500 to remain healthy and reduce the amount of lean muscle lost during dieting.

jahillegas_51

I mean MFP, is a basic calculator for the masses. This is the tough part about fitness, there is no blanket calculator, formula, or solution that yields results for everyone. We are all so different, with so many variables.

The best way to approach this is...

First, if you have been tracking for a long time (>2 weeks) you should have a good idea how much you eat on a daily average, along with your weight. Based on this you should be able to tell if your weight is going up, down, or staying the same. Let me know if you need some help with this.

Based on this you can make adjustments towards your goal.

Here is an example (this is made up, so numbers in terms of macros & cals. probably don't add up).

So based on this hypothetical example, our buddy should reduce his intake based on the avgerage b/c as you can see at this avg. intake he is gaining weight.

Hope this helps:)

kgirlhart

You aren't sabotaging your weight loss, but you could be sabotaging your health. I think that 1000-1100 calories is too low. You should be eating 1200 plus at least 125 of your earned exercise calories. You can lose weight eating that little, but your health will suffer.

nowine4me

Patience grasshopper. If you are eating so little in order to speed up the process, you're not doing yourself any favors in the long run.

millas456

alisonkling wrote: »

Hey y'all! According to MFP my calorie goal is 1,280/day. With this I'm supposed to loose 1 pound/week. I usually will earn at least 250 calories more. I generally try to keep my consumption between 1,000-1,100 calories. Do you guys think this is too few? Am I sabotaging my weight lose?

not enough calories. you will mess up your metabolism.

Francl27

Depends. Do you weigh your food? If not, you're probably eating more than you think and you'll be just fine.

It's pretty much what I assume when people say that they eat 1000 calories anyway, as I can't possibly imagine not starving on so little food.

JeromeBarry1

You are not sabotaging your weight loss. You ARE sabotaging your life. Read and heed all the above.

Alarae21

You should really aim for at least the 1200. Admittedly I don't really hit it often but I have larger calorie days at some point in the week so it evens out.

I'm 5'3 and I can actually exist on 1000 calories a day, with exercise. I don't get massively hungry and I don't binge.

I do however know it isn't the healthiest to net so low so it means I can be more lax on the weekend. It's all an average game.