Maintenance question:

robynrstiles

I eat all throughout the day and stay full, never really hungry but I am almost always below my daily calorie goal. What do you do when you are not hitting your calorie goal but are feeling satisfied? Another issue is if I eat more to meet my calorie goal I go over on my sodium, or fat, etc. I've only been tracking my food for a couple weeks, does it just take practice?

livingleanlivingclean

If you're logging accurately, below your calorie goal, and losing rather than maintaining, pick more calorie dense foods. Add fats - more is ok, the goal for total fat is a minimum.

TimothyFish

If I'm satisfied then I don't continue to eat. I find that on some days I want to eat less and on some days I want to eat more. As long as they balance out in the long run then it is okay.

AnnPT77

It's useful to look at fat and protein goals as minimums - they're essential nutrients. (Over-goal carbs won't hurt a medically-normal healthy person's weight goal accomplishment, either, but they're not essential.)

Absent unusual medical conditions, only calories matter for weight loss. Stay below/near that, and you're fine.

Fats, protein, micronutrients - getting those in a good spot is important to good health. (Keeping sodium within reason is also a good, conservative goal, but - as long as you have no contraindications such as high blood pressure - a bit more now and then isn't a huge problem.)

I see way too many people around here - sadly, often women - eating unhealthily little protein (substantially below even USDA/WHO minimums), nearly no fats (which is also not a good plan). Balance!

If you haven't hit your MFP default protein goal, but have calories left, consider eating more protein.

IF you start feeling fatigued or weak (as a pattern) for no good reason, make more of an effort to come closer to your calorie goal, too.

Francl27

TimothyFish wrote: »

If I'm satisfied then I don't continue to eat. I find that on some days I want to eat less and on some days I want to eat more. As long as they balance out in the long run then it is okay.

Same here. It's only really a problem if it happens every day and you keep losing weight.

Also, a piece of chocolate or a scoop of ice cream once in a while is nice

kgirlhart

If you are always under your maintenance goal and you are continuing to lose weight and do not want to lose more then you really need to make sure you do hit your goal most days. An occasional day under is not a problem and usually balances out the occasional day over. I would try to add in some calorie dense foods. Chocolate or ice cream would be my first choice. But nuts or avocados are good too. If you are coming in under your goal and you are not losing weight then you are eating at maintenance and you might want to lower your goal to whatever you have been eating on average.

BeeerRunner

I wish I had this problem!! I'm hungry almost all the time! Lol

Anyway, I would say that as long as you are not dropping below you're recommended weight, you're fine.