Calorie in take. Please give me some advice

JeannieLikkes

I just calculated how many calories I should be eating for my height, weight and age. It says I should eat about 1400 calories per day. I am currently eating 1200 and I am losing weight (very slowly) and I'm never hungry. Would you suggest I up my calorie intake with 200 calories or just keep at what I'm doing?

laserturkey

Looked at your diary, and it looks like you have been under-eating. Your net calories have been VERY low some days. So yes, increase it and make sure you NET at least 1200 on the days you exercise.

jdaley90

Definitely do not net less than 1200. You need that min to mainly bodily functions. As for upping, I think you should try it. If you can lose weight and eat more why wouldn't you want to do that?! Give it a try for at least 4-8 weeks before you make changes again.

erickirb

With so little to lose slow weight loss should be expected, and the goal. Slower weightloss means a large % of your loss should come from fat and not lean muscle. If following MFP set your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week, and eat back what you burn from exercise.

I am sure the 1400 you calculated probably includes exercise, whereas the 1200 MFP gave you means 1200+ anything you burn from exercise, so for the week the total cals should be quite similar. so depends on what you want to do, eat 1200 on days you don't workout or more on days you do, or 1400 everyday regardless if you workout. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

FYI: EAT MORE PROTEIN, eating so little protein on such a low caloric intake will lead to a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle. to avoid muscle loss, make sure your deficit is small, get enough protein, and take part in a strength training routine.

1princesswarrior

I agree with erickirb, eat more protein. It will also help you feel satisfied longer.

Also, why are you always skipping dinner? You can always add a lean protein like chicken breast and a vegetable for under 300 calories for dinner. As active as you are this will certainly not make you gain any weight. Just my thoughts.

Good luck and remember if it comes off slow, it is more likely to stay off.

JeannieLikkes

I changed the layout of my food diary today it used to be Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack. Now it's B, S, L, S, D. So Because there's 2 snacks a day it looks like I'm not eating dinner... So silly of them to change the past diary layout as well!
But thanks so much for the help :P

JeannieLikkes

Thanks so much for the response everyone! I will be upping my protein in take!