Not hitting my calorie intake mark...by a lot. Help??

MissKtana

So, I've been working on losing weight and toning myself back to a point where I'm happy. I'm being fairly negligent about weighing myself as I feel I will know when I'm happy with my own form again. This being said, I'm not hitting my calorie target of 1690...Some days I'm not even hitting 1200. Yeah, I know. Bad. But I work out, I go for 3km walks at the slightest and I can't seem to get/keep an appetite. I snack on fruit, veggies (hummuuuuussss), protein shakes when I am hungry and am basically keeping a really healthy diet...except for the fact I'm not eating enough. I don't find myself overly lethargic throughout the day -or the next-, but I know eating 700-1000 calories in a day is kinda bad af. Especially in the long run.

Any hints, tips, help on what I should do?

musicfan68

How are you calculating the number of calories? Cups, spoons, or food scale? My guess is that you maybe aren't accurately counting calories and eating more than you think, because if you are eating at that much of a deficit, you would be really hungry.

try2again

Your situation is very common in these forums. Along with what @musicfan68 pointed out, many new ones completely overhaul their diet overnight and find it hard to get enough calories when they are eating so many bulky, low calorie foods. The answer to that is simple... don't do that. Once you've met your nutritional needs for the day, there's no extra credit for having more broccoli. Strive for a balanced diet that incorporates the foods you enjoy in the proper portions (i.e., how you should plan on eating for the rest of your life). And definitely do give attention to accurate logging practices. This might help: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10640205/the-basics-of-accurate-logging#latest

TavistockToad

Peanut butter

MissKtana

I've been weighing my food by grams. On things that only have cups or ounces as a measurement, I calculate how many grams to the cup/ounce and use that. I'm on 12 days so far and this isn't my first weight loss rodeo. (I gained a lot of weight when I moved from Canada to Europe because they have really amazing cheese and I kinda lost control for a while xD There were soooo many new ones that were really goood!).
I'll check out that link, but I'm pretty sure I'm weighing and calculating correctly.

RadishEater

MissKtana wrote: »

I've been weighing my food by grams. On things that only have cups or ounces as a measurement, I calculate how many grams to the cup/ounce and use that. I'm on 12 days so far and this isn't my first weight loss rodeo. (I gained a lot of weight when I moved from Canada to Europe because they have really amazing cheese and I kinda lost control for a while xD There were soooo many new ones that were really goood!).
I'll check out that link, but I'm pretty sure I'm weighing and calculating correctly.

I understand that I lived in Switzerland for a summer and Gruyere cheese is so cheap there!!!! and amazing. Also the chocolate was amazing and cheap tasty wine. And the vending machine had Kinder chocolate and mini linzer tortes.....I ate a lot of food that summer, but I did a lot of hiking just not enough to balance the food.

kami3006

Opening your diary for a bit will help with suggestions.

kshama2001

MissKtana wrote: »

So, I've been working on losing weight and toning myself back to a point where I'm happy. I'm being fairly negligent about weighing myself as I feel I will know when I'm happy with my own form again. This being said, I'm not hitting my calorie target of 1690...Some days I'm not even hitting 1200. Yeah, I know. Bad. But I work out, I go for 3km walks at the slightest and I can't seem to get/keep an appetite. I snack on fruit, veggies (hummuuuuussss), protein shakes when I am hungry and am basically keeping a really healthy diet...except for the fact I'm not eating enough. I don't find myself overly lethargic throughout the day -or the next-, but I know eating 700-1000 calories in a day is kinda bad af. Especially in the long run.

Any hints, tips, help on what I should do?

How long have you been at it? If it's been at least a month and preferably two, but you're not losing weight as expected, you're eating more that you think and need to tighten up your logging. (Don't take this personally - logging errors are very common.)

If you are losing as expected over time, use calorie dense foods such as cheese, peanut butter, nuts, ice cream, etc., to hit your calorie goal.

MissKtana

I haven't been gaining weight that I know of (as I said, I haven't been weighing myself. Mainly because I dont have a scale) but my muscles are toning back up nicely. Even when I look at my food entries it looks, for the most part, highly nutritious but very low on calories. In the 12 days I've been doing this steadily, I've noticed a drastic improvement health wise, but I'm simply not certain about weight. The last time I wweighed myself was well over 3 weeks ago and my friend insisted her scale is off by 10lbs. I know how I look and how I feel and I'm more concerned with that than with my how many lbs/kgs I'm at. Which may be throwing a lot of things off.

try2again

MissKtana wrote: »

I haven't been gaining weight that I know of (as I said, I haven't been weighing myself. Mainly because I dont have a scale) but my muscles are toning back up nicely. Even when I look at my food entries it looks, for the most part, highly nutritious but very low on calories. In the 12 days I've been doing this steadily, I've noticed a drastic improvement health wise, but I'm simply not certain about weight. The last time I wweighed myself was well over 3 weeks ago and my friend insisted her scale is off by 10lbs. I know how I look and how I feel and I'm more concerned with that than with my how many lbs/kgs I'm at. Which may be throwing a lot of things off.

How you feel is not a reliable indicator of whether you are under-eating. Many feel fine- and in fact, are on a bit of a "dieters high" due to the quick results- until they don't feel fine, and by then the damage is done and can take weeks to recover from. Impossible to say where you are at with no scale data, but if you are confident you are logging accurately, make sure you at least get the 1200 and eat back some of your calories from intentional exercise. We all know how to get extra calories in or we wouldn't be here