Calorie Intake

rit1982

Is it ok to not eat all your calories in a day? Will I lose weight quicker if I eat what's recommended?

janejellyroll

What you do in any individual day isn't going to make or break you. It's more about what you do over larger periods of time.

You will lose weight quicker if you have a larger deficit. But a deficit that is too large puts you at risk for things like hair loss, muscle loss, fatigue, and excessive hunger. It's not a race.

SuzySunshine99

The larger the deficit, the quicker you will lose weight. You never lose more by eating more.

Whether it's okay or not to eat below your calorie goal depends a little on what your goal number is. If your calorie goal is 1,200 (for a woman) or 1,500 (for a man), then absolutely eat at least to that amount and not less. If your goal is 2,500, then you could probably eat a little less that that and not do much harm. Especially if it's not every day.

If you find you are losing weight very quickly, then adjust your calories and eat more.

anl90

MFP (in my personal experience) lets you know if the amount of calories you eat in a day is too low. So I would say, as long as you are not getting that warning message when you complete your daily diary, you should be fine. Just listen to your body - it is pretty good about yelling at you when something isn't right.

ilauragr

I was about to ask the same question, rit1982!

As I'm doing the intermitent fasting, having about 2, 3 meals per day.. its very diffult to eat all amount recommended.

I guess if we are eating the right things, exercising and not starving ourselfs it's allright

quiksylver296

How many calories are you leaving on the table?

I shoot for +/- 100 calories every day. Anything within that range, I don't sweat it.

shadow2soul

Depends on the day. I can be anywhere from 400 under to 400 over when looking at individual days. I balance by the week though and try to keep my weekly balance in the range of 50 under to 250 over (so deficit or maintenance).

showjack70

Eating to a certain number day in, day out is really not optimal. Some days you will be more hungry, less hungry, more active, less active. Your body and hunger is not a programmatic calculation.

Yes, if you consistently eat less than your target calories, you will probably lose weight more quickly in the short term. However, that is probably not an approach that will serve you well in the long term (generally speaking).

kimny72

ilauragr wrote: »

I was about to ask the same question, rit1982!

As I'm doing the intermitent fasting, having about 2, 3 meals per day.. its very diffult to eat all amount recommended.

I guess if we are eating the right things, exercising and not starving ourselfs it's allright

Not necessarily. Calories have value in and of themselves, separate from the nutrition in food. Calories are fuel, and your body needs a certain amount of fuel to do the myriad things it does every day - beat your heart, breathe, repair cells, grow hair, etc etc. Your body can only burn a finite amount of fat at a time, so if you short your body more fuel than it can burn fat to replace, it will go after muscle. Losing weight fast due to under-eating can be dangerous, and piling the stress of exercise on top of that is worse.

Having said that, many people who think they are under-eating are actually logging inaccurately. You can focus on accurate logging by double checking the entries you are using in the database are correct and using a food scale for all solids. Or you need to watch your rate of loss over time to make sure you aren't losing weight too quickly.

mahilaw97

Sometimes I am so busy some days I don’t have time to eat 3 normal and days like the weekend when I have more time on my hands I eat a little more. I think as long as you don’t go to one extreme or another you are okay.

Seffell

rit1982 wrote: »

Is it ok to not eat all your calories in a day? Will I lose weight quicker if I eat what's recommended?

It is OK if you do it occasionally. No, you will not lose quicker if you are eating more. Why would you ever think such a thing?