Need advice. Not enough calories?

BlondieJenn75

I'm having an issue with not eating enough calories on my active days (I think). I'm not seeing a lot of progress and I know not eating enough can be counterproductive. Any advice from women in their late 40's would be helpful as well. I'm thinking my age might be an issue as well. Thanks!

cmriverside

um.

Eat more?

I mean...we'll need more info.

Why are you not eating enough? Are you full? Are you trying to live off salad and chicken breast? Eat whatever foods you like and set your Goals to reflect your actual goal. Weight loss?

What is your current height, weight, and exercise routine? Are you working? Taking care of kids and a house? What's your normal day, activity wise? How many calories are you eating? Are you using myfitnesspal to establish your calorie needs? Are you eating more on exercise days?

Here is the explanation of myfitnesspal's set up: https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

You'll need to find your own sweet spot. How long have you been logging food?

Just as an aside, age isn't really an issue if you've set up your Goals here using your current age. Calorie needs do decrease as you age, but this site takes that into account with your setup.

SuzySunshine99

Hi, I think we could help better if you gave us more information, such as your stats (height, current weight, goal weight), and how long you have been trying to lose weight.

What is your calorie goal? Have you started a new exercise routine recently?

Usually, when people say they are not seeing progress, they are being impatient, have unrealistic expectations, or are not logging calories accurately.

The answer is not likely to be your age or not eating enough.

Lietchi

We're going to need more info than that 😉

How much are you eating? How active are you in daily life and what exercise are you doing?
How long have you been 'at it'?
And what is 'not a lot of progress'?

Age is unlikely to be the issue, age often goes hand in hand with a lower activity level though and that can be a factor.

claireychn074

jenhummer wrote: »

I'm having an issue with not eating enough calories on my active days (I think). I'm not seeing a lot of progress and I know not eating enough can be counterproductive. Any advice from women in their late 40's would be helpful as well. I'm thinking my age might be an issue as well. Thanks!

Well I am in my late 40s, I eat quite a lot and work out quite a lot… not sure what your aims are? I have definitely noticed that I need to factor in more recovery time, I need to eat well to fuel my exercise, and the hot flushes mean I need to wear layers to cope. Beside that, there’s not a lot of change really. I can’t bounce back from exercise like I did in my teens, and I don’t feel great on a poor diet, but I still put on or lose weight the same 🤷‍♂️ As others have said, give us your stats and aims and we can tell you about our experiences 👍

neanderthin

If your in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. Hopefully your giving yourself enough time between weighing yourself because daily fluctuation in weight can be quite a bit and exercise will effect that. If you heard that not eating enough causes the body to stop losing weight, yeah, no, that is not the case.

AnnPT77

What is your body weight doing, eating as you have been, over the course of at least 4-6 weeks? (Compare weight at the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles). That's the key question.

How is your energy level? If that tanks before you get to the 4-6 week mark, eat more. Otherwise, stick it out and see what your results are.

I hope that a part of this picture isn't the cultural myth that it's somehow delicate and feminine to undereat, that every women needs to eat under 1200 calories to lose, that fast loss is somehow "being good" or any variation on those themes?

Losing weight too fast is a bad plan. Sub-par nutrition (caused by too-low calories or otherwise) is a bad plan. Doing a bunch of exercise without fueling it is a bad plan.

Your body weight results, backed up by your energy level, tell you whether you're undereating. Don't try to lose more than 0.5% to 1% of your current body weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that unless you're so obese that your weight itself creates health risks.

I'm not 40, I'm 67. I can't make myself think of you as old. I will say that as I age, my body is less resilient to cumulative stress - psychological and physical stress both, combined. I can't get away at low consequences with stupid overdoing that I would've bounced back from at age 20. I can't say that that was a really big deal at 40-something for me, though one's general state of health and fitness would make a difference to relative resilience at any age.