Too many calories allowed?

TooTiredToKnit

I began this program yesterday and both yesterday and today, I got to the end of the day with 200+ calories remaining. I really didn't eat any less than what I usually eat, I just tried to keep my sugar intake in check. I feel like I'm now trying to eat more calories than before starting the program. How am I going to lose weight eating more calories?

yirara

First question: Are you using a foodscale to weight everything you eat? I assume you want to lose weight? So if you're saying you're not eating less than what you normally eat you won't be losing weight. Or otherwise, if you ate small amounts then there's no way to be overweight. So please can you share some more info: your current stats, the calories you got and your chosen weightloss goal.

Lietchi

You say you didn't eat less than you usually eat: were you counting calories before too? Or are you talking about food quantity (volume/weight of consumes food)?

A similar quantity of food can have a vastly different calorie count depending on the types of foods you eat. Since you are working on your sugar intake, you may have made changes in the types of food you consume. Eating more vegetables, for example: you can have more food volume, but fewer calories.

cmriverside

Just try to log food as accurately as you can. Maybe you're eating less, maybe it's about the same. Doesn't matter, what matters is will your weight change on THIS amount of food

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

herringboxes

Did you log exercise? Often trackers overestimate the calories burned. A lot of people end up eating back some (like half) of their exercise calories.

Also, what activity level did you select? You might need to select a lower activity level. This level would correspond to your activity outside of, not including, intentional exercise.

ddsb1111

What program are you on exactly, can you explain? Why are you tracking sugar, is there a medical reason?

kshama2001

TooTiredToKnit wrote: »

I began this program yesterday and both yesterday and today, I got to the end of the day with 200+ calories remaining. I really didn't eat any less than what I usually eat, I just tried to keep my sugar intake in check. I feel like I'm now trying to eat more calories than before starting the program. How am I going to lose weight eating more calories?

People tend to be just awful at estimating how much they ate, and you are not likely to be an exception. This is something dietitians and weight loss coaches see over and over again to shocking degrees of significance. In fact, one study showed that people trying to lose weight underestimated their calorie intake by an average of 47%… which is huge.

If you are now accurate, and set an appropriate weekly weight loss goal, you will lose weight.

In case if by "this program" you meant something other than MFP, go here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change-goals-guided or More > Goals in app.

1. Put in your stats.
2. normal daily activities refers to your job.
3. Ignore How many times a week do you plan on exercising? - that does not get included in the equation.
4. Select an appropriate weekly weight loss goal

The resulting calories is your daily calorie budget. It's normal to go a little over or under, but since weight loss is already included in these calories, you don't want to intentionally go hundreds of calories under.