College student seeking a summer bod.

vywzbvn572

Hi.
My name is Danielle. I’m 20 years old, lightly active (i’m a student, so i don’t have a lot of free time to work out,) i’m eating pretty clean everyday. I haven’t weighed myself in a couple months, but the last time i did i was ~170 (i have been eating around 1400 calories per day since around November of 2023, so my weight could be different.) Here is approximately what i eat in a day:

Breakfast: ~350 cal
Egg white omelette with spinach, jalapeños, onions, and sometimes red peppers (when my dining hall has it) and a cup of coffee. I’ve cut back on creamers and usually stick to maybe a splash of oat or rice milk, and a teaspoon of honey or sugar (usually honey)

Lunch: ~350
Small grilled chicken breast over white rice (they don’t have brown rice in my dining hall, but on the rare occasion they do, i’ll reach for it) and some sort of vegetable. I do drink diet coke, which i know i shouldn’t do, but i think i shouldn’t be too harsh on myself. If i am not close to a dining hall, ill have a protein shake

Dinner: ~350
My dinner is a mixed bag, but i’ll usually reach for another grilled chicken breast and some sort of vegetable and a side, whether that be like a side salad or sometimes, when my breakfast and lunch are light, i’ll treat myself to a hot dog or french fries along with the previously mentioned meat and veg.

Snacks: ~350
This is what fuels me between meals. It’s usually a cliff bar or protein bar of some kind, sometimes it’s a protein shake, depending on how close i am to a market. However, sometimes i get a cookie or a small sweet treat after lighter meals, and this instead is what i’ll have for my snack. (i know. it’s bad.)

Should i be eating to reach this 1400 calorie goal on MyFitnessPal, or should i be eating under whatever my exercise was for the day? (i take about 10,000 steps per day, which works out to about 200 calories burned)

and, do you have any tips for volume eaters? it’s very difficult for me to focus in class when i’m hungry, and i don’t want to sacrifice my college career for a summer bod. Please give me some tips !

AnnPT77

You should be eating to 1400, plus any exercise calories from exercise you didn't include in your MFP activity level setting.

Daily exercise, for typical people, is only a small part of daily calorie burn. For most of us, basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the biggest calorie burn. That's the calories we burn just being alive, heart beating, brain clicking along, etc. . . . without even moving.

Next biggest, for most people is daily life movement calories, the amount we burn via our job, home chores, walking around doing daily activities, etc. (That's non-exercise activity thermogenesis, NEAT.)

Calories from intentional exercise is in third place for typical people, usually only a few hundred calories. (Some sources call that EAT, exercise activity thermogenesis.)

There's a 4th category, pretty small, that represent the calories we burn digesting/metabolizing our food. (That's called thermic effect of food, TEF.)

All of that adds up to something called Total Daily nergy Expenditure, TDEE.

TDEE = BMR + NEAT + EAT + TEF

Eat a reasonable amount less than our TDEE, we'll burn body fat to make up the difference.

When you set up MFP, MFP did the arithmetic behind the scenes to estimate your TDEE (not including any exercise you didn't include in your activity level. If you told MFP you wanted to lose X pounds or kilograms per week, it subtracted a number from your estimated TDEE to trigger that loss rate.

If MFP told you to eat 1400, try to eat very close to that for 4-6 weeks (plus any exercise calories not included in activity level. If you're a female who has menstrual cycles, go for at least one full cycle to compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different monthly cycles.

Look at your average weight change over that whole period, and compare it to your target loss rate. Based on that, you can adjust your calorie goal if needed to dial in a personalized calorie goal, based on your own data (more accurate than any calculator like MFP). Use the assumption that 500 calories per day is about a pound a week (1100 calories per day is about a kilogram). Use arithmetic for fractional pounds/kilograms.

Best wishes!

ddsb1111

Hi Danielle,

I’m glad you found MFP, it’s a great resource for tracking your food, reaching your weight goal, and learning about everything from nutrition to exercise. There’s so much support.

There’s a few things you’ve mentioned that remind me of myself when I was 20, so I’m happy you brought it up so we can squash it right away 😊

Food is food. There is no bad and good food. Try not to think of food in black and white terms, such as clean or dirty. This creates negative connotations to food which comes with guilt, punishment, and a sense of failure. This often leads to disordered eating and patterns. Instead, try to think of food in terms of energy balance. We all want to eat as much food as we can, that satiates us, makes us feel energized, and still tastes good. That’s the goal. This includes cookies, ice cream, and yes, pizza! None of them are “bad”.

That aside, I think your meals look good, as long as they are filling, and you’re enjoying them. Don’t be afraid to mix things up if you get bored. You don’t have to eat chicken and rice like gym bros will have you believe. You can eat whatever you want as long as it fits in your calorie goal.

So, did you set up your goal in your profile? Make sure you’re not choosing an aggressive deficit, shoot for 1lb a week and see how you feel. Once you have that, track your food in the MFP app. If you can’t weigh your food try to use cups and spoons to eyeball it the best you can. This is where calories add up quickly. It’s shocking how many calories are added by over portioning, even when we’re certain it looks like 1 cup or 2T. When you have a food scale, all of these errors come to light.

If you have access to a body scale you can weigh daily or weekly to see if your calories are on track. If you’re losing the 1 lb a week then you’re dialed in. If not, you can adjust as needed. Important to note, because hormones changing every 2 weeks for most women, it’s best to track for 4-6 weeks so you can see your weight trend. Hormones can cause us to carry more water or lose water, disrupting our weigh-ins by quite a bit. Food in your system will affect the scale as well, so try to weigh in first thing in the morning if possible, or at a consistent time. Using a weight trend app like Happy Scale will make things more clear for you over time.

Use the numbers you see on the scale as data. And always consider what time of the month it is, what type of food you ate the day before, and what the weight trend is saying. Weight loss is just science and you get to be your own personal experiment. Try to make it fun and exciting. The reward for good health is not just looking good but feeling your best now and in the future.

PAV8888

10,000 steps when not accounted for as exercise typically place you smack dab in the middle of the pack for ACTIVE based on the MFP settings. Whether you truly eat 1400 or not, I suspect that your "base" calories are set quite low and your extra calories are much more than you may at times think. That said diet coke or coke zero has no calories and is NOT, objectively, BAD for you, nor does it reduce your ability to get in "good nutrients". I would worry less about removing "bad" things and worry more about adding in "good" things. Fruit and veggies DO have calories. Especially veggies cooked by others and dunked in butter or other nice sauces or dressing or what have you.

That said I am a bit unclear as to your question? What is your question? No, don't starve. It will tend to kick in extra compensatory eating. A steady relatively easy to achieve deficit is more easy to adhere to. And long term adherence is your friend.

You shouldn't be concentrating on a "summer bod". If you've got an overweight problem in your early 20's--as I ought to know darn well from my own weight problems in my early 20's--thinking along the lines of "how do I lose weight for the summer" because tomorrow will take care of itself is how I got to become and remain obese till I was 50 because tomorrow didn't take care of itself and losing weight fast was a trap!

My biggest tip to you based on what you wrote is: it is the calories. Stop worrying about good or bad foods. Define them as good or bad at the moment depending on whether they are helping you or taking you away from your goals. And your goals can include eating for taste/pleasure--ON OCCASION; just not all of the time. Yes, eating whole foods is generally more satiating. You probably knew that already

Again, maybe I should re-read. But I am not sure as to the question. If it is volume eating in a campus environment I admit to being a bit... rusty.

I tend to satisfy volume by nuking BAGS of veggies, or eating sugar free pudding made with 2% milk (and I'm talking the whole box)... which may be difficult to implement based on your general description.

One thing to consider may be bags of carrots or other pre-cut veggies or fruits though I would avoid buying the ones that come packaged with dips. Soups may be another thing that you could explore.