I ate 1000 calories by noon.....

1aurelle

I've been grazing throughout the day and it's horrible. This morning I had ~450 calories (!!!), and then for lunch I probably had 600 cals. My limit is 1200 cals... what should I do for the rest of the day?! This has been happening so often recently, I am getting really disappointed at myself.

ali1257

I am sorry you are finding yourself eating all your calories so early in the day. Can you preplan your "grazing" into like 150-200 calories and do it every couple of hours? also are you eating instead of drinking water. I know for me, if I start my day with a bottle of water and then have breakfast, if just a yogurt, then another bottle of water and then something then another bottle of water I don't eat as much and I don't graze. Good luck!!! And let me know if I can help in any way. Ali

mandiewalters

I definitely sympathize with you! For me, it helps to plan out my meals everyday in a food journal and then log them on My Fitness Pal after I eat them. By doing this, it shows me how many calories I am eating, and it helps me to stay on track. I pack my food in a lunch bag for work. I have had the problem of feeling hungry a lot, so I have to be very conscious of when and what I'm eating. Maybe you could have a set place where you keep your food for the day and just be sure to log it all as you eat it.

JingleMuffin

my b fast and lunch combo during the workday is nearly 1000 cals everyday.

if you are on that tight of a regiment I would imagine grazing isn't the best idea for you.

NH_Norma

For starters, you can accept that you'll probably be over today. You can get active so you have a few hundred more to use today. But reflect WHY are you grazing and eating more than you usually do; are you hungry, emotional, tired, bored? Or are you really more hungry? If you're truly hungry, maybe you should increase your calories for a few days, or look at exactly what you have been eating. Are you missing something? Need more protein? More fiber? A bit of fat?

You'll figure out what is going on and adjust. Keep coming back here, look at other people's food diaries to see what their days look like.

briandahawaiian

I am sorry you are finding yourself eating all your calories so early in the day. Can you preplan your "grazing" into like 150-200 calories and do it every couple of hours?

^^^This!!!!

Jagreene62

Are you doing any exercise? Those calories will be burnt in no time.

oiseau17

How much weight are you trying to lose? If you have MFP set to lose 2 lbs/week, I would consider switching to a smaller goal (0.5-1 lb/week). This will allow you more calories since 1200 is tough going for a lot of people (me included).

Kiyalynn

How long have you been restricting your calories to 1200? Part of it may be that you are just trying to drop too many calories a day too fast. Perhaps trying for a goal of 1600 a day would allow you to loose weight, while not feeling like you have to eat all the time.

Water is also a good suggestion, you won't feel as hungry when you are drinking water.
There are a few 'no calorie' snacks, you can use if you just need to munch. I use to eat pickles, they are high in salt, but if you don't care about that just plain pickles the serving says they have 0 calories each. You can eat a dozen of them for 0-5 calories depending on how you want to list them. I never bothered putting them down. Also, Celery.

If you are sure 1200 is the right calorie limit for you, and want to keep that. Than go for a walk, and eat back all the calories you spent walking. Your goal should be a NET of 1200 calories not 1200 calories total. Meaning 1200 + Exercise calories = Total calories you can eat. When I first started dieting, I put down every bit of exercise, even just going up and down the stairs in my house to get to the restroom. And then I would eat those calories back... After a while, I didn't feel so hungry, so I cut the 'extra' exercise I was adding on.

xoeva

I've been grazing throughout the day and it's horrible. This morning I had ~450 calories (!!!), and then for lunch I probably had 600 cals. My limit is 1200 cals... what should I do for the rest of the day?! This has been happening so often recently, I am getting really disappointed at myself.

What has helped me is to log the calories and food *before* you eat them....so then you can do the math and make your choices... I rarely eat anything before seeing how many calories it is... and sometimes I have half portions...or less... log before...also on another thread I read this woman had the same breakfast and lunch everyday so she would know how many calories she'd have by noon... I have about 5-6 different breakfasts, lunches... if you like grazing, figure out what a 'meal' is (in actual food and calories) and then spread it out...

SLLRunner

This morning, breakfast was 559 calories. Lunch was 479. My afternoon snacks came to 276 calories.

And, this is just a start.

Why are you eating only 1,200 calories, especially since you are so young? It sounds like you need to eat more.

Are you active? Do you exercise? If so, you need to log those calories in and eat most of them back.

I would suggest planning your meals, logging them in early in the day, and sticking to your plan.

On the weekdays, I plan all my meals out, take my own food to work, and make sure I don't graze on all the goodies in the office. If I do, the consequences are that I have a hard time stopping and I will gain weight. The weekends are a bit different since I'm not in a situation where there are opportunities to stress eat.

Finally, make sure your goals to lose weight are reasonable. If you have loads to lose (30-40 or more perhaps) then your goal can be to lose 2 pounds a week. However, if you have less fifteen, ten, or less pounds to lose, you might want to set your goals to lose at 1 pounds per week. For example, I have only 9.5 pounds left to lose and I have my goals set to lose .5 pounds per week The reason I'm doing this is so it comes off slowly and moving into maintenance will be easier once I've lost all my weight.

I suggest you reassess your goals and start eating more.

1aurelle

Thanks everyone! I'm trying to just swallow my guilt and start over tomorrow. I'll try to log the calories before I eat my food.

Also, I've been doing 1200 cals for a while, but I am actually maintaining, not losing.... But that's probably also because I almost always go over by at 100-200 Today was a messy day because I probably had another 500 cals at dinner. Trying to just forget it!

JesterMFP

1. stop feeling guilty
2. plan better
3. reassess your goals. At 18, 1200 calories a day is unlikely to be an appropriate goal for you. How much are you even trying to lose? Your ticker says 1kg. If you're a healthy weight, then it's even less likely that 1200 calories a day is enough.

candiceh3

Some days when I know I am going to have a big lunch, I plan to have just a protein shake for dinner, or something small like two boiled eggs.

emelia_

Set your calories to maintain and just eat under that and you will still lose weight! You can always plan on hitting 1200 but if you do go over you can at least see that you have quite a bit of wiggle room

SLLRunner

Thanks everyone! I'm trying to just swallow my guilt and start over tomorrow. I'll try to log the calories before I eat my food.

Also, I've been doing 1200 cals for a while, but I am actually maintaining, not losing.... But that's probably also because I almost always go over by at 100-200 Today was a messy day because I probably had another 500 cals at dinner. Trying to just forget it!

If you are maintaining then you are eating at maintenance level, which is undoubtedly a whole lot more than 1,200 calories a day.

You say your "probably" had another 500 calories for dinner, which tells me that you are not conscious of the calories you are ingesting. You need to accurately log all food and exercise in order to get a clear picture of why you are not losing weight. The quick answer is that you are eating more than you think you are. The not so quick answer is to figure it all out and see where you need more portion control or control over snacking in order to work toward your weight loss goals.