Am I eating enough? D:

ClaraCuppicake

Hi guys!

I was wondering if someone could advise me - I started yesterday on my new plan, based on MFP's recommendations for me. I've done many diets in the past, WW, SW, etc, and decided to devise my own plan this time based partially on the knowledge i gleaned from those. However, I am unsure, after checking on some calorie calculators, that I might be eating enough to keep me out of starvation mode.

I am 299lbs, and 5'6", VERY sedentary lifestyle, and MFP says that to lose 2lbs a week I'd eat 1670 calories a day. (I'd say I was eating over 3000 before, probably). I'm also burning 120-ish a day with doing a moderately paced walk (but haven't eaten those back yesterday or today). Yesterday I finished at 1,483 cals with 299 to spare. I'm eating most of the nutrients I need (the only one I can't seem to eat enough of is sodium...) but is this enough for my body to function on?

I only became concerned because my tummy made a grumbling noise earlier. It seems most displeased! I thought it was probably normal but double checked anyway, and then got worried.

Thank you in advance!

janeite1990

If your tummy is growling and it feels hungry (as opposed to the sounds it makes right after a meal and it is digesting), you should eat more. Since you just have a day and half of a diary, it is hard to say if there is a pattern to what you are doing. Make sure you eat plenty of healthy snacks during the day so you don't get hungry. The 1670 number sounds right to me (not that I'm an expert). I suggest sticking with that for a while and watching your progress for a few weeks. The soup entry doesn't list much sodium, which is probably in accurate, btw.

Good luck, and just stick with it. Don't let yourself get hungry, or you'll not want to keep on track!

ClaraCuppicake

Okay Janeite, thank you so much! I'll double check that soup entry. It's good to know that's probably right. I'll stick at it for a week or two and see what happens. ^_^

nicola1141

Your sodium is probably fine. The recommended number by MFP is a limit, not a goal. Most people (barring kidney disease, or something else) get more than enough sodium in their diet. I also noted that your "salted peanuts" listed at zero sodium, which is impossible if they're actually salted.

ClaraCuppicake

Nicola, that's what I thought about the peanuts, but I tried a few entries and they were all the same, which I thought was completely odd. But indeed, with the soup and the nuts I'm probably getting plenty of sodium overall. Thank you so much!

sjp_511

Your body is used to 3000+ calories/day. Now that you have gone a couple days eating half of that you are going to feel hungry. You have a few options:
1. You can stick with this level of calories and suffer from the hunger. This can be very difficult and lead to binging.
2. You can ease into your reduced calorie consumption. You are used to 3000 cals/day. Spend a week eating 200-300 cals/day less then what you are used to. Each week reduce your daily calorie goal by another 200-300 until you are at the recommended amount.

As for the amount of calories you need, I am not very good about determining this. There are a lot of calculators, including MFP, that will give you an amount to target. This is more or less a guideline. With that guideline it is a bit of trial and error to get you daily net calories to be at a level where you feel fine but you are losing weight at a healthy weight. For me, the MFP guidelines are probably 100-200 calories too few. You are aiming at a 2 pound loss per week, which can be healthy at your weight, but that is a large daily deficit. You might be happier if you scale it back to 1.5 pounds/week.

bekahlou75

Nicola, that's what I thought about the peanuts, but I tried a few entries and they were all the same, which I thought was completely odd. But indeed, with the soup and the nuts I'm probably getting plenty of sodium overall. Thank you so much!

Do you have the MFP app on your phone? You can use it to scan the barcode and get the nutrition values. It might show the sodium more accurately that way.

ClaraCuppicake

@sjp - thank you very much for your advice, that could be a fair idea to try. I'm not terribly hungry, especially when I keep busy, but I just noticed a bit of grumbling earlier when i was chilling and thought, ahhh. xD I think as long as i'm not putting myself in any danger, or indeed hindering my loss by eating too little then I'll be just fine Thank you so much!

@Bekah, I literally downloaded it last night, but didn't realise I could do that- awesome! I shall do that, that'll be much more accurate. Thank you!

sjp_511

As for your sodium intake, I believe that the number MFP gives you is a maximum and you should do your best to not go over. It isn't too big of a deal to go over occasionally (unless you have a medical condition and you doctor has advised you on a specific sodium intake). Taking all the nutrients on MFP can get very overwhelming. Some nutrients you want to meet or exceed the amount MFP gives you (such as protein) whereas others you do not want to go over the amount that MFP gives you. And if you focus on too many nutrients than you will just get overwhlemed and frustrated.

I personally care primarily about calories. I also try to get 100 grams of protein a day. Outside of that, I don't focus on any nutrients. A lot of people on here have an 80/20 rule: make good choices for 80% of your calories: lean proteins, fruits, veggies, whole grains. The other 20% can be for the treats: cookies, chocolate, chips.

If you hang out around the forums enough, you will read a lot of references about macronutrients. Those are fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The other nutrients are micronutrients. People that are focused on body comp tend to focus on their macros as much as, or more than, they focus on their calories.

For weightloss, all that matters is calories.

ClaraCuppicake

Thankyou SJP, that makes more sense than trying to meet the number, haha I am trying to eat in a healthy way as well as watching calories so that I know I am doing my body extra good The 80/20 rule sounds good!

I checked the back of the packet of the salted peanuts, and it says in 25g of them, there is 0.1% sodium, which really baffles me! :O But hey, there we are. xD Magic peanuts

Thanks so much for your advice everybody