Question about calories

tcbousman

Hi! I started MFP this past week. I'm not sure I understand one thing about the calories intake. My goal for calories each day is 1550. Some days I have trouble eating this much. I think I have gotten into a bad habit of not eating enough before starting this program. I'm reading that it's not good to eat too little and this will not help me in my weight loss goals. For instance, as it stands today....
I've eaten a total of 595 calories, I exercised and burned 278 calories, and my app says that I have 1233 remaining calories. It is 8:04 pm and I will be eating my last meal in a few minutes. My question is.... Do I need to eat the remaining 1233 calories that the app says I have remaining? Is it ok to stick with my goal calories (1550) each day regardless of exercise calories I work off?
Thanks,
TB

Branstin

You are definitely not eating enough. If you do not eat enough then your body will not get the needed amount of nutrients. You will lose weight but will not be healthy and your workouts will suffer. Do an online search for calorie and nutrient dense foods and work those you like into your meal plans. Balance your calories by the day or week but get in enough to meet your macros (carbs, fat, and protein).

0somuchbetter0

There no way you ate 600 cals and had the energy to burn almost 300 with exercise. Your measurements are way off. How much weight do you want to lose? Are you weighing and measuring your food? How are you estimating your burn? How did you come up with the 1550?

timbigger

Why don't you let me have those spare 1200 calories as I have used all mine up for the day!

segovm

I'm old school so I eat when I'm hungry and just ignore the exercise calories.

Most days that leaves me in a 1000-2000 calorie deficit and so far that seems to be fine. Normally I end up eating somewhere between 1700-1900 a day and haven't felt hungry enough to eat back a few thousand exercise calories yet.

The key is to just find what works for you. I think the idea of telling someone who wants to lose weight to eat when they aren't hungry is a bit odd but lots of people pop that out as an answer so who knows, maybe this eating when hungry thing is just a crazy thing I do that works for me so far.

I wouldn't stress over any single day though, your body will sort itself out as you adjust your diet and exercise.

tcbousman

Sabrina, I don't know how the 1550 was figured exactly but that is the amount of calories the app gave me when I entered my information. I am trying to lose 50 pounds. I am measuring all my food and entering everything on the app. My burn numbers came from the treadmill. I have now eaten my evening meal and included fresh pineapple and cottage cheese to increase my calorie intake. Here are my numbers now:
Goal: 1550
Food: 1124
Exercise: 278
Net: 846
Remaining: 704

jnewberry81

You can easily get through your day on 1200 food calories if you're eating large volumes of vegetables. Just make sure you're full, but not full of high density calories. When you're hungry is when things get off track.

Keep it up!

AngeliqueAcee

Try and eat foods that contain alot of calories for a small amount of food.

When I know I have 500 odd cals to spare for the day I have an ice cream! Or a few chunks of chocolate. Peanut butter seems to be something people recommend. Just make sure you weigh these out real good though.. It can quickly end up being hundred and hundreds of calories more than you actually want to eat!

Also, you could try and open up your diary so that people can give better advise on your intake and exercise cals

melaniecheeks

Agree, open your diary, you'll get lots more relevant suggestions!

As your food intake is pretty close to 1200, it wouldnt take too much to take it over that threshold - a spoonful of peanut butter or some ice cream, a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese ought to do it.

Eating back exercise calories is a hotly debated topic on here!

SezxyStef

Sabrina, I don't know how the 1550 was figured exactly but that is the amount of calories the app gave me when I entered my information. I am trying to lose 50 pounds. I am measuring all my food and entering everything on the app. My burn numbers came from the treadmill. I have now eaten my evening meal and included fresh pineapple and cottage cheese to increase my calorie intake. Here are my numbers now:
Goal: 1550
Food: 1124
Exercise: 278
Net: 846
Remaining: 704

Your numbers are fine. Except for the fact you are eating too little.

Measuring is one thing but using a kitchen scale is better.

The treadmill numbers are probably high as they are known to be 25% higher than they should be.

As for food it's easy really...I am going to say this...you aren't here because you have trouble eating...or you wouldn't have 50lbs to lose.

Eating calorie dense food helps such as adding olive oil when cooking, avocadoes to sandwiches, full fat dairy, nuts, butters heck ice cream and chocolate are good too.

The aim here is to eat as much food as you can and still lose weight not eat so little.

As well MFP is setup so that you eat your exercise calories back, that is not in dispute. It uses NEAT method (Non exercise activity Thermogenics) which means you are given a deficit in your calories to lose the weight you want therefore eating back exercise calories is important. This ensures you are fueling your next workout...

Eating when hungry is not the best plan...your body will alter hunger cues if you don't eat enough. This prevents pain etc during lean times.

If MFP has it set for you to lose weight eating 1550 then eat as close to 1550 as you can.

47Jacqueline

I've had a problem meeting my calories goals in the past and even these days sometimes. It's important to get up to the goal set for you or that your doctor or nutritionist suggests. It's also about starting a new lifestyle so give it time. I started by adding 100 calories to my average for the day every day until I hit my goal. Now my goal is to always get to my number for the day. I went to a dietician for a while who was very helpful in helping me. I also try to hit my protein goal each day (not always successful) because I exercise a lot.

MscGray

I can understand that you have gotten used to not eating. You really need to get that under control and start eating closer to your calorie goal, or you will see your exercise suffer. As someone stated, eating back exercise calories is highly debated around here...and I personally fluctate on it myself. There are days that I'm starving and need the food, and other days where a glass of water is all thats required. I'm hoping that you are struggling to hit calorie goals because you are eating healthy things, and not severely limiting quantities of poorer choices. I also recently realized that I have an easier time with looking at my whole week (overages and unders) and making sure that monday's overage is balanced out by tuesday's under, etc.) At any rate....bottom line, eat as close to your caloric goal as possible (and maybe eat jst 50% of exercise back) even if you have to build to it by adding 100 cals week by week until you've reached it.

0somuchbetter0

Sabrina, I don't know how the 1550 was figured exactly but that is the amount of calories the app gave me when I entered my information. I am trying to lose 50 pounds. I am measuring all my food and entering everything on the app. My burn numbers came from the treadmill. I have now eaten my evening meal and included fresh pineapple and cottage cheese to increase my calorie intake. Here are my numbers now:
Goal: 1550
Food: 1124
Exercise: 278
Net: 846
Remaining: 704

You've gotten some great advice already. I just wanted to add that it's hard to for people to give input when your diary is closed. I just have a hard time imagining that people have trouble meeting their calorie goals when I'm so hungry at mine and absolutely have to exercise just to earn a few extra. You might want to get a heart rate monitor for a more accurate estimate of your calorie burn. The machines are usually way off.

lemurcat12

You can easily get through your day on 1200 food calories if you're eating large volumes of vegetables. Just make sure you're full, but not full of high density calories. When you're hungry is when things get off track.

You can, but if her goal is 1550 and she's exercising, why should she? It's not really sustainable, at least if she wants to continue building up her exercise or activity level or make cardio or strength improvements.

lemurcat12

OP, at 1550 I wouldn't worry too much about exercise calories, although I'd certainly feel free to eat a portion of them if I were hungry. I eat some portion of my exercise calories almost always (how much depends on the exercise and how I feel), but that's because my MFP goal is 1250 and the exercise calories let me eat more like 1500.

When I first started I was eating too little, and I know it's easy to do so when you are trying to be strict about your food choices. Probably you are being more strict than you have to be and something that is really easy at first can cause you to burn out or make it hard to make improvements with activity goals and so on.

Anyway, what worked for me was not waiting 'til the end of the day to see that I was 300 under my goal, when I had just eaten a large (by volume) dinner and was not hungry. Instead, prelog what you plan to eat and if it's coming in low let yourself eat larger portion sizes of some things or add in something you'd have liked to eat but assumed wouldn't fit with a diet or the like.

kvansanity

Make sure everything you're eating is accurate. Get a scale, measure your food, use measuring cups. It's possible that you are thinking you're eating less than you really are. Also, don't go off what the treadmill/elliptical calorie counter says, often times it is very skewed. Take a snapshot with your phone of your stats (miles per hour, time) and use that information to plug in a calculator to figure out your calories burnt. For a while I thought I was burning 350 calories on the treadmill a session, turns out it was closer to 200!

_lyndseybrooke_

There no way you ate 600 cals and had the energy to burn almost 300 with exercise. Your measurements are way off. How much weight do you want to lose? Are you weighing and measuring your food? How are you estimating your burn? How did you come up with the 1550?

Why is there no way she did that? If I were to do 45 minutes of HIIT in the early morning before breakfast, I'd burn 300ish calories without eating anything at all. I've done it before - it's certainly possible. Many people work out on an empty stomach and fare just fine.

TeaBea

You can easily get through your day on 1200 food calories if you're eating large volumes of vegetables. Just make sure you're full, but not full of high density calories. When you're hungry is when things get off track.

Keep it up!

No - low calorie/high volume foods often fill you up with little nutrition to show for it. Water keeps you full too, but it doesn't support lean muscle.

Feeling full is over-rated. It's not a good indicator of proper nutrition. Hormones can affect hunger too.

OP - If you want to lose fat ....and keep lean muscle, then you need to eat enough. The closer you get to goal, the more important this becomes.

Set a moderate weekly goal (below)...and eat 50-75% of your calories back. If you are feeling run-down or sluggish, then you are not eating enough.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

laurenawolf

Sabrina, I don't know how the 1550 was figured exactly but that is the amount of calories the app gave me when I entered my information. I am trying to lose 50 pounds. I am measuring all my food and entering everything on the app. My burn numbers came from the treadmill. I have now eaten my evening meal and included fresh pineapple and cottage cheese to increase my calorie intake. Here are my numbers now:
Goal: 1550
Food: 1124
Exercise: 278
Net: 846
Remaining: 704

Your numbers are fine. Except for the fact you are eating too little.

Measuring is one thing but using a kitchen scale is better.

The treadmill numbers are probably high as they are known to be 25% higher than they should be.

As for food it's easy really...I am going to say this...you aren't here because you have trouble eating...or you wouldn't have 50lbs to lose.

Eating calorie dense food helps such as adding olive oil when cooking, avocadoes to sandwiches, full fat dairy, nuts, butters heck ice cream and chocolate are good too.

The aim here is to eat as much food as you can and still lose weight not eat so little.

As well MFP is setup so that you eat your exercise calories back, that is not in dispute. It uses NEAT method (Non exercise activity Thermogenics) which means you are given a deficit in your calories to lose the weight you want therefore eating back exercise calories is important. This ensures you are fueling your next workout...

Eating when hungry is not the best plan...your body will alter hunger cues if you don't eat enough. This prevents pain etc during lean times.

If MFP has it set for you to lose weight eating 1550 then eat as close to 1550 as you can.

You always nail it perfectly!

OP, if you want to lose weight, listen to this woman!!

RoyalWarrior

I find meeting calorie and macro goals the easiest if I sit down in the morning and put in everything I plan to eat (at least for the meals) and just don't click the finish today button until I'm done for the day. Then I can see what needs to be tweaked. Not enough fat? I have some peanut butter. I am a big fan of tracking my fiber count. It helps me eat more fruits and veggies. But planning at the beginning of the day will make it easier to ensure that you meet your goals, and you can always change what you ate if necessary.

tcbousman

I have temporarily made my diary public. Feel free to scold or tell me where I have done good:) this is all new to me and I appreciate all the input!

Thanks all!