eating too few calories

gooberr4

Hi,

I just joined myfitnespal on Monday and I'm having a hard time eating all of my calories even when I don't exercise during the day. I'm allotted 1290 calories a day and I wind up having 300-800 calories left. How many calories do you guys have left at the end of the day? Is it horrible if I don't eat all of my calories? Any tips or ideas on what I should eat to help meet my calories?

Thanks,
-C

Rocketscience45

As long as you're getting enough protein, minerals, vitamins and such I think you're okay. As long as you aren't intentionally starving yourself you should be good to go. But I'm not any sort of nutritionist, just a biology student, so your mileage may vary.

sabrinafaith

I used to eat too little. But after about 6 weeks I wasn't loosing weight anymore. So now I eat over 1000 net cals a day and I've been loosing at least a lb a week, which is much better than no lb a week. lol. Add a slice of light toast and a tbsp of no salt natural peanut butter if you have more than 150 cals remaing. Its a very yummy snack. The other option is to eat a banana or pear as a snack. If you are eating a well balanced diet it shouldn't be difficult to get to 1100 cals a day.

jamie78

I usually have a little left over maybe a 100 or so.. It really hurts your weight loss not to eat most of your calories. Because instead of losing fat you start losing your lean muscle. (unless you are very over weight). The smaller you are the more important it is for you to eat your calories. Try eating smaller portions several times a day. That might help. I usually eat all my meals plus snacks in the morning and afternoon. I try to eat fresh food and not processed or fast food. I hope that helps.

lculian

I started out with 1200 a day, and faithfully ate within 50 to 100 calories, over or under each day. After 3 months, I stopped losing weight. I ended up needing to increase my calories. As your body becomes more efficient it starts to burn more calories, if you are not putting enough in your system, it will start storing, not what I wanted.

Coming in 300 -800 calories below your goal would make it really hard to get all of the protein, nutrients and vitamins you need. If you're having a hard time adding calories try adding some healthy foods that are calorie dense. Avocados, olive oil, sunflowerseeds, nuts, Greek yogurt, and eggs are all good choices. I also noticed over the last year, (that's how long I've been doing this) that if I don't get enough protein, my muscles are weaker and I'm sore after exercising. My dr. suggested not going below 1200 calories a day and eatting at least half of the calories I earn through exercise. She also suggested 100 g of protein on days I work out. That worked well for me and any time I've hit a plateau I've just needed to change my exercise and reevaluate the number of calories I get. Currently I get 1550-1650 before my exercise calories and I get to eat all the calories I earn through exercise becasue I'm in maintenance:bigsmile:

Everybody is different, but that is what has worked for me. Good luck
:flowerforyou:

gooberr4

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'll work on it.