Not eating enough calories?!?!

chelsky90

Hi its a week today that i started on here. im having trouble eating enough calories, my goal is 1200 and i still have like 600 left by the end of the day. ive lost 6lb this first week, so obviously it worked. im now worried that if i eat more calories i will just put more weight on. can anyone help??? would be really grateful for replies. thank you , chelsea x

bizco

The weight comes off fast in the beginning. But if you continue to eat only 600 net calories per day you will eventually hit the wall and the weight loss will stop. Read the "guide to calorie deficits" link in my signature.

HMonsterX

I wasnt eating enough calories lately. I was on 1200, and my weight loss stopped for 12 days. I upped it to 1800, and lost 2 lbs in 2 days. Strange as it may sound, eat more to lose weight, it definitely applied to me, and it may well for you too.

Windi43

I just actually had a visit with my doctor this last week and he said 1200 should be the limit, under that and you start starving your body and wasting muscle. Plan ahead, pack your next day's meal the night before. EAT breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. You can get those 1200 in. and remember to drink your water!!!

Good luck! oh..and remember..your body needs FUEL to burn!

FK1983

Welcome to my world!
My target was 1,200 calories a day for months and I did do very well with it, because 1,200 calories is low anyway (ready for the people in here that are going to moan how low it is, you watch lol) but if it works for you like it did me then great! people will mention "but your putting your body into starvation mode", no lol, having 1,200 a day is ok and won't have that effect as long as you don't go any lower.

Only thing is that your ending up with about 600 calories by the end of the day, you can't live on 600 a day as that would be dangerous, I did it a few times and you will feel ill in no time, having a full 1200 a day will see you lose LOTS of weight:

If your body needs 2200 calories per day (excluding exercise) like mine (yours may be lower as your a women!) and you ate a total of 1,200 calories per day it would look like this: 2,200 - 1200 = 1,000 deficit a day x 7 = 7,000 calories burned a week, there's 3,500 calories in 1lb, so that would be 2lb you would lose per week, that's over 8lb a month which is a lot!

That's how I work it out anyway and is what I always stuck too, I'm now 115lbs lighter!


Just remember NOT to go under 1,200 calories a day as things will go very wrong very quickly (trust me on this!), if you have calories left at the end of the day just have something healthy low in fat but high in protein if possible, also try and work it out so you do have the full 1,200 calories in a day.

Heatherbelle_87

If youre having a hard time taking in all of your calories because youre worried about going over you can try controlled liquid calories in protein shakes or smoothies... I just found out my sis took the blender this weekend for her BBQs so I cant make my smoothies (very irritating).... Just make sure youre eating nutrient dense foods as well, lean proteins, eggs are a great choice, fresh fruits and veggies, also adding a multivitamin will help your body get the micronutrients youre depriving it of with such low cals, this will help keep you from re-gaining as you increase your calories.

You MIGHT gain the first week or two but then your weight will drop. Youll lose everything you gained plus some. I know it sounds crazy, but Ive even gone through it

chelsky90

thanks for all your comments, ill try take all that on board. its just getting out of the habit of not eating alot i guess. i never used to eat breakfeast so god knows what my daily calories must of been like before. is it worth taking them up gradually?? as i never ate that much before, so if i was to double what im eating, surely i will just put weight on and that is certainly not what i want. i do understand what your saying, im just worried x

ladyhawk00

Try increasing by about 200 every 2-3 days until you reach AT LEAST 1200 net (net can be seen on home page). That will help minimize any temporary weight gain. But you may still gain a lb or two TEMPORARILY. But it is very important that you eat more. Losing a few lbs is not worth risking your long term health. And if you continue at this level, you will just decrease your metabolism, making it even harder to lose weight.

MFP has already given you a built in deficit at 1200 - that cal goal already allows for weight loss. So when you eat under that, you're making that deficit larger, and that WILL eventually cause problems.

Chronic lack of appetite can be a signal of severely decreased metabolism. A few threads that may help:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/231636-the-eating-when-you-re-not-hungry-dilemma

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/230930-starvation-mode-how-it-works

As for how to increase cals:

Planning is key. Focus on balanced macros (protein/fat/carbs) in each meal/snack. Start with making sure to eat at least 3 meals a day. Breakfast is important when you're trying to overcome a habit of irregular eating or underfeeding. Once you've adjusted to that, add in snacks. Then, gradually increase the amount of cals in each meal/snack. Just 50 cals more for each meal/snack adds up. If you know you'll be working out, increase cals throughout the day.

If you're not feeling hungry, a good way to increase cals without much volume is healthy fats from natural oils (olive/canola), nuts and nut butters (almonds, pistachios, walnuts), and avocados. Also, I would stay away from "low cal" or "low fat" options. Partly because you want to increase cals, and partly because those foods are usually processed and not nutrient dense, and the cals or fat they take out is replaced by sugar (real or substitute) and sodium - not a good trade off. A fruit smoothie, protein shake or chocolate milk are good cal boosters, because drinking cals can be easier than eating when you aren't feeling hungry.

Typically, it may be hard for a few days or a week, but your body will adjust to the increased intake and you'll find it isn't an issue for long. Eating more will truly help your metabolism, and your appetite will increase with it.

FK1983

How you getting on? any improvements?