Do you eat all your goal calories each day?

GreenLifeGirl

I find myself having a hard time getting all my goal calories in each day. I mix up my calorie totals day to day to keep my body guessing, but I am usually between 300-500 calories under. Should I try harder to hit my goal calorie intake? I don't want it to cause me to slow down my weight loss.

What do you do?

AlyRoseNYC

Some days yes, other days no. TBH, I really don't know the concrete answer is for how much calories my body needs. I just assume that 1200 is a reasonable guideline. My daily caloric intake varies from 1000-1400.

meli_medina

I eat at least my daily amount everyday. Some days I will even go for a walk so I can have more. I hope you're eating at least 1200 per day! Your body needs at least that to not starve!

jmruef

I find myself having a hard time getting all my goal calories in each day. I mix up my calorie totals day to day to keep my body guessing, but I am usually between 300-500 calories under. Should I try harder to hit my goal calorie intake? I don't want it to cause me to slow down my weight loss.

What do you do?

I try to get to the minimum every day, including the calories I've burned off by exercising. For me it's a healthier choice to NOT go under the 1200. I don't always make it, but I feel better / healthier knowing that I'm only down by 100 as opposed to 400 or more.

I don't generally fret about days that I go over, either. I've found that I've *lost* weight when I've done that on occasion.

lindalou0703

Most days I am close to 1200, I personally do not eat the exercise calories. I know some say that you need to but I dont want to eat that much.

MelissaL582

Some days I do and some days I don't.

paintitblack

My calorie count is normally between 800 and 1100 rather than the 1200 I'm recommended. The only time I eat 1200 is on the days I 'binge', eat a lot of snacks or go out for a meal so have considerably larger portions. I also find it hard to hit my calorie goal even though I eat my three meals a day a long with the occasional snack and several cups of coffee.

Recently I've tried to eat four meals a day instead of 3, which normally ups my intake a little and is something you might want to try! It's worth the effort because all my major weight loss comes the day after I go over my goal.

lgwmab

I usually don't but I am getting closer to it, I know it's not good to go to far under.

GreenLifeGirl

Hhmm...big loss after going over goal. Ok, so my calories have been pretty low this week. overall ...think I am going to bump up my calories and have a nice big dinner after work! Has anyone else had a good loss after eating above their normal calories?

mamaDaisyJ

If your goal is 1200, you should hit that on more days than not. The starvation mode everyone talks about isn't instant from one day under, but a consistent diet under 1200 can have adverse effects on your loss.
My advice is to get used to eating a little more, or when you hit maintenance you will find it that much harder to increase.
The less you have to lose, the slower it will come off. The closer you are to maintenance, the more you have to eat to continue seeing a loss.
Personally, MFP recommended 1200, but I have seen better loss when I bumped my goal to 1480.