Am I eating enough?

Play_outside

My food journal is open. I only started tracking again this week because my weight loss was stagnant for weeks and then now I've gained 4lbs. I am not "dieting" this is the typical way I eat except that I am more aware of portions of rice and of the cereal I eat, so instead of eating 2 servings of rice or cereal, I'll only have one. Once in a while I'll eat a chocolate bar, sometimes more often than once in a while, but I generally don't go crazy over it. However, no more, especially since there is a lot of waste in the packaging of chocolate bars and I am trying to decrease my footprint. So I got some bulk dark chocolate buds and I have some of them for a treat.

So, any input for me? MFP usually tells me I am not eating enough calories and so I'm trying to eat a little more. I'm not hungry and like I said this is my normal eating. I did notice before that I was way under on fat and protein so I've worked to up those, successfully (more tuna, almonds). I'm celiac so have to be gluten free, and I don't eat much dairy and am trying to mostly eliminate dairy (I was dairy free for quite some time before and felt fabulous-for some reason having a hard time cutting it entirely this time haha! Better for my asthma though, and dairy problems are common with celiacs).

Sorry for the wordy post!!

healthorhighwater

1200 is the least you can eat without under-eating; if you are active and exercising than you should definitely be eating more to keep your body fully fueled:)

Apazman

1200 is the least that Most American resources Recommend. however, japanese eat around 800-1000 and they have the longest life span out of any culture.

MissMaryMac33

1200 is not some magic number...it is based on your age, height, weight, goal weight, activity level.
If I knew those, I would look up to see what would be best for you --- in many many cases, 1200 is too low, but most people don't want to hear that and prefer to keep starving themselves thinking they'll just get there faster.

Play_outside

Ok, just to be clear though I am not starving myself. I am not eating this way because it is a magical number given to me by MFP-this is how I normally eat-sometimes I have gf goodies but not that often (they're expensive!!). I started eating breakfast over the last couple of months I guess my next thing can be trying to add more calories to my breakfasts.

Thanks for the responses.

MissMaryMac33

Ok, just to be clear though I am not starving myself. I am not eating this way because it is a magical number given to me by MFP-this is how I normally eat-sometimes I have gf goodies but not that often (they're expensive!!). I started eating breakfast over the last couple of months I guess my next thing can be trying to add more calories to my breakfasts.

Thanks for the responses.

Right, but was it given to you because you chose lose 2lbs a week and you have less than 70 lbs to lose?
That's usually what happens.

Setting your goals based on weight you need to lose:

75lbs or more: Choose to lose 2lbs/week
40-75 pounds: Choose to lose 1.5lbs/week
25-40 pounds: Choose to lose 1lb/week
15-20 pounds: Choose either 1/2lb or 1lb
Less than 15/20 pounds: choose 1/2 lb/week

Rachiepie6

I'd say what you're eating is alright, but a little bit more would be better, especially since your net goal is 1200, try to actually go over it if you don't exercise and if you do exercise, try for a net between 900-700 less that your Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity (given in the goals section)

Almiel

I have a feeling you're stagnant because you're not eating enough. Like some said, 1200 is the minimum for women. But if you need to lose 86 lbs then I'm guessing you must be around 200 lbs? Your body is probably hoarding calories because it's not getting enough. Try adding some calorie dense foods if you don't have an appetite. Orange juice is a good way. Bananas have around 110 calories. I would redo your mfp profile and see what it says, and try to reach it. Do that for a couple weeks and see what happens.