Not eating enough calories

vamphlett41

Hi,

On a normal day I stay within 50 or so calories but do not go over. Just wondered if anyone had any advice on what I do with all the excessive calories I get on a day where I have exercised a lot.

I am finding I have way too many to even get close unless I binge eat and too be quite honest I just feel hungry after exercise.

Even after eating 3 meals today and feeling totally satisfied I have 1000calories left over.

Is this going to cause me a problem and how can I fix it?

Thanks
V

lucylue21

you need some little mini snacks through out the day. like a serving of nuts. a piece of toast with peanut butter. some yogurt. some fruit. you need o plain ahead. dont feel bad though. one day i had excercised so much my net claories was -250 (negative)

CBranson0503

I have this problem sometimes. Are you trying to eat all the calories you earn from exercise too? Look at your net calories, and as long as they are at your minimum I wouldn't worry about eating all your calories.

adlwilmot

I wish I had this problem! Up until yesterday I'd been eating 1200 calories a day and eating back my exercise cals (not many!) too, but am finding that I'm feeling really weak and having headaches. I've therefore upped my cals to 1350-1400 a day in order to try and combat this. If I accumulate tons of calories from exercise (hopefully this will start tomorrow! it will! it will! it will!!) do I really need to eat them all back? It seems a bit of a bizarre concept which I'm not too comfortable about :-s

albinogorilla

open your mouth, and put food in it

yes it will be a problem, because a deficit that high will make your body not want to lose weight, it will be worried about survival

taso42

Rule of thumb - if it's an anomaly, once in a blue, then don't worry about it. If it's a chronic situation, then you need to plan better to avoid it.

mmhenry28

Rule of thumb - if it's an anomaly, once in a blue, then don't worry about it. If it's a chronic situation, then you need to plan better to avoid it.

I agree with this

jonzo21

I wish I had this problem! Up until yesterday I'd been eating 1200 calories a day and eating back my exercise cals (not many!) too, but am finding that I'm feeling really weak and having headaches. I've therefore upped my cals to 1350-1400 a day in order to try and combat this. If I accumulate tons of calories from exercise (hopefully this will start tomorrow! it will! it will! it will!!) do I really need to eat them all back? It seems a bit of a bizarre concept which I'm not too comfortable about :-s

it seems bizzare thinking that the more calories you eat the more weight you will lose. By more calories I mean staying at the net level MPF is giving you. (for instance, without exercise your calorie intake could be 1200 for example. You will still lose weight only eating 1200 and not exercising. If you do exercise, for say 100 calories, and you eat your required 1200, technically now you only gave your body 1100 calories to function. And MPF was telling you to net 1200, so now you have to eat that 100 back) If you don't your metabolism could really slow down. Which will make it harder to burn fat because your body is going to hold onto all the fat it can because it thinks it will need it as energy later on. So by giving your body enough calories, it won't have to worry about the "later on" and will continue burning fat.

True story for me. I was only eating 1200 a day (wanted 2lbs per week) but I wasn't seeing very significant changes, and i was hungry all the time. I realized this wasn't realistic for me, so I changed my goal to 1lb per week which now gives me 1600 calories without exercise. The first week I changed it, I lost exactly 1lb like it said I would. So I started eating more, and lost what I was supposed to.

For the original poster, if you are finding it hard to eat your calories, eat foods that are rich in calories. Eat nuts for your snacks, have a peanut butter sandwich, or add cheese or something to your meal. The calories add up quick.

GaiaGirl1992

it really depends on how many calories you burned during exercise. i have friends on here who exercise 1000+ calories per day, and they have huge deficits. you don't need to eat all of your exercise cals back, but you should eat close to your daily recommended amount overall.

vamphlett41

Thanks everyone. Yes I was thinking I needed to eat my exercise calories as well, just to avoid my body going into starvation mood and storing .

I will ignore today and make sure I try and snack better on a heavy exercise day.

Elleinnz

Eat more calorie dense foods - nuts, eggs, bananas, cheese, peanutbutter, dark chocolate, salmon, olive or coconut oil, full fat mayo instead of low fat.....on days where you exercise lots......

Also plan your days where you exercise - and start eating more right from the start of the day - don't wait until after you have exercised and then go "i cant eat all these calories" - so it is not about eating more - it is about eating more calorie dense foods....

Yes - at some point you will find issues if you consistently have 1000 + calorie deficits (over and above the deficit that MFP has already calculated for you...

joyzoso

Olive oil, honey, avocado, almonds and peanut butter are big calorie numbers and healthy for you.
I was having that problem too and adjusted to try and make it work.
Good luck!

Billinzi

My personal trainer has told me not to be too concerned about the calories & to focus on the reducing the carbs & fat & increasing the protien. So I try to ignore the calories & focus on eating "good" foods even if it means the calories are too high (& sometimes too low). So far it seems to be working although I do struggle to keep the carb count down & trying to eat so much protien is hard.