Am I getting enough calories??

hlandry6

I have been on MFP for a little over 40 days now and have lost around 4.5lbs. I am 5'1 and started at 135 (hoping to get down to 125) My calories have been set to 1260 calories a day and I am not sure if thats enugh. For example, I ate this morning around 7 and was hungry again by 11 so I ate lunch. I have used about half of my calories up for the day and I my stomach of growling and it is only 2:30.. If I have a snack I am not going to have much left for dinner tonight. I like to have around 500 or so calories at the end of the day for dinner. Nice comments please!!?

dls06

If you are exercising you need to eat those calories too. :drinker:

Jeff92se

You can eat a very small meal that's XXXX calories and be hungry again asap.

You can also eat a pretty decent sized meal that's the same calories and feel full longer.

If you want to eat more, exercise more. It's what I do

hlandry6

I do work out about four times a week for a good 50 minutes...usually burning around 400-500 calories. I have a small stomach because I can be "starving" eat a small amount and feel really full. Till about two hrs later..

helloburger

hi im 5"1 to and im given 1200 a day for a loss, 1530 for maintance, as we are so short we really sont need as much as other people. do you exericse?
i have to at lest burn 300 cals from exercise to be able to eat enough for the day, if dont exercise i will definately be hungry all day unless im getting veg all day x

helloburger

insaw your new comment, so surely thatbtakes your cals up to 1700 for a dayndo you manage to eat all them cals back?

hlandry6

I usually eat about half my exercise calories back. I find it harder to stay below my calorie goal on the days I cannot work out.

helloburger

i base all my cals in a week totally. so say one day i burn 600 cals and i cant work out one day then i would divide the 600 over two days so then at the end of the week i still have the same total cals if that makes sense

cmriverside

What you are using to fill those calories is very important. Stick with a good amount of protein, some carbs and some fat in every meal.

But, in fact, you may need to eat more. We don't have enough info here to tell.

woou

You may not be eating enough or your body could be deficient of something. I find that a multivit helped me with this significantly or consider diversifying your meals if it isn't already, so you are getting those micronutrients. You just have to tinker here and there to see what works for you.

021463

If you exercise, you'll be rewarded with more calories to eat. Those help you feel full but the extra exercise still allows you to lose weight. Try that. I think it will help.

Coyla

What is your weight loss goal set at? Since you don't have a lot of body fat to lose, you should aim for slow weight loss, no more than a half a pound a week, maybe even half that. Sounds crazy, but the less fat you have, the more careful you need to be not to cut too many calories. People with low body fat tend to lose more muscle than fat (80/20 ratio) if they deprive themselves too much.

And if you're hungry, that's a sign you need to eat more. I consider serious hunger an enemy to weight loss.

natini

Sounds like you need to look at your weekly net calories and not your daily. Go over on the days that you dont exercise. Just make sure you eat your net calories for the week. If you have a smart phone it is really easy to see the net for the week.

I wasn't eating all of my exercise calories the first two weeks I started and didn't really loose. I finally started focusing on the net calories over the past two weeks and I lost 2lbs last week.