Too many calories left at the end of the day, Help!

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dricen
dricen Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been using MFP for a week now, and noticed many nights I'll end up with anywhere between 500-1000 calories to spare. I'm set to lose 2lb's a week with a 1600 calorie diet. But most days I'm so far below this number and just eat snacks to get it closer to 1600. Is this the right way to go about it, or should I not worry about being that much under? I exercise daily that drastically increases the amount of calories I'm supposed to eat. Please help me with this situation =)
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Replies

  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    2 big spoons of peanut butter...BAMM!!! 400 calories
  • dargytaylor
    dargytaylor Posts: 840 Member
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    nuts :)
  • kimibunny
    kimibunny Posts: 52
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    If you aren't hungry I don't really see the point in eating them. Maybe MFP over estimated your TDEE and you happen to be below the average for your group.
  • gtwin
    gtwin Posts: 290 Member
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    As long as you take in AT LEAST 1200 calories, I don't see why you should make yourself eat if you aren't hungry.

    I wish I had a 500-1000 calories left to eat at the end of the day! Lol.....
  • katcod1522
    katcod1522 Posts: 448 Member
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    yep..peanut butter..almonds...an oreo!
  • tdaddybarlow
    tdaddybarlow Posts: 673 Member
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    2 big spoons of peanut butter...BAMM!!! 400 calories

    Dude!!!! I soooo needed this!
  • jovz10
    jovz10 Posts: 531 Member
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    I wish I had a 500-1000 calories left to eat at the end of the day! Lol....

    me too! that's extra rice for me to have... :)
  • mleoni092708
    mleoni092708 Posts: 629 Member
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    Is there some way I could buy them from you? lol

    From experience, if you don't have a heart rate monitor, you may be over calculating your workout calories. Otherwise, yep, peanut butter, almonds, etc are great.
  • dricen
    dricen Posts: 25 Member
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    So what you guys are saying is that I should in fact eat to my daily cap everyday? And in that case, what if I work off 600 calories from working out, would I still need to eat 600 more calories to make up for the workout? Thanks for everyone's responses so far! I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! =D
  • dricen
    dricen Posts: 25 Member
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    From experience, if you don't have a heart rate monitor, you may be over calculating your workout calories. Otherwise, yep, peanut butter, almonds, etc are great.

    I generally underestimate calories. I only use the heart rate monitor from the elliptical when I'm on that to get a count of calories. However, days that I don't work out, I'm sometimes still way under my cap. So in that case, what do I do?
  • jovz10
    jovz10 Posts: 531 Member
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    So what you guys are saying is that I should in fact eat to my daily cap everyday? And in that case, what if I work off 600 calories from working out, would I still need to eat 600 more calories to make up for the workout? Thanks for everyone's responses so far! I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! =D

    you mentioned you just started... continue what you are doing then when you feel like something is wrong or hit plateau then change something... as far as right now, i think it is fine....
  • MrsGreen1985
    MrsGreen1985 Posts: 53 Member
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    As long as you take in 1200 cals per day (Thats the minimum a body needs to survive) ,don't worry about eating more cals. if you're not hungry don't eat just to use them up
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Eat more during the day. Bigger breakfasts, bigger lunches,etc.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    And no, it's not a good idea to blindly eat 1200 calories. You body often doesn't respond well to large calorie deficits, especially once you get down to lower body fats.
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    From experience, if you don't have a heart rate monitor, you may be over calculating your workout calories. Otherwise, yep, peanut butter, almonds, etc are great.

    I generally underestimate calories. I only use the heart rate monitor from the elliptical when I'm on that to get a count of calories. However, days that I don't work out, I'm sometimes still way under my cap. So in that case, what do I do?

    The heart rate monitors on machines are rarely accurate. It's best to invest in a HRM with a chest strap for a more accurate calculation of your burns.

    If you know you will be working out and burning big, add more food in earlier in the day. Choose calorie dense foods like nuts, olives, avocados, full fat/non-diet versions of everything.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    Plan ahead. Don't let them pile up at the end of the night if you don't like having the remainder a one big meal .
  • bhalter
    bhalter Posts: 582 Member
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    Plan ahead. Don't let them pile up at the end of the night if you don't like having the remainder a one big meal .

    Ditto. I pre-plan almost every day. I plan out my family's meals at the beginning of the week, so I know what's for dinner every night. I usually plug that in and then plan out my meals/snacks accordingly for the rest of the day. I don't sweat it if I'm way under calories, as long as I have 1200 under my belt.
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    If you aren't hungry, dont eat. If you aren't hungry and you ate your minimum amount of calories, then i definitely wouldnt eat your exercise calories back. Your body will let you know if you need the cals or not.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    If you aren't hungry, dont eat. If you aren't hungry and you ate your minimum amount of calories, then i definitely wouldnt eat your exercise calories back. Your body will let you know if you need the cals or not.

    If only that were true. We wouldn't need to be here logging calories, now would we?
  • kimibunny
    kimibunny Posts: 52
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    So what you guys are saying is that I should in fact eat to my daily cap everyday? And in that case, what if I work off 600 calories from working out, would I still need to eat 600 more calories to make up for the workout? Thanks for everyone's responses so far! I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! =D
    If you aren't sick/menstruating or you're not on some sort of medication that suppresses appetite and you're not hungry, then you probably aren't hungry. Most people feel it when they aren't eating enough to support their lifestyle. If you aren't feeling extremely hungry, tired or sluggish I wouldn't worry about it so much. A lot of the numbers on MFP are based on averages, so it is very much so possible that yours aren't 100% correct. If it's really a concern for you, you can see a professional and have your BMR and other things measured, and then manually edit your MFP numbers.

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