Am I eating enough?

miss_sarcastic

I'm 5'5 1/2" (large frame/bone structure), and 205. I currently have MFP set to normal lifestyle, working out 5 days/wk for at least 30min, and -2lb a week loss. MFP suggests my caloric intake to be 1,320. I lost about 13 pounds when I kept up with this Aug-october of '11, then some personal things happened and I took a hiatus. I just started back up again mid January, so I don't expect to see any big results right now or anything, but I don't think I'm eating enough, especially seeing as how I never eat all my cals...sometimes have 150 left over or more for the day. I do eat back some exercise cals, though. I just had MFP re-evaluate my goals and I switched it to -1.5lbs loss a week, and it changed it to 1,570. Does this seem better to you?

For my workouts, I do 20min of HIIT training (it's killer) 3X a week, on the other days I do some form of cardio whether it's walking briskly to class on campus with a brick of a backpack on my back (yay college students) and that equates to about 20-30 minutes a day, depending if I drive and walk from the garage, or if I take a bus straight to mid-campus. If I feel my walking wasn't enough (not long enough, or I walked slow to walk and talk with people, etc), then I'll jog 15-20 minutes and do some strength training.

Actually...on that topic, should I raise my activity level? The descriptions of the activity levels bother me, haha. A nurse walks way more than a "normal" type person (seeing as how that is my major so I know plenty of them).

SteveTries

I think you've answered your own question :-) You weren't eating enough, and now you are. Assuming that you feel comfortable with the 1570 target and can sustain it and still have energy enough to function properly that I think you have it right.

I don't believe anyone other than the hugely obese can consistently see 2lb weight loss week on week. For that you'd need a 7000 calorie defecit over the course of a week. Using the often quoted 2000cals a week for a typical female that means a 50% reduction.

Irrespective of your views of the realities of "starvation mode" I think everyone would agree that such a defecit is unhealthy and psychologically challenging and thus impossible to stick with long term.

Personally I think you should target 1lbs a week. Even as a 97kg (210lb???) male who is 6 foot 2 and large build, I only target 0.6kg a week which I think is about 1.25lbs. I achieve that and that makes me feel successful and spurs me on. If I had a target set that I couldn't reach I know I would feel like I was failing and then I'd end up quitting.

Helloitsdan

At your height set MFP for 1600-1800 with macro breakdown of 30% protein and fats and 40% carbs.
Youll lose fat and maintain lean mass that way.

miss_sarcastic

Thanks, guys!

sjbrain - it's actually easy for me to eat the previous, or less, amount of calories. I rarely ever feel extremely hungry or have a nagging appetite and I've been this way for years. That's part of what led to my gain over the last 4 years or so...I rarely ate, generally just one meal a day. I plan on getting a blood panel done next time I go to the doctor out of curiosity to see if some hormone levels are off.

When I started MFP back in August '11, I actually had to set alarms/reminders on my phone to make me eat every 2.5-3.5 hours so that I was eating small meals 5-6 times a day. I stuck to it for 2 1/2 months and went from 217 to 202ish, but even then 1,320 just seemed low hence my prompting this question. I think I'll give this new set (1,570) a try for two weeks, and depending on the results, I'll take helloitsdan's suggestion and set MFP to those specifications.

swillis21

You may also want to consider eating close to whatever your BMR is, you can calc this under the tools section. Anways - BMR is what your body would burn if you were to not even move/be in a coma all day. Just a thought