Am I eating enough...

jeanbedford

no no, a man of his size should not be eating that low a calorie intake, keep it where you are and your exercise gives you credit as far a calories go, so if you eat 2500 cals a day and workout and burn 500 cals, then MFP will give that back to you in calories!

jeanbedford

You're not eating enough.

The amount MFP gives you is your net. Meaning if you work out you have to eat more. Netting that few calories is going to stall your metabolism for the long term and you won't be able to continue losing. Plus, it's just not healthy!

Def eat up! Plan ahead, track ahead, just make sure it happens

ETA: Can't believe I forgot to congratulate you on your great progress. What an inspiration! You have a lot to be proud of

jeanbedford

i agree with this advise! do not cut your calories anymore than it is... as you lose weight, you need to recalculate your calorie needs! you are seeing results and progress, congratulations big guy!

jeanbedford

Breakfast is non essential. Meal timing is not essential.

Macronutrient sufficiency and caloric intake is essential.

Eat when you want and what suits your daily activity. I eat a big breakfast, skip lunch and have a big dinner. Research Itermittent Fasting. Heaps of people do it with excellent results.

jeanbedford

sorry... breakfast is essential, meals at certain intervals are essential! eating breakfast 20 minutes upon waking, kickstarts your metabolism, eating every three to four hours, keeps you from getting to hungry and keeps your blood sugar levels stable, so you dont crash midday. im talking small meals, divide your calories for the day by 6 and keep your meals within that, and make then healthy!

jeanbedford

Forgive my dietary ignorance, but what foods exactly would those be for example?

jeanbedford

your meals should consist of protein and carbs at every meal, good protein sources are, eggs, chicken and turkey breast, cottage cheese, dare leafy greens, like spinach... go to the Eat Clean Diet, Tosca Reno, very informative!

Scott_P

sorry... breakfast is essential, meals at certain intervals are essential! eating breakfast 20 minutes upon waking, kickstarts your metabolism, eating every three to four hours, keeps you from getting to hungry and keeps your blood sugar levels stable, so you dont crash midday. im talking small meals, divide your calories for the day by 6 and keep your meals within that, and make then healthy!

This is how i lost my weight.

jeanbedford

To give you some insight with me...... My MFP is set up to lose 1 lb. a week so my BMR after the 500 calorie deficit MFP takes out is 2420 calories... That is what I need to eat just to sustain life if I did absolutely nothing but sit on my *kitten* all day..... Of course I do not sit all day I exercise (split train) 6 days a week with 1 day of rest... I do strength training 3 days a week (Tues, Thurs, and Sat) and Cardio 6 days a week... I burn 1200-2000 calories most days ( I wear a Polar FT60 HRM only during cardio, I don't track calories burned during weight training) So 32 months into my journey I eat 3200-3400 calories a day (I eat 85% of my exercise calories back and leave 15% for error in calories burned and logging food) and I am still losing a pound week..... I did the whole why eat back calories thing months ago and it caused me weeks of plateau's and stalled weightloss but now my metabolism is going strong, I feel strong and have plenty of energy for my workouts..... This is just my own experience, I am not saying it is a one size fits all but it works for me and I have lost some weight doing it...... Good Luck to you on your Journey.......

jeanbedford

great advice from someone who knows... congrats on the weightloss by the way, keep up the great work, you are very inspiring!

reddi2roll

First of all, opening your diary to the public will help some..

However, MFP already calculates in a deficit for you to lose weight each day.

So you want to be eating as close to your goal as possible, including eating your exercise calories.

Having a net of 500-700 calories is not what you want.

This.

jadedone

Well 500-700 net might have been a bit drastic, but on some days it's been in that range. For example today, I'll probably end up eating about 1200-1300 calories for the day, but after I go to the gym, I will be down to about 8-900 net. So it's a little bit better than 5-700, but not much

You definitely need to eat more. I generally eat between 1500-1800 calories, and I am a 200 pound woman. I'd be starving if I ate as little as you did! You are rarely breaking 1500.

You also mentioned monitoring your sodium intake.
1. Packaged foods are thew worst offender for sodium. And the salt is in unexpected places: breads and cereals can have quite a bit of sodium
2. Deli meat, even reduced sodium generally has a ton
3. Packaged veggies also have quite a bit. Get the no salt whenever possible.
4. Some protein powders have quite a lot of sodium as well

Read labels carefully. Personally, since high blood pressure runs in my family, I try to put any food than contains over 25% of the sodium allotment for the day back. (Of course I have soy sauce, but I try not to use it too often. If I am buying frozen dinners, I tread carefully). I almost exclusively get no salt canned and frozen foods.

You can worry less about table salt, the average person gets the bulk of their sodium from packaged and prepared foods.

Edward220

Sept 2010 I weighed 405 LBS. I just joined MFP last week because I was fighting a major plateau !! My friend advised me to check out this site because he felt I was not eating enough calories !! After my first week of going by MFP calories I'm down 4 lbs !! When I started out back in Sept. all I did was cut the junk food out and started to eat clean healthier food !! It's hard to give you to much advice without knowing a little bit more about your fitness routine and what your nutrition is !! I am willing to take a closer look at them if you want !! Send me a friend request and we can chat some more. In short I would stay a few hundred under what MFP tells you and I would not eat the extra calories from your workouts !! Unless you are really feeling tired.....

jeanbedford

Sept 2010 I weighed 405 LBS. I just joined MFP last week because I was fighting a major plateau !! My friend advised me to check out this site because he felt I was not eating enough calories !! After my first week of going by MFP calories I'm down 4 lbs !! When I started out back in Sept. all I did was cut the junk food out and started to eat clean healthier food !! It's hard to give you to much advice without knowing a little bit more about your fitness routine and what your nutrition is !! I am willing to take a closer look at them if you want !! Send me a friend request and we can chat some more. In short I would stay a few hundred under what MFP tells you and I would not eat the extra calories from your workouts !! Unless you are really feeling tired.....

jeanbedford

you need to eat to lose!