Deficits and Filling Them

davidnusse

I'm still in my first week on MFP. I started at 215, but now the scale says 208. I'm going to assume this is mostly water weight, since my sodium intake has dropped sharply since starting MFP.

I excercise at least a bit each day. If I can't get to the gym, I'll go jog a mile.

The problem is, I eat whenever I'm genuinely hungry, but I'm still falling 300-500 calories below what MFP says I should be getting each day. With the gym, it can be another 300 calories short. I know there's a lot of other posts out there about the "eat more to lose more" topic, but my questions are these...

1. How detrimental is a deficit like that?
2. What should I eat to make up for that deficit? Finding calories is easy, but finding mass amounts of calories without horrific amounts of carbs and sodium is difficult.

If I'm going to eat something when I'm not hungry simply because I have to for the numbers, I'd rather it be something small and loaded with calories so I don't have to gorge myself.

melsinct

The beginning big weight drop is definitely water weight. Don't get used to that!

I lost 30 pounds total and started off eating under what MFP said, had my settings to lose 2 lb/week which was way too aggressive (should have set it for 1 lb/week), and I ended up in a lengthy plateau until I started eating more. The plateau hit after a month and a half of under-eating.

To avoid that unnecessary drama, you should definitely eat at least what MFP says. Exercise calories that you earn are up to you. Some people do better eating them, some don't. That's for you to figure out.

So what to eat you ask? Plan your day. It is easier to keep adding calories at meals than be stuck at the end of the day with 600 calories and zero hunger. Even now I am on maintenance, I need high calorie snacks to get to my goal (I eat almonds daily). Nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocado, cook in healthy oils, make your own oil/vinegar salad dressing, or add flax or chia seeds to your food.

Lesa_Sass

So what to eat you ask? Plan your day. It is easier to keep adding calories at meals than be stuck at the end of the day with 600 calories and zero hunger. Even now I am on maintenance, I need high calorie snacks to get to my goal (I eat almonds daily). Nuts, seeds, nut butters, avocado, cook in healthy oils, make your own oil/vinegar salad dressing, or add flax or chia seeds to your food.

^^^^^^This