trouble reaching calorie goals/I'm just not that hungry

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Randomcheese
Randomcheese Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A little back ground-

I'm 6' tall and in January of 2010, I was 255 lbs. I did a little research and eventually chose to go on the South Beach diet. I found it relatively easy to balance carbs and fat/fiber and lost about 30 lbs in a little over six months. At that point I was pretty happy and didn't really care about losing more or changing anything else. At 225 ~ 230 lbs I felt healthier and had more energy than I'd had in years and went on with my life until January of this year when I took a moment to really look at myself in the mirror. Yep, I'm still fat.

Again, I started with a little research and decided to track my calorie intake. Turns out I was eating a lot of calories; ~3000/day. So I put all my numbers into the MFP calculator and selected the half-pound per week loss option and it gave me a target of 2400 calories/day. I had a lot of trouble meeting it for the first two weeks, but it got easier over time. Now I've been tracking my calories for three months and I'm down 17 lbs and running into a completely different problem...

At the end of the day, I'm several hundred calories short of my goal and I'm not hungry. I've read several articles about calorie intake and meeting a minimum is a common theme. I really want to be healthy more than I want to be a specific weight. I guess my question is with a 2120 goal and a BMR of 1900, is eating 1600 to 1700 calories/day unhealthy?

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  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    Are you losing weight at an unhealthy rate? Are you losing muscle? What is your body fat percentage? How do you feel? Are you consuming adequate nutrients for a person your size?

    These are all things that you have to consider. There's no simple answer. Don't forget that the BMR and other numbers are estimates; your individual physiology might yield a higher or lower rate..

    My gut reaction is you should not be forcing yourself to eat if you're not hungry. If you think there's something wrong with your appetite, consult a physician. Also, many people might fall short a day or two, but they naturally make up for it later in the week. That's not a big deal.

    Don't forget that people frequently underestimate the actual number of calories they consume -- it's very easy to have that happen.
  • Randomcheese
    Randomcheese Posts: 15 Member
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    I try to be accurate when I record my calories consumed. And I over-estimate when I can't find an exact match. (i.e. I choose the closest item at the highest calorie count.) The weight has been coming off steadily and I don't feel drained or tired, so I'm going to guess that I'm eating enough.

    Since I posted this, I've also found some higher calorie snacks that are still on the "good for you" list like avocados and pecans. using them for snacks brings my calorie consumption closer to MFP's suggested levels and still makes me feel like I'm eating right.

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