Necessary to eat exactly calories allowed?

lpullum1
lpullum1 Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone! Can you please advise me on this- Do I NEED to meet my daily calorie goal? Or get as close to it as possible? I'm new to MFP and yesterday I was under my goal by 553 calories. But I wasn't hungry and didn't want to make myself eat for the sake of meeting my goal. Is the calorie goal just there so we don't go OVER in order to lose weight? My numbers in the nutrient categories were satisfactory to me. Thank you!

Replies

  • OpenHeaven
    OpenHeaven Posts: 275 Member
    May I ask what your calorie goal is?? 550 cals is a lot to be under on a REGULAR basis. If it was just one day - don't stress about it!!! I totally have days like that, and then I just know that tomorrow, I am going to have to plan my meals better. Sometimes if it is 7pm, and I still have a lot of cals left, I just have some nuts or nut butter (organic, no sugar, no oil) to boost up the cals. I will not get into the starvation mode debate blah blah blah (it will go back and forth for days).

    MFP gave you that cal goal for a reason based on your age, weight, height, activity level, and goals. I follow my recommendations, and have been losing almost exactly what my plan is set up to help me achieve, so IT DOES WORK!!!!!

    Again, if it was only one day - don't worry about it. If it seems to be a trend - not a good idea (I would say the same for having an "over" day. :) You can do this!!
  • rachf2013
    rachf2013 Posts: 69
    You don't want to be too much under. If you're too much under, your body will go into starvation mode and then you can't lose a pound until your body starts to eat itself like crazy (which is anorexia and very unhealthy). The way MFP calculates your calories is what you burn by just being you then reduces it a bit so your cal in are less than cal out. So I'd say stay around what MFP says. 100 or 200 over won't mess you up too much (in my experience) but try not to go more than 100 under.
    I had the same problem at first, I was eating small amounts and had cal left over at the end of the day. Now I eat a big breakfast, small lunch, and medium sized dinner to make sure my cals work out.
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    There are two schools of thought. Some will say you should aim for that amount. I personally say listen to your body and keep a deficit YOU are comfortable with.
  • rachf2013
    rachf2013 Posts: 69
    May I ask what your calorie goal is?? 550 cals is a lot to be under on a REGULAR basis. If it was just one day - don't stress about it!!! I totally have days like that, and then I just know that tomorrow, I am going to have to plan my meals better. Sometimes if it is 7pm, and I still have a lot of cals left, I just have some nuts or nut butter (organic, no sugar, no oil) to boost up the cals. I will not get into the starvation mode debate blah blah blah (it will go back and forth for days).

    MFP gave you that cal goal for a reason based on your age, weight, height, activity level, and goals. I follow my recommendations, and have been losing almost exactly what my plan is set up to help me achieve, so IT DOES WORK!!!!!

    Again, if it was only one day - don't worry about it. If it seems to be a trend - not a good idea (I would say the same for having an "over" day. :) You can do this!!

    I like this response better than mine. :D
  • SweetSammie
    SweetSammie Posts: 391 Member
    If you use the Iphone App, there is a way to look at your deficit for the week. I have days where I am a couple of hundred cals OVER, others where I am UNDER, but I try to make sure the week comes out even. That's just me, but it's working for me right now.
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
    You should be within 100 over or under. The occasional way under or way over is ok, but not if it's an everyday thing.
  • gurganuss
    gurganuss Posts: 78 Member
    Try to get as close as you can. Do not eat until your sick, but maybe find some higher calorie alternatives to make sure you are fueling your body. I learned the hard way that eating too few calories can have the opposite effect than you want.
  • sandrajune72
    sandrajune72 Posts: 492 Member
    You haven't said in your post if you're exercising, therefore perhaps not eating back exercise calories? I agree with some of the other posts here, 550 does seem rather a lot to be down :flowerforyou:
  • headqrtrs
    headqrtrs Posts: 17 Member
    I had the same problem at first and I know how you feel when you say you don't want to eat for the sake of eating afraid of getting back in a routine of gorging. I now stay as close as I can. You just have to plan meals better and plan for snacks in between meals. I eat more now than I did before starting.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    I think you should eat the minimum they set, but my understanding of exercise calories (based on their wording in the FAQ) is that you can eat within that range, not that you have to eat back everything you earned. But at least eat whatever the minimum deficit they set without exercise.

    Very rarely I will eat under my target number without exercise and not worry about it when I'm truly not hungry. But if you are consistently undereating due to not being hungry, try adding some more healthy fats to your day to boost that number.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    There are two schools of thought. Some will say you should aim for that amount. I personally say listen to your body and keep a deficit YOU are comfortable with.
    Hunger is a hormonal response that adapts to your eating pattern. If you "listen to your body," you will pretty much always be hungry, or never be hungry, because your hunger signals will adapt to how much or how little you eat.
  • lpullum1
    lpullum1 Posts: 5
    Thank you to all for the great replies! My daily goal is 1,510 but when I exercise it goes up and I guess I'm just not replacing those calories burned. I will try having a bigger breakfast and making one snack into more of a complete meal.
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    There are two schools of thought. Some will say you should aim for that amount. I personally say listen to your body and keep a deficit YOU are comfortable with.
    Hunger is a hormonal response that adapts to your eating pattern. If you "listen to your body," you will pretty much always be hungry, or never be hungry, because your hunger signals will adapt to how much or how little you eat.

    Hunger is the body's hard-wired weight control system, not MFP. It IS possible to learn to listen to it again. Most humans do just fine using hunger/satiety signals alone to manage their dietary intake. They're not always hungry or never hungry. I've never even heard of such a thing, not even anecdotally, much less scientifically.
  • willot0722
    willot0722 Posts: 51 Member
    I talked to my doctor about "starvation mode"

    She said.. As long as I am eating every 2.5 to 3 hours my body will not go hungry. If you are eating this often, your body steadily has energy to burn and will not crash. But if you feel yourself getting hungry, do not ignore this feeling. Eat when you are physically hungry!
  • Indy_Cent
    Indy_Cent Posts: 45
    Yes, it it necessary (imperative, really) to eat EXACTLY the number of calories MFP dictates you should eat. Not one more, not one less... capisce?!

    facepalm.jpg
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    There are two schools of thought. Some will say you should aim for that amount. I personally say listen to your body and keep a deficit YOU are comfortable with.
    Hunger is a hormonal response that adapts to your eating pattern. If you "listen to your body," you will pretty much always be hungry, or never be hungry, because your hunger signals will adapt to how much or how little you eat.

    Hunger is the body's hard-wired weight control system, not MFP. It IS possible to learn to listen to it again. Most humans do just fine using hunger/satiety signals alone to manage their dietary intake. They're not always hungry or never hungry. I've never even heard of such a thing, not even anecdotally, much less scientifically.
    Except it isn't hard wired. It changes based on stress, availability, and eating patterns. That's why people tend to feel hungry at the same times every day. It's not that they are physically hungry, but the body is used to eating at that time, and expects it. It's also why people with eating disorders don't feel hungry all the time, even when severely under eating, because the hormonal response adapts to the fact that they aren't eating, and eliminates hunger signals, due to the fact that it takes energy to create the hormones to signal hunger and satiety, and also because a hunger pang could be a distraction that causes you to not be able to get food (the human body is a survival machine, it doesn't understand dieting, it understands feast or famine.)

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