Discouraged

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emcdycus
emcdycus Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Every day I do my log in, It says I am taking in to few calories. I am staying around 1000 and I'm supposed to be eating 1200. For the most part I am staying under all of what it says to take in but protein. I keep going over on my protein. I am exercising regularly. Although I am trying to eat every few hours, I tend to only eat 3 meals a day. So I'm probably still taking in too big a portion size for one sitting. I dont really understand what I am doing wrong. Can someone please help me

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  • pxkjmeandmine
    pxkjmeandmine Posts: 84
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    I am fairly new to the program so I don't have any solutions however there are many MFP friends that will make suggestions based on what worked for them, I am here just to tell you "Do not get discouraged I am learning that we are all in this together!!!!!!!
  • emcdycus
    emcdycus Posts: 5
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    Thank You so much!! Good luck to you in your weight loss journey!
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    Well, you probably are taking in too few calories, and if you are eating one huge meal and then smaller meals, you probably aren't doing any favors for your metabolism or body either.

    If you are working out regularly, you need protein, so going "over" on protein really isn't a problem, IMHO. That's one of the "good" things in your diet.....I view the MFP recommendation as a minimum I need to get to, not a number I need to stay under.

    I would think that if you spread your calories evenly through your meals, eating 3 times a day (versus 5 or 6) probably wouldn't be that bad, but my understanding is that you keep your metabolism up by having more smaller meals, so I would guess you would just maybe see a little bit slower weight loss with 3 meals a day.

    But.......really, you should be eating 1200. Don't go under, keep working out. As counterintuitive as it is, sometimes we do need a bump in calories to start losing weight.
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,785 Member
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    I set mine at 1000, mfp wants 1200. Any time you eat less than those set up then it will tell you that. Also if you enter in your exercise it will add those to your food count and expect you to eat those back also...I ignore it pretty much and do what I want. Some want you to eat 1200 and thinks it's unhealthy to eat less than that...again you got to do what works for you as long as your not encouraging (ie...talking about it is a form of encouragement on this site)others to follow your diet plan. You will hear BMR and TDEE and things like that...they will tell you you should be eating 15% less than your TDEE and they get a little testy about it. If you ask for advice be prepared to get slammed with expert advice (we all have our own success story and what works for us) but some get down right nasty about it. Most people here are very helpful and encouraging, some not so much and you just have to learn to ignore them. Good Luck and don't get discouraged, I'm sure you will get what you need here.

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