1600 cals seems like a lot of food

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2

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  • CardioKnitter
    CardioKnitter Posts: 6
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    Weight loss isn't about starving yourself or depriving yourself.

    ^^^^ YES exactly
  • alexisu96
    alexisu96 Posts: 103 Member
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    I want to know what people are eating that is keeping them full for under 1600. ??? I am struggling staying under 1800 net. AND I am eating healthy. Breakfast puts at 400+ and that's eating nonprocessed oatmeal, fruit , milk , a juice ( a spritz of juice with water) and coffee 2 sugars a milk. Add a healthy, low darb sandwich around noon at 300 and that leaves me 700/800 more till 10pm not alot for dinner, snacks, drinks. What am i missing???
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
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    I want to know what people are eating that is keeping them full for under 1600. ??? I am struggling staying under 1800 net. AND I am eating healthy. Breakfast puts at 400+ and that's eating nonprocessed oatmeal, fruit , milk , a juice ( a spritz of juice with water) and coffee 2 sugars a milk. Add a healthy, low darb sandwich around noon at 300 and that leaves me 700/800 more till 10pm not alot for dinner, snacks, drinks. What am i missing???

    i was eating around 1300 and mainly salad, chicken, and crackers with hummus, with crumpets and peanut butter for breakfast. Since (I THINK) learning I should be on 1800 ish i still eat that, but bigger portions of things, and a few extras like sunflower seeds in salads and that to pad it out. I thought i'd be ridiculously overfull on the extra 4-500 but it's been okay so far.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    1600 is about the level of a smallish woman in a calorie deficit. Not a lot of food. Get used to it / over it.
  • glitteredgrave
    glitteredgrave Posts: 194 Member
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    I can eat 1600 in veggies, fruit, Ezekiel bread and peanut butter alone. YUM
  • Noor13
    Noor13 Posts: 964 Member
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    Eating 2750 at the moment (bulking) but my TDEE is at 2600. A year ago this would have been enough for at least two days for me lol.
    Fuel your body and your workouts. You might be losing slower but the chance that you can sustain it, is higher.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    I peruse metabolic studies and found those whose subjects were elderly females had ranges in TDEE between 1600 to 2600 calories. 1600 calories may seem a lot to a person if he/she did not track calories in the past during maintenance or an continuous increase in weight gain.
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
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    1600 calories = 3 big macs
  • Mountain_woman
    Mountain_woman Posts: 229 Member
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    What if you are balancing your day, balancing your proteins, carbs, etc, but just find you aren't hungry at the end of the day? I'm not a salad dressing person really and while I am happy to eat nuts, sometimes, I'm just not hungry. Am I really going to implode because I'm not gorging/readjusting to meet some predetermined number?

    Blast away.
  • Guisma
    Guisma Posts: 215
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    It is alot of food in low calories food. If u had two handfull of nuts or seeds to your diet u eat the extra 600 without even noticing it.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
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    I eat 1850 a day, seems like I'm eating all the time! But I am losing way more weight. I used to eat 1600 and it was horrible :grumble:
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
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    I eat 1850 a day, seems like I'm eating all the time! But I am losing way more weight. I used to eat 1600 and it was horrible :grumble:

    'i love reading this, from someone who has lost the magic nuimber i'm aiming for especially!! thanks xx and congrats!
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    What if you are balancing your day, balancing your proteins, carbs, etc, but just find you aren't hungry at the end of the day? I'm not a salad dressing person really and while I am happy to eat nuts, sometimes, I'm just not hungry. Am I really going to implode because I'm not gorging/readjusting to meet some predetermined number?

    Blast away.
    The satiety hormone, leptin, drives energy balance. During chronic calorie restriction, both Resting Metabolic Rate and leptin values decrease. Thus, as leptin decreases, so does one's caloric intake. The reason is that hunger cues become inconsistent due to the decline in leptin, or in serious cases, insensitivity. The larger the deficit a person establishes at baseline - the maximum amount of calories needed to eat to maintain body weight - the greater the alterations to one's RMR and hormones, including leptin will manifest. With that said, it isn't a good idea to base caloric intake on hunger cues during a caloric deficit since you often receive false confirmation that you have consumed enough calories to meet energy needs when you haven't. This continues the cycle of declining leptin levels and calorie intake.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,072 Member
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    I want to know what people are eating that is keeping them full for under 1600. ??? I am struggling staying under 1800 net. AND I am eating healthy. Breakfast puts at 400+ and that's eating nonprocessed oatmeal, fruit , milk , a juice ( a spritz of juice with water) and coffee 2 sugars a milk. Add a healthy, low darb sandwich around noon at 300 and that leaves me 700/800 more till 10pm not alot for dinner, snacks, drinks. What am i missing???
    I wonder if cutting down the calories in your drinks would help - if you are haveing a few coffees a day with 2 sugars each and other drinks with calories these will push your calorie count up without keeping you full.

    Most days I just drink non sweetened coffee and water , maybe half glass of OJ - and I find that doesnt add many calories at all.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    I thought that when I first started using MFP. I was struggling to eat 1200. Now I have 1500 no problems!

    For a snack I have a few nuts/raisins. 100 calories gone. Olive oil to cook my chicken in. Peanut butter with an apple. Eggs for breakfast. Porridge oats. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it!

    I have about 100 calories a day just from the milk in my tea/coffee!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    It really depends on your height and your starting weight. When I first started and punched all the numbers in, it said that I should eat 1200 cals a day. I eat that amount probably a couple of days a week but for the most part I am at between 1000 and 1100 per day. I burn an extra 500 - 700 per day during my workouts and I do not replace those calories on most days. I have been consistantly losing an average of 1.5 pounds per week. I have been on MFP since January and have lost 39 pounds. The key for me is that I eat if I'm hungary, I don't force myself to eat just to reach my calorie goal for the day. My suggestion to you is to listen to your body, see how it goes for a couple of weeks and make adjustments as needed. Also, make sure your calories are a good balance of carbs, proteins and fat. Good luck to you!!!

    My advise, don't listen to what this lady does. Not cool. Netting around 500 cals a day is pretty sure to do you more harm than good in regards to long term weight maintenance. I wish people would temper their advice when it's like this. You may be happy abusing and under feeding your body but please don't encourage new members to do the same.

    This.

    That was horrible advice. I agree that nobody should listen to it. In fact, I'd delete it if I had the power. It should probably be reported as "promoting unsafe diet practice", which is against forum rules, but I'm not report-happy like some people...
  • MrsSWW
    MrsSWW Posts: 1,590 Member
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    It's difficult to advise when your diary is closed, but I aim for 2,000 a day with a splurge on Sundays and I'm losing it slowly and steadily. Feel free to trawl my diary if you want some ideas :flowerforyou:
  • Lupercalia
    Lupercalia Posts: 1,857 Member
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    Yeah, 1600 calories can feel like a lot depending how you eat, and how you are used to eating. Healthy fats are your friend--they will add beneficial calories as well as nutrients. Do you like avocados? I love them because they're so tasty, but also full of stuff that is so healthy including good fats. They're also higher in calories, so when I find myself a bit low for the day, avocado is one of my favourite foods to grab to boost the calorie numbers to where they should be.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
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    1600 is about the level of a smallish woman in a calorie deficit. Not a lot of food. Get used to it / over it.

    THIS^^
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    good to know...although i think i have been eating around 1200-1500 ish and then i was burning about 600 so it seems like i was left with 900 could that be why i couldnt loose weight?
    I am not used to this approach of eating more!

    This is why it works, you do not have to starve yourself to lose weight. I would never been successful if I had to eat the bare minimum. Plus MFP estimates your daily deficit, so I ALWAYS eat back my calories. I lose the amount I am suppose too.

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