How do you know if you are eating too few calories?

georgie_lou

How do you know if you're eating too few calories? I exercise lots and eat when I'm hungry but hardly ever get to 1200 calories. The only way I can think of doing this is by stopping at McDonalds on the way home and surely that cant be good for you? I dont want my body to go into starvation mode but dont know how few is too few. Check out my diary for ideas?

georgie_lou

anyone?

chrisdavey

eat more food. Reach 1200 MINIMUM.

Anayalata

1200~ calories is a minimum for the body to function. While this number can be lower/higher depending on the size of a person, it doesn't really fluctuate much.

All you need to do is give your body less energy than you're expending (over a long-term average) to lose weight.

Eating far below your energy needs will work at first and you'll probably get an artificial high from dropping pounds so quickly but in the long-term it will negatively affect your health in all aspects.

Online calculators are good at giving a rough estimate of what your daily energy needs are. Start with that and increase/decrease depending on how the scale moves.

I like this one because it doesn't just use an arbitrary "exercises 3-5 times a week."
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/calorie-calculator.html

georgie_lou

Thanks..gonna check it out. I eat when I'm hungry and try to eat as clean as possible. Maybe I'll up my nut intake and add some cruskits or something. I seem to be losing weight and I dont get headaches or dizzy or anything. Hmmmmm lol

jlohcook

you seems to be able to hit 1200 on last Sat and Sunday. Try balancing out your meal

you might want to load up on breakfast. I usually target 350-400 for breakfast, 400- 500 for lunch, 300-350 for dinner.

for snacks - Add in fruits and raw nuts - an apple is 60 cal for 100g. 10 Walnuts is 164 cal, or 10 raw almond is 70 cal. - as snacks of instead of burgers or fried chicken.

georgie_lou

you seems to be able to hit 1200 on last Sat and Sunday. Try balancing out your meal

you might want to load up on breakfast. I usually target 350-400 for breakfast, 400- 500 for lunch, 300-350 for dinner.

for snacks - Add in fruits and raw nuts - an apple is 60 cal for 100g. 10 Walnuts is 164 cal, or 10 raw almond is 70 cal. - as snacks of instead of burgers or fried chicken.

Yeah I had wedges on Sunday and the week before I think I had fish and chips lol. Yeah I could have more fruit. Ok...I'll work more into my diary and see how I go. Will I lose the same amount of weight? Or more over the long term?

Zalli

For some, the answer is fruit and nuts. For me, I fully enjoy the extra cream in my coffee...:)

tadpole242

How do you know if you're eating too few calories? I exercise lots and eat when I'm hungry but hardly ever get to 1200 calories. The only way I can think of doing this is by stopping at McDonalds on the way home and surely that cant be good for you? I dont want my body to go into starvation mode but dont know how few is too few. Check out my diary for ideas?

I know when I get light headed, and feel kind of "out of it" I know I have to eat, but don't go for the quick fix of peanut butter, I go for fibre rich food and protein, mainly cottage cheese on Riveta, or if I need a quick fix, I go for bacon.

KatyBugs1724

I can tell by how well I'm performing physically. I do gymnastics and when ive been eating too little, I can barely land skills I learned years ago! This would probably apply to any other physical activity as well.

laus_8882

When well-meaning strangers try and give you food. Hold out for cash.

Not sure how to put this delicately but... you're a big girl, you can lose weight eating a few hundred more calories. Personally I'd be asking myself "is this sustainable long term?" If it is then cool, go for broke. If not, make some adjustments.

lyndall5311

Could you try eating almond, avocado, feta, greek yoghurt - all are healthy and will give you those extra calories.

Another great way is smoothies, I'll have one with banana, berry yoghurt and milk and its about 200 cal - great for a snack.

georgie_lou

When well-meaning strangers try and give you food. Hold out for cash.

Not sure how to put this delicately but... you're a big girl, you can lose weight eating a few hundred more calories. Personally I'd be asking myself "is this sustainable long term?" If it is then cool, go for broke. If not, make some adjustments.

It's ok! I know I'm a big girl...that's why I'm here! Yeah...I'm just finding that I'm actually not hungry. I might add some more nuts and fruit in. I'm not struggling with any day to day activities and dont feel light headed or anything. I just dont want to jeapordize my long term goals by accidentially eating too little now if that makes sense. Then again...I dont want to do the same by adding in calories and not losing weight. You hear so much contrasting information on here!

georgie_lou

There...I just added in some more nuts, a banana and another hard boiled egg. I'm not hungry though and it feels kinda silly eating lol. Bodies are weeeeeeeird!

laus_8882

When well-meaning strangers try and give you food. Hold out for cash.

Not sure how to put this delicately but... you're a big girl, you can lose weight eating a few hundred more calories. Personally I'd be asking myself "is this sustainable long term?" If it is then cool, go for broke. If not, make some adjustments.

It's ok! I know I'm a big girl...that's why I'm here! Yeah...I'm just finding that I'm actually not hungry. I might add some more nuts and fruit in. I'm not struggling with any day to day activities and dont feel light headed or anything. I just dont want to jeapordize my long term goals by accidentially eating too little now if that makes sense. Then again...I dont want to do the same by adding in calories and not losing weight. You hear so much contrasting information on here!

Haha, awesome, I'm in the big girl category too so was hoping it didn't come off as too awful! Btw, had a look at your diary. What about adding seeds to your yoghurt and berries? A handful of pepitas or sunflower seeds would add some texture, a bit of extra taste, as well as plenty of nutrients, fibre, some protein and fat. And approximately 170 calories. You could also put an olive oil dressing on your salads and add a side of baked sweet potato to your evening meals.

As for long term goals... yeah, totally makes sense. You want to make sure that this time next year you're not back doing whatever it is that got you fat in the first place. I've done what you've done in the past and tbh it hasn't worked for me. But I'm obsessive and can go on binges that last weeks after celebrating a 20kg loss. That's what I meant about sustainable. My crazy diets were never sustainable and tended to result in binging. With a little bit of tweaking, though, I'd call what you're eating something that could be doable long term.

georgie_lou

[/quote]Haha, awesome, I'm in the big girl category too so was hoping it didn't come off as too awful! Btw, had a look at your diary. What about adding seeds to your yoghurt and berries? A handful of pepitas or sunflower seeds would add some texture, a bit of extra taste, as well as plenty of nutrients, fibre, some protein and fat. And approximately 170 calories. You could also put an olive oil dressing on your salads and add a side of baked sweet potato to your evening meals.

As for long term goals... yeah, totally makes sense. You want to make sure that this time next year you're not back doing whatever it is that got you fat in the first place. I've done what you've done in the past and tbh it hasn't worked for me. But I'm obsessive and can go on binges that last weeks after celebrating a 20kg loss. That's what I meant about sustainable. My crazy diets were never sustainable and tended to result in binging. With a little bit of tweaking, though, I'd call what you're eating something that could be doable long term.
[/quote]

Nah not awful at all! I usually have LSA in my smoothies but left it at work (duuuuh lol) So i'll add that back in. I think I'll keep exercising the way I am (coz I like the energy it gives me) and maybe strive to eat 1200....might leave the exercise calories alone. I guess its a matter of trial and error. If I start to notice a lull in weight loss I'll increase the calories a bit and see what happens.

rileysowner

There...I just added in some more nuts, a banana and another hard boiled egg. I'm not hungry though and it feels kinda silly eating lol. Bodies are weeeeeeeird!

Think of it this way, you didn't put on the weight because your body was properly processing the feelings for hunger and fullness, and that has not all of a sudden corrected itself. That is where using your higher functions, that is your brain, to eat an appropriate amount comes in. Also realize that long, endurance type exercise will often suppress appetite even though you do need to eat the food to provide the nutrients needed to keep you healthy. I have seen a bunch of people in my friends list who ate very little saying they were not hungry and that they only ate when hungry. In the long run they started to run into recurring illness because they were not getting sufficient micronutrients. For now, eat the calories you are supposed to even if that means eating when not hungry. Try using more calorie dense foods like nuts, nut butters, and the like to get those extra calories in.

chrisdavey

To put it into numbers, I'd estimate you're maintenance at the very minimum to be 2700cals so anything below that is a deficit. Losing weight too fast can be an issue which is why MFP only goes up to 2lbs/week. And even that can be too quick. (This happens to leaner individuals mainly) So if you were to eat you're 1200 and say 300 cals for exercise totallying 1500 you would still be in a 1200ish cal deficit so plenty of weight loss. I personally wouldn't want a cal deficit of over 1000/day for any substantial amount of time no matter how overweight the individual is.

Hope that helps

KeriW626

When well-meaning strangers try and give you food. Hold out for cash.

Not sure how to put this delicately but... you're a big girl, you can lose weight eating a few hundred more calories. Personally I'd be asking myself "is this sustainable long term?" If it is then cool, go for broke. If not, make some adjustments.

It's ok! I know I'm a big girl...that's why I'm here! Yeah...I'm just finding that I'm actually not hungry. I might add some more nuts and fruit in. I'm not struggling with any day to day activities and dont feel light headed or anything. I just dont want to jeapordize my long term goals by accidentially eating too little now if that makes sense. Then again...I dont want to do the same by adding in calories and not losing weight. You hear so much contrasting information on here!

I totally understand needing to eat more calories and not being hungry. Ive been so good at putting off eatting, I no longer get hungry. So I know have my phone set for meal times. I eat hungry feeling or not. I know if I do not meet that 1200 calorie min. Preferably 1400 per dr. I am going to dive right back into starvation mode. While I am doing pretty good at reaching the 1200 at this point. I may reach 1400 once a week. Have you set your BMR? I did that it tells me I need to eat 1680 calories. I dont think I will be able to reach that for a little while. I also eat pretty clean. I shoot for 350 to 400 calories each meal and a snack. I hope this helps you.

fteale

If you are eating too few calories, you will feel weak and hungry. If you don't feel that way, you aren't eating too little. There is no magic number.

bpwparents

I have issues doing this somedays too. One of my favorite ways to up my intake is having apple slices dipped in peanut butter. So yummy and I feel like I'm cheating because it feeds my sweet tooth. Skim milk helps too.

hollyNhollywood

For me--- one days I have not been hungry and need to get to my calorie goal, I will add nuts, avocados and cook with some extra virgin olive oil (or grapeseed oil). I've also drank a glass of unsweetened chocolate almond milk, or enjoyed a few apple slices with peanut butter.
I did also start up'ing my serving size just a bit on a few things... such as a little more of my egg whites, little bit more unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee.
But now I'm going to try and get into the habit of having a protein shake after my workouts.

Going to McDonalds shouldn't ever be the solution. You can get your calories in a healthy way.
Good luck :-)

amy1612

I would add some cold overnight soaked oats maybe to that yoghurt and fruit breakfast,along with some seeds. Advice on adding healthy filing foods such as nuts, avocados, etc are great

finchase

First, I am not going to lecture you about the need for hitting 1200 calories; it seems you already know this, anyway. Besides, there were several months there when I went through exactly the same thing. I was eating three meals a day plus healthy snacks, and I still wasn't consistently hitting 1200 calories. And I would find that I just wasn't hungry, and the more certain people scolded me about it, the more stubborn I became about not caring.

I'm a follower of the Abs Diet for Women, which advocates eating small-to-moderate portions of "power" foods from all the major food groups. It's not about counting calories at all, although you can if you want to. It helps me to count so that's why I found MFP. The main thrust of this diet is that you don't have to count calories if you do eat sensibly from these power groups because you will feel more full and naturally cut back. I think that actually works because I find it very difficult to exceed my daily calorie goal when I eat healthy. Vegetables and fruits are naturally lower in calorie and higher in nutrional value than anything processed. What I had to do was eat more of the healthy foods that pack a little more caloric punch, such as almonds (1 ounce or 24 nuts is about 180 calories) but it's high in protein and good fat. Grapes are fairly high calorie (1 cup is about 110 calories) but it's high carbs which I always seem to be low on. I've also just tried to eat more servings of vegetables.

Based on my experience, this may be a passing phase for you. I'm now about 18 months in my program, and I seem to have no problem exceeding 1200 calories. My daily exercise work is very high so my body is craving more food. I've learned not to stress about the extra calories, and try to eat what I need--but I still try to eat healthy!

Having said that, I'm going to a Greek buffet for lunch today, so my calorie goal is out the door, as is the "healthy" part!