MFP: "You are eating too few calories..."

Chinadorian

sidenote: I do eat back about half or all of my workout calories. I rarely come in under 1400 and even more rarely do under 1200. I workout so I can eat and lose.

Shua89

Every single day. I try to hit my 1200 calories but I typically end up hitting between 1000 and 1200. I do not eat my exercise calories back.

My calories are set to 1200 exactly so if go even one calorie over then it tells me I'm over my calorie limit. I just haven't been able to hit 1200 exactly to make MFP happy yet.

JHoelck0928

Considering my 1-2 lb weight loss a week I assume I am taking in the proper amount of calories, even if its a little less some days. Oh and i don't ever eat back the calories I burn, I didn't know it had to be that way :ohwell:

Two points:
1) Wouldn't the whole process be better if you could lose 1-2 lbs/wk and eat like 500 more calories more (I have no idea the actual numbers, but the fact that you're getting the message suggests that it's less than 1200, and lots of women, lots, lose around 1600 cals/day)
2) You might be losing a higher than desirable % of muscle mass. The problem with that is that when people lose a high % of muscle mass, they get to goal weight and still look doughy. Most people should be trying to lose as high as possible a % of fat, and for that, smaller calorie deficits work better.

^^^^^^^ They are 100% correct!!! Eating more than that will benefit you in the long run!

malery06

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I get full. I eat as much as i like throughout the day, if i feel hungry I eat. Sometimes i reach my 1200 calories but a lot of the times I don't. Towards the end of the day I notice I didn't consume my required amount and I start rambling through the fridge trying to find a few things to snack on. The question is should I eat (for the sake of my recommended daily calorie intake)even if I'm not hungry?

Could you maybe open up your diary so that we can see it and provide some ideas to add some calories? It is silly to eat more if you are legitimately not hungry. I find that adding in fuller fat foods (cheese, milk, yogurt, nuts etc) helps add more calories without
the extra volume...make sense?

I just opened up my food diary...a little fyi my food choice isn't super duper healthy I'm still learning, but I haves made a drastic change, I always ate junk!

malery06

I dnt breasted but i see what you mean.
It's so different for everyone

since you are breastfeeding and have kids to take care of (you have 2?), it may be better to visit the breasfeeding mamas forum and see what other ladies are doing to lose weight while BFing...
Your goals may have to take a little longer than you thought to reach but for the sake of your future health (and if there are othe rkiddos in your future) you want to make this a healthy weight loss not just a "lose weight as fast as possible so you dont have to wear mom jeans for 10 years" kind of thing.
My sister has been breastfeeding for about three years now (2 babies back to back) and when she does Weight Watchers after pregnancy the amount of food she eats compared to what I eat, even when Im working out hardcore, is ridiculous! She will eat a truckload of food, and STILL lose more lbs and inches than I would in our weekly weigh ins. When you are breastfeeding, you need extra everything as far as nutrients go. You're feeding you and the babe...so dont be uncomfortable eating more than you feel you needed to before. Your "Before" wont come fast and wont come easy if you are not eating at least 1200 cals a day. (((insert everyone else's scientifically backed up statements on why eating at least 1200- and thats without breasfeeding or exercise- is essential)))

good luck! and congrats on your babygirl

malery06

I used to get that message daily back when I first started on MFP almost a year ago. I was set up for 1200 calories and thought even better if I can do 800-1000. I lost weight fast too. I was also constipated, tired, hungry, edgy, my hair was very dry and thin and I was skinny fat. I had calipers done and found out that everything I lost was muscle and I actually gained fat. At that point, I started reading a lot and educating myself and it was scary to get over the hump and get it through my head that I needed to eat more if I want to do it the right way. I may even gain a few lbs before it all gets straightened out, and I have - and it's all lean body mass. I friended a lot of people that posted about eating more, I joined the eat more 2 weigh less group and I dumped any low calorie eating friends. I have surrounded myself with very knowledgable, very supportive friends (some that have responded in this thread) that typically eat more than I do and it helps so...much mentally. When I ate only 1000 calories, if I had a cheat day, I would gain 3 lbs in water weight the next day. What happens is your metabolism slows to the level you are eating, so you are stuck eating less and less to lose because your body doesn't know when it's going to get enough food. The path I chose was to gradually raise my calories and it has not happened without gaining a few lbs a long the way...but now I can eat 2000 calories in a day and the scale stays the same. I never in my life thought this would be a possibility. All of those issues I had before are gone. I have lots of energy to run, lift heavy weights and then some. I know it's hard to grasp, but as so many people told me...it works.

oh wow. Thanks for your post, its got me thinking now.

reptilegrrl

Unless you have a medical condition (as I said above) if you eat over your total daily energy expenditure you gain. If you eat under the amount of energy you expend you don't. Assuming they were eating over their TDEE rountinely to gain weight would not be an erroneous assumption at all. We became overweight because we put more energy into our bodies than we could use.

Then how do you explain the people who lose or maintain weight while eating enormous amounts of fatty foods? Or those who gain weight while eating very little? People are metabolically different (see Roger Williams's work on Biochemical Individuality) and not all calories are metabolized the same way. There is also the fact that if you eat too far below your energy use, you gain weight because your metabolism slows.

I don't know what "we" you are talking about, but I am not included in it, and I am sure I am not the only one.

reptilegrrl

I dnt breasted but i see what you mean.
It's so different for everyone

Honestly, this might be an issue. During pregnancy our bodies prepare to breastfeed, then all that DHA-rich fat feeds a baby's brain. In the absence of breastfeeding, your body isn't sure what to do with that fat. You've thwarted the mechanism that your body had in place for losing weight.

msbunnie68

Unless you have a medical condition (as I said above) if you eat over your total daily energy expenditure you gain. If you eat under the amount of energy you expend you don't. Assuming they were eating over their TDEE rountinely to gain weight would not be an erroneous assumption at all. We became overweight because we put more energy into our bodies than we could use.

Then how do you explain the people who lose or maintain weight while eating enormous amounts of fatty foods? Or those who gain weight while eating very little? People are metabolically different (see Roger Williams's work on Biochemical Individuality) and not all calories are metabolized the same way. There is also the fact that if you eat too far below your energy use, you gain weight because your metabolism slows.

I don't know what "we" you are talking about, but I am not included in it, and I am sure I am not the only one.

1) the fatty foods people - it's not the type of calories they eat it is a combination of the calories in vs energy out. If they are eating truckloads of fatty foods and not gaining then they either have a medical issue or they burn the calories off. Not the most healthiest of lifestyles but not what we are debating.
2) gaining while eating very little - again energy in vs energy out. Very little could be small amounts of calorie dense foods. For example, I would gain weight if all I ate daily was one jar of peanut butter. One jar, not a lot of food but a butt load of kilojoules/calories. About 2 x my maintenance calories in fact.
3) Yes, people are metabolically different in that they burn calories/kilojoules at differing rates etc but one thing is true: we all burn calories and we all need to eat/injest energy to be able to burn calories.
4) Prolonged eating below your energy use slows your metabolic rate. If you get to the point where this is causing a weight gain then you have created a medical issue yes? I did mention that apart from medical conditions.
5) Really? You are not tracking weightloss as well as your food? Your ticker says otherwise. So join us in the 'we'. Yes 'we' who are trying to lose weight have put too much fuel (more than likely inadvertantly or unknowingly or being not as clued up on nutrition as we can be) into our bodies and now 'we' are trying to fix our issues (weight/sugar levels/cholesterol levels whatever). This site is about taking control of our own selves and getting some better information as to what goes into and on in our bodies. So come join me on the proverbial couch with some air popped popcorn (logged of course) and cruise the forums for snippets and hints before we hit the gym.