Doing something wrong. Help

mommy2ans

It's only 1:00pm and i only have 444 calories left for the rest of the day.

I have never publicized (sp) my food before bc i don't keep up with a it often. But i decided to do so today and start keeping up with it. Obviously, i am using the wrong choice in snacks? I guess i need help know things like what would be the general caloric intake for each meal? What are good snacks, etc.

Also...how in the world can the sodium allowance be so high? 2500 a day in sodium SEEMS like a lot to me?

Help? :ohwell:

Lconsla

actually, when you start logging your foods and notice the real sodium content in foods, 2500 is very little. I could double that in a day if i'm not careful.

Jaulen

go ahead and take a look at my diary. It's public, so you can see what I eat.

Adn 2500 mg of sodium is low.....I go at or above a lot of days....

Heck, if you go out to eat you can hit your daily sodium allotment in one meal!
Also, eating processed foods and meats really ups the sodium intake.

rahlpn

Instead of a Nutrigrain bar you can have a 90-100 calorie granola bar. The almonds are OK. Try light low fat yogurt 60-70calories. Mini babybell cheese 70 calories. Quakes rice cake snacks 80 calories per serving or popchips which I believe are similar but don't taste as good. Low fat cottage cheese 90 cal per 1/2 cup. Fresh fruit (bananas, apples, berries) or frozen fruit (I like to pack frozen fruit in the morning and it's thawed by snack time. You can even have coffee with splenda and sugar free creamer for a mid morning snack. Cheese sticks. Carrot sticks or celery sticks with low fat/low cal peanut butter.

AngInCanada

Your calories are also quite low....unless your under 5'. I'd try out some calorie counter websites and see. You can probably even up to 1500+

demorelli

If you add a little exercise (maybe 20 minutes of walking/running intervals) you'll get 100-200 extra calories added back into your budget. Also you might consider manually adjusting the number of calories in your daily goal up to 1300 depending on how fast you're trying to lose weight.

ChristyRunStarr

How did you get your 1200 calories? Did you just do what MFP says and 2 pounds per week for lose? I'm 30 and I eat more than you and have enough calories to get through the day. Check this out: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Edited to add in: your food choices seems ok for the most part, just the calories for the day, is what's low

cnelson1974

400 is still a lot imho. Have seasoned chicken breast and 4 cups of salad mix (go easy on the dressing). Chop up an apple or orange and 1 oz of roasted (no salt) almonds to go in your salad.

xxvogue

I'm just gonna' say I think your calories are too low. Check out Christy's link, or check here: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. I'm 5'1 and aim for between 1700-1900 calories a day now, and I feel sooo much better than when I was starving myself on 1200 a day (and yes, plenty of people have lost weight like this!)

dmkoenig

So I'm no nutritionist but the things that jump out at me are a lot of the foods you are eating are high in carbs and relatively low in protein. I'm also not seeing a lot of fiber. Even the chicken soup has lots of carbs (noodles I'm guessing) and very little actual meat. Protein and fiber tend to leave you much more satisfied and feeling full so try to shift your eating over to protein and minimize eating carbs, especially the high glycemic ones since they give raise your blood sugar considerably which often ends up as fat. As far as fiber goes, I find apples (pectin) to be one of the most satifying foods in terms of feeling filled up so I typically eat one every day as a mid-afternoon snack to get me through the day to dinner. Finally, exercise is absolutely key, especially if you have a young one to have to run after. A few minutes of calisthenics while you're on the floor playing around and watching TV, and even parking your car further away in the parking lot and taking stairs, going on a 30 minute walk etc. all add up.

Mischievous_Rascal

How did you get your 1200 calories? Did you just do what MFP says and 2 pounds per week for lose? I'm 30 and I eat more than you and have enough calories to get through the day. Check this out: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Edited to add in: your food choices seems ok for the most part, just the calories for the day, is what's low

^^^ This!!! I try and average 1525 cals/day, plus exercise calories.

TheRealPDouble

unless you sit on your butt all day and do NOT workout ever... your caloric allowance is too low...

bcattoes

If you log your exercise, MFP will automatically increase the number of calories you should eat. Do some exercise and earn more calories for dinner.

Firefox7275

Your sodium is high because you are eating a lot of processed foods that salt is added to - bread, bacon, cheese and canned soups are all on the list of foods to limit IIRC. Eat more food that hasn't been messed about with, stuff that has one or two ingredients or that you have prepared yourself.

1200 calories a day is low, if you are very petite and need to be that low to lose half a pound a week or to maintain you will need to regiment your diet more to make it healthy and balanced. The easiest way is to pick foods that give you a lot of bang for your buck or supply a wide range of different nutrients: foods like low sugar fruits, non starchy vegetables, oily fish, certain dairy products and seeds (tree nuts are often not as high in minerals).

There is no fruit or vegetables whatsoever listed for today - many are very low in calories and large in volume, you should be having seven to nine servings a day in the full rainbow of colours for health. Also only had perhaps half a serving towards your three servings a day of reduced fat dairy: cottage cheese, fat free Greek yoghurt and low fat soft cheese are all fairly light on calories. Calcium from dairy has been linked with lower body fat in research. You could easily have a massive plate of bright and dark coloured vegetables plus some low fat dairy for your remaining calories.

jesspi68

I use the Fat2Fit BMR calculator or the Scooby BMR calculator. Generally eat around 1850 - 2000 cals per day to lose.

rob1976

I took a peek. 1200 calories is pretty low unless you are very active and earning calories back from exercise. I'd suggest working out and eating your exercise calories.

melaniecheeks

If you're on 1200 calories a day, that's roughly 300 each for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. It's doable, with a bit of planning.

400 or so for dinner is fine.

emailishare

I agree with those who've already suggested you go back to your profile to make sure it's set up correctly -- with your actual height, weight, lifestyle (sedentary vs. active tec), and weight loss goals (1 lb/week. 0.5lb/week etc.)

1200 calories is the absolute minimum in MyFitnessPal. Any lower and you'd be starving for nutrients and not healthy. And, as you're finding now, it's nearly impossible stick to at that level.

So unless you're crash-dieting to fit into a wedding dress in 4 weeks, reset your profile so that your goals are more gradual and sustainable.

Also, exercise. Just walk for 35-40 minutes and you get another 100 calories! On days when I run a few miles in the park, MFP allots me a few HUNDRED more calories. Party time!

Careful with the nuts. They have healthy oils and they fill you up, but they do have a lot of calories for their size. I carry a snack in my gym bag: exactly 6 almonds. It's less than 50 calories and takes the edge off of hunger, but I don't end up having eaten 170 calories in just a few chomps.

Lean proteins and fresh veggies are the secret. I've had success following a recipe for lean turkey "muffins" by a trainer named Jamie Eason (Google her). I keep them in my fridge as a low cal, high protein snack I can grab instead of nutrigrain bars. Also, her recipes for pumpkin protein bars and other home-baked "bars" are awesome. Cheaper, healthier, and lower-cal than the snack bars that come wrapped in cellophane.

I have found success also with planning out my meals in MFP in advance, when I am not hungry. It's easier to make choices when you're not hungry and stick to them, than to have to figure out what to eat when you're hungry and your judgment may be weaker.

As for the sodium, 2500 seems a bit high, but not crazy. The RDA max for a 2000 calorie diet is 2400. Again, if you allow MFP to set your own goals based on an accurate self-profile it should be ok.

You can see where the sodium is coming from in your diet. Try to buy low-sodium versions. Or, for soup, I like to cook up a huge pot at home (where YOU control the sodium), divide it into portions in ziplock baggies and freeze them. I even enter the recipes into my MFP recipes tab, so I can just pop the portion into my diary from the recipes list whenever I grab a bag and microwave it (do not microwave the bag! peel off the bag and put the whole icy soup-sicle into a bowl first!)