Calorie counting struggles - low end
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ShannonKN
Posts: 152 Member
I'm new here and would love some advice. I'm using the calorie tracker, and I'm feeling a little frustrated. Because I have a sedentary job, my baseline goal from MFP is 1200 calories per day to lose 1 lb per week. I feel like I'm starving, despite intentionally trying to pump up my high volume-low calorie foods and protein. I feel weaker when exercising, and some of my exercise calorie "credits" seem low (working up a sweat shoveling snow for 25 minutes the other day only credited me with ~120 calories, about the same as I got for a 30 minute walk with my dog). I'm already making excuses that the numbers are wrong and I should be able to eat more, but it could just be my body adjusting to the new system. Is this normal? What do you guys do?
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1200 is low unless you are very small or very large. Have you seen the roadmap? Figured out your BMR and TDEE? Bad news if you are already small, the calories burned are probably right--we don't burn a lot. Most of the exercise calories are actually kind of high for me--I have a BodyMedia that tells me what I burn for activity and it's almost always much lower than MFP, but I'm older than you are.
Search for the roadmap in the forums, read the original post, figure your BMR and TDEE, then decide if 1200 is really right for you. It was too low for me.0 -
Bummer. My numbers were already based on TDEE. I tried a couple of different calculators to see if it made much difference, but the only real change I found came from the extent to which a calculator tried to guesstimate my calories burned via generalized workouts. I'm on the small side to begin with, so perhaps I should lower my goal to 0.5 lbs per week loss? Any favorite filling low-cal foods you can recommend?0
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Which calculator did you use? What are your stats? I'm 5'3", 47 and 119 lbs and maintain on about 1950 - I am moderately active.
I am also really close to my goal so I am only cutting 10% off my maintenance calories to see a very steady slow loss.0 -
If your TDEE is only 1700, you need to exercise more. Or you are small enough already. Mine's about 2200, and I'm 5'3" 112 and 47 yrs. old.
Sorry, I don't eat low cal anything. Try full fat versions of dairy? The full fat versions are more filling, altho I have a hard time finding full fat Greek yogurt where I am. Even the 2% is pretty filling, tho. I also try to avoid overdoing carbs, because that makes me hungrier. Try to eat as much protein and fat as you can stand, then fill in with veggies and fruit which are naturally lower in calories than processed carbs.0 -
Thanks for the ideas! Based on your comment on exercising more, I wonder if I am misunderstanding the TDEE a little. I am entering my values based on having a very sedentary job sitting behind a desk to get a daily baseline. I am logging my exercise separately on top of that to "earn" additional calories that I can eat throughout the day. Today, for instance, my TDEE was ~1700, minus 500 to bring me to a 1200 target consumption. I just got back from a run where I burned 460 (per Endomondo), so I am increasing my target intake for the day to 1660. Is this incorrect? This is my first time trying to consciously keep track of these things, so it is entirely possible that I misunderstood something.
As for my stats: I am 5'4", 130 lbs, 32 years old, and have a sedentary job. I exercise regularly, but have that outside of the TDEE calculation as described above. My body fat % is around 27%, in the "acceptable" but not "fit" range. The MFP, Scooby's, and FitnessFrog's calculators both put my TDEE around 1700.0 -
I ran your numbers and I think your TDEE is correct - but your BMR is 1350-ish. I would suggest working with a smaller calorie deficit for your goal. It's tough when you're already fairly small and don't have much of a range to work with. I have the same challenge. You don't want to be eating under your BMR though!0
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Also, instead of trying to count all the calories you burn, you could probably consider yourself light-moderately active - which would up your TDEE quite a bit.0
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Typically you don't eat exercise calories back using TDEE because the exercise is figured in. So you shouldn't use sedentary unless you don't exercise at all, but I suppose it works fine to do it the way you are so long as your exercise numbers are accurate. I figure my TDEE between very and extremely active because I move around at work and workout 5 days a week. That has worked for me.
That said, I agree with ShmoozyQ that you should probably adjust to .5 lbs. per week and make sure you don't eat under your BMR.
Additionally, if you still want to use Endomodo to count your calories, might want to consider that it's not particularly accurate and not eat them all.0 -
I'm finally at goal, but even at 1200 calories, the last 5 pounds was slow going. The exercise calories helped a lot ( I don't think you get enough credit for shoveling snow...that's hard work!) On maintenance, I only get 1410 calories pre-exercise.
I'm 121 lbs., 5'4", so any exercise helps!0 -
Thanks, guys! I appreciate your help. I changed my goals to -0.5 lbs per week to make sure my daily caloric balance is over my BMR. I'll see how that goes, and if I have to make more changes. I think I'll keep my exercise outside of the TDEE calculation for now since that can vary a great deal day to day and week to week, so it's hard to reliably upgrade my average daily activity levels in the calculation. I'll keep in mind that endomondo tends to return high numbers -- thanks for the tip!!0
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On maintenance, I only get 1410 calories pre-exercise.
I'm 121 lbs., 5'4", so any exercise helps!
really?
i am 5ft5 and 126 and i was losing on net 1600.
have you tried eating more?0 -
What are you eating normally? If its only salad, that makes me always hungry. I tried that before. Check out on foods with lower calories, but dense and make you feel full, eg, oats, potatoes, brown rice etc.
And yes, being small, 0.5 pound per week is just right, and it might even be slower esp if you don't have much to lose.0 -
Agree. I'm 5'3", 111, and my maintenance calories are 1710 before exercise. I usually eat at least 2000 per day except on very lazy days.On maintenance, I only get 1410 calories pre-exercise.
I'm 121 lbs., 5'4", so any exercise helps!
really?
i am 5ft5 and 126 and i was losing on net 1600.
have you tried eating more?0 -
Also, I find that the activity calculators here aren't accurate.. if you want to, you can think about investing in a HRM. My burn is a lot higher for certain activities (Zumba, boxing, etc) but dead on for others (treadmills, ellipticals, etc).0
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If you're sticking to 1200 (I do that), up your protein and fat grams within the calorie limit - really helps keeping you full. Tuna is your friend
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I think 1200 is really low! I also think most calculators give you quite low numbers. I started with the advise from a fitness magasin: if you weight between 9-10 stones you should eat between 1500-1700 daily calories, 10-11 1700-1900 and so on... It works for me. Actually, when I try to stay too low, I feel extremely hungry and don't lose as much weight as when I eat a bit more (healthy food, not just fat and sugar). I find it easier not to add my exercise calories unless it was like a huge thing! At least running! My advise (if the calories I suggested doesn't work), you should weight in, eat your normal things for a week (and count them!) and then weight again. Hopefully you didn't gain any weight (because normally you're just maintaining your current weight) and then you can cut calories from that number. I've suggested this before and worked like a charm!
Another tip is don't exercise the first week. I'm too hungry during the first week! The next week is easier and I feel more energetic. Listen to your body!0 -
I eat less than 1500 calories a day, and swim about 2h, with about 1h dryland, 5-6 times a week, usually totalling about 15h exercise per week, and only sometimes lose weight. If I eat more than 1600, still exercising, I tend to gain weight. Maybe the OP is like me and had a really low BMR.
Frankly though, I love food, so having to eat this little is constant struggle. It's not usually that I am hungry, but that I would love to live on a see-food-eat-food diet.0 -
Tuna's definetly your friend & so are peppers when you're craving something crunchy or salted cucumber slices when you need salty. Also make sure you're drinking a Lot of water. :drinker:If you're sticking to 1200 (I do that), up your protein and fat grams within the calorie limit - really helps keeping you full. Tuna is your friend0 -
I am doing this diet from hell (Called Military diet, for some reason) and I get about 900 cals per day... I wanted something that showed results fast, but this is ridiculous.
Having said that, I found that tuna is really filling and egg whites as well... Those two foods have helped me cope with this diet for the past 3 days, so I guess I'll keep my calorie count lower than advised in this website (1300).
As for excersice, try doing some muscle building one. Work your abs or your legs but without so much cardio. You won't get as tired, and you'll be building muscle instead of burning cals.
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I am doing this diet from hell (Called Military diet, for some reason) and I get about 900 cals per day... I wanted something that showed results fast, but this is ridiculous.
Having said that, I found that tuna is really filling and egg whites as well... Those two foods have helped me cope with this diet for the past 3 days, so I guess I'll keep my calorie count lower than advised in this website (1300).
As for excersice, try doing some muscle building one. Work your abs or your legs but without so much cardio. You won't get as tired, and you'll be building muscle instead of burning cals.
Cottage cheese is really helpful as well when trying to do less calories. If you can stomach it, it's really filling.0
