Minimum Calories?

hilliardjoe

I've been eating primal since Jan 1 and have become much more aware of how my body reacts to food and how much I've been eating.

One thing lately I've noticed is that I'm not eating a lot but I am not hungry either.

Is there a minimum amount of calories I should be eating?

The way I figure it is that I shouldn't eat if I'm not hungry, even if that means I'm only eating 1300 calories that day. Seems that the more fat I eat the less food I want to eat.

Or should there be some minimum calorie target I should be shooting for?

momof2osaurus

I started tracking my (paleo) calories about 5 days ago because I was eating strict paleo and not losing any weight - not real likely. I figured out pretty quickly that I was only eating about 1000 calories a day, and then working out on top of it. I was netting 750-800 calories, which would explain why my body freaked out and stopped losing weight.

If you search the forums for TDEE/BMR, you'll find a ton of posts about how to figure out the minimum you should be eating. There's a great calculator here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I'm trying to work my way up to that, but I'm also not going to ignore my hungry cues and eat just to fill up calories. I think that way leads to badness too!

Shadowknight137

I've been eating primal since Jan 1 and have become much more aware of how my body reacts to food and how much I've been eating.

One thing lately I've noticed is that I'm not eating a lot but I am not hungry either.

Is there a minimum amount of calories I should be eating?

The way I figure it is that I shouldn't eat if I'm not hungry, even if that means I'm only eating 1300 calories that day. Seems that the more fat I eat the less food I want to eat.

Or should there be some minimum calorie target I should be shooting for?

I'm assuming you already set your calorie goal for weight loss, yes?

In which case: that is your minimum calorie goal. Not less than that, regardless if you work out or not, you will lose weight with that number. Eating less is detrimental to your LBM. Despite what you may think, eating too less is actually detrimental if you want a majority of that lost weight to be body fat and not muscle mass.

divemunkey

Once your body gets used to burning fat, it will ask you for more protein and you will get cravings, or at least hungrier. I know for the first couple months I had little appetite, but that changed. I eat lots more now, and I get hungrier during the day than I did a first. If you don't,you might be a great candidate for intermittent fasting, and only eat once a day.

hilliardjoe

Ok, thanks for the replies.

I'll try to up my food intake. I'm pretty sure I need to add more fat to what I am eating.

I've recently rediscovered real butter and forgot how delicious it is.

As far as intermittent fasting goes I've found it easy to not eat from breakfast until dinner, which is about 9.5 - 10 hours most weekdays. I consider this great because it means all my eating is at home and I don't have to worry about getting crappy food at work.