Under calorie goal

EHisCDN

Hi everyone!
I've been having trouble reaching my calorie goal. I never once thought this would be a problem for me! Actually, I thought it would be the exact opposite. Is it too horrible if I'm under 1200 net calories on a regular basis? For instance yesterday I was like 400ish under but I actually ate over 1500 calories. Will this hurt me in the long term or speed up my weight loss? I've heard about the starvation mode your body can go into and I definitely don't want that to happen. I also don't want to be negatively affecting my health.
I've been exercising on a regular basis and I eat when I'm hungry. I've actually been so full from what I've eaten that I don't think I could eat more. Plus I feel like my exercise calories are being overestimated and my food calories underestimated so I like to be a bit under just as a buffer. Maybe my mentality is wrong? I eat when I'm hungry so I don't feel deprived. But I feel like eating when I'm full is counter-intuitive and how I got stuck in this position in the first place.

Wondering what your thoughts are.

Thanks!

FaerieCae

Bump

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

What were you eating before you started losing weight? Those foods were probably pretty high calorie. Eat some of those foods. You can also use things like full fat dairy, nuts, nut butters, avocados, olive oil, etc. to get some extra calories in for a small volume of food.

Requiembell

It is hard to know. How do you calculate what you burn and how do you calculate what you eat?

Also, everyone has a different body. 1200 calories is very low, but you could possibly be good at 1000 if you have the body fat to burn and feel full.

The correct next move is to check your calorie calculations to make sure you are not going wrong.

EHisCDN

Before starting to lose weight I was actually a pretty healthy eater, I'm not a huge fan of processed food and I love to cook for myself from scratch. My biggest problem was portion control.

I calculate what I burn and eat using the values on MFP. Should I go to a separate site to get a more accurate amount? The thing is I'm trying to make this a healthier lifestyle so I don't want to obsess over every single thing I eat because I feel like that isn't sustainable.

Requiembell

MFP is pretty darn good. It has the same numbers as livestrong and others so lets just assume that you are doing it right.

The next question is ... Is it working? ie. are you achieving the goals you expect? (within reason)

If the answer is yes, keep doing what you are doing until it stops working.

EHisCDN

I've lost about 4lbs in 2 weeks. I have a really small sample size so I feel like should try not to jump to conclusions. I was just worried about long term health benefits.

Does being 5'1 factor into anything?

atthebeach08

I have trouble understanding why everyone keeps saying 1200 calories are too low.MFP sets that goal for us and not the other way around.I started out at 1270 and once I reached the 15 pound loss and set 10 more pounds to lose MFP set me at 1240 calories. 400 under is something I never do unless it is exercise calories.I sometimes have trouble eating them all back but still losing very slowly and lost 25 inches.Just don't go under that far so often.

Requiembell

I've lost about 4lbs in 2 weeks. I have a really small sample size so I feel like should try not to jump to conclusions. I was just worried about long term health benefits.

Does being 5'1 factor into anything?

So far, it sounds perfect. Fine tune as you see fit, but working is working.

Long term problems only happen when you starve long term. You have the body, metabolism, diet to make this work, then it works. Once you hit target weight, then you re-evaluate.