Full even below 1200 calories

ladyraven68

I am the same, I don't try to meet my 1200 calorie goal which MFP has generated for me. From what I log I eat around 600-800 a day, occasionally go up to around 1000 on weekends but that is all.

I will eat only when I am hungry, I don't pay attention to how many calories are in the food, I eat healthy foods which I enjoy.

I say if your not hungry, don't force yourself to eat just to meet a certain number. If you are hungry, then eat. If you want to eat 1200 a day then eat higher calorie foods if that is what you are wanting to do, but just see how you feel. No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy. Could always give it a go, and your appetite might increase

You also need a certain amount of daily nutrients, which I doubt you are getting from just 600-800 a day.

GaloisGirl

Think not just calories, but nutrients. Read up a bit about what the body needs fats and proteins and other stuff for. Sure you can drink sweet soda and get loads of calories but I don't think that's the point.

Below are my suggestions (but I'm no dietitian):

Have veggies for the vitamins and minerals, with an olive oil dressing for the healthy fats.

Have fruit!

Have dairy that contains fat (without fat, one cannot absorb vitamins A and D).

Nuts are super rich in nutrients.

I love making nutritious shakes in my blender, for instance banana + peanut butter + some sweetened yoghourt. Some people put protein powder in theirs.

I also love to use up my calories on wine, but I'd focus on the nutrients first.

emmajane2211

Steer clear of the weight watchers stuff. In order for it to be low calorie they put artificial stuff in it, that would help up your calories. How about banana on granary toast for breakfast, even a Heinz soup for lunch (homemade would be ideal), then chicken or fish with sweet potato and veggies for dinner?

I have a little Salter scale that I weigh out my portions and it surprises me how little a serving is, if I were you I'd have an extra half serving of pasta or something to help add in calories. Nuts are a great suggestion for snacks.

From what I've learned from this site, long term eating under 1000 calories will end up slowing your metabolism down and I'm sure that's the last thing you want to do.

Good luck!

I do normally eat properly. This week Iv had stupid days at work so the weightwatchers has been more convenient for me. Id like to stress I don't do it all the time.

JesterMFP

That's what I'm like I feel sick of I eat when I feel full and im under the impression that if your full you shouldn't eat anymore! . What shall I do just stick at it?

Whether or not your feel full is not a reliable indication of whether you should eat more or not. You don't feel hungry because your hormonal responses are messed up from eating so little for so long. Your body is no longer sending your brain hunger signals. On the flip side, there are lots of obese people who eat way more than they should, and yet still feel ravenous all the time. Read up on the long term effects of not eating enough, and then instead of "listening to your body", let your brain start making the decisions. Most people who struggle with their weight over the long term cannot rely on their bodies to tell them when to start or stop eating.

A lot of people have the problem of feeling full on low calories, but the good news is that if you can consistently eat more, you should find that your appetite returns. Further good news is that you don't have to stuff yourself with a large volume of food to meet your calorie goal. Aim for foods that are calorie dense, in particular things that are higher in fat. Fat is not bad for you. Some examples are cheese, eggs, dark chocolate, nuts, nut butters, seeds, and avocados. Switch to full fat products instead of the reduced fat or "lite" versions. Stop eating things like Weight Watchers foods. You're trying to eat more calories, so it's illogical to eat foods that are designed to be lower in calories. Spread a little butter on your seeded bun. Have a salad, and add some dressing made with olive oil. Add a little oil to your cooking. You'll soon find the calories add up. You can also drink your calories in the form of milk, nut milk, smoothies and protein shakes.

I know a lot of people struggle with this, but looking at your diary, it's really not normal to feel full on such little food. It's not like you're eating mountains of vegetables to fill you up, you're actually eating a small volume of food too. Perhaps this is more psychological than anything else. You said you got overweight by eating the "wrong things". Try to stop looking at foods as "good" or "bad". Food isn't the enemy. If you widen your perception of what foods are acceptable, then you'll also have a lot more options for upping your calories. If you continue to struggle with this, it might be worth considering some professional counselling, or talking to your doctor. You are already at risk for various health problems eating this way, not to mention further damage to your metabolism. Don't let this spiral into something more serious.

Bloomsday

That's what I'm like I feel sick of I eat when I feel full and im under the impression that if your full you shouldn't eat anymore! . What shall I do just stick at it?

If you're new to this, as you say, I bet it will all even out shortly. Participating in this online community, where getting to a specific number of calories, can make you feel like you're doing it all wrong or all right depending where you net out at the end of the day. I'd say listen to you body and I'm sure as time goes on things will change.

A lot of people on here write that when they first start they are full at a low number of calories. Maybe it's just because they get "locked into" a lower-than-usual number ... but, this isn't so odd when you first start.

Having said that, a bazillion people not in your body are going to tell you you're doing it all wrong and question your experience of you. They're well-meaning. Annoying, but well-meaning. Do what works for you, and re-evaluate after a week or so. It's all a journey.

JesterMFP

I am the same, I don't try to meet my 1200 calorie goal which MFP has generated for me. From what I log I eat around 600-800 a day, occasionally go up to around 1000 on weekends but that is all.

I will eat only when I am hungry, I don't pay attention to how many calories are in the food, I eat healthy foods which I enjoy.

I say if your not hungry, don't force yourself to eat just to meet a certain number. If you are hungry, then eat. If you want to eat 1200 a day then eat higher calorie foods if that is what you are wanting to do, but just see how you feel. No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy. Could always give it a go, and your appetite might increase

This is really bad advice.

FATJAKE5

Short answer: you eat processed junk food.
1. No water
2. No Lean meat (Home Cooked)
3. No Fresh Veggies (Raw, Steamed or Boiled)

You are not going to fix this over night, so be patient.
I start out my day with 1/2 cup+ a pinch of "Quaker Oats 100% Natural Whole Grain Old Fashioned Oatmeal". Add 1 cup water for 2 minutes in the microwave, Add 1/2 cup fresh blueberries or diced apple or sliced banana mashed down into the oatmeal. Microwave 1 additional minute then let it sit a few minutes. thickens it up so it is chewy. For the sweet tooth occasionally add a spoonful of Equal classic. Add 28 grams of almonds for a total of 351 calories. You havent even had a drink yet.

Use the "search" feature for "35 Quick Low-Calorie Lunches", they will be high for you. They all sound delicious to me. This weekend we are going to get the stuff to make one of them for a week, then another and another. It will take over 8 months to try them all, which should get us to our goals.

You can do this! There are some really intelligent people on MFP who have made an art and science out of fitness. When you read threads which apply to you, you will see the same folks on them. time after time. I believe they do truly enjoy helping others and will help you.

Stay the Course

pcastagner

Bacteria outnumber human cells in and around your body by a factor of 10 to 1. How you process food is partially "you" and partially a cast of characters populating your gut. When a stool sample from a healthy and fit person is compared to the stool sample from and obese person with a junk food diet, there are very significant differences, so much so that it is starting to look like a chicken and egg kind of question.

I would do my best to simply eat according to the numbers and as clean as possible, but not too far past the point of discomfort. Also try to incorporate fermented foods, for instance kimchee, unpasteurized sauerkraut, yogurt, salami, natto, etc... If you eat beans or brown rice, give them a very long soak with changes of water before cooking so that they are more accessible to your gut flora.

TavistockToad

No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy.

What if it makes you healthy?

I don't 'want' to eat healthy foods, I want to eat junk and fatty stuff, that makes me happy, it will also kill me the same way your 600 calorie a day diet could do for you.

this!

hammomh

No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy.

What if it makes you healthy?

I don't 'want' to eat healthy foods, I want to eat junk and fatty stuff, that makes me happy, it will also kill me the same way your 600 calorie a day diet could do for you.

Well everyone is different with their relationship with food, fatty things make you happy so you have to work harder to eat healthy. I am just lucky that I enjoy healthy foods and not much of a fatty foods person.

I am not on a 600 calorie a day diet, I just said I ate 600-800 a day usually and sometimes 1000 usually on weekends. I am not on a "diet" this is just how I eat, and have done for quite a few years.

OP- I am not advising you to eat lower, just sharing my experience with not meeting the "1200" goal alot of people have,

ggxx100

I'm all for intuitive eating and following hunger signals, which is how I lost most of my weight. However, I do feel that less than 1200 calories will overtime start to have negative effects on your body, and it definitely isn't helping your metabolism. Now is it "killing" your metabolism? Probably not...but it definitely isn't doing you any favors. The moment you raise your intake in an unhealthy way it will be easily gained. Once my metabolism shifted, I'm able to eat around 1800 calories a day and maintain 98 lbs.However, that 1800 includes full fat dairy, honey, and avocados.
Eating intuitively comes hand in hand with eating whole and unprocessed food. It's harder to reach your calorie estimate with lowfat products a la weight watchers.

I'd up the exercise and then implement different starches (Sweet potato, brown rice) and fats (avocado and almonds) to raise your intake without feeling full. I promise you, it is much harder to lose weight on fake food than it is on whole foods. I've found a calorie is not always just a calorie.

Ressie1

I am also one of those that is rarely ever hungry. You may look at my size and think I eat eat eat but that isn't the case.. I am on a lot of medication for Lupus which includes those awesome little things called steroids. My problem was I would eat minimal calories (not from an eating disorder but because I wasn't hungry at all) and not lose 1 pound . After seeing a dietician and a nutritionist they both advised me that there was no way I was going to lose weight eating 1000 calories or less. Believe me I can go all day with eating one 400 or 500 calorie meal. I cam currently at 1300 calories a day which is perfect. I currently eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day (I count calories, carbs and protein) and I make sure to eat breakfast. Once I started eating more I started losing weight which also means I get to stop/cut down on that terrible medication. I would say just work on it maybe for 1 meal a day you can have some sort of meal replacement protein shake or something.

ggxx100

No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy.

What if it makes you healthy?

I don't 'want' to eat healthy foods, I want to eat junk and fatty stuff, that makes me happy, it will also kill me the same way your 600 calorie a day diet could do for you.

Well everyone is different with their relationship with food, fatty things make you happy so you have to work harder to eat healthy. I am just lucky that I enjoy healthy foods and not much of a fatty foods person.

I am not on a 600 calorie a day diet, I just said I ate 600-800 a day usually and sometimes 1000 usually on weekends. I am not on a "diet" this is just how I eat, and have done for quite a few years.

OP- I am not advising you to eat lower, just sharing my experience with not meeting the "1200" goal alot of people have,

You say you've been eating no more than 1000 calories a day for a few years? Not to be invasive, but how do you manage to not be underweight with that kind of intake? If I slack on my calories (probably to 1200-1300) I find the weight scaling down to under weight...and 600? I'd probably be pushing 80 pounds by now.

SGSmallman

You eat weight watcher food 'cos it's "convenient" no I'm sorry but thats called being lazy.

You need to sort out your issues with food. The reason binge is because your body is crying out for food as you are eating so low and staving your body of valuable nutrients.

This isn't a diet if you want to lose weight and keep it off change your lifestyle and eating habits. Want to yoyo for years continue what your'e doing.

If you would like to learn how to improve your lifestyle and choices with food read:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

I'm sorry if this readys like a jerky comment but sometimes you need to be tough with the truth!

SGSmallman

No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy.

What if it makes you healthy?

I don't 'want' to eat healthy foods, I want to eat junk and fatty stuff, that makes me happy, it will also kill me the same way your 600 calorie a day diet could do for you.

Well everyone is different with their relationship with food, fatty things make you happy so you have to work harder to eat healthy. I am just lucky that I enjoy healthy foods and not much of a fatty foods person.

I am not on a 600 calorie a day diet, I just said I ate 600-800 a day usually and sometimes 1000 usually on weekends. I am not on a "diet" this is just how I eat, and have done for quite a few years.

OP- I am not advising you to eat lower, just sharing my experience with not meeting the "1200" goal alot of people have,

You say you've been eating no more than 1000 calories a day for a few years? Not to be invasive, but how do you manage to not be underweight with that kind of intake? If I slack on my calories (probably to 1200-1300) I find the weight scaling down to under weight...and 600? I'd probably be pushing 80 pounds by now.

Everyone's body reacts differently I bet she's A. eating a lot more than that but junk food and B her metabolism has succumb to having such a low intake that it takes everything it can from the food she intakes

emmajane2211

Like I said previous. I do not eat weightwatchers meals all the time. I'm currently working mega long hours and it is convenient for me this week an this week only! I normally have chicken and veg for a main meal and say cracker bread and tuna for lunch. Iv still not tackled breakfast yet but I'm thinking the protein shakes may be a good idea on a morning to start with. It's hard to break a habit of a lifetime and eat right as I'm sure all of you well know. It is all very new to me! I'm training for a half marathon too which gives me even MORE calories to consume and it's hard work! Nuts ect are a good idea and full fat milk too.

JesterMFP

No point forcing yourself to eat a certain way if doesn't make you happy.

What if it makes you healthy?

I don't 'want' to eat healthy foods, I want to eat junk and fatty stuff, that makes me happy, it will also kill me the same way your 600 calorie a day diet could do for you.

Well everyone is different with their relationship with food, fatty things make you happy so you have to work harder to eat healthy. I am just lucky that I enjoy healthy foods and not much of a fatty foods person.

I am not on a 600 calorie a day diet, I just said I ate 600-800 a day usually and sometimes 1000 usually on weekends. I am not on a "diet" this is just how I eat, and have done for quite a few years.

OP- I am not advising you to eat lower, just sharing my experience with not meeting the "1200" goal alot of people have,

This doesn't really make sense. It's not about being a "fatty foods person" or a "healthy foods person" (and by the way, dietary fat is good for you, and there are lots of fat free foods that have zero nutritional benefit...) This is about the fact that the human body needs energy to perform its basic functions. If you don't provide it with that energy over a long period of time, then it will slow processes down and your health will suffer. Equally, it is extremely difficult to get adequate nutrition from a diet that is 600-800 calories a day. The OP certainly isn't, based on her diary. I can't comment on your daily intake, but if you think that dietary fat is "unhealthy" then I suspect that you are not getting adequate nutrition from yours.

emmajane2211

You eat weight watcher food 'cos it's "convenient" no I'm sorry but thats called being lazy.

You need to sort out your issues with food. The reason binge is because your body is crying out for food as you are eating so low and staving your body of valuable nutrients.

This isn't a diet if you want to lose weight and keep it off change your lifestyle and eating habits. Want to yoyo for years continue what your'e doing.

If you would like to learn how to improve your lifestyle and choices with food read:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0

I'm sorry if this readys like a jerky comment but sometimes you need to be tough with the truth!

IT IS ONE WEEK OF STUPID HOURS AT WORK ALONGSIDE A HOUSE MOVE AND EXERCISE

claire671

Steer clear of the weight watchers stuff. In order for it to be low calorie they put artificial stuff in it, that would help up your calories. How about banana on granary toast for breakfast, even a Heinz soup for lunch (homemade would be ideal), then chicken or fish with sweet potato and veggies for dinner?

I have a little Salter scale that I weigh out my portions and it surprises me how little a serving is, if I were you I'd have an extra half serving of pasta or something to help add in calories. Nuts are a great suggestion for snacks.

From what I've learned from this site, long term eating under 1000 calories will end up slowing your metabolism down and I'm sure that's the last thing you want to do.

Good luck!

I do normally eat properly. This week Iv had stupid days at work so the weightwatchers has been more convenient for me. Id like to stress I don't do it all the time.

Well the 3 days you've logged on this site have some form of a weight watchers food so I was just going by that. Was only trying to help, we're not to know this isn't normal eating for you.

JesterMFP

Like I said previous. I do not eat weightwatchers meals all the time. I'm currently working mega long hours and it is convenient for me this week an this week only! I normally have chicken and veg for a main meal and say cracker bread and tuna for lunch. Iv still not tackled breakfast yet but I'm thinking the protein shakes may be a good idea on a morning to start with. It's hard to break a hant of a lifetime and eat right as I'm sure all of you well know. It is all very new to me! I'm training for a half marathon too which gives me even MORE calories to consume and it's hard work! Nuts ect are a good idea and full fat milk too.

So, if you need to eat a convenient ready meal (whether for one week only, or more often), choose one that's not specifically designed to be low in calories.