I seem can't meet 1200 calories a day

tinak33

I'm 11 stone exactly (I was 12.2 last September). I ate 60g of frosted flakes with just over 125ml of milk and a big mug of coffee for breakfast at 11 am this morning, I feel so full that if I eat anything else I'll probably feel sick; I'm guessing this is where I'm going wrong. I get hungry and sick feelings mixed up all the time, after a huge meal I sometimes feel like I'm starving when I'm really just way too full; but I don't want to try eating in case I really do feel sick so I wait for my stomach to rumble or something.

I thought I just needed a suggestion on how to up my intake but now I think there's something wrong with me; going to force eat over the next couple of days.

I'm also going to buy myself some peanut butter.

Makes more sense now, you not being hungry for lunch. I would say anything between 11 - 2 counts as lunch... lol
If I get up late on the weekends and don't get my coffee till 11:30 - 12, I count that as lunch. It looks like I skipped breakfast.

That being said, are you having a late breakfast because you get up late? Or have you been up for hours and are just getting around to breakfast at 11?
If it's the first, I don't see a problem with skipping "lunch" since your breakfast is basically lunch. Just make sure you have some nuts and/or fruit to snack on around 3-4 pm.
If it's the second, then you really should eat something sooner.

Also like someone else said, why frosted flakes?! That's so much sugar..... Probably not good for anxiety and/or panic attacks. Combine all that sugar with a "huge" cup of coffee...doesn't sound so good.

Like everyone else has said, have some filling and healthy snacks. Maybe have some hard boiled eggs and oatmeal instead of cereal for breakfast. Eggs are cheap and good for students on a budget. Boil a bunch one evening, and then grab a few every morning.
Also, drink more.

I know exactly what you are talking about, mixing the sick/hungry feelings up. That happens to me on the weekends sometimes because I sleep in real late and don't start eating or drinking anything till the afternoon. By the time dinner is over, I still have 500 calories to eat (I eat 1510) and I get that same sick/hungry feeling.
You know what makes it go away every time? Another glass of water and MORE FOOD.

crystalflame

I'm 11 stone exactly (I was 12.2 last September). I ate 60g of frosted flakes with just over 125ml of milk and a big mug of coffee for breakfast at 11 am this morning, I feel so full that if I eat anything else I'll probably feel sick; I'm guessing this is where I'm going wrong. I get hungry and sick feelings mixed up all the time, after a huge meal I sometimes feel like I'm starving when I'm really just way too full; but I don't want to try eating in case I really do feel sick so I wait for my stomach to rumble or something.

I thought I just needed a suggestion on how to up my intake but now I think there's something wrong with me; going to force eat over the next couple of days.

I'm also going to buy myself some peanut butter.

You sound stressed out. Don't stress.

First, you had your breakfast at 11am, and you're eating dinner at 5pm. Most people have breakfast at 6 or 7 and lunch at noon. This makes a lot more sense now - I think everyone was under the impression that you were going 10 or 11 hours without eating. You're a college student, so you're on a really strange, erratic schedule (at least I was), so there's probably not much consistency to your hunger. And then you were on a 1200 calorie diet before, so you probably learned then to ignore hunger signals to meet your goal and now can't really tell if you're hungry. There's nothing seriously wrong with you; your body's just confused. Schedule regular times where you eat, hungry or not, and you'll be able to read your hunger signals a lot better.

As a 20 year old in college on a diet, you have to be careful. It's very easy to undereat, replace nutritious calories with alcohol, exhaust your body with not enough food and sleep, etc. And at 20, your body's still undergoing developmental and hormonal shifts that improper nutrition can really mess up. You can still diet, but it would be a good idea to have a smaller deficit. And as has been said over and over in this thread, you need to find ways to meet your calorie goals, hungry or not. Your body needs it, and you don't want to damage your metabolism by undereating for too long.

Good luck. Message me or add me if you want support or advice.

3dogsrunning

I am aware that my breakfast is 2 servings and I put that in my diet record thing on here. I also record that I have 1 sugar and milk in my coffee. I'm not eating loads and saying its a tiny portion!
And it was 11am this morning; not every morning, I slept in on my day off and I feel I shouldn't be penalised for that (but frosted flakes are cheap and yummy, so feel free to penalise me for this).
I get sleepy at 10pm and go to bed just after usually so eating dinner at 6 even with a snack after still leaves me with calories to eat.

Also I don't understand calories eaten and calories burned from exercise at all, I thought you didn't eat what you burn? Isn't it pointless if you do?

MFP already has you at a deficit, but it doesn't account for exercise. So when you exercise you are creating an even larger deficit. There are a number of reasons to keep it at a modest deficit, so MFP suggests you eat at them back.

Your body requires a certain number of calories just to survive, run your organs, etc - thats your BMR. On top of that, we move around every day and burn calories doing things like walking to the car, brushing our teeth, our job. MFP figures out how many calories that we require every day then subtracts a number from that depending on our weight loss per week goal.

So if your BMR is 1500 and with daily activity you burn another 500 just living that puts you at 2000. If you tell MFP you want to lose 1 lbs a week, they will subtract 500, and give you a goal of 1500 to eat. Now everyday, your body needs 2000 calories and you are only feeding it 1500, you lose weight. When you exercise and burn off another 500 calories, you are only leaving your body 1000 calories when it requires 2000. As I said earlier, many people recommend keeping a modest deficit. MFP suggests you eat those 500 exercise calories to bring you back up to a net of 1500.

On top of that, exercise is not pointless. There are more benefits to it than just weight loss.

krislyn84

I am aware that my breakfast is 2 servings and I put that in my diet record thing on here. I also record that I have 1 sugar and milk in my coffee. I'm not eating loads and saying its a tiny portion!
And it was 11am this morning; not every morning, I slept in on my day off and I feel I shouldn't be penalised for that (but frosted flakes are cheap and yummy, so feel free to penalise me for this).
I had breakfast at 8am and had soup at 3.30pm or there abouts the day I ate just over 600 calories and I had a slice of toast at 9pm before going to bed at 10pm.
I get sleepy at 10pm and go to bed just after usually so eating dinner at 6 even with a snack after still leaves me with calories to eat.

Also I don't understand calories eaten and calories burned from exercise at all, I thought you didn't eat what you burn? Isn't it pointless if you do?

If you are only eating 1200 calories a day, eating back your workout calories is a MUST!! I don't eat back my workout calories because I eat at TDEE. MFP calculates your caloric intake without taking into consideration calories burned through exercise. That is why it tells you to eat them back. Please do some independent research and try to understand the damage you are doing to your body by depriving yourself of the calories it needs to live. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13 is a great place to start.

UrbanLotus

*broken record alert* Just eat. You don't have to be hungry. Eat some nuts, a couple spoons on nut butter, done!

alwayskungfu

Ne naw ne naw ne naw nuttella emergency call in progress!!! :happy:

ArroganceInStep

You sound stressed out. Don't stress.

First, you had your breakfast at 11am, and you're eating dinner at 5pm. Most people have breakfast at 6 or 7 and lunch at noon. This makes a lot more sense now - I think everyone was under the impression that you were going 10 or 11 hours without eating. You're a college student, so you're on a really strange, erratic schedule (at least I was), so there's probably not much consistency to your hunger. And then you were on a 1200 calorie diet before, so you probably learned then to ignore hunger signals to meet your goal and now can't really tell if you're hungry. There's nothing seriously wrong with you; your body's just confused. Schedule regular times where you eat, hungry or not, and you'll be able to read your hunger signals a lot better.

As a 20 year old in college on a diet, you have to be careful. It's very easy to undereat, replace nutritious calories with alcohol, exhaust your body with not enough food and sleep, etc. And at 20, your body's still undergoing developmental and hormonal shifts that improper nutrition can really mess up. You can still diet, but it would be a good idea to have a smaller deficit. And as has been said over and over in this thread, you need to find ways to meet your calorie goals, hungry or not. Your body needs it, and you don't want to damage your metabolism by undereating for too long.

Good luck. Message me or add me if you want support or advice.

Does your school have a meal plan? Mine did, and it was the best investment I ever made. I ended up saving money and actually ate decent food on a regular basis. If I hadn't taken that route I'd have blown all of it on booze and girls and would have survived solely on the pizza and crap they offered if you showed up to group meetings and such.

ninerbuff

Lol, I always eyeroll at these threads because for some reason exceeding 1200 calories wasn't a problem before MFP.:laugh:

Short answer, add some calorie dense food.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

krislyn84

Ne naw ne naw ne naw nuttella emergency call in progress!!! :happy:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

CinnamonCupcake

I was also under 1200 calories daily. But now I force myself to drink juice (Arizona, 300 calories) everyday.

ngressman

I'm a university student which means I have live cheaply and don't have any cooking skills whatsoever (I get stressed cooking a frozen pizza), so making big meals with lots of ingredients just doesn't happen.
I always thought I'd been going way over my calorie limit when I tried calculating it myself throughout the day but then I started putting the stuff I eat on here and I realised I'd been adding at least 50 calories to the things I was eating just to be safe. This left me with well over 200 uneaten calories by the end of the day.
The easiest thing to do would be to have lunch, but I'm never hungry in the afternoon; I have cereal and coffee for breakfast and that's me full until around 5pm and then I can only just make it to 500 calories for that meal.
I also aim to burn 500 calories a day through exercise (I took a break yesterday because a new type of exercise killed my calves) so I really do need to reach 1200 calories.
Is there a way to make yourself hungry or add a few hundred calories without eating much? (this sounds like a stupid question but I can't even bring myself to have a drink of water never mind eat something after breakfast until I'm really really hungry in the evening).

I did the same thing in college. There just wasn't time for lunch, and I really didn't get hungry. I did eat a large dinner which got my calories in. Maybe try just eating a piece of string cheese and a fruit.

HotrodsGirl0107

I am aware that my breakfast is 2 servings and I put that in my diet record thing on here. I also record that I have 1 sugar and milk in my coffee. I'm not eating loads and saying its a tiny portion!
And it was 11am this morning; not every morning, I slept in on my day off and I feel I shouldn't be penalised for that (but frosted flakes are cheap and yummy, so feel free to penalise me for this).
I get sleepy at 10pm and go to bed just after usually so eating dinner at 6 even with a snack after still leaves me with calories to eat.

Also I don't understand calories eaten and calories burned from exercise at all, I thought you didn't eat what you burn? Isn't it pointless if you do?

MFP already has you at a deficit, but it doesn't account for exercise. So when you exercise you are creating an even larger deficit. There are a number of reasons to keep it at a modest deficit, so MFP suggests you eat at them back.

Your body requires a certain number of calories just to survive, run your organs, etc - thats your BMR. On top of that, we move around every day and burn calories doing things like walking to the car, brushing our teeth, our job. MFP figures out how many calories that we require every day then subtracts a number from that depending on our weight loss per week goal.

So if your BMR is 1500 and with daily activity you burn another 500 just living that puts you at 2000. If you tell MFP you want to lose 1 lbs a week, they will subtract 500, and give you a goal of 1500 to eat. Now everyday, your body needs 2000 calories and you are only feeding it 1500, you lose weight. When you exercise and burn off another 500 calories, you are only leaving your body 1000 calories when it requires 2000. As I said earlier, many people recommend keeping a modest deficit. MFP suggests you eat those 500 exercise calories to bring you back up to a net of 1500.

On top of that, exercise is not pointless. There are more benefits to it than just weight loss.

I am going to be really real right now. OP your last statement has already been explained on this thread and many other threads. When you ask a question at least read the freakin comments. MFP ALREADY GIVES YOU A DEFICIT IN YOUR DAILY GOAL! If you exercise you are increasing your deficit and in some cases (like netting 600 calories) it can be unhealthy. Eating back your exercise calories simply puts you back up TO YOUR ORIGINAL DEFICIT. Not many people are going to tell you what you are doing is healthy but it honestly looks like that is what you are looking for. You are already eating at disordered levels so I would say you need to seek professional help for your disordered eating.

MissKitty9

Sigh. A bunch of people said it already OP, but I'll say it again, very clearly... at 1200 calories per day, you are ALREADY at a DEFICIT. That's how MFP works. It sets you to be at a deficit.

So basically, ~not~ eating back your exercise calories is putting a deficit on top of a deficit (how many more times can I say this word in a post?). Now, ask yourself if that sounds good to you. If it does, then you're most likely dealing with a disordered eating mindset.

kganc001

Have two tablespoons of natural peanut butter! Bumps the calories way up and adds healthy fats!

InvadingObsession

Ooh, okay; I actually really didn't know about the eating back your exercise calories thing, this is the first time I've done exercise willingly in the history of ever so I don't know much about what goes on just that its good for you and it helps you lose weight.

I'm just going to ignore the 'you've got an eating disorder' thing; you're stressing me out. The only time I can say I've ever been close to a disorder was when I was 14 and had 3 cereal bars, 3 pints of milk and a bowl of rice every school day for a good few months (I was going to say a year but there's no way I would have survived a year) and I got over that so well that I reached 12 stone by the age of 16, so I don't agree at all.

I bought some peanut butter! I think I'll have some later. I also found something with more than 150 calories in my freezer so I'm on that right now.

JDBLY11

Have you always not eaten well? It sounds like you're depressed or having some emotional or even physical issues that have stunted your appetite.In the absence of any health issues, you should fix a couple protein shakes with low sugar content and force yourself to eat. Cereal is not a good breakfast nor enough to keep you all day. You should try and get up to half your calories at breakfast.

I can't cook and the kitchen gives me a panic attack. So, I understand how you feel. And I'm a ton older than you. But there are ways to fix good, healthy meals with very little effort. Look for a good food prep book. Men's Health has several.

I agree. I think you are having an emotional/ physical issue here. 1200 calories is very easy to consume. Adding a handful of nuts or a protein shake at lunch isn't that hard. Are you really stressed out? Some people cannot eat when they are stressed!

JDBLY11

I'm a university student which means I have live cheaply and don't have any cooking skills whatsoever (I get stressed cooking a frozen pizza), so making big meals with lots of ingredients just doesn't happen.
I always thought I'd been going way over my calorie limit when I tried calculating it myself throughout the day but then I started putting the stuff I eat on here and I realised I'd been adding at least 50 calories to the things I was eating just to be safe. This left me with well over 200 uneaten calories by the end of the day.
The easiest thing to do would be to have lunch, but I'm never hungry in the afternoon; I have cereal and coffee for breakfast and that's me full until around 5pm and then I can only just make it to 500 calories for that meal.
I also aim to burn 500 calories a day through exercise (I took a break yesterday because a new type of exercise killed my calves) so I really do need to reach 1200 calories.
Is there a way to make yourself hungry or add a few hundred calories without eating much? (this sounds like a stupid question but I can't even bring myself to have a drink of water never mind eat something after breakfast until I'm really really hungry in the evening).

I did the same thing in college. There just wasn't time for lunch, and I really didn't get hungry. I did eat a large dinner which got my calories in. Maybe try just eating a piece of string cheese and a fruit.

But its so unhealthy to get into that having a huge dinner habit and not eating much the rest of the day.

JDBLY11

it might sound backwards but actually when you don't eat enough you start to feel nauseous which kind of dulls your appetite. So you end up not eating enough but feeling like you don't need to eat more because you feel queasy.

So true! I am sick right now and not really able to eat much, but if I don't eat I get sick feeling and don't want to eat even though my body is really hungry. I just start feeling sicker and sicker if I don't eat enough.

3dogsrunning

I'm a university student which means I have live cheaply and don't have any cooking skills whatsoever (I get stressed cooking a frozen pizza), so making big meals with lots of ingredients just doesn't happen.
I always thought I'd been going way over my calorie limit when I tried calculating it myself throughout the day but then I started putting the stuff I eat on here and I realised I'd been adding at least 50 calories to the things I was eating just to be safe. This left me with well over 200 uneaten calories by the end of the day.
The easiest thing to do would be to have lunch, but I'm never hungry in the afternoon; I have cereal and coffee for breakfast and that's me full until around 5pm and then I can only just make it to 500 calories for that meal.
I also aim to burn 500 calories a day through exercise (I took a break yesterday because a new type of exercise killed my calves) so I really do need to reach 1200 calories.
Is there a way to make yourself hungry or add a few hundred calories without eating much? (this sounds like a stupid question but I can't even bring myself to have a drink of water never mind eat something after breakfast until I'm really really hungry in the evening).

I did the same thing in college. There just wasn't time for lunch, and I really didn't get hungry. I did eat a large dinner which got my calories in. Maybe try just eating a piece of string cheese and a fruit.

But its so unhealthy to get into that having a huge dinner habit and not eating much the rest of the day.

It really isn't unhealthy unless you have a medical issue. Meal timing is irrelevant

HotrodsGirl0107

Ooh, okay; I actually really didn't know about the eating back your exercise calories thing, this is the first time I've done exercise willingly in the history of ever so I don't know much about what goes on just that its good for you and it helps you lose weight.

I'm just going to ignore the 'you've got an eating disorder' thing; you're stressing me out. The only time I can say I've ever been close to a disorder was when I was 14 and had 3 cereal bars, 3 pints of milk and a bowl of rice every school day for a good few months (I was going to say a year but there's no way I would have survived a year) and I got over that so well that I reached 12 stone by the age of 16, so I don't agree at all.

I bought some peanut butter! I think I'll have some later. I also found something with more than 150 calories in my freezer so I'm on that right now.

Well you obviously don't even have a clue about EDs either. Eating 600 cals a day is eating disorder levels. EDs are also not about being underweight. You really need to educate yourself. You won't get a beach body by starving yourself. Maybe you will learn as you get older.