Under eating your calorie target

gponter79

I've just started the MFL program and have lost 5lb in just under 2 weeks. I'm 30yr Male - 228lb aiming to lose 2 lb per week down to about 180lb. My calorie target is set at about 1750 per day. I'm eating healthy choosing all the healthy option meals/sandwiches etc from the supermarket. Looking back my average daily consumption now is between 900-1300 every day. I'm not going hungry and feel fine. I'm also burning about 500 cals 4/5 days per week in the gym. I'm not trying to under eat but this just seems to be what i'm eating now i'm choosing healthy food options.

I'm just wondering how much under eating my calories target is effecting me. Would i lose more weight eating more???

Thanks in advance for your replies!

LuckyLeprechaun

you'll keep losing at a fast rate for about 2 weeks if you are undereating. Then you'll hit the wall. You won't budge for weeks on end. Your body won't let you. We refer to it as "starvation mode" but it should be more accurately called depressed metabolism mode. You aren't doing yourself any favors by undereating. MFP is already including a deficit in the calories it has allotted to your plan. Follow the plan. I've tried it both ways, I'm speaking from experience.

if it's hard for you to get your calories in, add good fats (nuts, PB, olive oil, avocado) to your meals/snacks so that you boost the calories without adding a lot of bulk.

LuckyLeprechaun

and if you are working out, you should be eating to replace those burned calories. Your body needs fuel.

hanr

you'll keep losing at a fast rate for about 2 weeks if you are undereating. Then you'll hit the wall. You won't budge for weeks on end. Your body won't let you. We refer to it as "starvation mode" but it should be more accurately called depressed metabolism mode. You aren't doing yourself any favors by undereating. MFP is already including a deficit in the calories it has allotted to your plan. Follow the plan. I've tried it both ways, I'm speaking from experience.

if it's hard for you to get your calories in, add good fats (nuts, PB, olive oil, avocado) to your meals/snacks so that you boost the calories without adding a lot of bulk.

Agree completely!!!

Gosh I wish I had this problem

Good luck!

linzismith

a lot of people say you should eat back all your exercise calories. I do most of the time, but when I don't, I make sure that my net calorie intake never drops below 1200 a day (and I'm a woman).

I'd say that for a man, your calorie intake minus your exercise cals should NEVER drop below 1300. if they do, your body is going to start storing everything you eat because it will think you are entering a famine period. also, it will start to burn whatever fuel is the closest and easiest to get at, even if that means muscle.

de1amo

i have only just joined and for the past 7 weeks i have been slaving at the gym and eating less than 1000 calories a day--i can easily do about 900 cals at the gym in 1 session! i am 163lbs now and have been losing about 2,2 to 3,3 lbs a week over the past 7 weeks--i join here and get a real calorie counted diet and it has all become a lot easier and i am losing at the same rate--i am eating more and doing less exercise for the same loss. i was very lucky i didnt depress my system and even gain weight! also i could have damaged some internal organs as a pleasant side affect---i do struggle to reach the targets on heavy gym days but i am learning what foods can give me the calories etc

gponter79

Thanks folks, like i said i'm not trying to under eat on the calories. I have a busy working day and just have 3 meals and the odd snack. I'm not going hungry and feel great! I certainly don't want to hit 'the wall' as this has made me fail diet's in the past.
Although I'm really not trying to think of MFP as a diet more a complete change in Lifestyle. I would always eat big bulky high carb food like pasta, rice, pizza (essentially anything that features bread/cheese/meat). That's what really piled the weight on.

My usual daily diet now would be something like.

Banana
(trip to gym)
Poached eggs on toast or muesli

Boots meal deal (UK shop)
Shapers wrap/apple & grapes/snack a jacks/bottle diet coke

Chicken stiry-fry / noodles
or Jacket potato cheese/beans

I'd be interested to know of any foods that you think would be good for my daily routine. (good fats as you called them) or any other tips and advice. BTW I've actually put off going to the gym this morning because i'm writing on here! ha ha ha

ritadani

I think your diet is not bad. but you could try adding some fruit in there as dessert, for example, and snacks inbetween meals, like fruit/vegetables with peanut butter, crackers with cheese, yogurt, milkshakes, nuts, etc. you clearly don't have that much nutrition on what you are eating, not because they're bad choices, but because it's not enough.

ang696

Thanks for posting this!!! I have run into the same problem myself. I workout 5 days a week, and barely eat anything cause I don't feel hungry, which helps me lose weight for a while, then I hit that wall. I drove myself crazy trying to understand it! I knew about starvation mode but didn't think i was in it. Thanks to all the replies too, they were really informative!

hutche

If you're consistently undereating your calories by a significant margin, you are burning lean muscle mass, not fat - which is a terrible thing for your body. You'll lose weight - but you'll end up a skinny skeleton with a pot belly. Eat your calorie targets people.

kpnuts23

Nuts - Almonds especially are a good fat source - you can buy large bags at holland n barrett i think instead of spending a few quid in sainsburys on a small bag!
Maybe add more protien in between meals, just a simple snack of a chicken breast will fill you up and add on a few more cals...

LisaJayne71

I think it's different for everyone though... I have PCOS and I have to eat less calories than the normal woman. If I eat 1200 a day I gain weight. I have to stick to around 800 and try to burn off as many as I can in the gym......
Also, I don't stick the the calorie and carb count that MFP has given me as it's not tailor made to each individual person. If I were to eat the 275 g carb and calorie allowance I'm told to eat each day by MFP I'd be piling on more weight rather than lose.
I've been told by my endocronoligist to stick to low carb (no more than 160g a day) and low calorie so I'm trying out what suits me and using this website to track my calories going in and for the support of all you lovely people here!!

I'd say that as long as you're not starving by eating what you're eating then listen to your body and if you do hit that wall then it might be time to try and eat a few healthy exercise calories , or cut back if that doesn't work.....
At the end of the day all our bodies work differently and it's all trial and error to find what works for you!

Timjones4u

I found your advice on this really helpful as I have recently been eating well under my calorie allowance and yet getting nowhere. I had lost sight of the fact that MFP works out how many cals I should take in and that I should make sure that I do take them in! It isn't easy to eat more calories as I don't feel hungry very often but when I do take in extra cals it tends to be alcohol at the weekends. I suspect that's a problem for many of us!

melgibson

I have always eaten under my calorie allowance since joining in january, (apart from a short spell where I tested out the eat more loose more - to my horror!! - it did not work for me AT ALL!!) I'm only maintaining my weight.
I'm petite and choose my foods carefully, I don't eat a lot of rubbish, I mostly eat good healthy fresh food, and well choosen snacks. I find I'm full and have reached my daily requirements quite easily on 1000 cals a day, with a snack or two too.
I exercise every single day anything from 300 cals to 1000 or more sometimes. I only eat back 200 cals extra for exercise.
I always have plenty of energy for my exercise and I also do strength training and arm weights.
I feel at my best on 1000 net cals a day, any more than that and I feel sluggish.

I get that 'starvation mode' warning notice every single day when I finish my diary.
Fact proven that I'm not starving because if I were then I'd loose weight not maintain, over a period of months.
It's such a generalised system at MFP, it's not looking at foods eaten and contents of those foods and if the body has had all the vitamins it needs etc, it's just looking at calories and giving a rough guide.

I would say if you are choosing healthy foods and really watching every single item you eat then you will be under calorie but also perfectly fed. Always listen to your body and do what feels right for you.
If you feel good then stick with it, you are certainly not doing yourself any harm if your eating healthily and feel really well in yourself.

If I believed in this starvation mode theory I'd never have regained my size 6 figure
Everyone is different and everyone has different goals.
Do what's right for you and ignore the rest. :flowerforyou:

melgibson

If you're consistently undereating your calories by a significant margin, you are burning lean muscle mass, not fat - which is a terrible thing for your body. You'll lose weight - but you'll end up a skinny skeleton with a pot belly. Eat your calorie targets people.

This statement is SIMPLY NOT TRUE !!!!

If you eat healthy well choosen foods and take regular exercise you WILL be fine
I have abs not a pot belly !!! lol
Some peoples bodies demand less calories than others. FACT!!
Each to their own!!

kpnuts23

If you're consistently undereating your calories by a significant margin, you are burning lean muscle mass, not fat - which is a terrible thing for your body. You'll lose weight - but you'll end up a skinny skeleton with a pot belly. Eat your calorie targets people.

This statement is SIMPLY NOT TRUE !!!!

If you eat healthy well choosen foods and take regular exercise you WILL be fine
I have abs not a pot belly !!! lol
Some peoples bodies demand less calories than others. FACT!!
Each to their own!!

Ahhhmen!!!!

Im the same as Mel.. I put on weight if i eat 1,200 cals.. just the way my body is.. but if i stick to around 1,000 or a little less i loose..
im not a strong beliver in starvation mode... meah...
Each to their own indeed!! x

Joanneh

I think you ladies are missing the point. If you go from having a high calorie diet to a really low calorie diet really quickly, your body will try to hang on to fat because it thinks its being starved.

I know some really slim people who definitely survive on about 800 - 1000 calories a day and always have done, so the starvation mode does not apply to them.

chgudnitz

You're not eating enough.

I was in your boat almost exactly last year. Eat all of the calories you are being suggested to consume. If you don't, like others have said, you will drop weight but you will lose massive amounts of lean muscle mass too. You will essentially end up thin and flabby. I doubt that's where you are looking to be.

Send me a message if you want any advice or whatever. Good luck.

melgibson

I think you ladies are missing the point. If you go from having a high calorie diet to a really low calorie diet really quickly, your body will try to hang on to fat because it thinks its being starved.

I know some really slim people who definitely survive on about 800 - 1000 calories a day and always have done, so the starvation mode does not apply to them.

Not missing the point.
The point is if you want to loose weight you have to make changes, permenant changes.
You can do it quickly and you'll slow your metabolism for a short while but your body can only hold on to so much for so long and if your actually serious about getting that weight off and keeping it off the quicker you get to a normal calorie amount the better.
You can drag this process out over the space of a year if you like but ultimately it'll be healthier in the long run to make the life changes today and stick to it rather that stuffing in extra unneeded cals just for the sake of it.
It guess it's all about how commited you want to be and where your aiming.

I personally believe in eating healthy food until your full and exercising everyday.
I don't believe you should eat when you are not hungry.
I believe we should all listen to our own bodies and respond accordingly.

de1amo

i am sensing that there is an obvious divide here--girls and boys! women have much slower metabolisms than men it seems--i am 160 odd pounds and my instructress is about 100lbs her metabolism is about 1299 and mine is 1693--both done by a dietician- i dont think my bmr will ever go as low as that--infact my goal is to raise it but she is as fit as i would want to be!
My goal is to eat healthily and substainably after i have got past the excitement of the gym--and normal life takes over--its a fine balance because my calorie count is going up and i want to keep eating but then i want to be able to stop when i stop the extreme exercise

leavinglasvegas

I personally believe in eating healthy food until your full and exercising everyday.
I don't believe you should eat when you are not hungry.
I believe we should all listen to our own bodies and respond accordingly.

I'm in agreement with you. Everybody is different. 1200 calories is a blanket recommendation for all of humanity. But! On an individual basis it will differ. I'm on 1000. I can eat up to 1200 if I exercise. Thats what was medically perscribed to me after I was completely looked over. Some women with a small frame can safely eat 1000 calories and be fine. There are many other societies in this world who manage to live healthy long lives with out counting calories. Some of the few food foraging or pastoral societies that are left in the world manage to be extremely active while eating without specific meal times, protien shakes, calorie counting. They live actively into old age with little to none of the diseases that plague us in industrial soscieties. Some of them only eat meat at celebrations, 1 pig to share with the whole tribe once a week to once a month. They live just fine.

I think you you should know your own body and do what works for you. Talk to a doctor and have a physical if you are new to this. EveryBODY is different.

Yurippe

i am sensing that there is an obvious divide here--girls and boys! women have much slower metabolisms than men it seems--i am 160 odd pounds and my instructress is about 100lbs her metabolism is about 1299 and mine is 1693--both done by a dietician- i dont think my bmr will ever go as low as that--infact my goal is to raise it but she is as fit as i would want to be!
My goal is to eat healthily and substainably after i have got past the excitement of the gym--and normal life takes over--its a fine balance because my calorie count is going up and i want to keep eating but then i want to be able to stop when i stop the extreme exercise

The divide to me seems more like very petite women vs everyone else. For a man to take advice from a very petite woman on weight loss seems completely backwards.

Most of the threads on this site are 95% female posters. I'd suggest the OP check out the man to man thread and seek advice from his peer group. Or better yet his doctor or a dietician.

chgudnitz

i am sensing that there is an obvious divide here--girls and boys! women have much slower metabolisms than men it seems--i am 160 odd pounds and my instructress is about 100lbs her metabolism is about 1299 and mine is 1693--both done by a dietician- i dont think my bmr will ever go as low as that--infact my goal is to raise it but she is as fit as i would want to be!
My goal is to eat healthily and substainably after i have got past the excitement of the gym--and normal life takes over--its a fine balance because my calorie count is going up and i want to keep eating but then i want to be able to stop when i stop the extreme exercise

The divide to me seems more like very petite women vs everyone else. For a man to take advice from a very petite woman on weight loss seems completely backwards.

Most of the threads on this site are 95% female posters. I'd suggest the OP check out the man to man thread and seek advice from his peer group. Or better yet his doctor or a dietician.

Taking advice from a woman isn't backwards at all. :huh: Using the same numbers would be, but the general weight loss concept should be the same.

de1amo

the problem is the bmrs are way different--my instructress is freting over gaining 2kgs and she starts from 1299 bmr--if she stayed at 1200 as the minimum she wouldnt loose a gram-its all a question of the math

kpnuts23

I sit down all day - i wore my HRM all day - from the moment i woke up until i went to bed (no exercise included) and my BMR is around the 1400 mark.. so to maintain i would have to eat that, If i want to loose i really have to drop it more that 200cals to see the scale budge.. so im around the 1000 mark.. it works JUST FINE.

"I personally believe in eating healthy food until your full and exercising everyday.
I don't believe you should eat when you are not hungry.
I believe we should all listen to our own bodies and respond accordingly. " - Mel... well said!! :drinker:

Katherine

gponter79

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!!!

I've just come home from work to find all your responses and it's pretty clear different things work for different people depending on your size, shape, metabolism to begin with. All of you have lost weight at different rates, so your all success stories. I'll certainly increase the calories Im consuming and try and get near my daily target without eating any junk food.

ChiWaWaMaMa4

When I first started on this site... it told me to eat 1800 cals a day... but my doctor said 1200... I am trying to stick to 1200... the 1st week I lost 8lbs... but since then it has only been about 2lbs... I think I am gonna try increasing it a bit 1400 to add more fruit & veggies throughout the day!!!

htebaram

Sounds like a plan...good luck!

de1amo

i think we all start our diets from different intakes and the adjustment differs accordingly--i had a target yesterday of 2500 odd calories and i gave up trying to eat at 1699 because i was just stuffed--i had never eaten so much in one day of my recent life--my weight was from when i lived in the uk, it was alcohol and high protein that caused the gain then. i have lived abroad a fair while now and i reckon i have lived on about 1700 calories max a day.i did no exercise to burn the excess fat off because its too hot here and i hadnt joined a gym.--i stopped drinking plus here in the heat you dont crave protein so much.--i live happily within the normal 1200 calories they have given me but when i struggle is when i throw the exercise in! -a connundrum!

popplylily

you all do what you have to... but the body NEEDS chemnically scientifically 1500 to maintain bodily function organs everything. why do people ignore this scientific fact? for women yes for women. 1200 is a diet. 1500 is a diet.
aaargh!!!!!!
makes me upset because it sets a bad example for the little ones if you have any. the key thing, and i though this way yrs ago when i ruined my metabolism and body by being too low cals.. sits here with severe me still caused by my undereating according to several specialists i have seen.. you have ONE body. its more of a crime to be a bit overweight than do this to yourself.
baclk to point.. being 1000 makes you feel ok cos digesting food takes energy to do.. your organs arnt going to agree with that...
major back to point.. its time people.. consistancy... dedicating yourself to improving your health not sabotaging it..
1500 over time i mean yrs and body will bounce back and repairs its shoddy metabolism.
ive been there.. ive lost it all gained it all back and more from eating whats considered under normal cals... then boom three yrs on i slowly lose weight and ive never had abig weight problem since. 3 yrs of 2000 cals i ended up at 9 stone 10 rather than 11, 10 i was before.. or the 8 stone i starved myself down to for four yrs... not bad.. yes i went huge at first but give your body a chance to realise your not going to suddenly stop eating again..
its takes mega mega time. people dont have the patience to wait or patience to see big gains and know in their heart they are doing the right thing.. my sis keeps doing this and she is stil big. its a cycle. she is too scared to put on.
my message is it take TIME and a LOT of it to repair your metabolisim to maintaining at 2000. but its possible. if you believe and keep on. then 1600 and your going to lose weight.. i repaired my body first now im losing and knowing my organs and muscles etc are healthy., unfort for me its too late to repair the damge to my muscles and immune system and here i sit with the consequences. having to give up my dream of being a scientist.. i cant even walk some days. all because i compromised my own health and got a retro virus from undereating. phewf thats me done. i jsut hate it when we dont educate ourselves when having children especially.. what kind of example? my ma has always underate.. and look all three sisters have weight problems and eating disorders. one it inhibited the foetuses growth and now he has a mental disorder. get real and healthy.

de1amo

i tried to eat as many calories as i could for the 1st 7 days but came up 2720 cals under---i did 3600 calories worth of exercise so i am eating well but just cant make up the difference--all the other targets arent far adrift--i am over on fiber and under on sat fats which i dont think are bad things to miss on-or are they?