I'm so confused how much I should eat. HELP PLEASE!
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andreakursten
Posts: 13
So the truth is, I don't keep records of how many calories I consume everyday.
I've been eating about a cup and a half amount of cereal for breakfast with skim milk, some iceberg salad without any dressing or meat for lunch, just whatever food there is for dinner till I feel... not hungry instead of full.
And I don't really eat snacks of any kind.
In my head, I though I eat about at least 1000 to 1200 kcal per day by eating all those that I listed above everday.
But when I actually calculated the other day for the first time, my daily caloric intake didn't even amount to 1000 kcal.
And I burn about 200 kcal daily from my work outs.
Although some people might think that I must be starving myself and denying hunger all the time and feeling physically terrible from what I've been doing for the past 2 months, to be honest, I don't feel hungry except around my meal time and my body feels just fine!
On top of that, I've lost 20 pounds in 2 months, and I'm hoping it'll gone down more by this weekend when I measure myself.
BUT.
I've been looking at articles about weight plateaus here and there, and they all say that the method I'm doing WILL DEFINITELY get to a weight plateau sooner or later.
And Fat2Fit radio says my daily caloric intake should be the weight maintaining caloric intake for my goal weight, which is like 1500 kcal.
MyFitnessPal tells me to take 1200 kcal, so I'm not worried about the 300 kcal difference of those two sources.
What I'm worried about is, if I want to prevent a weight plateau by listening to "eat more to lose more" type of advice and all of a sudden start eating significantly more than what I've been doing but under or around the advised daily caloric intake, am I going to gain back weight?
My uninformed logic tells me that if I suddenly eat a lot more, my starvation mode body (although I don't feel like I'm starving at all at this point) might hold on to all the fat before raising its metabolism gradually... and therefore will gain back some weight.
Does anyone have any idea/advice?
I've been eating about a cup and a half amount of cereal for breakfast with skim milk, some iceberg salad without any dressing or meat for lunch, just whatever food there is for dinner till I feel... not hungry instead of full.
And I don't really eat snacks of any kind.
In my head, I though I eat about at least 1000 to 1200 kcal per day by eating all those that I listed above everday.
But when I actually calculated the other day for the first time, my daily caloric intake didn't even amount to 1000 kcal.
And I burn about 200 kcal daily from my work outs.
Although some people might think that I must be starving myself and denying hunger all the time and feeling physically terrible from what I've been doing for the past 2 months, to be honest, I don't feel hungry except around my meal time and my body feels just fine!
On top of that, I've lost 20 pounds in 2 months, and I'm hoping it'll gone down more by this weekend when I measure myself.
BUT.
I've been looking at articles about weight plateaus here and there, and they all say that the method I'm doing WILL DEFINITELY get to a weight plateau sooner or later.
And Fat2Fit radio says my daily caloric intake should be the weight maintaining caloric intake for my goal weight, which is like 1500 kcal.
MyFitnessPal tells me to take 1200 kcal, so I'm not worried about the 300 kcal difference of those two sources.
What I'm worried about is, if I want to prevent a weight plateau by listening to "eat more to lose more" type of advice and all of a sudden start eating significantly more than what I've been doing but under or around the advised daily caloric intake, am I going to gain back weight?
My uninformed logic tells me that if I suddenly eat a lot more, my starvation mode body (although I don't feel like I'm starving at all at this point) might hold on to all the fat before raising its metabolism gradually... and therefore will gain back some weight.
Does anyone have any idea/advice?
0
Replies
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I'm guessing MFP has you set only at 1200 because you selected 2lb weight loss a week. You don't feel hungry because the body gets used to only getting that amount of calories a day so it runs in 'efficiency' mode..in other words the metabolism slows down to accommodate the shortage of fuel. So in a nutshell yes....you may plateau. If you're concerned you should -
1 - start logging everything, everyday, all the time
2 - up your calories
3 - make sure you're getting enough protein0 -
Thank you so much for your advice!!! You're righ... I should up my calories, start loggin in everything, and eat more protein. But I'm just really scared of eating more now to be honest. In fact, I just got a donut from someone, and even though I know that eating it won't even get me close to filling my recommended daily caloric intake, I just can't eat it more than a bite. Even a bite makes me feel really guilty and scared of gaining weight... I don't know why I'm feeling this way
0 -
Boom: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
Follow this and you'll be okay! Don't be afraid to fuel.0 -
I've been looking at articles about weight plateaus here and there, and they all say that the method I'm doing WILL DEFINITELY get to a weight plateau sooner or later.
And Fat2Fit radio says my daily caloric intake should be the weight maintaining caloric intake for my goal weight, which is like 1500 kcal.
MyFitnessPal tells me to take 1200 kcal, so I'm not worried about the 300 kcal difference of those two sources.
The difference is that MFP gives you 1200 cals to lose without exercise, the 1500 from the other site includes exercise you are comparing apples to oranges. MFP says eat 1200 plus eat what you burn, so if you burn 600 cals today MFP will say eat 1800. or your goal on MFP is too agressive, if you change your weekly weight loss goal by 0.5lbs/week less than MFP will give you 1450 cals.
As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.
So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.
What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.0 -
Thank you so much for your advice!!! You're righ... I should up my calories, start loggin in everything, and eat more protein. But I'm just really scared of eating more now to be honest. In fact, I just got a donut from someone, and even though I know that eating it won't even get me close to filling my recommended daily caloric intake, I just can't eat it more than a bite. Even a bite makes me feel really guilty and scared of gaining weight... I don't know why I'm feeling this way
The "guilt" thing really resonated with me. But you just have to move through it. I calorie cycle (one day eat 2200 calories, next day 500, back and forth) and on my "up" days I feel terribly guilty. I mean, all these foods with fat in them are supposed to be eliminated to lose weight, right? (Or at least that's the attitude I had before.) The only thing that makes me feel better is logging my calories and seeing that, yes, those 2 donuts I ate for breakfast WERE 400 calories, but that I'm still within my daily limit. Tracking is key!0 -
You're not alone - I've pretty much always ate that way - mostly because I'm a disaster in the kitchen, so I just buy a lot of pre-made meals (most of which have less than 350 cals), and I don't get hungry between meals or anything so I don't snack. I'm constantly having to eat an additional 200 calories before bed because my normal eating habits don't get me more than 1000, and if you count in my fairly intense workouts (at least 400 cals/day 6 days/week), I doubt the 1200 I force myself eat at minimum is even enough.
Everyone I've talked to about it is all "boo hoo, you have to eat more! Cry me a river!" but I genuinely don't WANT to eat more - I am NOT hungry, and eating anything else inevitably puts me over on sodium or sugars or proteins anyway - it's hard to find a balance. I haven't managed it yet, so believe me, I feel your frustration.0 -
Oh boy. Well, first of all, FOOD IS FUEL. If you're working out (and even if you're not), you're barely eating enough to fuel your body. In order to keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders you should eat every few hours. If you aren't overly hungry, then keep it small 100-200 calories, and try to pair a complex carb with a lean protein. If you're eating literally only cereal for breakfast and dry lettuce for lunch, with no snacks then your largest meal is the one closest to when you go to bed (ie, become in active). So you're going to run into 2 problems: 1) you're not eating enough so if you are losing, its likely because your body is forced to tap into muscle mass for fuel since there is not enough food. 2) You're eating your bigger meal (it sounds like?) and going to bed somewhat shortly after, so your body is hanging on to that for fuel since it is scared it won't get more any time soon. My advise (and I'm no expert, but I have lost almost 60lb from my highest weight and put on massive amounts of muscle):
1) eat small meals regularly
2) pair complex carbs with lean protein- it slows down the digestion and absorption of carbs
3) eat your larger meals earlier in the day
4) EAT!!!
5) don't be afraid of carbs (complex carbs give you energy) and protein- keeps you full and helps burn fat
6) Food is fuel- eat real, nutrient rich foods (not processed crap) and you can't go wrong. Iceberg lettuce, for example, is no more nutritious than drinking a glass of water.
If you want to message me, I'm happy to help you firgure out how much you should be eating. And feel free to view my diary. I'm 5'11, 170lb and incredibly active. I eat about 1400 calories a day and lose 2-3lb for week. I have not plateau'd!
https://www.facebook.com/MyBodyMyMachine
www.mybody-mymachine.com0 -
Boom: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
Follow this and you'll be okay! Don't be afraid to fuel.
Thank you for the link! I checked it out, and it did help me to confirm once again that I need to eat more... I just need to get over my guilty feeling from eating I guess
0 -
I did not know this! Thank you for clarifying for me how I got that 1200 kcal daily intake!I've been looking at articles about weight plateaus here and there, and they all say that the method I'm doing WILL DEFINITELY get to a weight plateau sooner or later.
And Fat2Fit radio says my daily caloric intake should be the weight maintaining caloric intake for my goal weight, which is like 1500 kcal.
MyFitnessPal tells me to take 1200 kcal, so I'm not worried about the 300 kcal difference of those two sources.
The difference is that MFP gives you 1200 cals to lose without exercise, the 1500 from the other site includes exercise you are comparing apples to oranges. MFP says eat 1200 plus eat what you burn, so if you burn 600 cals today MFP will say eat 1800. or your goal on MFP is too agressive, if you change your weekly weight loss goal by 0.5lbs/week less than MFP will give you 1450 cals.
As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.
So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.
What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.0 -
I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels terribly guilty about eating... And I should definitely try out that zig zag method of eating! I hope I can get over the guilt of eating like you didThank you so much for your advice!!! You're righ... I should up my calories, start loggin in everything, and eat more protein. But I'm just really scared of eating more now to be honest. In fact, I just got a donut from someone, and even though I know that eating it won't even get me close to filling my recommended daily caloric intake, I just can't eat it more than a bite. Even a bite makes me feel really guilty and scared of gaining weight... I don't know why I'm feeling this way
The "guilt" thing really resonated with me. But you just have to move through it. I calorie cycle (one day eat 2200 calories, next day 500, back and forth) and on my "up" days I feel terribly guilty. I mean, all these foods with fat in them are supposed to be eliminated to lose weight, right? (Or at least that's the attitude I had before.) The only thing that makes me feel better is logging my calories and seeing that, yes, those 2 donuts I ate for breakfast WERE 400 calories, but that I'm still within my daily limit. Tracking is key! 0 -
Too many people have the idea that "diet" has to equal "suffering" and "if you're not punishing yourself, you're not doing it right". That definitely isn't the case. You can (should!) maintain a reasonable deficit and still be satisfied (not to mention adequately fuel your workouts and recovery from them) while still losing weight and not suffering/starving.Thank you for the link! I checked it out, and it did help me to confirm once again that I need to eat more... I just need to get over my guilty feeling from eating I guess0 -
As I've already told someone else who replied my post, I'm really glad to hear that I'm not the only one feeling like this.You're not alone - I've pretty much always ate that way - mostly because I'm a disaster in the kitchen, so I just buy a lot of pre-made meals (most of which have less than 350 cals), and I don't get hungry between meals or anything so I don't snack. I'm constantly having to eat an additional 200 calories before bed because my normal eating habits don't get me more than 1000, and if you count in my fairly intense workouts (at least 400 cals/day 6 days/week), I doubt the 1200 I force myself eat at minimum is even enough.
Everyone I've talked to about it is all "boo hoo, you have to eat more! Cry me a river!" but I genuinely don't WANT to eat more - I am NOT hungry, and eating anything else inevitably puts me over on sodium or sugars or proteins anyway - it's hard to find a balance. I haven't managed it yet, so believe me, I feel your frustration.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same way as you are. I just don't feel hungry, and when I try to force myself to eat something, I feel terrible that it might be reflected on my measurement day at the end of that week.
I hope we can both manage this problem, and really, I'm feeling significantly better already that I'm not the only one with this issue and that someone understands what I'm going through! Thanks again 0 -
Thank you so much for your advice! I didn't know why I wasn't feeling hungry even with small amount of food, but you explained it to me! Now I feel like I might be able to eat more without feeling guilty when I'm not hungry. I'll try my best to follow the rest of your advice. And thank you for offering to answer other questions I might have. I'll keep in mind that someone's willing to help me with my problems. Thank you againOh boy. Well, first of all, FOOD IS FUEL. If you're working out (and even if you're not), you're barely eating enough to fuel your body. In order to keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders you should eat every few hours. If you aren't overly hungry, then keep it small 100-200 calories, and try to pair a complex carb with a lean protein. If you're eating literally only cereal for breakfast and dry lettuce for lunch, with no snacks then your largest meal is the one closest to when you go to bed (ie, become in active). So you're going to run into 2 problems: 1) you're not eating enough so if you are losing, its likely because your body is forced to tap into muscle mass for fuel since there is not enough food. 2) You're eating your bigger meal (it sounds like?) and going to bed somewhat shortly after, so your body is hanging on to that for fuel since it is scared it won't get more any time soon. My advise (and I'm no expert, but I have lost almost 60lb from my highest weight and put on massive amounts of muscle):
1) eat small meals regularly
2) pair complex carbs with lean protein- it slows down the digestion and absorption of carbs
3) eat your larger meals earlier in the day
4) EAT!!!
5) don't be afraid of carbs (complex carbs give you energy) and protein- keeps you full and helps burn fat
6) Food is fuel- eat real, nutrient rich foods (not processed crap) and you can't go wrong. Iceberg lettuce, for example, is no more nutritious than drinking a glass of water.
If you want to message me, I'm happy to help you firgure out how much you should be eating. And feel free to view my diary. I'm 5'11, 170lb and incredibly active. I eat about 1400 calories a day and lose 2-3lb for week. I have not plateau'd!
https://www.facebook.com/MyBodyMyMachine
www.mybody-mymachine.com 0 -
You are so right in saying that because "if you're not punishing yourself, you're not doing it right" is exactly the sort of mindset I had when I started eating like a bird. I really shouldn't have done that because now my body's used to small amount of food and I'm having hard time trying to force myself to eat more when I'm not even hungry in order to be on a right way of dieting. So yes, I'm definitely goint to try to listen to your advice! Thank you so much
Too many people have the idea that "diet" has to equal "suffering" and "if you're not punishing yourself, you're not doing it right". That definitely isn't the case. You can (should!) maintain a reasonable deficit and still be satisfied (not to mention adequately fuel your workouts and recovery from them) while still losing weight and not suffering/starving.Thank you for the link! I checked it out, and it did help me to confirm once again that I need to eat more... I just need to get over my guilty feeling from eating I guess 0 -
I'm guessing MFP has you set only at 1200 because you selected 2lb weight loss a week. You don't feel hungry because the body gets used to only getting that amount of calories a day so it runs in 'efficiency' mode..in other words the metabolism slows down to accommodate the shortage of fuel. So in a nutshell yes....you may plateau. If you're concerned you should -
1 - start logging everything, everyday, all the time
2 - up your calories
3 - make sure you're getting enough protein
5 STARS! BEST ANSWER!!!!!0
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