calories I need to eat

annastasia76
annastasia76 Posts: 123 Member
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
ok I have opened my food diary to public viewing so that maybe I can be helped. I am trying to drop 30 lbs but so far all I've lost is just the initial water weight. (I initially dropped in measurements but they have gone back up) I usually have a hard time reaching 1200 so I've been making myself eat more and have purchased items that I would not normally eat to help with this. I compare what I eat with others mention that they eat in the day and I feel like I'm eating way too much. I also bought a hrm to see how much I am burning. I had it on all day yesterday and all last night, though I don't know how accurate it is at night being that I don't know if it could keep track with the chest strap the whole time, but from 11 am yesterday until 6:30 this morning it said that I burned 2100 calories, much more than what MFP says I should be burning for being mostly seditary. I am not sure that the hrm is accurate I feel like it might be over stating the calorie burn

I want to know if I am eating enough, should I be eating more than what mfp says or stay with 1200 plus eating exercise calories. Could I possibly be under estimating my calorie intake even though I'm entering every single thing I put in my mouth.

Sorry I'm just frustrated

Replies

  • cehrenhaus
    cehrenhaus Posts: 42
    Hi,
    I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, so this is just an idea based on not much but will to help.
    I just perused your food diary, but maybe you should try to even out your calories intake. I saw that you eat very few calories during the day and then you put quite a bit in your dinner, while lunch is not enough. Maybe try eating about 300 calories per meal and the rest as snacks?
    I guess it is a lot of trial and error, but it might be worth to try! :)

    Edit: Also, have you tried exercise? That will not only allow you for more calories but also change your metabolism. It does not need to be anything drastic, when I started exercising I just walked for about 4 months before starting anything harder.
  • stacyoct19
    stacyoct19 Posts: 187 Member
    I was going to suggest that you try eating at least 250 calories for breakfast. This will jumpstart your metabolism for the day. If you can balance out your lunch and dinner that would be better. Although we are allowed a number of calories per day, it's better for you to spread it out rather than having almost half of your calories for one meal alone. Now, understandable when you are planning ahead and you know you will be having a special occasion to plan for. But really, that's not good to do daily.

    It might help if you plan the night before what you're going to eat the next day. This will keep you from trying to be good all day, and then realize you have all these extra calories at night to cram in. Then you find yourself eating the bulk of your calories in the evening.

    Good Luck!!!
  • capampuch
    capampuch Posts: 3
    I have to agree with "cehrenhaus" about the eating less calories at night time. Also, what helped me was to change the profile to read time of day instead of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I will open mine so you can check it out.
    Another thing to try is protein and good carbs with "every" meal.
    Good luck and stay motivated :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    You can also try replacing some of your current food (convenience stuff) with fresh fruit and vegetables as I noticed a lack of these in your diary, should get at least 5 servings daily.
  • chanstriste13
    chanstriste13 Posts: 3,277 Member
    do you track your fiber intake at all? i don't know what the correlation is, but when i eat a lot of fiber, i drop weight a lot quicker, and i hardly ever feel hungry. if you are working out, i would consider upping your calorie intake too. everyone is so different, it's hard to give advice, but i've lost about 5 pounds in 3 weeks. my calorie intake is set for 1640 and i have gone significantly over that a few times, but so far i'm still steadily losing weight and inches. (so far!) best of luck!
  • cattiemac
    cattiemac Posts: 251 Member
    I also suggest that you spread your calories over the entire day too. It looks like you're eating the bulk of your calories at supper time. Also, your foods are high in sodium which will make you retain water making it hard to lose weight and I know that you're not tracking sugar however based on the foods you're eating (convenience foods) I think you're eating a lot of sugar. You should also add some fruit & vegetables to your diet.
  • hwatterson
    hwatterson Posts: 1
    Just from looking at the diary, it seems to me that you are not eating enough during the day, and then loading up the calories at night . From what i have heard, it should just be the opposite. I saw very little fruit and vegis in the diet, which is where you should be getting a lot of your calories from. You can eat way more food that way, without being hungry, and still have more calories to go.
  • stella_star
    stella_star Posts: 25
    Agree you should try spreading calories more evenly throughout the day. I tend to go for 200-400 calories per meal and make the rest up with 3 snacks.
    You seem to eat a lot of these special K bars - we dont' get the ones you list in the UK but the special K bars we do get tend to be processed and full of sugar and not very good at keeping you full.

    I've never worn a HRM for a full day, I only wear it to exercise. Also depending on the model there are 'background' calories. If I exercise and it says I burned off 600 calories in an hour, around 100 of those I would have burned off anyway so i can't count them twice and would only have earned 500 extra calories.

    If you are exercising are you adding calories earned to your daily allowance? You should aim to eat at least half of the calories earned form exercise to make sure you are giving you body enough.
    I don't know what height and weight you are but I am 5ft 6" and weight around 140lbs and find that 1200 is not enough for me - I'm hungry then I stop losing weight as it's just not enough. I need to get up to 1400 - 1600 before I start to consistently lose.

    And as much as I hate the term "clean eating" it is what made the biggest difference to me! I felt a lot healthier and foudn it far easier to lose weight - worth trying it even just for a week to see how you like it.

    Are you weighing your food? It's easy to stop weighing and letting portion sizes creep up. It is a bit anal but I find I do better when I do weigh and log EVERYTHING!
  • annastasia76
    annastasia76 Posts: 123 Member
    I try to eat alot of veggies but they are pricey right now, I tend to eat almost only veggies when the garden is going. I try to have at least 1 cup of veggies with dinner every night, as for fruit, my hubby doesn't like me buying it, plus I noticed that it took up quite a bit of my calories and isn't very filling. I like to drink V8 but it has too much sodium

    I eat the special K bars because I'm lazy in the day time, I spend all day working and don't want to take the time to cook something then have to clean up afterward, I have actually been planning more things because the special K bars are costly, even though they can keep me full for a long time. its hard to know what I should eat, what I see others eating isn't practical for me, or they seam like too little food for way too many calories.

    should I be using less sodium than what mfp says?? I thought I was doing fairly good on that.

    As for fiber, I was tracking that but I noticed that I always went over the daily allowance so I switched to calcium because I'm more concerned about that.

    I actually have been consciously trying to switch my calorie intake to most of it being during the day and less at night so I am working on that.
  • cehrenhaus
    cehrenhaus Posts: 42
    Frozen and canned vegetables are a good cheap option. Just double check that the canned ones have no sugar or HFCS in them.
    Also, I find it cheaper to buy from the farmer's markets than the super market. Besides think that money that you spend in fruits and veggies is money that you *will not* be spending in medical bills! Bananas, apples and oranges are not expensive this time of the year.

    To save time I cook one large meal than my husband and I can eat through 1 or two days so I don't have to be cooking for each meal.

    I don't think there is such a thing as too much fiber, I think you have to look at the numbers and see what they really mean. If it is sodium, that should be your absolute maximum... but no need to take it all! If it's fiber, that should be your minimum, but no problem if you eat more.

    :)
  • annastasia76
    annastasia76 Posts: 123 Member
    yes I usually eat almost double my fiber, I do currently buy frozen veggies but I can't figure out how I can fit that into a snack or lunch, I don't like canned veggies because they add alot of stuff to them how much is considered a serving of veggies, I've always wondered that.

    I would love to go to a farmers market but the closest to us is an hour away. I have actually tried planting winter crops (lettuce, spinach, carrots)

    how much salt do you think I should take in, I don't want to be eating not enough, you do need salt to survive. Is half what mfp says ok?

    I really wish that mpf would let me keep track of more than 5 things, I would love to be able to keep track of everything I have on there plus fiber, sugar and vitamins.
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