Struggling to meet my calorie goal

aliceg94
aliceg94 Posts: 61 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've had my calorie goal set at 1632 calories per day plus exercise for about a month now (This is my TDEE -15%). However for the past week I've been struggling to eat this amount. Most days my net's been about 1400. This week I've also only lost 0.2 pounds. I'm aware that their could be a large variety of reasons as to why I didn't lose so much this week but I was wondering whether being under my goal could perhaps be the reason for the small loss. I suppose I'm just worried that being under my goal could impact my weight loss long term. Thoughts?

Replies

  • aliceg94
    aliceg94 Posts: 61 Member
    Bump.
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 627 Member
    A month is honestly not a good sample time. What are the exercises that you are doing? If it is strength training, your muscles are retaining water for protection.

    at 1400 if you TDEE is about 1800 like you say, then it is perfectly fine. Are you eating back the calories from your exercise? You should be.

    So again,

    1. You need to give it more time
    2. If lifting weights, you will not lose for a few weeks and sometimes even gain
    3. You should eat back your exercise calories.

    On a second note to answer your calorie goal struggle, there are a ton of calorie dense foods you can eat such as nuts and avocados.
  • nellyett
    nellyett Posts: 436 Member
    unfortunately when I went the route of TDEE less 15%-20% i didn't see any significant success. I've scaled it back to 1330 per day (BMR for the weight I WANT to be), and I am making progress in this last week. I have a HRM, and always eat back my exercise cals to NET 1330.

    1200 was too low for me and I plateaued big time. Did a lot of research and tried a lot of different daily calorie set points, and so far this seems to be working for me. Had to do a lot of tweaking to find my 'sweet spot'! :)
  • ceecee7636
    ceecee7636 Posts: 37 Member
    Honestly the who TDEE/BMR thing just confuses me. I stick to the calories that I was given when I first signed up, based on how much I weigh and how much I want to lose per week and it has suited me fine. I think your body tells you when you've had enough and if you reckon that's at 1400 stick to that and you'll see results. A friend once told me that your body is around 3 weeks behind, so if you've been bad three week ago you'll see it now and vice versa. That's why you often hear people at slimming clubs and the like say stuff like. "I was bad the other week and got away with it and I was so good this week and a gain" I say start listening to your body, it knows best. That is the one thing I've gained most from MFP, I've stopped all the noise of fad diets and just stuck to my calories and my body is taking care of the rest. For example, last week it was that time in a gal's month and my body told me to eat more, so I did and I really didn't feel any the worse for it and this week I'm just sticking to my goal. It will all balance out in the end.
  • Girl_Bomb
    Girl_Bomb Posts: 195
    Grab a handful of almonds or add cottage cheese and avocados to what you already eat, it's a very easy way to bump up those calories with healthy options without over stuffing yourself. Also, give it some more time and the exercise will definetly increase your appetite
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    TDEE - 15% is a great place to be, so get there. Eat fattier foods if need be (peanut butter, red meat, etc etc), but get there.

    On a side note, I don't understand the " plus exercise" part of your post. 1600 cals + exercise I get, but not if 1600 cals is TDEE = 15%. TDEE already accounts for exercise, so there is no eating back those cals when you are basing total cals on TDEE.
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
    I think it depends on how much you are working out. If you are working out an hour or more a day, then I'd say yes you need to make sure to eat more. If you aren't working out that much or daily, maybe you need to eat a little less and/or adjust what you are eating.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    If you want to eat more calories and not blow your macros, eat healthy fats like peanut butter, pistachios, avocado, etc, and low carb foods like eggs and lean meat.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I have this problem too. I got so good at eating healthy, filling food, I eat good meals all day p,us desert and aren't even close to netting my goal.

    Things to add are things people live on:

    Rice, good bread, torillas
    Legumes
    Cheese, whole milk
    Figs, dates

    I had toast and butter last night for the first time in months and it was ecstatic. :laugh: Still didn't hit my net though and I only walk.
  • aliceg94
    aliceg94 Posts: 61 Member
    TDEE - 15% is a great place to be, so get there. Eat fattier foods if need be (peanut butter, red meat, etc etc), but get there.

    On a side note, I don't understand the " plus exercise" part of your post. 1600 cals + exercise I get, but not if 1600 cals is TDEE = 15%. TDEE already accounts for exercise, so there is no eating back those cals when you are basing total cals on TDEE.

    When I say I eat at my TDEE - 15% I mean that I eat at sedentary - 15%. That's why I eat back my exercise calories. (Mainly because I exercise when I can, meaning that my exercise routine can vary greatly). Sorry, should have explained that better in my post.

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