Am I eating too little?? Advice needed for a newbie!

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beautyforashes0890
beautyforashes0890 Posts: 35 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm curious to know if I have been eating too little! When I started to use MFP almost four weeks ago, I set my activity level to sedentary. I am a stay at home mom ... I chase a toddler, clean, do laundry, cook. I am on my feet a lot but I sit down often to feed little man (he isn't breastfed). I chose sedentary because I didn't want to choose the wrong activity level and eat too much! But I think I might have been wrong. I haven't lost any weight and I am starving all of the time! I figured at first being hungry was normal between the changes I am making and thinking about food & what I am going to eat next. But now it's just tiring. My BMR is somewhere around 1460ish and the amount of calories I am consuming is around 1280. And the amount of calories for lightly active is 1480. I am 143 lbs (I was using my night weight of 148 but after watching it for a few days I realized the morning number is much more consistent) and I am wanting to lose about 15 lbs. With all of that said, I need answers! Am I eating too little? Should I up my calories to the lightly active and see what that does? I have no experience with this at all. My old way of losing weight (and also ineffective) was starving myself ... and so I am very inexperienced with this stuff!

Replies

  • newhabit
    newhabit Posts: 426 Member
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    you would probably do well at 1600 as well. you probably are not sedentery if you live with a toddler. i count myself as lightly active and i have a desk job. my bmr is 1350 and i lose weight on 1600. i am 5'4"... i would say figure out your BMR and TDEE and go between those two numbers. a lot of websites can help you calculate TDEE. www.fat2fitradio.com is one and also scooby's workshop has a TDEE calculator too. TDEE is your calories for maintenance so just eat below that and you shoudl be fine.
  • Woodmangler
    Woodmangler Posts: 96 Member
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    I am pretty sure everyone that can help will need to see your food diary. Make it public and see what happens...
  • pixtotts
    pixtotts Posts: 552 Member
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    you definitely do more activity than your allowing! you shouldnt be feeling hungry all the time.

    I dont know enough about it to say any more than that though
    x
  • JLgettinghealthy
    JLgettinghealthy Posts: 39 Member
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    hi there! you should be at least consuming your BMR. i would change your activity level to "lightly active" for a week and see how it goes. this is a trial and error thing for all of us. the calorie goal that MFP gives us isn't always "the sweet spot" for us. i increased my calories and now i get to eat more, and the weight is coming off faster. give it a whirl!
  • beautyforashes0890
    beautyforashes0890 Posts: 35 Member
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    Thanks everyone! And my diary is now public ...
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
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    you would probably do well at 1600 as well. you probably are not sedentery if you live with a toddler. i count myself as lightly active and i have a desk job. my bmr is 1350 and i lose weight on 1600. i am 5'4"... i would say figure out your BMR and TDEE and go between those two numbers. a lot of websites can help you calculate TDEE. www.fat2fitradio.com is one and also scooby's workshop has a TDEE calculator too. TDEE is your calories for maintenance so just eat below that and you shoudl be fine.

    ^^This!
  • Dauntlessness
    Dauntlessness Posts: 1,489 Member
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    Are you exercising at all? I know you set it to sedentary but that has nothing to do with the extra stuff you should be doing. I have had a bunch of friends who have been chasing around toddlers and unfortunately, though energy draining, you body gets used to that activity and it doesn't recognize it as exercise.

    I think 1480 is a great number. I would try finding out what your TDEE and go from that number though. Then, figure out how your going to create a deficit.

    A calorie is not just a calorie but the basic rule is there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. You need a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. So, exercising 500 calories a day that should give you a 1lb weight loss per week in theory. If your eating fast food, lots of sugar and carbs, it might not happen though.

    I hope that helps.
    Also-buy a HRM, MFP estimates and machine numbers are usually inaccurate.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    You could go the whole [TDEE - 10-20%] route which is a very successful route for people. Or if you want to stick with MFP's system for now, with only 15 pounds to lose you should set your goal to .5lb/wk. I'm assuming you've set a more aggressive goal based on the numbers you gave. Try that for four weeks. If it's not working then, leaving your goal at .5lb/wk, change your goal to lightly active and try that for four weeks. Or you could try finding your TDEE and do that for four weeks. Basically, don't be afraid of trying different things, but you have to do it for more than a week or two to see if it's working.
  • iluvco3
    iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
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    Another suggestion, since you mention hunger, is to change your macronutrients to give you more protein. I have mine set for 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. The default setting for MFP has carbs much higher, with protein and fat much lower. Changing those will definitely help with hunger.

    Good luck!
  • sarahslim100
    sarahslim100 Posts: 485 Member
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    take out the diet coke if u can -it has -ve health effects http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/health/negative-health-effects-of-diet-soda
  • beautyforashes0890
    beautyforashes0890 Posts: 35 Member
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    I calculated my BMR and TDEE on scoobysworkshop and it came to 1721. So I am going to try 1700 for a few weeks and see what that does! At the very least, I am sure I won't be as hungry or grumpy! :)

    Thanks for the help y'all!
  • chunchiaw
    chunchiaw Posts: 22 Member
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    Just saw your diary. You ate too little and you won't be able to lose any weight from that kind of little food..

    I tried before (5'2", 131lb before). I couldn't lose any weight when I was eating 900 cals a day. Now I eat 1350 cals a day, and exercise.. I start to lose my weight!!
  • gddrdld
    gddrdld Posts: 464 Member
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    Another suggestion, since you mention hunger, is to change your macronutrients to give you more protein. I have mine set for 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. The default setting for MFP has carbs much higher, with protein and fat much lower. Changing those will definitely help with hunger.

    Good luck!

    I concur!
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    BMR is how much it takes to keep you alive if you do nothing but lay on bed, I thought. And chasing kids, being a mom, is a lot more active than laying in bed, so I'd say eat at least your BMR amount.

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