How do I know if I'm eating enough calories?

Did you plug your numbers into this site, cause I weigh about the same as you right now and my calories are set at like 1380 to lose 2lbs a week. I do not excerise as much as you do though, however I do not eat back the extra calories from exercise either. I would say 1000 calories are low, I would try to stay with what MFP sets for you and just not eat any of the exercise burned calories, then see how you do on that.

Just for fun, log a very realistic day of how you used to eat. It shocked me. You will be fine eating at your BMR.

In my personal experience, I have gone by MFP's numbers and it has worked. I'm set to loose a pound a week and it's been about 36 weeks and I've lost 35.6 pounds. I think you should be feeding your body more, but get calories from healthy foods, peanut butter, avacado, nuts, fruits and veggies.

Have you ever heard a big person say ''I hardly eat and I am gaining weight'' or ''I don't eat breakfast and sometimes lunch and yet I gain weight'' well there you go:blushing:

I know I use to say that..see I'm from the old school...they use to say eat less and loose...but no not a good idea I did that for my first 30lbs loss but now my body is holding and turning it to fat afraid it will starve cause I was not feeding it enough:sad: , so now I am upping my calories to find out how much I should eat in order to loose ...so good luck:drinker:

I have the same problem. Eating more than 1200 calories is extremely difficult for me. I don't tend to eat junk. I'm not that crazy about sweets and processed foods. I workout 6 to 7 days a week for about the sameamount of time a you say you do . I don't tend to eat my exercise calories. I don't have an answer for you about if you are eating enough but I am here as a support to tell you that you are not alone!! I am 5'2" so maybe I just need less. Anyways, we are in this together!

I can't see your food that you log. I am going through a class right now that teaches me to read labels. Are you eating the serving sizes? Just b/c the box says 210 cals check that it's not 210 cals PER serving and then your eating the whole thing? Yea if you don't eat your alotted amount of calories your body does go into a state of starvation and then begins to store up. You probably don't feel hungry but snack on something light. Fruit,popcorn,etc. Being fit and healthy is about changing habits that you may have gotten into good or bad. If your like me then probably bad.Weight loss sadly is a slow process. It may take what seem like days to put on a pound will sadly take a week to come off. If your eating and exercising right. you'll see the changes you desire and hopefully by sticking to the good choices it will stay off. I know I havent lost much just starting this site but we're all in this together. I used to yo-yo diet and now I'm educating myself on the good habits and dietary needs (not b/c I had to heart,blood pressure etc..) but because I'm tired of looking at the fat girl in the mirror. Motivation is key to all of this. The first few days weeks you got to force yourself to not eat that candy bar,or drink that extra soda. Breaking the habits is the hardest part creating the new ones just seems overwhelming.Once oyu do you'll never regret it! Good Luck and here's to a lighter healthier you!

thanks everyone so far.

yes i'm short. 5 ft 1 in.

to the ones that question if i really ate 2000 a day and gained 100 pounds....i'm sure i did.
I ate 3 mcdonalds meals a day...the same ones every day...at around 600 calories each
that was my day of food.
plus i would eat mcdonalds cookies or icecream too.

No soda, ketchup, snacks, large fries, etc? The little things really count here. I'm really not trying to be mean but it is highly unlikely that you were eating 2,000 calories per day and gained that much weight. I thought I was eating so much less than I was until I actually logged it and remember getting a second soda, eating some of my boyfriend's food, etc..

I weigh 243 pounds, and my calories are set to 1500. It actually recommended a little less, but this works better for me. I have been consistenly losing at least 2 pounds a week eating at this level. I don't do any hard workouts, but I do a LOT of walking. Up to 5 miles on a lot of days. I think you are eating too few calories

Kinda new to this. I want to lose 120 lbs in about 2 years. I eat 1000-1200 calories a day and I feel fine with this. But usually 1000 is plenty and I am not hungry for more. Sometimes I'm satisfied with only 800 calories and I force myself to get another 200-300.

However, calorie calculators always tell me to eat 1800 or so to lose 2 lbs a week. I can't imagine eating that much. I think that's how much I was eating when I gained 100 pounds.

I hear if you don't eat enough, your body will hold on to the fat...not letting it go...and you'll have low matabolism...and a bunch of other things. How do I avoid this? Eating more than 1200 seems so hard..just too much food. But I don't want to lose muscle and hold onto fat either.

I weigh 256 now. and exercise hard 1 hr a day, 5 days a week..as of 2 weeks ago.

THANKS SO MUCH!

Hi. You say that you'd like to be about 140 in two years. It's very doable.

A woman who is already 140 would likely eat between 1,200 - 1,400 calories a day if she was trying to lose weight.

At 256 lbs. and working out 5 days a week, 1,200 calories a day might be a bit aggressive which, in turn, could cause some wonky things to happen. I can't fault you, however, because I did essentially what you are contemplating. I'm 6'0" and was 308 lbs. in December of 2011. I ate about 2,000 calories a day, which is what a 200 lb. man would eat if he was trying to lose weight, exercised 5 days a week, and I lost 100 lbs. in six months.

If I've learned anything, food and exercise are like medicine -- they are dose dependent. If you get too little of either, it doesn't work. If you get too much of either, you get bad side effects.

There are no rules against self-experimentation. In my view, obese people can afford to play with the numbers a bit more than most people. Find the right dose.

thanks so much. So in your opinion, if I have no appetite to eat (but know i should) do I force myself? Today for example, it's almost 2pm and all I have eaten is 1 apple and drank a bunch of water. I just have no desire for anything else.

The point that people are making is that at 5'1", 256 lbs., and 29-years-old, it takes approximately 1,824 calories a day to keep you alive, even if you were in a coma. However, you said that you exercise 5 days a week. Therefore, you're likely burning closer to 2,500 calories a day. Even if you were sedentary, sitting at your computer all day, the number of calories that you'd likely burn is closer to 2,189.

Of course, it's very possible that eating 1,800 calories a day and being sedentary could have been responsible for a good portion of your early weight gain, but certainly not the last 30 or so lbs.

Are you insulin resistant? Thyroid issues?

You should at least be eating 1200 a day for a healthy amount, otherwise you may have to reset your metabolism later on (which is NOT fun). Try eating more calorie-dense (but still healthy) foods like peanut butter and nuts throughout the day.

Kinda new to this. I want to lose 120 lbs in about 2 years. I eat 1000-1200 calories a day and I feel fine with this. But usually 1000 is plenty and I am not hungry for more. Sometimes I'm satisfied with only 800 calories and I force myself to get another 200-300.

However, calorie calculators always tell me to eat 1800 or so to lose 2 lbs a week. I can't imagine eating that much. I think that's how much I was eating when I gained 100 pounds.

I hear if you don't eat enough, your body will hold on to the fat...not letting it go...and you'll have low matabolism...and a bunch of other things. How do I avoid this? Eating more than 1200 seems so hard..just too much food. But I don't want to lose muscle and hold onto fat either.

I weigh 256 now. and exercise hard 1 hr a day, 5 days a week..as of 2 weeks ago.

THANKS SO MUCH!

Hi. You say that you'd like to be about 140 in two years. It's very doable.

A woman who is already 140 would likely eat between 1,200 - 1,400 calories a day if she was trying to lose weight.

At 256 lbs. and working out 5 days a week, 1,200 calories a day might be a bit aggressive which, in turn, could cause some wonky things to happen. I can't fault you, however, because I did essentially what you are contemplating. I'm 6'0" and was 308 lbs. in December of 2011. I ate about 2,000 calories a day, which is what a 200 lb. man would eat if he was trying to lose weight, exercised 5 days a week, and I lost 100 lbs. in six months.

If I've learned anything, food and exercise are like medicine -- they are dose dependent. If you get too little of either, it doesn't work. If you get too much of either, you get bad side effects.

There are no rules against self-experimentation. In my view, obese people can afford to play with the numbers a bit more than most people. Find the right dose.

thanks so much. So in your opinion, if I have no appetite to eat (but know i should) do I force myself? Today for example, it's almost 2pm and all I have eaten is 1 apple and drank a bunch of water. I just have no desire for anything else.

If I were you, and wanted to be very aggressive, I'd eat about 1,500 calories a day, and walk for 1 hour each day (around 3 miles or so). I'd also measure my food with precision so that I knew I was eating right around 1,500 every day.

Assuming that you're not insulin resistant or have thyroid issues, two things will happen: (1) you'll lose a whole bunch of water weight; and (2) you'll lose close to 10 lbs. of fat. You'd likely be 236 in a month.

Log your food daily, everything you put in your mouth from dipping sauces to creamer in your coffee to give you an idea of calories you are consuming. Also eat breakfast, if you can't stomach something big that early grab something healthy like an apple to get your metabolism going for the day. Make sure you eat throughout the day to fuel your body especially with your workouts.

I used to think that the less I ate the faster I would lose weight while I did it the right way this time eating the recommended calories for my goal weight and I feel amazing not sluggy or out of it from not properly fueling my body the wrong way.

"thanks so much. So in your opinion, if I have no appetite to eat (but know i should) do I force myself? Today for example, it's almost 2pm and all I have eaten is 1 apple and drank a bunch of water. I just have no desire for anything else. "

Actually this is pretty bad:( a loss in desire to eat and eating so little shows that your metabolism is falling. This may also lead to eating disorders:/ by forcing yourself proper meals at specific timing everyday will help you rev up your metabolism and have a healthy appetite(: eating this way is causing great suffer for your body and when your body is adapting to it, it may have entered starvation and storage mode:/ so eat more and eat consistently(: lose weight healthy! All the best! You can do it!:D