Calorie Calculator says to eat 1100 calories a day. OK??

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  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
    Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

    If that is the case then why do I gain when I eat more than 1600/day and maintain on 1300-1500/day? It seems like if I do what MFP tells me to do, I don't lose. I've been using MFP for months now and haven't lost a pound! There are just so many conflicting suggestions.

    How many calories does MFP have you eating, and are you eating back exercise calories?
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Do you weigh and measure all your foods??? Select the proper entry in the database? Do you eat your exercise calories back? Do you get your burn amounts based on MFP numbers, HRM or the machines? Do you drink enough water? Limit your sodium? Get enough healthy fats in your diet? Get enough fibre? Etc?
  • KristyHumphrey
    KristyHumphrey Posts: 248 Member
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    Looking over your diary, I saw some quick add calories and a couple of days of not logging at all. I also saw a lot of processed foods and food entries that can vary widely between brands, etc. Cookies jumped out at me. I don't have a problem with eating cookies or other sweets, but you have to make sure you are being accurate in what you are logging. One day you logged 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies as 300 calories and the next you logged a nestle toll house homemade chocolate chip cookie as 110. Did you make them yourself? If so, use the recipe builder. If not, weigh the ones you buy and use an appropriate entry. A cookie with only 110 calories is quite small! Even a 150 calorie cookie is pretty small by most bakery standards. My first suggestion, instead of cutting calories, is to make sure that you are weighing and measuring everything and logging it properly.

    Maybe you are under reporting your calories and you are really eating closer to 2000 a day. Maybe you aren't. If you aren't weighing everything though, it can be hard to tell. I had 4 oz of cooked chicken breast on my salad today and it was a weighed portion. I've been weighing and measuring stuff for forever, but chicken I'd just been lax at guesstimating. It was less chicken than I thought it would be. Yeah, not a big deal because I was probably only off by about 35 calories, but still, a little here and a little there add up. I saw you had peanut butter a few times. Peanut butter is SO easy to understimate on. I've heard that most dieters can understimate their food intake by up to 30% per day, so weighing and measuring for a while may just help you start losing again. Doing that and eliminating most of your generic entries and tracking every single day may help you. One day of not tracking and being over by just 1000 calories can undo 2 or 3 days worth of work. When you don't have much to lose, it can really stall you.

    Great Advice!
  • havingitall
    havingitall Posts: 3,728 Member
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    I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

    Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight
  • kpkeri
    kpkeri Posts: 9 Member
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    Looking over your diary, I saw some quick add calories and a couple of days of not logging at all. I also saw a lot of processed foods and food entries that can vary widely between brands, etc. Cookies jumped out at me. I don't have a problem with eating cookies or other sweets, but you have to make sure you are being accurate in what you are logging. One day you logged 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies as 300 calories and the next you logged a nestle toll house homemade chocolate chip cookie as 110. Did you make them yourself? If so, use the recipe builder. If not, weigh the ones you buy and use an appropriate entry. A cookie with only 110 calories is quite small! Even a 150 calorie cookie is pretty small by most bakery standards. My first suggestion, instead of cutting calories, is to make sure that you are weighing and measuring everything and logging it properly.

    Maybe you are under reporting your calories and you are really eating closer to 2000 a day. Maybe you aren't. If you aren't weighing everything though, it can be hard to tell. I had 4 oz of cooked chicken breast on my salad today and it was a weighed portion. I've been weighing and measuring stuff for forever, but chicken I'd just been lax at guesstimating. It was less chicken than I thought it would be. Yeah, not a big deal because I was probably only off by about 35 calories, but still, a little here and a little there add up. I saw you had peanut butter a few times. Peanut butter is SO easy to understimate on. I've heard that most dieters can understimate their food intake by up to 30% per day, so weighing and measuring for a while may just help you start losing again. Doing that and eliminating most of your generic entries and tracking every single day may help you. One day of not tracking and being over by just 1000 calories can undo 2 or 3 days worth of work. When you don't have much to lose, it can really stall you.

    I have a food scale at home and weigh most everything I make while at home (most of my lunches and dinners). Some days I unexpectedly eat a cookie or cupcake at work and that is when I try to estimate the best I can, but obviously I can't weigh a cookie at work. I try to quick add when I don't know what I ate, especially with the holidays I haven't been as careful. But, as I said, I have been using MFP for 3 months and, with the exception of the holidays, I do log everything I eat. Thanks for the feedback! You're right, if I have a splurge meal on say, Friday or Saturday, then I might be eating an additional 1000-2000 calories. Even though its only one bad meal I guess it really does undo all the hard work from the week.
  • kpkeri
    kpkeri Posts: 9 Member
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    I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

    Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight

    Yes, you're right. I eat out on the weekends and do enjoy wine on Fridays and Saturdays. Its helpful to have others look over my diary and point out issues. Is there any way to enjoy social drinking with friends and still lose weight?
  • havingitall
    havingitall Posts: 3,728 Member
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    I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

    Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight

    Yes, you're right. I eat out on the weekends and do enjoy wine on Fridays and Saturdays. Its helpful to have others look over my diary and point out issues. Is there any way to enjoy social drinking with friends and still lose weight?

    I struggle with this too as my friends and I all enjoy a glass or few of wine. You can try by alternating a large glass of water with each glass of wine. ( or so I have been told)
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    You can go out with friends if it fits in your calories for the day. Some people feel a splurge day is fine; it's kind of personal and depends on what works for you. What you are doing now is not working. That said, not going out with friends I think would suck (yes, I know you can hang out with friends and not eat, but a lot of times they do want to meet for dinner or drinks).

    However, your goal weight seems an approximate and you say you want to tone up. I'd stop looking at the scale, start using a measuring tape, and start lifting heavy. Here's Staci's story, and if you notice she hit skinny fat then wanted to tone. She ended up weighing MORE than when she was skinny fat but was a smaller size and looks more toned.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    ETA: She also eats 3000-4000 calories a day to sustain her workouts.
  • newhabit
    newhabit Posts: 426 Member
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    1200 would probably be the lowest i'd go unless i was under 5 feet tall. most people don't have that slow a metabolism.
  • jennbarrette
    jennbarrette Posts: 409 Member
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    There is a chance you will actually stay the weight you are as you tone up, but look better and go down in clothing sizes. Maybe lose the scale for a few months and focus on toning exercises and follow MFP calories and see if you see any results?
  • kpkeri
    kpkeri Posts: 9 Member
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    You can go out with friends if it fits in your calories for the day. Some people feel a splurge day is fine; it's kind of personal and depends on what works for you. What you are doing now is not working. That said, not going out with friends I think would suck (yes, I know you can hang out with friends and not eat, but a lot of times they do want to meet for dinner or drinks).

    However, your goal weight seems an approximate and you say you want to tone up. I'd stop looking at the scale, start using a measuring tape, and start lifting heavy. Here's Staci's story, and if you notice she hit skinny fat then wanted to tone. She ended up weighing MORE than when she was skinny fat but was a smaller size and looks more toned.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    ETA: She also eats 3000-4000 calories a day to sustain her workouts.

    Wow great article and very inspirational!
  • lilteeraw
    lilteeraw Posts: 261
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    Its going to be hard to lose those last pounds.
    id say be patient. dont go under 1200 calories. idk why it told you to.
    eat healthy foods and maybe switch up your workouts.
    feel free to add me.
    i hit a plateu like a month ago at 116 lbs.. but ive started working out more and increased my calorie intake & am
    now approx 109-111 lbs. (:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Being that you are at an already healthy weight, it is going to be very difficult to lose. If it were me, I'd focus on hitting the weights and body composition more than scale losses. Weights are the only way to change your body composition to get the lean, toned look; no amount of dieting or cardio is going to do it.

    A lot of people, and it seem particularly women don't like hearing that and for whatever reason are adverse to hitting the weight room...but it really is the only way and there are plenty of beautiful ladies here on MFP that evidence this.
  • l3ugjuice
    l3ugjuice Posts: 233
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    skinny fat means you need to add strength training. You arent fat, you are not defined....at least I hope thats what it means, because otherwise it just makes no sense at all.

    Also: 90% of 'why am I not losing weight!' complaints can be attributed to user error. I.E. you are eating more calories than you think you are, or are not being honest with yourself when you log.

    Personally, I have no idea if 1100 calories is too low...because I'm just fat fat =D
  • queenoflaugh
    queenoflaugh Posts: 3
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    I'm wondering how tall you are? Perhaps you've lost all the weight your body is meant to lose on a healthy balanced diet. I've read many times that once you get to the weight you should be, it gets harder to lose more weight without taking drastic measures. So perhaps you need to reathink your weight goals. If you are eating the right amount of calories, eating halthy, and working out--- I think the key is to keep doing the same and be happy with your body.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    I agree with queenoflaugh

    Your BMI puts you right in the normal range. You are watching your diet closely and not losing. This suggests to me you are in the range your body wants to be in. To get lower, you would need to do something extreme (not worth it).

    There are so many unrealistic images about female bodies out there, it is hard to be satisfied even when you are thin.

    If you want to, you can work on building muscle which could help you to like your shape better.
  • amoula97
    amoula97 Posts: 1 Member
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    Ok this is a really old post but if anyone still interested... I suggest for you eating meals that are rich in protein, for example you can eat a salad with some tomatoes and cucumbers (low in calories) and then add some kind of meat. Eat fruits for snacks( strawberries and watermelon are really low in calories) drink a lot of water between meals, I find that really helpfull to stop eating here and there between meals :)

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