Not hitting calorie target.

danixoxox
danixoxox Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
Some days I'm not hitting my calorie target, I'm having 300-400 less than I should in total. Would eating a Meal Bar be considered OK? Because I know if I keep snacking I won't stop.

Replies

  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    What is your calorie goal, and what sort of foods are you eating? Are you 300-400 under because of exercise calories?

    Always hard for me to wrap my head around this problem because I have no issues hitting my 1700+ goal on a daily basis! :tongue:

    If it's just an issue of not being hungry, then eat more calorie dense foods rather than trying to eat just more food. Things like nuts, nut butters, avocados, olive and coconut oils, and full fat dairy can give you a healthy calorie boost in small portions. You'll be a lot closer to your goal by adding a serving of raw almonds or a tablespoon of peanut butter (I like dipping sliced apples in my peanut butter!), half an avocado to a salad or sandwich, etc.


    Food is fuel - eat too little for too long and you'll end up with little energy for your workouts and burnout early.
  • squishy2981
    squishy2981 Posts: 34
    Yes, it would be okay. If you are feeling that hungry your body is either telling you to feed or and/or you are actually dehydrated. So, maybe before you start to snack or eat a bar, try drinking 8-12 ounces of water, wait a few minutes and see if you aren't hungry any more. That may help the snacking issue, plus being hydrated is good for you!

    Other side of the coin....what are you trying to do? Are you attempting to lose weight? A half pound or whole pound per week? B/c if you are, then you have to create a calorie deficit in your diet. For example, if you were trying to lose one pound per week, for those 7 days you would average a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day to add up to the 3500 calories that one pound of fat requires. If you do that with a combination of cutting several hundred calories from your diet coupled with several hundred burned calories from exercise you would hit that goal. So, your calories remaining on your food logging page would be a green 500.
  • danixoxox
    danixoxox Posts: 11
    I'm supposed to eat 1,400 a day, but I'm such a fussy eater. It's usually just fish or chicken, veg and potatoes for me. Even if I eat more fruit and veg it won't up my calorie intake much more.
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    Depends on what your goal is. Calculate your BMR and your TDEE and as long as you are in between them then you are ok. But I will second adding nuts and nut butters to your diet, they are excellent!
  • danixoxox
    danixoxox Posts: 11
    Thanks Squishy. I'm trying to lose my baby weight. I've been told I need to hit 1,200 otherwise it'll slow my metabolism, which happened to me before pregnancy. Because I couldn't lose anymore than 35lbs I gave up.
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
    Depends on what you want for yourself. I try to stay away from processed foods as much as possible and most meal bars are loaded with more crap and sugars than Snickers bars. But that's me. Some people have no problem with all of that so long as they are below their calories and I do agree that being that much under your calorie goal daily may result in you getting sick more often, overtraining, and maybe injury while working out.

    I'll inbox you!
  • squishy2981
    squishy2981 Posts: 34
    Yeah, that 1200 calories minimum does seem to be the magic number. It's tough to find the time to work out when you have kids I'm sure, so exercising to help create a deficit may be difficult, so you might only be able to just cut calories from your diet. After you lost those 35 pounds, do you know what your body fat percentage was? Because if you were exercising and adding muscle, but also cutting fat from your frame, the number on the scale will not go down b/c by volume muscle is more dense than fat. Don't get discouraged if, for a while, the scale doesn't show what you think you should be seeing.

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