Having trouble eating enough for my goal today, Help!

How are you all managing to have so many calories to eat? Can't see how you can lose weight eating that much. How much exercise do you do? I do at least 1 exercise class ie. body attack a day if not 2 but only gain a couple of hundred extra calories for each. Am I going wrong somewhere?

The bigger you are the more calories you need, i.e. higher BMR and also you'll burn more calories doing the same amount of exercise. I've known quite a few big guys who steadily lose weight eating around 3000 cals/day, because they're big, active and do a lot of exercise. Women usually burn less than men due to being smaller and having less lean body mass, and the smaller you are, the lower your BMR is going to be, and the less you'll burn doing the same kind of exercise.

Is this a motivation post for running 10k? Cause I really want to sit with some ice-cream in front of my fire place to watch some Super Bowl.

Wondering if its really necessary to eat back the calories...if so maybe that's why I struggle to loose sometimes...I would think its best to go with a calorie deficit...is that wrong?

the calorie goal for MFP is already calculated with a deficit. If you don't eat back the exercise calories you'll end up undereating. If you do, you will still have a deficit, because your calorie goal before exercise already had one. Some suggest eating back 80% of the exercise calories as they tend to overestimate calorie burn for many people.

If you're following the calorie recommendations and not losing, the first thing to look at is whether you're tracking your calories accurately. Weighing foods is the most accurate way because a gram is a gram. Volume measurements like cups are easy to accidentally overfill and it's possible for the calories to be out by 20% either way.... well if you're eating 20% more calories from cup measurements than you think, there goes your deficit. Guessing how many grams/cups you're eating is even less accurate.

There's a different method to the standard MFP method though, which is explained in the "in place of a road map" thread, that way you calculate how many calories your body burns each day including all your exercise, then you eat 20% less than this. I use this method because it's more simple and it's easier to adjust the calories based on your real world results. With this method you don't eat back exercise calories, because they're already included in your calculations.

Wondering if its really necessary to eat back the calories...if so maybe that's why I struggle to loose sometimes...I would think its best to go with a calorie deficit...is that wrong?

i actually stalled out not eating back my exercise calories. felt weird to do it but as soon as i started eating them back i started losing again, maybe a fluke, maybe not

the reasoning behind eating back your calories is that it's easier to lose and maintain the loss if you lose at a slower rate. at least that's how MFP justifies limiting the rate to no more than 2 lbs per week.

but i believe there's a lot of information on here in the EMTLW group and elsewhere to explains the hormonal changes that can occur if you try to under eat for too long, and which ends up stalling the weight loss process. so there seems to be some science behind it as well. i haven't done a complete survey of the site looking for that information, but from what i've stumbled across, a bunch of folks feel strongly that there really is a mechanism at work in your body the hurts your progress if you continually refuse to eat back your exercise calories.

just though i'd throw that out there for anyone new...

Wondering if its really necessary to eat back the calories...if so maybe that's why I struggle to loose sometimes...I would think its best to go with a calorie deficit...is that wrong?

Huh? eating back your calories still is a deficit. I'll still be at one with my 3500 calories or pizza

Can you not divide all those exercise cals up over the week to give yourself extra over the next 7 days or are you going to run 10k each day or exercise to get that deficit?

Mistake, I meant to type 500 calorie under my daily goal not to make it look like a 500 calorie day.. I could never eat that low....I'm set at 1730 a day and I like to exercise enough to bring my net down around 1200...perhaps I'm looking at things the wrong way and would explain why I'm getting hungry..even my doctor told me to set at 1500 and exercise it down to 1200..thanks for the help here, some things are starting to make sense

"New kid on the board" ..... enjoyed reading post ... seems to be very helpful. Was banded 27th of Dec and I have a 1200 calorie minimum ... eating so very little makes it hard to hit the number. WISH I could take that advice about the beer ... pizza and even the pie !

This is just me, but on days I work and or do weights I am starving and actually need my calories or even a little more. Days I do cardio (even when I work, worse when weekends) I can't eat them all back. I think if you eat more then the minimum net, for us girls it's 1200, you should be okay. But if you are hungry the next day, don't stress if you go a little over your net. On that note, if you really feel like a beer or some sort of treat have it and enjoy it . Way to go on the 10 km run

3545 calories today, how do you do it? I am going to have multiple peanut butter sandwiches and maybe a beer tonight. What do you eat in these situation were you just cant eat enough for your daily goal?
I look at some of the other threads, and I see things like peanut butter or an avocado. But one avocado is only 140 calories. I don't even like them that much.
What are you eating?

Steak, pasta with olive oil, chocolate milk, peanut butter.