Any tips of food? I dont even come close to cal goal

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RotterdamNL
RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, ive been mister clean eating since i begun training, this is my 3rd week, i do 2 workout in the morning and 1 after diner, usely i burn around 600-1200 cals a day, now mfp says i need to eat around 2000cals due my workouts but i dont even come close, i eat my 3 meals and 2x snacks, all healthy stuff but i dont even come close to 2000, im always around 1200-1400 max!!

I am never hungry, actually im quite full every day, is this bad?
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  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    So, ive been mister clean eating since i begun training, this is my 3rd week, i do 2 workout in the morning and 1 after diner, usely i burn around 600-1200 cals a day, now mfp says i need to eat around 2000cals due my workouts but i dont even come close, i eat my 3 meals and 2x snacks, all healthy stuff but i dont even come close to 2000, im always around 1200-1400 max!!

    I am never hungry, actually im quite full every day, is this bad?

    I can be bad over time. What do you consider "clean eating"? Are you including enough fats? Typically if someone is full on so few calories its because they have cut fat too low.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    You will have to open your diary if you want specific advice.
  • madzzzzzzz
    madzzzzzzz Posts: 34
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    Im in the exact same position.. Why eat the extra calories when you go to the gym to burn them? I think If you start to notice that you are not loosing despite the calorie deficit, then increase your calorie intake.
  • justal313
    justal313 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    So, ive been mister clean eating since i begun training, this is my 3rd week, i do 2 workout in the morning and 1 after diner, usely i burn around 600-1200 cals a day, now mfp says i need to eat around 2000cals due my workouts but i dont even come close, i eat my 3 meals and 2x snacks, all healthy stuff but i dont even come close to 2000, im always around 1200-1400 max!!

    I am never hungry, actually im quite full every day, is this bad?

    Not bad, but ill advised. You are already maintaining a calorie deficit because that is how MFP sets your goals. You should be eating back most if not all of your exercise calories.

    Cook with olive/canola/coconut oils instead of pam.
    Eat more calorie dense snacks like nuts
    Maybe think about that 3rd snack, so breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert.

    Also if you just can't eat that much food, think about maybe cutting down to not doing that second workout at least a few days a week. I personally am supposed to be taking one day completely off a week but I don't seem to manage it more than once every other week.
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    Well this is what i usually eat:

    Breakfast:

    I bake 2 egs with 2 slices of turkey breast and put it on 3 wholewheat crackers with diet butter ( i might not translate every food correctly as English not my native language)

    Than i workout, eat a banana and a orange after as a snack.

    Lunch, usely 4-5 wholewheat crackers with turkey slices, smoked meat, sometimes peanutbutter, with diet butter.

    snack, usely 2 pieces of fruit or a piece of dark chocolate 85%

    Diner: dark grain rice 3/4 times, 2 times pasta, 1 time cooked potatoo, with one of the following veggies, broccoli, green beans, carrots and pews?,brussel sprouts, with onions, mushrooms, and chicken breast or fat fish.

    After my last workout i have a glass of light chocolate milk, and the rest of the evening water and rooibos tea and thats about it.

    My workout after dinner is usely burn 300-650 cals but i dont eat after that because 1 its after 8pm and 2, in my mind im burning fat, back in the day i used to eat 500grams of kwark but i dont think they have that in the states
    magere-kwark.jpg
    its pretty nasty but it has slow eggwhites
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    I really dont understand the whole concept, just googling a bit, here people say what your burn you need to eat extra, which in my mind is not logic because how would you lose otherwise, several things on the internet say to lose fat the fastest, you need to eat enough just so you dont go into starvation mode but it says nothing about you need to eat what you burned with exercise, it even says you burn faster if you dont do that.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    MFP sets your goal low, it doesn't include exercise. When you do exercise, you need fuel for it. That is why it adds calories in when you log your exercise.
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    I know but where is the logic to eat back what you burned?

    Yesterday i had a intence day, mfp advised me to eat 2783 cals, man are you kidding me? That is twice what i eat now, which already makes me full.

    I throw food in before my workouts and that is my fuel, than when im done i am burning fat, or am i totally wrong??
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    Nuts, nut butter, seeds, avocado, butter and cook with healthy oils. You should be able to meet your calorie goals with these foods. What is diet butter? Replace this with real butter or mashed avocado. Your snacks should probably contain some protien - so banana with a spoonfull of peanut butter and chocolate milk and a handfull of almonds should do the trick
  • cdgabbert
    cdgabbert Posts: 55 Member
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    Rotterdam, I agree with you, i am having a hard time understanding this concept too...
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    MFP tells you to eat 2000. You actually eat 1200. You expended 700 in exercise. You ate net 400 calories for the day. This is not enough nutrition or energy. Long term, you will lose muscle. I'm sure you just want to lose fat and not look emaciated when you are done.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Read everything listed here, and then see if you understand the concept:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    If you folllow MFPs reccomendations the base level of calories that it sets for you will be very low, often below your BMR. 1200-1400 for a 32 year old male is VERY low. Remember your BMR is the amount your body needs for basic essetial functions (pump blood, thinking, keeeping warm etc). The BMR does not incude any exercise - ie. what you'd burn if you sat on the couch all day. You shouldn't eat below your BMR. MFP's base number already has a daily deficit of caloreis built in (500calories per day for a 1pound per weeek weight loss). MFPs calculated base number does not include calories burned from exercise, which is why you have to input them manually. When you exercise your body expends extra energy (calories) to fuel your workouts which is why you need to eat more. Some people use the approach of eating back some of their exercise calories to create a larger deficit. Your approach is up to you but if you are burning large amounts of calories through exercise you should be eating back at least some of what you burn
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    MFP tells you to eat 2000. You actually eat 1200. You expended 700 in exercise. You ate net 400 calories for the day. This is not enough nutrition or energy. Long term, you will lose muscle. I'm sure you just want to lose fat and not look emaciated when you are done.
    Yeah BUT, your body will only burn muscles when you dont have fat to burn or are very low on fat and in survival mode, i got plenty of fat to burn and im sure im not in survival mode as this would take a long time before your body even does such a thing, besides my cardio workout i also do weightlifting, and me emaciated, that is never gonna happen.

    Hehe i probably understand it better in my language but why would i want to eat back the cals i burned, then whats the point in burning at all if i eat them back?

    Ive seen on many sites a sentence that makes sence to me, burn more than you eat and you will lose weight, now i am not doing that, i burn slightly less then what i eat but that makes alot more sence than eat back what you burn.

    Man, is this way of thinking really that weird?
  • Okapi42
    Okapi42 Posts: 495 Member
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    I agree - you should up it a little, though you don't have to go crazy. If you don't plan on eating back exercise calories, at least put your settings on "active" to get an idea of the right amount to eat, then ignore what you exercise.

    I eat kwark (quark) for breakfast - to make it taste better, I usually mix half a package with 150g of frozen strawberries and maybe some sugar/sweetener.

    (BTW, I think your English is fine - but if you need any translation help, let me know; I speak Dutch myself.)
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    MFP tells you to eat 2000. You actually eat 1200. You expended 700 in exercise. You ate net 400 calories for the day. This is not enough nutrition or energy. Long term, you will lose muscle. I'm sure you just want to lose fat and not look emaciated when you are done.
    Yeah BUT, your body will only burn muscles when you dont have fat to burn or are very low on fat and in survival mode, i got plenty of fat to burn and im sure im not in survival mode as this would take a long time before your body even does such a thing, besides my cardio workout i also do weightlifting, and me emaciated, that is never gonna happen.

    Hehe i probably understand it better in my language but why would i want to eat back the cals i burned, then whats the point in burning at all if i eat them back?

    Ive seen on many sites a sentence that makes sence to me, burn more than you eat and you will lose weight, now i am not doing that, i burn slightly less then what i eat but that makes alot more sence than eat back what you burn.

    Man, is this way of thinking really that weird?

    Again, MFP sets your calories low, it does not include your exercise. If you were just to figure out your own personal balance of TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), this would include all of your exercise, and you would take a reasonable cut of calories off of that. MFP takes your cut off of your energy needs assuming you never exercise. When you do exercise, the deficit you create is too large and it is not healthy.

    Because there are a lot of other things that the amount of calories you eat regulates. And because it is difficult for you to get the appropriate amount of nutrition.

    The minimum recommended calories for women is 1200. The minimum recommended for men is 1800. If you eat too few calories for awhile, it suppresses your metabolism. When you want to lose weight, suppressing your metabolism is not beneficial, because a higher metabolism will burn more calories.

    Eating too few calories causes your body to produce too much of the hormone called cortisol. This is a stress hormone. When you are eating too little and exercising too, it puts stress on your body which causes it to actually want to hang on to your fat stores. It also messes up hormones called leptin and ghrelin, these are the hormones that tell your body when it is hungry, and when you have had enough food.

    If you don't get enough vitamins and minerals, that causes a bunch of other various problems.

    Just eat the food, it's really not difficult.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    The point of exercise is to make your muscles stronger, so that you are losing fat, rather than muscle.

    The muscle maintenance is good because without the muscle, you would have to lose more weight and probably end up looking emancipated, rather than healthy.

    The muscle maintenance is good because it takes more calories to feed a resting pound of muscle than a resting pound of fat.

    The muscle maintenance is good because % body fat is one of the best predictors of overall health.

    The muscle maintenance is good because one of those muscles is your heart and you kind of need that to be healthy.

    The muscle maintenance is good because the biochemistry of breaking down fat creates rather benign by products that your kidneys filter out well, whereas breaking down muscle creates by products that require both your kidneys and your liver to work harder. Most kidneys can handle the additional stress, but fast weight loss is frequently associated with liver issues.
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    MFP tells you to eat 2000. You actually eat 1200. You expended 700 in exercise. You ate net 400 calories for the day. This is not enough nutrition or energy. Long term, you will lose muscle. I'm sure you just want to lose fat and not look emaciated when you are done.
    Yeah BUT, your body will only burn muscles when you dont have fat to burn or are very low on fat and in survival mode, i got plenty of fat to burn and im sure im not in survival mode as this would take a long time before your body even does such a thing, besides my cardio workout i also do weightlifting, and me emaciated, that is never gonna happen.

    Hehe i probably understand it better in my language but why would i want to eat back the cals i burned, then whats the point in burning at all if i eat them back?

    Ive seen on many sites a sentence that makes sence to me, burn more than you eat and you will lose weight, now i am not doing that, i burn slightly less then what i eat but that makes alot more sence than eat back what you burn.

    Man, is this way of thinking really that weird?

    Again, MFP sets your calories low, it does not include your exercise. If you were just to figure out your own personal balance of TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), this would include all of your exercise, and you would take a reasonable cut of calories off of that. MFP takes your cut off of your energy needs assuming you never exercise. When you do exercise, the deficit you create is too large and it is not healthy.

    Because there are a lot of other things that the amount of calories you eat regulates. And because it is difficult for you to get the appropriate amount of nutrition.

    The minimum recommended calories for women is 1200. The minimum recommended for men is 1800. If you eat too few calories for awhile, it suppresses your metabolism. When you want to lose weight, suppressing your metabolism is not beneficial, because a higher metabolism will burn more calories.

    Eating too few calories causes your body to produce too much of the hormone called cortisol. This is a stress hormone. When you are eating too little and exercising too, it puts stress on your body which causes it to actually want to hang on to your fat stores. It also messes up hormones called leptin and ghrelin, these are the hormones that tell your body when it is hungry, and when you have had enough food.

    If you don't get enough vitamins and minerals, that causes a bunch of other various problems.

    Just eat the food, it's really not difficult.
    Well that is what you think about it, i have no idea what i should eat more, i live on a budget of 40 bucks a week so i am limited but i have no idea what to add or eat more because for my feeling i already it more than i usually do.
  • grward612
    grward612 Posts: 72 Member
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    Don't follow the MFP for calories burned ... it's way over estimated. A good heart rate montior will be more accurate. If you cannot afford one and need to use MFP, divide the calories burned by half and you'll be much closer to the true number.

    And I agree with the advice to use TDEE and BMR.
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
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    I dont go on calories burned on mfp, i have a ecg hrm :)

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