Am I eating too little?

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akindc
akindc Posts: 84 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm sure this topic has been posted thousands of times, but I need some help regardless.

I first started trying to limit my calorie limit to 1200 and realized that wasn't sustainable at all. MFP put me on 1350, and I have been eating most of my exercise calories (though I only heavy lift + cardio 3x a week.) So, I've been eating around 1600-1800 calories a day, sometimes more on weekends.

I haven't lost a pound in maybe 2-3 months since I started lifting. Is it my diet that's wrong? I see some people on here consuming 1900+ calories a day while losing weight, and I'm wondering if I'm just eating too little...

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  • Seraphemz
    Seraphemz Posts: 84 Member
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    Have you been gaining muscle in those 3 months? Losing inches?
  • poetshriven
    poetshriven Posts: 3
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    I was about to say the same thing. Also, the calories that you are eating, are you spacing out your meals/snacks enough?
  • starryvagabond
    starryvagabond Posts: 60 Member
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    You could be gaining muscle. Also, your metabolism needs a change once in a while. Eat 2000 calories a day for a few days and then scale back a bit. You may notice a difference. Cheers.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    Are you accurately measuring your calories with a scale?
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
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    Have you been gaining muscle in those 3 months? Losing inches?

    I've noticed a difference in my shoulders and biceps, but my they're mostly still hidden under fat. I haven't re-measured myself yet, but I don't see a difference in the way my body looks/feels at all, or even how my clothes fit.
  • poetshriven
    poetshriven Posts: 3
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    I've read that. Thanks, I will try that down the line, too.
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
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    No, I don't measure my food and don't plan to, too obsessive for me. I'm fairly certain I'm eating the proportions I'm tracking.

    My diary is open if anyone wants to see.
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
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    I was about to say the same thing. Also, the calories that you are eating, are you spacing out your meals/snacks enough?

    Yep. I eat breakfast when I get into work, sometimes a snack a few hours later, lunch around noon, and a snack/fruit before leaving work, especially on nights I go to school directly after and don't eat dinner until around 11pm.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    No, I don't measure my food and don't plan to, too obsessive for me. I'm fairly certain I'm eating the proportions I'm tracking.

    My diary is open if anyone wants to see.

    You'd be surprised how off you might be. I thought I was pretty on point but there's just no way to eyeball exactly. I really don't feel like it's obsessive. Most of the time, when I make a salad (I see that you enjoy those), I take my bowl, rezero my scale, and begin adding ingredients. After each, I rezero. When I get to my dressing, I pour it on top and wait for it to reach the amount of grams in a serving.

    If we're barbequing, I look up the USDA nutritional information for the particular meat, throw my meat on a plate after rezeroing, and see the amount of ounces. I put it into my diary accordingly.

    It's all a matter of perspective. You're taking the time to keep a food diary. Don't you want it to be as accurate as possible? If you are stuck at the same weight with all these adjustments and you're asking for advice, maybe this might be the one to get the scale moving again?

    It also could be that your underestimating (a rarer case) your food and really are undereating. But to really figure that out, you have to know exactly (or very close to exactly) the amount of calories going into your body, right?

    Not obsessive at all :).
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    No, I don't measure my food and don't plan to, too obsessive for me. I'm fairly certain I'm eating the proportions I'm tracking.

    My diary is open if anyone wants to see.

    There you go.
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Are you taking measurements or are you only using the scale to determine progress?
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    Forgot to mention, the people on here losing weight eating 1900 calories are probably pretty particular about measuring their food as well. They want the best bang for their buck, so they also get HRM's (heart rate monitors) to see how many calories they are really burning. I'm not there yet, but food is half the battle.

    I really do recommend getting a scale and trying it out for at least a week. It really won't bring you any trouble. If you bake or cook, it will keep your measurements accurate so you can precisely estimate how much a serving is calorie/macro wise.

    Also, if you're relying on the MFP food database, it may also lead you astray, so look for USDA nutritional facts on whole foods and for packaged foods, use the app to scan barcodes.

    Hope you start seeing results!
  • youcantfoolme
    youcantfoolme Posts: 79 Member
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    drink more water.
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
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    I have an HRM, so I at least know my calorie burn.

    I took measurements about a month in, and haven't redone them since because I wasn't seeing a change, but I'll do that tonight. Have weighed myself about once a week without a change (in fact, I've gained a couple of pounds.)

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