How many calories should I be eating a day? Help, please!

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  • changeyourlimits
    changeyourlimits Posts: 43
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    hi,

    I took a quick look at your diary for today and noticed your lunch wasn't so large. It probably has a lot to do with your schedule. I usually try to make the middle of the day the largest meals. Mainly because we can use the energy and burn off the energy throughout the day. Protein powders are way you can increase the calories you take in a day. I was suggest some whole grains as well. Oatmeal, brown rice, faro. These would help with control the blood sugar as well as good nutrients to your day. I think your body is so used to you moving that it just doesn't tell you need more energy however you do. Consistently losing 10 lbs a week is not good for the body. You might need to make a new habitat and will yourself to eat more.
  • mommasamfa
    mommasamfa Posts: 87 Member
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    I actually follow this pretty closely (aside from the caloric part). I don't try to eat excess sugar because I'm actually hypoglycemic and it doesn't help me anyways. But what I don't get, is how do I force myself to eat that much food? Sometimes that much food just makes me want to puke and I feel like just filling up with empty calories.

    There are many good fats, and many not bad fats. Always can eat more of those as long as getting in needed protein.

    energy dense foods, and your body will feel hungry if it is in any way suppressed right now.

    I sometimes will overeat protein. What are some energy dense foods? It doesn't really matter if I'm hungry now or not. Sometimes in the 30 minutes I have to eat, I cannot eat a massive plate of food just because i need to eat 2000 calories a day.
  • mommasamfa
    mommasamfa Posts: 87 Member
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    hi,

    I took a quick look at your diary for today and noticed your lunch wasn't so large. It probably has a lot to do with your schedule. I usually try to make the middle of the day the largest meals. Mainly because we can use the energy and burn off the energy throughout the day. Protein powders are way you can increase the calories you take in a day. I was suggest some whole grains as well. Oatmeal, brown rice, faro. These would help with control the blood sugar as well as good nutrients to your day. I think your body is so used to you moving that it just doesn't tell you need more energy however you do. Consistently losing 10 lbs a week is not good for the body. You might need to make a new habitat and will yourself to eat more.

    Yeah, i normally eat whole grains for the morning and I actually ate some this morning but forgot to post, you actually reminded me haha. i keep up with that because the protein and fiber/grains are how I start stabilizing my sugar for the day. I have no time to make the middle of my day the largest of my meals. I actually can't make one larger than the other unless i'm off that day.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    It can be if you use it correctly.

    BMR 1786

    Active level means maintenance of 2590.

    1.5 lb goal loss weekly means deficit of 750 calories.

    2590 - 750 = 1840 daily net eating goal MFP will set.

    You do a 500 calorie burn workout.
    Your real daily maintenance for that day just became 3090. (otherwise called TDEE)
    3090 - 750 = 2340 eating goal.

    Now, MFP shows this different, but that is exactly what it is doing.
    1840 on non-exercise days, more on workout days - the deficit stays at 750 calories, you lose 1.5 lb of fat weekly.
    If doing new exercise, you'll also be making body improvements, so while burning fat, you may be gaining needed water weight.
    Never fear, that required water weight increases metabolism.

    And you are very correct, you should be concerned if continued weight loss was 10 lbs weekly - but first week is water weight, so can't count most of that.
    Because you aren't losing that much fat that fast, you are losing muscle mass.

    And unless you want to screech into a plateau, and then do drastic things and lose more muscle, and begin a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, I'd suggest keeping a reasonable deficit from a realistic maintenance figure.

    So are you saying you can't eat that much, or that is too little to eat?

    If your exercise is totally consistent and reliable and the same, use the spreadsheet in post above.

    Well, you are completely off as to what MFP has suggested. Which is the point. But, the even BIGGER point is that MFP's suggestion of ACTIVE is not what I actually do. And that, again, is why I've posted this.

    If the MFP BMR is 1786 - my math is dead on as to what MFP does - if you selected the levels.

    You do realize of course that MFP does NOT suggest an activity level - you have to chose it.
    MFP does NOT suggest a weight loss goal (it recommends 1lb weekly) - you have to chose it.

    MFP did NOT suggest active, I did - based on your description off all your normal daily non-exercise daily activity. Perhaps Very Active should be the level, but I guessed you actually had a decent amount of standing around time in there too, with brief periods of lots of activity.
    And the math is based on that level, and selecting 1.5 lbs loss.

    So where is your confusion actually at, you were asking for advice, you've received around the same thing from several, and I've been exact (if you gave exact BMR which is where the math starts)?

    You might read over EXACTLY what I said, and compare your settings. Actually, change your settings to what I said, and if you reported the BMR correctly that MFP is using - be ready to be surprised.
  • helpfit101
    helpfit101 Posts: 347 Member
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    Actually what you can do is go into your goals and set "custom goals". If you get into custom goals you just change whatever calories you want to be eating that you think are appropriate. Of course do something sensible and don't set it low like 1200 or anything. You can keep the MFP profile set to sedentary or extremely active it doesn't really matter. One thing that might not work is how MFP predicts you will lose /gain weight. It may be way off.

    Then after that monitor how you feel. If you're hungry all the time and visibly start losing weight, up the calories by 150-250. And again if it happens again. Or lower the calories by 150-250. Do this until your weight gain/loss levels off and tweak as you will.

    If you find you had to increase your calories from 1700 up to 2300 for example you could increase your profile. If you had to adjust down, set the profile down. But it's optional no need to change the profile unless you want MFP's predictions to be accurate.

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