Trouble meeting minimum calories

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  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Hey Folks, I've just started this and I'm having a hard time getting past 950 calories although I am allowed 1200. This is why: I'm learning to stay under my fat/sugar/carb ratios and when I stay under those ratios my caloric intake suffers! This is because I'm also learning how to balance my meals, and what the different food values are. For those of you who've been at it for a while or who have the knowledge/ability to successfully meet your caloric intake and stay within your other ratios: please share instead of snark. I would find that most supportive and I'm sure so would others. I only have 19 lbs post pregnancy to loose, but much knowledge to gain. Oh yeah. One more thing: some folks are allergic to nuts, can't eat yeast/ corn or their derivatives: this too makes balancing your diet a bigger challenge. My issue isn't weight loss, it is healthier eating/ balance and that is why I use this app. If you can't post support, why bother posting?

    That bolded bit...why are you concerned with these, and only with staying UNDER them? You should be focusing on a) reaching or exceeding your protein goal, b) reaching (at a minimum) your fat goal, and then eating enough other stuff to get your calorie goal for the day. Don't try to be "under" fat. Dietary fat does not magically turn into body fat (low-fat diets have been debunked). Also, there's no need to restrict or even track your sugar unless you have a medical condition that warrants doing so.

    You're probably simply being unnecessarily restrictive about what you think you "can" or "should" eat.

    (ETA: my current intake is 2300/day. I'd eat more - no problem - if it would still allow me to meet my goals).
  • NancyJeanSmith
    NancyJeanSmith Posts: 31
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    I have the same problem. I've tried to at least eat 1000 calories a day, but my stomach has shrunk so much, it just won't hold all the food. I do drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, sometimes even more. I plan my meals, and even when I try to do small meals, my stomach hurts, if I try to eat when I'm not hungry or if I feel just slightly satisfied, and I eat anymore, my stomach hurts. I don't want to hurt, and I was in a dilemma as what to do. I talked with my MFP friends, and their friends, and the most sensible answer that was given to me, I took that advice, and I feel absolutely fantastic!!! That advice was, "Don't stress yourself, trying to get a snack in, just to get your calories up. If you feel good and your body is telling you it's okay, don't be concerned about trying to get over 1000 calories." I use to try and get a snack in there, but I would have to wait at least 3 to 4 hours after dinner, so my stomach wouldn't hurt, and then I didn't want to go to bed after eating something, and it was causing me quite a bit of stress and me not getting to be until 11PM or after. If your body is giving you a signal that it's okay, don't fret about it. Just listen to your body. Everybody's body is different, and what is good for one person may not be good for the next.

    Take care and GOD bless you,

    - Nancy Jean -
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Hey Folks, I've just started this and I'm having a hard time getting past 950 calories although I am allowed 1200. This is why: I'm learning to stay under my fat/sugar/carb ratios and when I stay under those ratios my caloric intake suffers! This is because I'm also learning how to balance my meals, and what the different food values are. For those of you who've been at it for a while or who have the knowledge/ability to successfully meet your caloric intake and stay within your other ratios: please share instead of snark. I would find that most supportive and I'm sure so would others. I only have 19 lbs post pregnancy to loose, but much knowledge to gain. Oh yeah. One more thing: some folks are allergic to nuts, can't eat yeast/ corn or their derivatives: this too makes balancing your diet a bigger challenge. My issue isn't weight loss, it is healthier eating/ balance and that is why I use this app. If you can't post support, why bother posting?

    Don't limit fats for starters.

    When setting up macros you should be going for a minimum of .35 grams per pound of body weight, or if you're obese you can do it per pound of lean body mass.

    I personally feel (although I'm sure many disagree) that it's more important to meet your calorie goal than it is to eat "clean," so I would first satisfy my protein goal and make sure I'm getting a few servings of fruits/veggies, and then I would fill in with discretionary calories. Tonight I had ice cream. I limit discretionary calories to 20% of my goal. So today I had toast and fruit for breakfast, cottage cheese and garlic lime shrimp for lunch, some fresh veggies as a snack, chicken chili with beans for dinner, and ice cream for dessert. 1900 calories on the nose.

    Smoothies are also a great way to sneak in calories.

    You can't necessarily trust your natural hunger cues, especially if you've been under-eating. Hunger is at least partly hormonal. When I started here I was eating 900 calories per day and was no hungry, but that didn't mean that I didn't need more food.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    That advice was, "Don't stress yourself, trying to get a snack in, just to get your calories up. If you feel good and your body is telling you it's okay, don't be concerned about trying to get over 1000 calories."

    The problem is that eating very low calorie diets makes it very difficult to get adequate nutrients over the course of the day. Also, your body is not necessarily a reliable indicator of its actual caloric needs. It can learn to suppress hunger signals if it's underfed too often - this is why anorexics can be "not hungry", even when they're clearly starving to death. It's better to determine an appropriate intake for your particular body and energy requirements, and provide your body with the energy it needs.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    I have the same problem. I've tried to at least eat 1000 calories a day, but my stomach has shrunk so much, it just won't hold all the food. I do drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, sometimes even more. I plan my meals, and even when I try to do small meals, my stomach hurts, if I try to eat when I'm not hungry or if I feel just slightly satisfied, and I eat anymore, my stomach hurts. I don't want to hurt, and I was in a dilemma as what to do. I talked with my MFP friends, and their friends, and the most sensible answer that was given to me, I took that advice, and I feel absolutely fantastic!!! That advice was, "Don't stress yourself, trying to get a snack in, just to get your calories up. If you feel good and your body is telling you it's okay, don't be concerned about trying to get over 1000 calories." I use to try and get a snack in there, but I would have to wait at least 3 to 4 hours after dinner, so my stomach wouldn't hurt, and then I didn't want to go to bed after eating something, and it was causing me quite a bit of stress and me not getting to be until 11PM or after. If your body is giving you a signal that it's okay, don't fret about it. Just listen to your body. Everybody's body is different, and what is good for one person may not be good for the next.

    Take care and GOD bless you,

    - Nancy Jean -

    I would disagree with your friends. Every body is not different. You need the nutrition. If you've been a chronic under-eater, and it sounds like you have, your hunger signals may not be reliable.
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    eat when you are hungry-don't when your not its pretty simple.
    add good fats to your diet-that will certainly elevate your cals (olive oil-hummus-avacado-peanut butter-pesto etc)
  • Roseage
    Roseage Posts: 2
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    See... that's my learning curve! I thought I had to stay under those 'maximums' on the fat/sugar/carb etc. categories.! I suppose what I'm trying to do is not be lazy about my meals and eat balanced meals. I am hypoglycemic and eat every 1.5 to 2 hours just to keep the shakes away. I eat lots of variety but I'll eat protein one day, fruit the next etc and this is not optimal, me thinks so I'm trying to learn to balance my meals as the post baby weight comes off.
  • maecrocker
    maecrocker Posts: 56
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    I have been losing weight for almost a year and half now. When I reached my goal, I took a short break (December 2012 - April 2103). I had never taught myself how to eat right and I gained some back. I found I needed a jump start to get going again. I joined MFP in May of this year. When I first started, I couldn't force feed myself any more fruits and vegetables to get up to 1200 no matter how hard I tried. It's a lot of food when you're used to eating calorie loaded food all day. But you do get there and you gradually increase your calories to where you need to be. You can search through the threads to find past advice on this and why it's important to get your calories intake up. So, when I first joined up, as I said, I was having a hard time getting to 1200. I would read other people's threads and they were asking for help. Some people are snarky when they respond. I have to say that after being on here for only a month, when I see a "can't get to 1200" post, I involuntarily think "oh god, here we go again." Trust me, once you figure this out, you will think this too. So how did I turn it around? I read this (by the way, it's long but worth reading -- and I've read it several times!):

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    And I wish you all success with your goals.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    See... that's my learning curve! I thought I had to stay under those 'maximums' on the fat/sugar/carb etc. categories.! I suppose what I'm trying to do is not be lazy about my meals and eat balanced meals. I am hypoglycemic and eat every 1.5 to 2 hours just to keep the shakes away. I eat lots of variety but I'll eat protein one day, fruit the next etc and this is not optimal, me thinks so I'm trying to learn to balance my meals as the post baby weight comes off.

    Those macro values all add up to your total calories...if you hit every one perfectly it should equal your total calorie goal. That said, the MFP settings for protein are pretty low; don't be afraid to go over on it. Nor the fats, really. If you're hypoglycaemic (as I am), you'd be much better off eating small regular meals that have a decent combo of proteins, fats and carbs, rather than only one macro at a time. I find doing this (I eat about 5 times a day usually) and ensuring I get enough food over the course of the day has been keeping my hypoglycaemia well in check - and I don't track my sugar at all.
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
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    I'm not trying to be snarky, but how did you end up with 70+ pounds to lose if you can't bring yourself to eat 1500 calories? Which I assume is a good deficit to lose with for you.








    Myself , have about 80 to lose, and have the same issue , I didn't eat like ever and would over eat my dinners , also raising three babies I found myself rocking them and not being as motivated because of post partum depression and other new mommy things so four yrs, one baby after another lead me to where I'm at today , I don't eat fast food and rarely ever have cant stomach the stuff , so to say she shouldn't need to lose weight if she has such a great deficit is ridiculous. There is research out there that Says when one starves their body for so long ( not meeting minimum ) calorie intake the metabolism slows down ...causing people to become overweight and unable to metabolize as a fit or heathy person would. On the other hand it CAN be a simple fix for some by excersice and changing eating habits the persons metabolism can become more active and allow that person to begin losing weight for others the damage is so severe they may need to be put on medication to boost metabolism ....so try to understand where people are coming from before judging their ability to get a calorie goal , ESPECIALLY coming from some one who is obese and RARELY ( maybe two three) a year slammed a double cheese burger down my pie hole and certainly didn't expect to have to sit back and shove pounds of celery to get fit ! These people ask in these forums for straight answers not sarcastic ridicule . I'm new to MFP and so far I've lost 8 pounds in about three weeks NO thanks to Celery or cheese burgers , just eating at least three to four meals a day and doing a workout of some sort a DAY ..... I still have trouble getting to me calorie goal and actually came here to get some sound advice , I hope the judgment can get put aside and US calorie deficient people can get to the bottom of an issue many of US ( as y'all said THEY) are having to deal with !
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
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    This is summer. Some people's appetites evaporate faster in this heat than other people's desire to be polite to each other disappears when they sit down in front of their computers. Get over it.

    The four big ones you NEED to get in the summer when you're out and sweating a ton, the ones you'll feel within the next DAY at most if you don't, are carbs, sodium, potassium, and calcium. Cheese and potatoes are a good combo for this. Feel free to sprinkle some mock salt on this because that will help.

    Beyond that, I'd say break out the tasty rubbish and liquid calories if all else fails for the sake of making sure tomorrow's energy is where it needs to be.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    Today I ate 1823 calories
    Worked out 700 calories so
    I netted 1123.

    I ate:
    Smartbran cereal with
    8oz skim milk and
    1 cup fresh strawberries
    4oz prune juice

    4 cups broccoli
    1 can sardines with olive oil
    5 artichoke pieces
    8 tbls guacamole

    10 pieces dark chocolate
    2 cups raisin bran with
    12oz skim milk
    2oz filet mignon

    I ate all but 77 of my allotted calories and I am very satisfied.
    I am so glad to have MFP cause I love to eat and I've found a way to eat well through counting my calories and eating back my exercise calories.
    It is also difficult for me to understand people who can't eat enough.
  • gege0404
    gege0404 Posts: 17
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    If you don't mind me asking, what are your ranges for fat/sugar/carbs? If goal is to eat healthy/balanced eat lean proteins, healthy fats (minus nuts and nut butters) and complex carbs and lots of veggies (except corn, peas). If you follow these guidelines, your sugars should automatically be good...IMO
    .
  • Dlacenere
    Dlacenere Posts: 198 Member
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    It seems to me there is a correlation here between those that say they can't eat much more than 1000 calories and those same people that gain when they do. It just seems like they continue to stay so low because when they go a little higher, they gain because their metabolism has adjusted. They carry extra belly fat because their cortisol levels are high from the stress they are putting on their bodies. They do cardio like a nut. I can't imagine ever being happy eating around 1000-1200 calories per day (and probably netting even less after exercise). But I do know that about a year and a half ago, I was eating 1200 calories or less, lost some weight and when I would eat a little more, I would gain - I had to eat less and less to lose and workout more and more as my metabolism adjusted down. I made a conscious decision to slowly up my calories to a cut of my TDEE with some full diet breaks mixed in, fully expecting to gain, and I did - but I am in the same size clothes as I also started lifting heavy at his time too. It is the best thing I ever did - my body runs so much more efficiently in every way.
  • gege0404
    gege0404 Posts: 17
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    What you are describing here is "metabolic damage." This happens when one eats low calories, performs a lot of cardio and weight trains. No one should be eating under 1200 calories. Many post about metabolic damage online. Follow Layne Norton on youtube.
  • RCottonRPh
    RCottonRPh Posts: 148
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    I see so many of these posts about trying to get up to even a small number of calories and I just don't get them. I eat 1700-1800 calories per day, and could definitely fit in more if I needed to. Are you skipping meals? Do you have regular snacks? Have you traded nonfat or lowfat dairy for full fat items? Nuts and seeds are great suggestions that have already been made. Perhaps you could pre-log a few day's worth of food, so you can make sure you meet your calorie goal. Good luck.
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
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    I see so many of these posts about trying to get up to even a small number of calories and I just don't get them. I eat 1700-1800 calories per day, and could definitely fit in more if I needed to. Are you skipping meals? Do you have regular snacks? Have you traded nonfat or lowfat dairy for full fat items? Nuts and seeds are great suggestions that have already been made. Perhaps you could pre-log a few day's worth of food, so you can make sure you meet your calorie goal. Good luck.







    Personally , I'm really working on mine , before I began my journey I did skip every meal ...I was always TOO busy to stop and eat , I know it sounds ridiculous. It that's how I was . So now that I've started about two and a half weeks ago I did switch all my food to non fat low fat , and so on....so now I'm realizing my eating habits weren't all that bad from the beginning I just wasn't eating alllll day then overheating at night also no excercise ...so I continue to struggle to reach the calories but once I introduce my whole fat foods again I'm sure I won't have a problem , I have been steady to lose about 2-3 lbs a week so I don't believe I have a metobolic deficiency , but that's just me I can't speak for the main poster .....glad to see some others trying to get to the bottom of this with us NEW peeps :) I've been researching ALOT on things and following posts here, and I'm learning Alot!!
  • CBrook04
    CBrook04 Posts: 107
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    I'm really trying to meet them & it's only some days that I don't. Sometimes I just don't feel hungry. I never ate a lot, I just always ate the wrong things, never eating breakfast. It was always first meal at lunch time (nothing any good, if even a meal at all) & supper would be loaded with calories (and all I drank was soda). & now that I'm making sure I'm getting all the water I need I don't feel as hungry. It's an adjustment I'm learning to deal with & I don't really need anybodys negative or sarcastic remarks. I came here to improve myself. With a toddler running around I even sometimes forget to eat.. yes, I forget. To judge someone who is trying to better themselves & lose weight is low.

    Thanks to the people who have gave advice. I appreciate it.
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
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    It seems to me there is a correlation here between those that say they can't eat much more than 1000 calories and those same people that gain when they do. It just seems like they continue to stay so low because when they go a little higher, they gain because their metabolism has adjusted. They carry extra belly fat because their cortisol levels are high from the stress they are putting on their bodies. They do cardio like a nut. I can't imagine ever being happy eating around 1000-1200 calories per day (and probably netting even less after exercise). But I do know that about a year and a half ago, I was eating 1200 calories or less, lost some weight and when I would eat a little more, I would gain - I had to eat less and less to lose and workout more and more as my metabolism adjusted down. I made a conscious decision to slowly up my calories to a cut of my TDEE with some full diet breaks mixed in, fully expecting to gain, and I did - but I am in the same size clothes as I also started lifting heavy at his time too. It is the best thing I ever did - my body runs so much more efficiently in every way.






    This is nice to read :) so far I'm steadily loosing but I know at some point I'm going to have to get my calories in better , I'm thinking shakes may be my thing, they are quick and nutritious !! Packed !! Whatcha think?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    In addition to what other said about protein and fat being minimum goals to reach or exceed... I think a big problem is people using their diary to record their meals, and not to PLAN their meals.

    So they start off, "I'm going to be GOOD today," and have a small breakfast. Then a small lunch. Then a small dinner. And then the day is over, and they have a couple hundred calories left. And since they think there's "good food" and "bad food," they won't consider having a cookie or ice cream.

    But if you plan ahead, realizing you need to fuel your body, it's a lot easier to add ~100 calories to each meal and a snack or two than to try to make up 4-500 calories in the evening. They always say, "But I can't eat another bite," but I'm talking about little things, like a slice of cheese with lunch, an extra ounce or two of chicken with dinner, a glass of milk, an orange or a banana. And don't avoid calorie dense foods.

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