So So Confused :-( over my calorie intake!!

katieredmond5243
katieredmond5243 Posts: 31
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all so am new to this and my fitnesspal has gave me 1200 calories a day for me to lose at least 2 and half pounds a week.
The problem i have is i train 1 hour every day with a personal trainer and dont feel hungry enough to eat the net left over calories,

will i gain weight by not eating these???

am i under eating??

Has anyone stuck at 1200 and trained a hour 5x a week and still lose weight am reading so many different storys over 1200 calories!!

Im not starved infact am full and eating the food i enjoy as i believe a diet will only last if its right for you.I eat at least 3 times a day and snack twice a day and drink plenty of water maybe have a cheeky diet coke now and then!!!

PLEASE PLEASE HELP am so so confused and worried i will gain!!

Replies

  • flippinazn
    flippinazn Posts: 6
    As far as I know, you won't gain weight if you can stick to your regime. I find people under their daily calories all the time more often than not. They are losing weight just fine. I don't think you should be worried about that. Don't feel discouraged though!
  • katieredmond5243
    katieredmond5243 Posts: 31
    Thank you am just a little confused as to how much i have to eat if my fitnesspal says 1200 calories i really dont want to eat my net worth of calories as am stuffed off my 1200 calorie intake.
  • CassarahW
    CassarahW Posts: 93 Member
    You have to see what works for you. If you are eating healthy foods, recovering from you workouts normally, have stable energy with no crashes and you are losing weight then where you are at is fine. I find that when I plateau I'm not eating enough calories to keep losing. Try what you're doing for a while and see how you feel. Tweak when needed.
  • ngyoung
    ngyoung Posts: 311 Member
    As long as you are getting the energy you need to get through your workouts and are seeing progress with your workouts you will be fine. Many times people underestimate their calorie anyways but if you are in the general area you should be fine. Your body is pretty sophisticated with how it uses energy from food or stored bodyfat when you're staying active. If you are under for long periods you may start to see an effect with more hunger.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    You will lose as long as you eat under your maintenance cals (go to goals and look at cals burned from normal activity, eat less than that and lose) That said if you are too far under a larger % of your loss will come from lean muscle not fat.

    If fat loss is your goal I would suggest, with only 30ish lbs to lose, that you set your goal to lose 1lb/week so you don't risk losing too much muscle, and that you eat back the cals burned from exercise. If you cannot eat that much without being full, then change what you eat, eat full fat foods and if all else fails take a jar of peanut butter and a spoon and go to town.
  • lingading
    lingading Posts: 258 Member
    If you are training that much, you are under eating. It seems you don't have a large amount of weight to lose. Trying to get it off at such a fast pace (2.5# a week is a LOT) is not healthy. Take it off a little slower and you'll have more success in the long run. You won't gain weight by not eating them, but you won't build muscle (which I assume is what you want considering you are working with a trainer) and therefore will not reap the benefits of having increased muscle mass (i.e. improved metabolism, toning). Just my 2 cents. You don't have starve your body (your body can starve even if you do not feel physically hungry) to get results.
  • ihad
    ihad Posts: 7,463 Member
    This could be a good place to start:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy

    It goes over the basics and provides some important context.
  • freebirdjones
    freebirdjones Posts: 236 Member
    You don't have to eat a lot more to bump up your cals. When making a sandwich put avocado on it, or peanut butter in your protein shake, or yogurt in your smoothie, 1/3 cup of nuts is not a lot and it's 300 cals. Put 1 extra slice of meat on a sandwich, granola in your yogurt, a protein bar.

    A month for me looked like this: 120 lbs, 5'5 eating 2000 on lift days and 1800 on rest days, trying to get my weight in protein and I lost 7 inches in one month. So For me food = power. My body is a machine and I like to feed it :)
  • wswilliams67
    wswilliams67 Posts: 938 Member
    Cooking with coconut oil will boost your cals and it's a great fat source. So are almonds. Calculate your TDEE and eat 10-20% under that. You should be fine.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    How did MFP give you a 2 1/2lb goal? It only goes to 2lbs. You have 33lbs to lose. Change your goal to ..5-1lb/week.

    Also, eat your exercise cals back. MFP is designed for its users to eat their exercise cals back. You can find their formula on the Goals Page. With your exercising and not eating them back, you are undereating. MFP gives you a goal that already has a deficit calculated in it. Creating too large a deficit is counterproductive.

    There are a lot of calorie dense foods that can help you meet your goal. Make sure you aren't going for low cal, low fat, etc products. Use protein powders to help with both protein macros and cal goals. You can eat with oatmeal, etc - not just drink. If you do make shakes, you could add fruit to them to help up the calories.

    Avocadoes, avocado oil, olive oil, real butter, eggs, bread, ice cream, peanut butter, pastas....

    And maybe aim for a body fat % goal over a scale #. The scale is really unreliable and not a great way to track progress. Also include fitness goals and realize the closer you are to "goal"..the longer and harder it'll be to get there.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
    Hi all so am new to this and my fitnesspal has gave me 1200 calories a day for me to lose at least 2 and half pounds a week.
    The problem i have is i train 1 hour every day with a personal trainer and dont feel hungry enough to eat the net left over calories,

    will i gain weight by not eating these???

    am i under eating??

    Has anyone stuck at 1200 and trained a hour 5x a week and still lose weight am reading so many different storys over 1200 calories!!

    Im not starved infact am full and eating the food i enjoy as i believe a diet will only last if its right for you.I eat at least 3 times a day and snack twice a day and drink plenty of water maybe have a cheeky diet coke now and then!!!

    PLEASE PLEASE HELP am so so confused and worried i will gain!!

    If you have it set to 2.5 pounds a week that a 1500 calorie deficit plus you exercise and not eat back those calls thats 1500 calories + what you burn. I think thats way too much of a caloric deficit and seeing you dont got to much to lose, there is a good chance you're going to lose a lot of muscle and not look like how you want to at your goal weight.

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