Struggling to eat my calories!

Your diary isn't open, so we can't see what you're eating...but you may need to start eating more calorie-dense foods.

1,115 calories in one day of exercise sounds incredibly high (but awesome if it is true!) how are you tracking that?

Is it OK though that what I'm eating is filling me up, but not reaching my calorie goal for the day? I feel totally content, both with the food I'm eating and the way I'm feeling. I have no lethargy etc.

My exercise is mainly at the gym on a cross trainer (elliptical trainer). I have a Heart Rate Monitor which tells me I should have lost 1009 calories during my hour's work-out. However, MFP says it's actually 816 calories, and I'm happy to accept MFP's lower figure. The remainder of today's exercise was comprised of walking to/from work, and 30 minutes walk at lunchtime. This gave me 60 minutes total walking time today, which MFP says burnt 299 calories.

Unless the walking is not part of your normal routine I would not count that. Just have your settings the one up from sedentary. As for what you are eating filling you up, but not reaching your calories - that is normal for a little while. If it continues very long though you are going to want to look at what you eat. An easy way to get more calories is to look at the nutrient density of your food and watch your macros. Eating high volume, low calorie, low nutrient foods can be counter productive in terms of getting enough protein and other nutrients.

A few points:

Saying how many calories he should be burning minimum as an adult male isn't accurate. Age, current weight and daily activity level affect that number. A man who is 75 years old, weighs 150 lbs and sits around all day has a very different daily calorie needs than a 20 something male that weighs 200 lbs and does landscaping for a living.

My experience is that calorie estimations can be way off on machines. My guess is that you are overestimating what you've burned.

For example, I'm a runner and former triathlete. Several years ago I had some testing done and it was determined I burn 80 calories/mile while running. Typically you hear people say to count 100/calories a mile. MFP uses minutes on running which does me no good. With the MFP math, they usually credit me 100 calories more than I know I burn for each run. I have to enter my numbers manually.

You probably aren't running as much of a deficit as you think you are.

As far as having a large deficit, be careful. It will creep up on you. Over time you will become rundown without adequate nutrition. Start by adding in one snack, 200 - 300 calories, to get used to eating more. I was having the same problem I worked with a nutritionist to figure out target calories and found I was well below what I should be eating. Took me a while to get my daily calories up to 1600 then compensate for an 8 mile run.

Frankly I was thrilled that I got permission to eat more! I've fallen off the wagon for about 10 days but when I was following the rules I was dropping weight and losing body fat without trying very hard.

Hi all

I'm after a bit of advice. I started with MFP 15 days ago. In that time I have lost 12lbs. I'm totally surprised by this, whilst being extremely happy! The problem that I have is that I'm struggling to eat my daily calories.

Take today for an example...

My goal is 1350 calories. I have eaten 1267 calories, and have also gained 1115 calories through exercise. Therefore my net calorie intake is only 152, and I have 1198 remaining! I do not feel at all hungry.

Is this calorie intake detrimental to my (sustained) weight loss?

Any advice would be very gratefully received

Wait, wait, wait. Netting ~200 calories for the day is not good, healthy or sustainable. I'm not one to say you have to eat back ALL of your exercise calories, but it's usually good to eat back 1/2 to 2/3rds of them.

If you aren't hungry there are easy ways to get calories into your system. Things like peanut butter, avocado, cooking with Olive Oil, etc. Those are all calorie dense foods that don't make you feel like you're stuffing yourself. If you are currently eating fat free or reduced fat items, switch to full fat.

I'm willing to bet after several days of this your hunger WILL go up, and it'll be easier to hit that goal.

If I were you, this is what I would do. I'd track how many miles I'm covering on the elliptical and use that. 30 minutes being lazy is not the same as 30 minutes hard. You cover more mileage at 30 minutes hard.

I think for someone your age and weight, using 100 calories/mile isn't unreasonable. You would rather underestimate than overestimate.

My nutritionist used my BMR, which we figured is ~1300 and sounds right based on testing from a couple years ago, and added 300 for daily life. That makes my base 1600.

The best way to estimate without getting a test, is this calculator: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ for your BMR

Then do the Harris Benedict equation: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/ for your daily calorie goal. Use the sedentary equation since what you really want to know is what you should eat on days you aren't training.

There is a bit of an art to it as well which is what I find so frustrating. Timing and nutrient make-up will also affect weight loss.

Agree that TDEE - appropriate percentage is a good method, if you don't want the hassle of logging exercise.

And... I know it's counter-intuitive - but the key to losing weight is to keep exercising while taking on PLENTY of calories.

Good luck! x