Day 3 - Am I Doing This Properly?

I generally take the daily allowances as what they were intended as, just a guide. I usually aim to be about 1-200 under my allowance, exercise not taken in to account. Eating too little can severely impact your ability to lose weight long term.

I can only tell you what has worked for both me and my wife. We both use MFPs guidelines, and try to stick to them. When we both started on here we were both overweight and pretty sedentary. When we started working out, we both started off slow and gradually built up to where we are now. The eating was the hardest part, it truly was a life style change for both of us, we have learned a lot about the foods we eat, and what we used to eat. I agree with what others have said, sit down and have your doctor review your plans, you want it to be a long term solution, it will take time and effort, but well worth it in the end. Wife has lost 45lbs following MFP, and I have lost 40, so it does work. Feel free to take a look at my diary, or add me as a friend if you need the motivation, be glad to help you out if I can.

Chris

And how do you feel? Are you hungry? How much calories per day did you eat before?

This ? This? This?

Hi all. This'll be the 3rd day that I'm actively trying to watch what I eat & to that end only eat when I'm certain that I'm hungry. However at about 330lbs my target calories are around 2220 per day according to MFP. The calculator that people reccommended I use on another thread (Scooybysworkshop) suggests that I eat 2477 calories per day for a projected 29.4kg loss per year.
The problem is that I've been eating less than half of what the BMR calculator suggest each day and I'm not sure if in the long run if I were to continue this for a month or more if it would do me more harm than good so I was hoping for a little advice from some people more knowledgeable than myself. Thanks! :happy:

I say stick to what MFP tells you first. Use it as a guideline. See if it works for you - does the weight come off? Do you have enough energy throughout the day? Do you feel hungry or satisfied (not full!)? Go from there. Eating too little will backfire in the long run.

MFP sets protein quite low, so it's perfectly fine to go way over that protein amount. Think of that as a MINIMUM protein target. I changed my protein goal to 25% and that works well for me.

I can only tell you what has worked for me. Everyone is different. I use the MFP as a "don't exceed" guide. I hardly ever eat the calories I'm allowed but I dont starve myself either. If I'm hungry, I eat! I just make smart choices. I do have my days that I completely blow it out of the water.. like this weekend With me eating under my calorie allowance most of the times the "slip up" days don't hurt me as bad. Like I said this is what works for me. Good luck with your weight loss!:drinker:

You may be surprised by the fact you probably didn't eat half the calories. You may have eaten more than half the bulk, but not the calories. I was one of those people who always said "I don't eat that much", but now I know. Even in my first few weeks on this I felt like that too. I now look at it more clearly.

Follow the guidelines, log every single bite. Never give yourself permission to not record what you eat or drink. If you drink one swallow of juice ... count it ... if you taste the soup simmering on the stove ... count it. All those little nibbles and sips really do add up. Also, when you aren't counting calories you tend to go overboard on condiments. Not saying that is necessarily the case with you, but it was with me.

Give it a few weeks, of truly counting EVERYTHING. If you aren't loosing I'll be surprised and be the first one to tell you have your thyroid checked. Good luck, I had my doubts when I started here, but I'm half way home now.