Having trouble at 1300 calories

I looked at your diary and I can see why you are having issues instantly.

I know nuts are really healthy for us, but about 300-400 of your calories every day are devoted to snacking on nuts. I'd be starving too.

In addition.... No more granola bars (another almost 400 calories every day) or smoothies in the morning. You need to eat real solid food, including more lean protein.

I noticed that you also tend to eat around 200-300 calories worth of some kind of desert, brownies/chocolate/cheesecake. I'm not saying cut it out completely, but it is almost everyday, maybe try for twice a week. The main problem is that your dinner is 300 calories, and then desert is 300. You could eat a pretty large dinner for 600 calories and be plenty full.

I would also recommend cutting further back on cheese, no more than 100 calories worth of cheese on one meal.

Lots of salads and chicken breast and water.

Are you exercising? Do you realize that MFP expects you to "eat back" the calories burned, above whatever goal it set for you for daily calories.

I have trouble not being hungry when I eat 1700, so yeah, 1300 is going to leave you hungry. Rome wasn't built in a day - set your goal to 1500 and see how you feel, or 1600.... Start a bit slower so that you can stick with it longer, it won't do you any good if you're miserable and don't stick to it in the long run.

I agree, you need to change what you are eating. Two granola bars and 9 cookies made up many of your calories one day. That will not keep you feeling full. Try more salads, proteins, veggies, fruits, cottage cheese, yogurt. One granola bar or a cookie a day is ok but not both every day. I can't even eat nuts because it's too hard for me to eat one serving.

Hi all,
I'm allowed 1370 calories per day to lose 1 lb per week. I'm having a LOT of trouble staying under that. I'm getting hungry - I mean hungry as in stomach growling and feeling light headed.

How do others do it? I'd like to hear from you. I'm thinking I need to start eating giant bowls of cooked vegs at each meal - luckily I like them.

I'm also afraid of the future - will I have to drop to 1200 soon? 1000? For a food lover this is so hard.

Thanks

When it comes to losing weight none of the guidelines are written in stone. No one can tell you what is enough for you and what not, especially if it is based on their own story, which probably is much different from yours.
Looking at your food diary I feel that you are all over the place. You have days when half your calories come from sugar filled snacks ( which is fine for weight loss, but does nothing for feeling satiated ). You have days where you either don't log everything, or you eat very little. For a healthy diet ( again, that has nothing to do with weight loss ) and to make your calories count you might want to eat more healthy protein and healthy fat. That keeps me satiated most of the time.
Also, if you make a commitment to a certain plan you set up for yourself, it is much easier to figure out what or why things are not working should you hit a plateau or be dissatisfied. The way you eat now, at the best you can only guess.
I think you could improve the quality of what you eat, check after a few weeks and if that does not work eat more, which would possibly cause a slower weight loss but would make sure that you are more satiated.

I earn calories via exercise. I enjoy exercising but truthfully I can stay dedicated because I do it so I can EAT. I tend to drink de-caf tea, low sodium chicken broth w sliced scallions & a few TBS of pasta or rice.
I eat spinach/romaine salads with turkey pre-measured & low fat dressing. I cut back on almonds & my morning smoothies.
I cut back on soft cheeses, breads, sauces and drink lots of water with fruit slices. I also keep hard boil eggs prepared and eat 1 cup of oatmeal with a half a banana or a tsp./ honey. I am on meds that are making weight loss challenging (like it is'nt anyway) so I decided to weigh myself one a month along with measurements. This is a life change so no timeline is required.
Hope this helps..good luck.

I'm looking at one of your days here, and it looks like you got half your calories from 4 granola bars.

There's nothing wrong with granola bars in and of themselves, but having them be half your daily food is going to leave pretty much anyone hungry and unfulfilled.

It's probably time you change your weight loss goal to .5 pound a week. When my daily limit got below 1400 I changed my goal to a smaller amount. This will allow you to eat 1400-1500 calories while still losing weight. You can fit most of the foods that you would want to eat in a day without going over if you portion and plan correctly.

If you still want to stick to 1300 a day then you need to eat less calorie dense foods and really plan out your day. Or you could exercise more which will allow to you eat more, just make sure you get a HRM to ensure you get the most accurate calorie burn and eat them back.

My daily calorie goal is 1360, but it started out as 1650 and decreased as I took the weight off. Throughout, my goal has been a half-pound loss per week. As a result, my body has adjusted and I rarely have trouble with the limit.

Yes to what everyone has said about turning away from calorie-dense foods and processed foods. I ditched energy bars for that reason.

Food cravings are hard in the beginning. What helped me is what I call bridge foods:



Here, raisins served as the bridge between chocolate and grapes. Raisins had the sweetness I needed, but not the fat content of chocolate. These days, the sweetness in grapes is plenty for me and I typically eat two cups of grapes after my workout. Note the comparison in calories versus the volume of food -- those two cups of grapes are very filling.