Do I really need to eat all my calories to lose??

debfitness2 · October 2010

Hi there, I've been faithfully devoted to my weight loss for 3 weeks now and I"m just not losing my target weight, I'm also finding that I'm usually under my calories each day, especially when I exercise, which I usually do atleast 4x per week. I know that metabolism has a lot to do with weight loss but is it that crucial that I eat the entire allotted calories each day and wouldn't you think that I'd lose if I was under?? I'm a little frustrated...but plan to plug on through! Any suggestions would be great!!!

jrich1 · October 2010

Depends on how much under, if you arent eating enough you could be slowing your metabolism down

miqisha · October 2010

The least you should eat daily is 1200 calories. On days you exercise, varies for each person, some eat all their exercise calories, some eat half and some eat none....You may need to experiment and see which way works for you best.

Eating below your alloted calories of 1200 daily, may show some results the first few days, but over time, the body will go in starvation mode and it will start holding onto the food and storing it as fat, hence no weight loss.

Also are you eating every 3-4 hours, because if you arent, then that also slows down your metabolism, and prevents you from having effective results.

Also, ensure your salt intake isnt more than 2300 daily....Preferably to keep it close to 1500 daily but never past 2300

Are you weight training, and even if you aren't, didnt you measure yourself, because you maybe losing inches and not fat. So if you haven't measured yourself, I suggest you do

Goodluck

azlady7 · October 2010

go to the health and nutrition area in the forums for newbies. it explains why its so important to eat all your cals. or most of them anyways.

sweetbn · October 2010

If I could see your diary, I could help more.

Everyone's body is different. My body responds well to larger deficits (aka not eating all my calories) where as some people I know, if they do not eat all their calories, their loss is halted. You have been at this only a few weeks and it takes at least 2-3 for your body to respond to changes, so if you DO mix something up, give that a few weeks as well to see if there is any change.

I also agree that changing your exercise can help (adding weights, different cardio, etc) and maybe think about zig-zagging calories.

Good luck!

SHBoss1673 · October 2010

it's all about how much body fat you have. The more body fat you have to lose, the larger the deficit can be without the body reacting adversely. If you're obese, you can probably do 2 lbs a week, but if you aren't it's essentially a sliding scale downward (and yes, that deficit includes exercise). some people say things like "I have a 2 lb deficit and I lose weight" and things such as this, and to that I say, GREAT! but everyone is different, you can't evaluate what works for John Doe and apply that to Joe Schmoe and expect the same results. Evaluate your situation and use common sense, if you have 15 lbs to lose, don't try to lose 2 lbs a week, if you have 80 lbs to lose, then you can probably bump it up to 2 lbs a week or in some cases slightly higher (rarely IMHO).

Kate_UK · October 2010

It is important to eat all your calories. Before joining MFP I was on a 1200 a day plan, but after a little while I stopped loosing. MFP suggested 1430 for me and I started to loose 1 lb a week consistantly by eating that. I also eat most if not all of my exercise calories back.

racketgirl · October 2010

I totally relate. I have decided to lose 30 lbs. I believe this is my third week on this website. Initially, I was going to eat 1200 calories per day. Once I started tracking what I was eating, if felt like too much food, so I lowered my calories to 1000 per day. I didn't see a problem with it since I felt full. A friend warned me about not eating enough calories. About 7-8 days in, I realized a wasn't losing any weight. A few days ago after completing my daily log, a note popped up and said that "I wasn't eating enough calories and may be sending my body into starvation mode." I increased my calories to 1200, and I praying that this works! Good luck, and feel free to add me as a friend.

Racketgirl

aekibler · November 2010

I have been on this site for awhile and I didnt really realize my goal was set at losing 2 pounds per week. I am supposed to eat 1200 calories a day and some days I dont eat that much. When I dont thats when I lose weight. The less I eat the more I lose it seems. I know the recommended is 1 pound a week, but if I change it to that now and start eating more I know I will gain. Help!

SHBoss1673 · November 2010

I have been on this site for awhile and I didnt really realize my goal was set at losing 2 pounds per week. I am supposed to eat 1200 calories a day and some days I dont eat that much. When I dont thats when I lose weight. The less I eat the more I lose it seems. I know the recommended is 1 pound a week, but if I change it to that now and start eating more I know I will gain. Help!

I doubt that's true. It's a fear, and it's understandable. But if you're under your maintenance you won't gain weight. The only caveat to that is that if your body has reduced it's metabolism to cope with severe shortage of calories, what you THINK is your maintenance, may not really be true. In that case you need to gradually raise your calories until you hit what should be maintenance, leave it there for a month (and yes, you'll probably gain a few pounds, but you're making your body healthy) and then, you can begin at a smaller, more healthy deficit, which should work. Essentially you're fixing your metabolism at this point because it was panicked.

vcatmb44 · November 2010

i did that at the begining and was always under and didnt lose any it is frustrated and u would think that would work but ypu have to eat enough calories or ur body goes in starvation mode and you wont lose. I would suggest upping your calorie intake a bit and c what happens

Do I really need to eat all my calories to lose??

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