Am I not eating enough?

NicoleRaeB
NicoleRaeB Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 19 year old girl who is about 5'3 and weigh 197.6 lbs. The calorie counter has me at a 1320 goal and my mom keeps telling me I need to eat about 1200 calories daily. This is my second week starting MFP and so far this week, I've been eating a daily of a little over 1100 calories. My mom is a little worried I'm not eating enough and the MFP site even warned me that I need to eat more.
But, here's the thing: I'm not feeling sick or weak from starvation or anything. Last week, I was eating over 1200 calories daily and I was feeling over stuffed and bloated. I work out for at least 60 minutes every week day and 30 minutes on the weekends. I lost 2.4 lbs last week and I feel really proud of that. And all this week, with the 1100 calorie diet, I've been feeling really good, not bloated or over stuffed.
Now my body type is a little tricky. I'm short but I'm kinda broad through the shoulders and fairly curvy (my "girls" are large and I'm proud of that :wink: ). But I'm also very muscular. I can bench press 95 lbs for a warm up and I can keep going steady for miles when I'm bike riding or power walking. I've heard that muscle mass weighs more than fat and I believe it, considering that I've gotten many compliments from people about how I don't look what I weigh when I mention my weight. I'm wondering if my body type has to do with me feeling fine with the lower calorie diet. I don't know, am I looking at this all wrong? Do I need to eat more?

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Eat more caloric dense foods and you'll reach your goal just fine.
  • SharonNehring
    SharonNehring Posts: 535 Member
    It may be how you have your goals/exercise set up. Entering a goal of 1 lb a week loss will decrease your calories/day by 500. If you entered 2 lbs a week, it'll decrease by 1000 cals/day. MFP also assumes that you will "eat back" any calories burned by exercise.

    Take a look at your macros (fiber, protein, vitamins etc) and see if there's a specific area where you are lacking, then select food items which will help that area. If you eat too little, your body thinks it's starving and will hold on to every lb it can.
  • NicoleRaeB
    NicoleRaeB Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks that helps :smile: And I weighed this morning (I'm not supposed to weigh until tomorrow) and I lost another 2 lbs, which is what my goal is anyways. :laugh:

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