Potentially not eating enough

rowenaaitken
rowenaaitken Posts: 48 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm not sure i'm actually eating enough, amazingly! Just rechecked my BMR which is at 1681 based on me being 30yrs old, 64 inches high, my current weight (199lb) and my mini goal weight (190lb). I'm currently eating 1650cal a day and maybe eating as much as 300cal over that on run days but even still I should be eating 1970cal with a sedentary lifestyle and 2258cal for being lightly active (1-3 days of exercise).

So the question is How many calories should I eat? (http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/ is the site for the info & calculator.)

The reason for me checking it is that today I feel awful and on a few occasions I have felt similar even though I feel like i'm eating enough. I feel irritable, unfocused and lacking in vava-voom. I'm self employed so I need all the energy I can get!

I take multivits, iron supplements, vit c with zinc, glucosamine and an antidepressant. I drink loads of water, plenty of fruit and vegetables, lean meat and I am doing C25K at the moment so jogging 3x/week with some weights.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    1600 plus some exercise calories sounds really good, to me. But how accurate are you? Do you over/under estimate? Were it me, I'd check my foods against various online calorie sites, to make sure I know my intake. Also, maybe you could try just eating, say, 1800 every day, no matter what. Maybe the days you end up at 1600 total are playing havoc with your hormones. Maybe. But also,

    How much fat are you eating?
    How many carbs per day are you eating?

    Surprisingly, mood has a lot to do with eating enough of the right kinds of carbs, proteins and fats, for some people with neurochemical disorders. (I want you to know, that this comes from my own experience/research of controlling my mood disorder with proper food, sleep and exercise.)
  • rowenaaitken
    rowenaaitken Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks for your reply WBB55.

    My diet is fairly low fat - extra virgin olive oil in tiny amounts, nuts, seeds and oily fish usually; carbs tend to be brown rice, tortillas, burgen bread. I'm pretty accurate with my calories and double check anything that seems a bit odd between MFP & what the packaging says. There are occasional treats like biscuits but I always add them into my allowance and don't ever eat a whole packet in one sitting.

    The weight is coming off, i'm happy with that and i'm getting a bit of muscle as i've been checking with a tape measure. Some days I feel great and others like today i'm feeling short tempered and unfocused which feels like (from past experience) like hunger related anger (hangry!) - frustration without a specific reason.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    My diet is fairly low fat - extra virgin olive oil in tiny amounts, nuts, seeds and oily fish usually; carbs tend to be brown rice, tortillas, burgen bread.....Some days I feel great and others like today i'm feeling short tempered and unfocused which feels like (from past experience) like hunger related anger (hangry!)

    Please note: I don't know you, and I'm not a doctor.

    If you were my friend or sister, I'd recommend eating steel cut oatmeal every morning and taking a fish oil supplement and/or increasing the amount of unsaturated fats. Like the fats you're eating, just maybe more of them. And if you're losing weight faster than 1 lb per week, I'd recommend re-configuring until you're only losing 1 lb per week or less. Weight loss is hard on the brain. And if you already have some neurochemical disorders (like I do) restricting calories too much can just exacerbate the issues.

    Also, I might recommend studying neurochemicals. Especially how and why serotonin and norepinephrine are made in your body. For some people, eating at a caloric deficit puts the body into a "stress" state. Sometimes that means adrenaline and cortisol get increased. If you don't have enough of the chemicals in your brain to help counteract that, then anger feelings can result.

    Also, could be low blood sugar.
  • rowenaaitken
    rowenaaitken Posts: 48 Member
    Yes I forgot to add I also take a cod liver oil capsule :) I do have porridge too but haven't had it for a few weeks, favoured eggs or 0% fat greek yogurt with granola. Prob a good time to get back into the porridge!

    Thanks for the advice :)
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    Thanks for the advice :)

    One final note, increasing the amount of oxytocin in the bloodstream can have a big benefit to counterbalancing cortisol and adrenaline. If you are eating a well-balanced diet, you can get oxytocin by hugging someone you love for 30 seconds or longer, or petting a small, furry mammal. Give it a try the next time you feel "hangry." (also meditation and/or "mindful breathing" can help)

    Good luck, ok?
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    Without looking at your diary or knowing anything else about you, my first thought was to ask about your macros. Everyone has a different macro balance that works best for their own body, and it can take some tinkering to find out the ideal balance for you. I'm not saying this is the case for you, but I get the worst brain-fog and can't concentrate when I'm too low on fat. Whole milk and full-fat yogurt are like medicine for me. It would be worth jotting down notes for a week or two about how you feel and when, then seeing if you can match up periods of feeling good (or bad) with what you've eaten.

    My next thought was to ask you about meal timing. Again, everyone has a different eating pattern that works best for them. If I don't eat often enough, I get...well, "hangry" would be a nice way to put it. My BF says I get "evil," and that's probably more accurate.
  • aubyshortcake
    aubyshortcake Posts: 796 Member
    My diet is fairly low fat - extra virgin olive oil in tiny amounts, nuts, seeds and oily fish usually; carbs tend to be brown rice, tortillas, burgen bread.....Some days I feel great and others like today i'm feeling short tempered and unfocused which feels like (from past experience) like hunger related anger (hangry!)
    Weight loss is hard on the brain. And if you already have some neurochemical disorders (like I do) restricting calories too much can just exacerbate the issues.

    Also, I might recommend studying neurochemicals. Especially how and why serotonin and norepinephrine are made in your body. For some people, eating at a caloric deficit puts the body into a "stress" state. Sometimes that means adrenaline and cortisol get increased. If you don't have enough of the chemicals in your brain to help counteract that, then anger feelings can result.

    Very interesting, something I hadn't heard before. Looking back I do think I may have experienced this to an extent.
  • rowenaaitken
    rowenaaitken Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks for the tips! Will try cuddling/annoying the boyfriend and cat more :D

    Will try porridge, noting when i'm hangry and consider upping my cals in to 1800 regardless of exercise :)

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