Question about net calories and food intake please help

swebb4481
swebb4481 Posts: 4 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello all,

I am new to my fitness pal and had a concern. I never understood why I would constantly gain weight when I ate less than anyone in my house I have always been a thick girl and went through the motions of well I just have to be happy with who I at what ever size I was at. That is until I started noticing changes that certain foods would make me sick etc etc... so I started watching what I ate and taking note. It worked well for a little while. I kept my calories around 1200 a day and I notice that although I wasn't losing as fast as I wanted to was still losing. Then I started going to the gym and working on my cardio. That's when the weight loss stopped. I was still keeping my calories at 1200 a day but I was burning it off at the gym. That's when I realized that oh yeah net calories. I'm not getting enough to sustain life therefore my body was in starvation mode. (I love little light bulb moments like that.) So I started focusing on hitting my net caloric goal. Now this epiphany happened in the last week and I'm noticing that I am having to eat a TON of food to hit a basic net of 1200 calories a day and I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. I feel physically sick sometimes having to eat so much when before I wouldn't have eaten even half of what I am now consuming. So please help it's things like this that causes me to give up and not push forward.

Thanks.
Shannon

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    What do you mean by "give up"? If you are having trouble eating 1200 calories per day, does giving up mean you'll eat less?

    Are you meeting your fat goal? Your protein goal? What types of food are eating? What foods did you give up because they were causing you problems?
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    bump*
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    A couple of things stand out about your post.

    One, when you begin a new exercise routine or increase an old one your body has a tendency to store extra water in the muscles to help cushion and repair them. This can cause a temporary stall or even a slight gain on the scale for the first few weeks of a new exercise routine. You need to give any changes to your diet/exercise a few weeks before you decide whether or not they're working.

    If you're having a hard time reaching your calorie goals, look for more calorie dense foods to add to your diet. We can't see your diary to give you specific ideas, but things like nuts, peanut butter, avocado, full fat dairy, Greek yogurt, cheese, ice cream, full calorie sauces and dressings, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, chocolate, less lean cuts of meat, protein shakes and smoothies, etc. These increase your calories quickly without adding lots of extra food to your stomach.

    Additionally, you should be aware that MFP may overestimate the calories burned doing certain exercises. Again, we can't see your diary to know whether or not this might be happening, but you may only need to eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories if you're relying on MFP estimates.
  • swebb4481
    swebb4481 Posts: 4 Member
    What I meant by give up is that when things start to make me sick I don't want to do them anymore. So if eating so much food is going to make me sick I get to where I don't feel it's worth it anymore. The foods I gave up were bad for me anyways. Junk food sugar sweetened tea. Etc. I try to hit my protein and fat and carb goals but I usually fall short since I should be hitting 1340 a day and I only get maybe 1200 a day.
    I will try to mix things up more with red meat but I really only eat chicken and fish and that was even before I started trying to lose weight.

    Your Food Diary For: Tuesday, May 20, 2014
    Breakfast Calories Carbs Fat Protein
    International Delight Fat Free French Vanilla Creamer - Fat Free French Vanilla Creamer, 4 Tbsp 120 28 0 0
    Banana Muffins, 1 serving(s) 248 46 9 3
    Add Food Quick Tools 368 74 9 3
    Lunch
    Hunt Brothers - Lotsa Meat Pizza Original Crust, 3/8 of 12" Pizza 780 68 38 42
    Add Food Quick Tools 780 68 38 42
    Dinner
    365 - Shredded Parmesean Cheese, 1 Tbsp 20 0 1 2
    Protein - Tyson Chicken Breast, 6 oz 180 0 6 38
    Classico - Creamy Alfredo, 1/8 cup 40 2 4 1
    Barilla - Veggie Rotini, 2 oz 200 41 1 8
    Add Food Quick Tools 440 43 12 49
    Snacks
    Chex Mix - Bold Flavor, 1 cup 240 42 7 4
    Yoplait - Greek Low Fat Frozen Yogurt Bars-Honey Caramel, 1 Bar (59g) 90 13 2 5
    Add Food Quick Tools 330 55 9 9

    Totals 1,918 240 68 103
    Your Daily Goal 2,036 255 68 102
    Remaining 118 15 0 -1
    Calories Carbs Fat Protein

    It pasted kinda weird but that's meal diary from yesterday which included 30 min elliptical training and 30 minutes on the tread mill. Which had me eating almost another 700 calories.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    Hello all,

    I am new to my fitness pal and had a concern. I never understood why I would constantly gain weight when I ate less than anyone in my house I have always been a thick girl and went through the motions of well I just have to be happy with who I at what ever size I was at. That is until I started noticing changes that certain foods would make me sick etc etc... so I started watching what I ate and taking note. It worked well for a little while. I kept my calories around 1200 a day and I notice that although I wasn't losing as fast as I wanted to was still losing. Then I started going to the gym and working on my cardio. That's when the weight loss stopped. I was still keeping my calories at 1200 a day but I was burning it off at the gym. That's when I realized that oh yeah net calories. I'm not getting enough to sustain life therefore my body was in starvation mode. (I love little light bulb moments like that.) So I started focusing on hitting my net caloric goal. Now this epiphany happened in the last week and I'm noticing that I am having to eat a TON of food to hit a basic net of 1200 calories a day and I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. I feel physically sick sometimes having to eat so much when before I wouldn't have eaten even half of what I am now consuming. So please help it's things like this that causes me to give up and not push forward.

    Thanks.
    Shannon

    Hi Shannon! You will get many different opinions on here but I will share with you my thoughts. I do not believe in the "starvation mode" thing. Calorie deficit=weight loss. I do not believe in starving or depriving oneself either. I certainly would not force myself to eat. If weight loss is your goal, do not eat if you are not hungry.If you want to read more opinions on "starvation mode myth", you can do an internet or a MFP search.
    You said you were losing on 1200 calories a day but it was slow. It is a slow process.You must be patient! If the weight loss stopped when you began to exercise it could be what diannethegeek said.My thoughts are if you are exercising and forcing yourself to eat your net calories, you are not going to lose and may gain. I eat about half of my exercise calories back. If you are not losing at your caloric goal, you should rethink this and set it lower until you see results. Good Luck!!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    What I meant by give up is that when things start to make me sick I don't want to do them anymore. So if eating so much food is going to make me sick I get to where I don't feel it's worth it anymore. The foods I gave up were bad for me anyways. Junk food sugar sweetened tea. Etc. I try to hit my protein and fat and carb goals but I usually fall short since I should be hitting 1340 a day and I only get maybe 1200 a day.
    I will try to mix things up more with red meat but I really only eat chicken and fish and that was even before I started trying to lose weight.

    Your Food Diary For: Tuesday, May 20, 2014
    Breakfast Calories Carbs Fat Protein
    International Delight Fat Free French Vanilla Creamer - Fat Free French Vanilla Creamer, 4 Tbsp 120 28 0 0
    Banana Muffins, 1 serving(s) 248 46 9 3
    Add Food Quick Tools 368 74 9 3
    Lunch
    Hunt Brothers - Lotsa Meat Pizza Original Crust, 3/8 of 12" Pizza 780 68 38 42
    Add Food Quick Tools 780 68 38 42
    Dinner
    365 - Shredded Parmesean Cheese, 1 Tbsp 20 0 1 2
    Protein - Tyson Chicken Breast, 6 oz 180 0 6 38
    Classico - Creamy Alfredo, 1/8 cup 40 2 4 1
    Barilla - Veggie Rotini, 2 oz 200 41 1 8
    Add Food Quick Tools 440 43 12 49
    Snacks
    Chex Mix - Bold Flavor, 1 cup 240 42 7 4
    Yoplait - Greek Low Fat Frozen Yogurt Bars-Honey Caramel, 1 Bar (59g) 90 13 2 5
    Add Food Quick Tools 330 55 9 9

    Totals 1,918 240 68 103
    Your Daily Goal 2,036 255 68 102
    Remaining 118 15 0 -1
    Calories Carbs Fat Protein

    It pasted kinda weird but that's meal diary from yesterday which included 30 min elliptical training and 30 minutes on the tread mill. Which had me eating almost another 700 calories.

    In my opinion, ellipticals are notorious for overestimating calories burned. I would aim to eat back closer to 50% of those extra calories if you aren't using a heart rate monitor to measure your burn.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    In my opinion, ellipticals are notorious for overestimating calories burned. I would aim to eat back closer to 50% of those extra calories if you aren't using a heart rate monitor to measure your burn.

    Yeah, this sounds right. It looks like you are eating plenty of calories. If that day is typical, I would suggest eating more vegetables, though.
  • swebb4481
    swebb4481 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you all. I took your advice and started tracking only half the exercises that I do and even in just 2 days I am feeling so much better and actually look forward to eating since I know it's not going to be chore to finish meals. I am doing my very best to stay motivated and as of this morning I officially hit my first goal of 10 lbs lost even though my fitness says I only 9 when I first started I actually gained a pound so 10 lb and going strong. Again thank you all. I have changed my diary settings to where it can be viewed if you can see anywhere for improvement I would greatly appreciate the advice. :)

Categories