When does my daily calorie intake start?

Nerdpuff
Nerdpuff Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
I work night shifts between 8pm-5/6am. I tend to stay awake until 9am. I've been doing my calories (1870) from when I wake up, to when I go to sleep. I've not really noticed any weight loss though. Am I doing it wrong?

Replies

  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    How long have you been doing MFP, and have you been consistent and honest with what you're reporting? I find my body takes about 2 weeks to show any changes, good or bad.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    It doesn't really matter if you do it from wake up to bedtime, or from midnight to midnight, or something else. Your body doesn't have a clock, and doesn't "reset" it's counter.

    If you aren't losing weight, there is something else going on (specifically that you aren't in a calorie deficit, for one of many reasons). Share your stats (age, height, current weight, goal weight, amount of activity, etc) and open your diary, and you can get some advice from knowledgeable members here. :flowerforyou:
  • riadhdeb
    riadhdeb Posts: 211 Member
    You timing is right, obviously you don't want to eat when you're asleep. you calories are low but I'm just wondering what are you eating and how frequent??
  • asianrunner
    asianrunner Posts: 42 Member
    I'd say as long as you are consistent it shouldn't matter too much!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    It doesn't really matter if you do it from wake up to bedtime, or from midnight to midnight, or something else. Your body doesn't have a clock, and doesn't "reset" it's counter.

    If you aren't losing weight, there is something else going on (specifically that you aren't in a calorie deficit, for one of many reasons). Share your stats (age, height, current weight, goal weight, amount of activity, etc) and open your diary, and you can get some advice from knowledgeable members here. :flowerforyou:


    this
  • Nerdpuff
    Nerdpuff Posts: 3
    Thanks for the replies! :)

    I've opened my diary, and only started 10 or so days ago, but I've not budged at all. Admittedly my foods were terrible at the start and snacking was bad, so I'm trying to constantly improve. I think my biggest issue at the moment is probably Pre-made sandwiches.

    I don't expect to have lost a lot, but I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong for too long. Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. :)

    Edit: As for how frequent, normally a bowl of cereal when I wake up (2-3pm) a cooked meal if I have the time about 6pm. Excercise to 6:30, only cores atm, want to move to cardio aswell. Then the next time I'll eat will be 5/6am when I get home, normally a bowl of cereal and fruit.
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
    It should start sometime before you wake up. As long as that's consistent, you'll have good numbers to work with. To make MFP fit your schedule, you might have to change your timezone in your profile to one that matches so the diary numbers are in sync, otherwise it defaults to midnight of the timezone you're in. Maybe Tokyo time would work well for your schedule. Since it does let you log food both in the past and the future, you can work around that if needed or for days where you get up earlier than normal, etc...

    I go to sleep around1:00am a couple times a week and I just count any activity or calories before I go to sleep as the previous day regardless of what time it is.

    Metabolism and calorie loss are more weekly than daily anyway, so the weekly totals are the numbers that really matter.
  • Nerdpuff
    Nerdpuff Posts: 3
    makes sense you don't eat in your sleep. but could be eating to many calories or carbs. not eating right or eating to much. it varies from person to person. what works for one doesn't always work for someone else. I try to watch my carbs especially those from sugars. to much sugar turns to fat. check your nutrition maybe you aren't getting enough protein to burn fat. also check your water intake maybe you aren't drinking enough. there are many factors and not everyone loses fat at the same rate. I'm a very slow loser especially since I don't do a lot of exercise. I've still managed to lose 21 lbs in a year but that is very slow and still trying to kick the soda habit. also health has a lot to do with how well you lose weight. I know I don't eat right all the time or the right foods so I have a supplement that has digestive enzymes in that has helped me.

    Thanks for the help. :) I didn't know about sugar, that's very helpful!

    I've swapped to completely water now. I try to average 2 litres a day at the moment, hopefully more soon.

    Digestive enzyme supplements? I'll do a bit of research, thank you very much. :)
    Metabolism and calorie loss are more weekly than daily anyway, so the weekly totals are the numbers that really matter.

    This is actually really helpful. My first week of MFP wasn't really good. I binged a lot and ate the wrong stuff. High sodium. I'll improve for a week from now and see if I've lost anything. Thanks. :)
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    makes sense you don't eat in your sleep. but could be eating to many calories or carbs. not eating right or eating to much. it varies from person to person. what works for one doesn't always work for someone else. I try to watch my carbs especially those from sugars. to much sugar turns to fat. check your nutrition maybe you aren't getting enough protein to burn fat. also check your water intake maybe you aren't drinking enough. there are many factors and not everyone loses fat at the same rate. I'm a very slow loser especially since I don't do a lot of exercise. I've still managed to lose 21 lbs in a year but that is very slow and still trying to kick the soda habit. also health has a lot to do with how well you lose weight. I know I don't eat right all the time or the right foods so I have a supplement that has digestive enzymes in that has helped me.

    Thanks for the help. :) I didn't know about sugar, that's very helpful!

    I've swapped to completely water now. I try to average 2 litres a day at the moment, hopefully more soon.

    Digestive enzyme supplements? I'll do a bit of research, thank you very much. :)


    Sugar only turns to fat if it's an excess of calories. There's nothing magical about sugar that immediately turns it to fat. If cutting back on sweets (ie soda) helps you reduce calories, that's fine. It's also important to meet your macros (protein and fat are important!) so eating too much sugar might interfere there, too. But, if you get enough macros and micronutrients, and have room for a sugary treat, there's nothing wrong with it.

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