Compensating for being under calorie limit?

If you are never going to eat cheesecake ever again in your life, then cut it out now. But losing weight, and keeping weight off, is about developing a healthy relationship with food, learning portion control, and realizing the power you have over the food you eat.

I haven't cut anything from my diet, I've just learned that a bowl of chips is enough instead of eating the whole bag, that buying a mini pie for myself probably isn't something I should do on the regular, and that blizzards have a hell of a lot of calories and fat in them, so while I love them, I really should get the small.

We're concerned because you're not developing that healthy relationship -- instead, you're restricting your intake to the point that you can and will make yourself sick.

I'm confused because I have some people telling me that eating these foods would be "Cheating" and others telling me I should be. I am working towards that 1200, that's becoming more visible in my diary, the totals are slowly going up.

MFP gives 1200 calories as its lowest calorie option for a reason. You need food (aka energy) to perform day to day tasks and be healthy. If you are not eating enough calories your body will suffer over time. You will lose muscle mass, hair will fall out, etc like a previous person said. I agree with the poster who said you are perhaps getting too caught up on the wording. You only need a deficit of 3500 cal/week to lose one pound. If you are averaging 700 cal/day you are eating a much lower than a 3500 cal/week deficit. In your case you are certainly not "cheating" you are eating calories that your body needs. Could the calories come in a healthier form? Yes but it's one food, one day, out of one week of your life. It's not even a blip on the radar. You could eat the cheesecake and still be at a higher than suggested deficit for the week. If you eat super low calories and then choose to exercise on top of it you are making the deficit higher yet. Your body needs food and nutrition. It's also healthy and ok to have a treat now and then.

Absolutely - it's more than ok and should be encouraged once in a while.

However . . . when you say you've eaten "under" your calories for the week, have you really? Here's why I ask: one day you logged that you 0.13 of a navel orange . . . how do you know you have eaten 0.13 of an orange? 0.5 maybe, or 0.75 yes. But 0.13? I doubt it.

That leads me to think you may or may not be accurate logging your calories. Your breakfast consists of coffee or two pumpkin feta wraps? This rollercoaster you're sending your body on may be contributing to your craving.

From my personal experience (so NOT suggesting you do this, but just as some information you can consider), you need to eat more. I am not, not, not, not hinting at starvation mode but when you NET 900 calories, or less, in a day you can start affecting vital organ function causing damage over time. It won't happen in 2 weeks, but it will happen over time. I'm not saying you need to eat more to lose weight, I'm saying you need to eat more to survive and your body needs adequate fuel. Your car won't work without gas right? Sure you can turn it on with a little bit of gas, but you won't get very far.

Before you think in terms of treating yourself or cheating, I think to start with basic meal planning and preparation because it seems like (and maybe this isn't totally true, so don't jump at me) you eat a lot of pre-made food, and not a lot of food you need to cook. With meal planning and spreading your calories, you might not lose quickly but your body like consistency and it functions best on consistency (minus working out - when you shake it up, your body doesn't know what to do and you can actually burn more that way).

Also - if you're feeling "guilty" over one piece of cheesecake, I'd really speak to a professional. I had an unhealthy relationship with food, only mine was that I ate my feelings and ate portions way too big for me. With a previous poster pointing out that you averaged ~700 calories/day over the last week . . . I'd say you're either not logging everything you eat because you don't want to think you ate it OR you don't want others to see it - neither of which is healthy or if you're logging everything then you need to eat more food. It's really not good and you're only 19 now, sure but in maybe 7 - 10 years from now, you may want to have a family and doing damage now to your body that's irreversable will cause that many more complications in pregnancy. I know someone who suffered from an ED in her teenage years; she had 5 miscarriages and 2 still births before she had her daughter AND her daughter was born at 27 weeks. I'm not trying to lecture you, but you only get one body and one shot at it - if you ruin it now, another one is not coming along. Take care of the one you get!

It may have already been mentioned, or you may be familiar with it, but I am going to throw this out there:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

I still go back and review this post occasionally. Lots of good information here.