I know this is dumb, any tips on staying under cal goal

maybe you could eat those "extra" calories 3 days a week, but not the other days. so on Monday, eat a banana, Tuesday, if you have left-over calories, skip eating and let them ride. then Wednesday, if you have extra, eat a handful of nuts or something. this way, you are getting a few extra snacks per week, but still coming-in under calories.

with all the mind games, sounds like you'd be better off disconnecting the fitbit from mfp for a bit and trying to set a consistent daily calorie goal.

AMEN, technology overload, that is why I refuse to get a FITBIT.

According to your ticker, you have lost 66 pounds and are near your goal weight..... so..... whatever you have been doing has been working, yes?

I'm not the best at explaining things... by the end of the day sometimes i stay under my goal. I try to eat dinner before 7 at night. I enter all my calories in and happy that i stayed under! but since i have calories left i find myself looking for snacks to eat.
Like most of the time if i know I am gonna go over I will fight the urge to eat. it is the opposite when i dont go over, i find things to eat even when im not hungry. Then i go over! if i can just fight the urge i will stay under my calorie goal like i should!

Well, keep in mind, that if you are using MFP method, your calorie goal is there to meet, not stay under. Assuming that you are not underestimating your food portions or overestimating your calories burned. There is nothing wrong with eating something else to meet the goal if you are not going over. Many people find that this helps them to not binge. Also, if you are set at a low calorie goal, it will help you to meet your nutritional needs by eating all of your allotted calories, not staying under.

why it is when i want to reply to a certain person, it is not putting their caption there so they know im talking to them?

You have to quote them, not reply


As for the eating at night only because you are in the green thing , sounds like you are playing mind games with yourself. Unfortunately, you are the only one who can figure out a way to stop doing that.

Things you might try are:

...Begin to associate the green numbers with a small victory, and give yourself small non-food related rewards. Harken back to your kindergarten years and make yourself a sticker book...at the end of the month see how many stickers you collected.

...Remind yourself that you are not physically hungry, and only take a bite of something if you truly are.

...Understand that the emotional aspect of losing weight is far more difficult to conquer than winning the calorie math is. You have lost a lot of weight already....quit beating yourself up over a few calories!!!! You have obviously found a path that is working.

...Convince yourself that you have GERD (as I do) and you will never, ever want to eat close to bedtime. The burning in the middle of the night does not help in getting my beauty sleep!

I think people are not reading or understanding what OP is saying. If I understand correctly, you are asking for tips to stay under your calorie goal, right? You are going over, and you don't want to. Not that she is under her calorie goal and wants advice of how to hit it.

Secondly, I agree with Psulemon. You have already lost a significant amount of weight (so whoever said it doesn't sound like you want to lose weight - disregard that - you are doing great). You likely need to change your goal as you get closer to maintenance, with less than 10 lbs to lose, you should only have your goal set to lose 0.5 lb/week, which would only be a 250 cal deficit from your maintenance number. You need to start thinking about what maintenance is going to be like for you.

Lastly, you seem flummoxed by the FitBit. I understand, I have one too. There are a couple of things there... First, with regards to setting your calorie goal - are you using the MFP numbers, or the FitBit numbers? After I got my FitBit, I started looking at the average calories burned over a month, and using that as my TDEE. From there, I changed my goal on MFP accordingly. If you use the 0.5 lb/week recommendation I made above, then you would subtract 250 cals from your average calories burned and then set that as a custom goal in MFP. You will likely find that it gives you a much bigger calorie allowance, which means that you won't be "over" as much, and that may help your overall attitude about this.

With regards to FitBit subtracting calories at the end of the day, I know, that is so frustrating. What I started doing was paying attention to how much it changes, based on what time I plop down on the couch at the end of the night and what time I go to bed. I know that it is going to subtract anywhere from 100-200 calories those last couple hours of the day, which is very frustrating, but if you know that is going to happen, then you can just sort of mentally disregard those excess calories after dinner. I started leaving 100 or so cals on the table so to speak, just for that very reason, and it made me end up the night much closer to the goal.

Good luck - you have lost 66 lbs so you definitely know how to do this, don't let the FitBit throw you off. It's a tool to make you more successful, not to hinder your progress.

What helps me is to plan out all my food either in the morning or even the evening before. Then I just eat what it says to eat, as it is all spelled out already.

I would eat them :-)