Undereating?

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fallenmack1989
fallenmack1989 Posts: 30
in Food and Nutrition
Okay so since I have been counting my calories I have been majorly undereating and I feel hungry all the time, but I keep thinking "well you don't want to go over your 1200 calories a day". Does anybody else do this? and how do you get over it?
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Replies

  • LovelySnugs
    LovelySnugs Posts: 389
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    does the thingie tell you only eat 1200 a day? where do you have your weight loss goal set? 1 lb? 2?
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    Okay so since I have been counting my calories I have been majorly undereating and I feel hungry all the time, but I keep thinking "well you don't want to go over your 1200 calories a day". Does anybody else do this? and how do you get over it?

    Actually you want to hit 1200 and never go under and eat back your exercise calories.
    If you post weight, height, age and your diary is viewable some of the experts might chime in.
  • Chiquita_Banana
    Chiquita_Banana Posts: 500
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    You can get more cals by exercising or changing your settings to lose less aweek
  • angelicpiece101
    angelicpiece101 Posts: 40 Member
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    try making a habit of exercising a little each day and then you'll find it easier to stay under your extra calories that you worked off.....it helps cure that hunger you've been feeling and you're not freaking out about staying under 1200 calories either. by staying under your 1200 too much can also cause your body to go into starvation mode that it warns you about in bright red wording after submitting your info for the day which could cause your body to do the opposite you are trying to do now...it'll store up because its trying to defend itself. Thats another reason i suggest exercising and eating over the 1200 each day. you dont have to eat all your exercise calories back just enough to break you over the 1200 mark each day and enough so that you know you have room to take in more if you really wanted or needed to. Some days we are just more hungry then others. good luck!
  • beth40n2
    beth40n2 Posts: 233 Member
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    Are you entering your exercise? You are suppose to eat your 1200 + your calories burned in exersise. If you are doing that, you should not be hungry.

    Try to eat foods high in fiber, they fill you up and stay with you longer. You can eat a lot of fruits and vegetables for very little calories. Also make sure you are drinking your 8 glasses of water a day. Water helps fill you up and cleans out the toxins, helping you to lose weight faster.

    Good Luck!
  • awelch79
    awelch79 Posts: 233 Member
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    I felt that way when I first started too, but I found I was making poor food choices when I did eat. Try more fresh fruits and veggies. Also, foods that are higher in fiber tend to "stay with you" longer and you arent as hungry as soon. Try also to drink more water--even more than the 8 glasses recommended. A lot of times, you can actually be thirsty and confuse that for hunger. (When my fitness instructor told me that, I thought she was nuts.) When I am feeling hungry more quickly than Id like, I drink a large glass of water and occupy myself for 10-15 minutes and then if Im still hungry, I have a light snack.
  • sarahazelnut99
    sarahazelnut99 Posts: 307 Member
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    I felt like this when i first started and i also left a post saying i felt like i was eating nothing. First of all, you chose to want to lose 2 pounds a week! girl thats way to much-thats for like super fatties which i see your not. And secondly you need to work out every other day in order for this to work so you can eat what you work off (says the girl who barely moves lol)
    it gets better...and if youve been doing this forever and still feel like this then talk to your doctor and raise your caloric intake to 1350 so that your only losing a pound a week
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Plenty of people do it and my best advice is to portion out your calories for each meal so you don't accidentally hoard all your calories for dinner or just use too little. I also recommend that you up your cals to 1300- you'll still lose but you'll have a safe range to be in (1200-1300) to be within.

    HEre's the guidelines I use through out the day (and had cals to each meal when I workout):

    Breakfast 2-400
    Snack 75-150
    Lunch 300-400
    snack 75-150
    dinner 400-600
    remaining cals - Anything left
  • jleegirl
    jleegirl Posts: 44
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    If I want to eat something and I'm short on calories left, i'll do a workout and burn what I want to eat. i found a brisk walk around my neighborhood takes just 20 minutes and burns almost 150 calories.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    It's a common problem around here. Many people are chronically under-eating and it's somewhat heartbreaking. Some have eating disorders and are working on it. Some have eating disorders and are not working on it. Others say they are "scared" to eat to much and I fear those people are headed towards a disorder, or at least into a zig-zag diet pattern. Eat up. You'll lose weight the healthy way and you'll feel better,
  • TheNewLK
    TheNewLK Posts: 933 Member
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    It's a common problem around here. Many people are chronically under-eating and it's somewhat heartbreaking. Some have eating disorders and are working on it. Some have eating disorders and are not working on it. Others say they are "scared" to eat to much and I fear those people are headed towards a disorder, or at least into a zig-zag diet pattern. Eat up. You'll lose weight the healthy way and you'll feel better,

    Exactly!!! You need to eat at least your 1200 and then your exercise cals when you have them...The less you eat the longer it will take you to lose weight the healthy way!! good luck to you....and eat something lol *om nom nom nom*
  • fallenmack1989
    fallenmack1989 Posts: 30
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    right now im not really exercising as much as i should, and I haven't been entering them in because I don't remember what the exercises are called and I used an exercise ball but it doesn't have that in the exercises. My main thing is I just want to lose weight on my stomach, thats it and I figured if i went under my calories everyday I would lose it without exercising.

    oh and i have my diary open, its just for my friends though.
  • fallenmack1989
    fallenmack1989 Posts: 30
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    It's a common problem around here. Many people are chronically under-eating and it's somewhat heartbreaking. Some have eating disorders and are working on it. Some have eating disorders and are not working on it. Others say they are "scared" to eat to much and I fear those people are headed towards a disorder, or at least into a zig-zag diet pattern. Eat up. You'll lose weight the healthy way and you'll feel better,

    Exactly!!! You need to eat at least your 1200 and then your exercise cals when you have them...The less you eat the longer it will take you to lose weight the healthy way!! good luck to you....and eat something lol *om nom nom nom*

    I just did, eggs n mozerella cheese, YUM. I'm learning to measure everything too.
  • Mayorga160
    Mayorga160 Posts: 25
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    Uh oh...

    First, Please do not believe you HAVE to eat under your 1200 calorie set "limit"...

    Assuming you excercise, you calorie intake should be significantly higher. Not only because you burn calories as it is.. but because if you were to constantly eat ~1000 a day, your body has a chance of going into what people call "starvation mode".

    Body hourdes everything you eat, refusing to burn it. Thus makes your exercise pointless and you'll keep whatever you eat inside of you until your body says :"Ok, you can have ths back, im done with it".

    Be careful and take care.
  • NitaCB
    NitaCB Posts: 532 Member
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    So I know there's always this talk about the '1200 cal' thing. But when everybody talks about making sure you don't go under 1200 are they meaning just food calories or net calories. Because I've decided that I always need to be a few hundred under just to give myself a bit of a buffer, because I might underestimate what I've eaten. You only get that little message about eating too little if you eat less than 1200 total, (cos I tried that one day this week,) but not if you're under with your net calories. I find it confusing because the amount MFP sets for me is only 1280 so 80 calories doesn't really give you any leeway! I burn a lot of calories because I'm training for a marathon at the moment and I'm not wanting to eat all of them back to reach 1200 net calories, cos that could be a whole lot of food.
  • CuriousSoul
    CuriousSoul Posts: 12
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    I am a newbie here. Correct me if I am wrong.

    From what I understand from MFP, I must always eat the my Goal + Exercise calories. My Goal calories is 1200 daily and my goal is to lose more than 20lbs..

    This is because the Goal calories is already set at the bare minimum of 1200cal and I should not go lower than that otherwise starvation mode will set in..
    And if I exercise, my body will need 1200cal + the calories I burned exercising.

    A female of my age 43 and weight 150lbs would need at least 1419 calories to live and breathe, simply by staying in bed all day. So even if I ate 1200 calories and stayed in bed all day, I would still be losing 219cal daily. Cool!

    But of course, I will be even more flabby and not getting anywhere near fit.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    So I know there's always this talk about the '1200 cal' thing. But when everybody talks about making sure you don't go under 1200 are they meaning just food calories or net calories. Because I've decided that I always need to be a few hundred under just to give myself a bit of a buffer, because I might underestimate what I've eaten. You only get that little message about eating too little if you eat less than 1200 total, (cos I tried that one day this week,) but not if you're under with your net calories. I find it confusing because the amount MFP sets for me is only 1280 so 80 calories doesn't really give you any leeway! I burn a lot of calories because I'm training for a marathon at the moment and I'm not wanting to eat all of them back to reach 1200 net calories, cos that could be a whole lot of food.

    Don't go under 1200 NET calories. MFP calculates a deficit already so that 1280 already includes the deficit for you. So if you ate 1280 and NEVER exercise you would still lose weight...if you exercise that is why they say to eat your exercise calories because you would be creating a bigger deficit and your body needs more fuel if you are burning it off.
  • 123456654321
    123456654321 Posts: 1,311 Member
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    This is a bad habit to pick up and a hard one to break. Try really hard to hit your mark and try not to freak out about going over.
  • CuriousSoul
    CuriousSoul Posts: 12
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    Yeah, guilty of undereating most of this past week as charged but at least today I understand it heaps better in terms of spreading the calories thru'out.

    But good to hear that my Food 1265cal is good as the great big red -65 is kind of alarming.

    Even if I overeat slightly, I am still within the minimum target as there is probably still a 500cal deficit, considering that I did a little bit of 'weights' today hauling laundry waste water upstairs for recycling in the bathrooms.

    P.S. After that, I decided to add another 2 bananas for potassium so now -185 and still comfortable with it.
  • Michelemybelle
    Michelemybelle Posts: 52 Member
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    I joined LA Fitness today and the trainer got onto me about not eating enough. I printed out the past 3 days menus and took them with me. I eat between 1200 and 1400. For my weight and height, factoring in what I want to lose, and my exercise habits, he said I should be eating AT LEAST 2000 calories. Scary! Today I'm trying to do 1500 and see how I feel. I've already had to make myself eat more than I really wanted. :ohwell:

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