Not eating enough calories...what am I doing wrong?

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mbowman323
mbowman323 Posts: 216
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok soo I am totally confused on this. Each meal I eat averages around 300. I do atleast 30 min of cardio each day. Like today i did 45 min and it's saying that i can eat a extra 560 something calories??? I thought you were suppose to burn off what you put in your body?? How in the heck can I eat a little over 1000 cals today??? I am not hungry at all...

Replies

  • supermann530
    supermann530 Posts: 6
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    I'm having the same issue. I'm eating 3 solid meals plus several snacks, but somehow still find myselft around 1300 to 1600 calories. On the days I excersise i burn 300 or so calories and the calorie counter says I should have more. I don't feel tired or hungry. Am I doing this right???
  • LinsdayMV
    LinsdayMV Posts: 16 Member
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    I woudl love to hear suggestions on this, too!!!!!
  • McDougal416
    McDougal416 Posts: 74 Member
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    My friend and I found out that when we ate back our excersise cal's (maybe not all, but at least some of them) that we not only felt better..but we lost weight easier as well. When we changed..we plateaued for a week and then started losing again. Today I burned like 300something cal's in my workout..and I have 151 left over...I'm ending the day w/that much left over. They say your body will go into starvation mode if you don't eat them back....
  • 6heatherb6
    6heatherb6 Posts: 469 Member
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    Yeah..I'm getting :angry: too! Always under in calories, doing at least 30minutes walking/run and still on goes the weight!! HELP!!!
  • UneJolieFemme
    UneJolieFemme Posts: 86 Member
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    You need calories just to exist, so you must take that in account. I don't eat back all my calories exercise, sometimes half, sometimes none. Many people will tell you it's wrong, but I lost all the weight I had to without ever feeling tired or hitting plateaus. If you're not hungry, if you don't feel tired, if you still lose weight, than you must be doing something right :flowerforyou:
  • Kelblue1
    Kelblue1 Posts: 139 Member
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    MFP already figures in a calorie deficit before it gives you your goal calories for the day. Therefore you should eat what you burn during exercise. Check out this link below. It really helped me to understand. I was the same when I first started.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
  • 1234lbsgone
    1234lbsgone Posts: 296 Member
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    Read this

    700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing">http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing


    And then go under the general weight loss forum and read the threads at the top that have the little pin by them. They will answer all of your questions as to how MFP works.
  • coastalstorm25
    coastalstorm25 Posts: 48
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    Your body naturally needs so many calories to keep its self running...if you don't eat enough calories , it goes into starvation mode which is not what you want...so try to concentrate on the "clean eating" method for what you put into your mouth...lots of fruit ..veggies..and whole grains. Try to make sure you DO get enough calories (not empty calories) or else that excersie that your doing...won't do you any good..because your body will not want to shed those pounds..
    Hope this helps :)
  • UneJolieFemme
    UneJolieFemme Posts: 86 Member
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    Also a good way to add (healthy) calories is to add olive oil when you cook, or some almonds as a snack. These suggestions should add 100-200 calories easily to your day and they are healthy fat.
  • Lydiara
    Lydiara Posts: 5
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    It's just saying that because of recovery- when you work out, sometimes you may need a little extra boost to keep your progress going in terms of muscle mass and weight loss. If you need to eat after, eat, but if you don't you shouldn't- just trust your body.
  • hllamaster
    hllamaster Posts: 137 Member
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    I have been over my goal cal only a couple times ...I try not to eat the "buy Back" cals...but you need to listen to your body...if your not getting enough of on thing it's not good on your system so make sure u eat a balance meal through out the day....you tend to lose weight slower eating over your goal that you have set
  • Billybobboy
    Billybobboy Posts: 11 Member
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    The software adds the calories you burned during your cardio-vascular exercise to your daily goal target, NOT to encourage you to eat the additional 750 calories you burned playing tennis, but to demonstrate how far below your daily target you were in relationship to you goal....IF you are trying to LOSE weight.

    If you were trying to GAIN weight, and you were well under your original goal, plus the caories you burned exercising, then yes, you would need to find a way to increase your caloric intake in order to avoid LOSING weight.

    Be sure to "Close Out" your Diary daily,and this will generate a theoretical weight for you 5-weeks hence, based on the presumption that the next 34 days would be duplicates of the day in question. This will tell you if what you are doing is getting you closer to your goal weight, so you can evaluate what changes you might wish to consider.
  • 1234lbsgone
    1234lbsgone Posts: 296 Member
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    The software adds the calories you burned during your cardio-vascular exercise to your daily goal target, NOT to encourage you to eat the additional 750 calories you burned playing tennis, but to demonstrate how far below your daily target you were in relationship to you goal....IF you are trying to LOSE weight.

    If you were trying to GAIN weight, and you were well under your original goal, plus the caories you burned exercising, then yes, you would need to find a way to increase your caloric intake in order to avoid LOSING weight.

    Be sure to "Close Out" your Diary daily,and this will generate a theoretical weight for you 5-weeks hence, based on the presumption that the next 34 days would be duplicates of the day in question. This will tell you if what you are doing is getting you closer to your goal weight, so you can evaluate what changes you might wish to consider.

    No it adds them so that you can eat them back. That is why it asks you all of those quaetions when you build your profile. You tell MFP how much weight you want to lose and it will in turn tell you how much to eat and burn. When you log your food and exercise, you should be following the numbers at the bottom. That is how MFP is designed. Period.

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