Newbie with a question re: calories

fitchlets
fitchlets Posts: 58 Member
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Folks - so I had 649 calories left over yesterday and I'm up a pound this morning. Is there a correlation between the both? Do you HAVE to eat all of your calories? This was adding in my calories from exercising. I'm so discouraged because I was down a pound yesterday now back up there today. Any tips/advice?

Replies

  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    edited January 2015
    Don't weigh in every day, if it bothers you, as there's a myriad of reasons why the scale fluctuates from one day to the next. You're looking for a loss over several weeks, not day to day.

    Weight naturally fluxes about 2-3 lbs one day to the next. Water retention from exercise, Excess sodium, excess cortisol from stress / lack of a sleep, have you had a bowel movement lately?, TOM for ladies. None of these things are worth worrying over, as after a few weeks, there should be a decrease in weight.

    If not, I'd look to logging accuracy but if it's one day to the next, don't sweat it!
  • mckennasihde
    mckennasihde Posts: 43 Member
    Please do not be discouraged! One thing you must get used to is this: your weight fluctuates throughout the month/week/day. Once you have been here on MFP a while you will be able to look at your reports and see a general downward trend. But for now when you have such a small bit of data to go by the results for 3 or 4 days can be daunting.

    Another bit of advice is that after a work out muscles tend to retain more water. The 1 lb increase you are seeing could be due to water retention.

    Good luck! Feel free to add me! I'm on here alllll the time. :#
  • fitchlets
    fitchlets Posts: 58 Member
    Thank you, Phoenix :) That makes me feel better.
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    fitchlets wrote: »
    Thank you, Phoenix :) That makes me feel better.

    No problem! I've actually had an entire week before I didn't lose and then the next, dropped 1.5 lbs, so just keep being consistent and diligent ♡
  • r5d5
    r5d5 Posts: 219 Member
    Weight fluctuates all the time, so don't panic!
    Track your weight loss progress over a longer stretch of time, like 4 weeks or so, to look for general trends. If you're doing what you need to do to lose weight, you should see a trend for downward progression :)
    You should eat back at least of your exercise calories--lots of people suggest at least 1/3 to 1/2 if you aren't comfortable eating back all of them.
    Best of luck with your progress!
  • fitchlets
    fitchlets Posts: 58 Member
    mckennasihde wrote: »
    Please do not be discouraged! One thing you must get used to is this: your weight fluctuates throughout the month/week/day. Once you have been here on MFP a while you will be able to look at your reports and see a general downward trend. But for now when you have such a small bit of data to go by the results for 3 or 4 days can be daunting.

    Another bit of advice is that after a work out muscles tend to retain more water. The 1 lb increase you are seeing could be due to water retention.

    Good luck! Feel free to add me! I'm on here alllll the time. :#

    Thank you so much! I don't know how to add, but I'll figure it out :)
    So is it OK that I do NOT eat all of my calories then? I was totally satisfied, but I think I read if you don't eat enough you won't lose. So I was worried that I HAVE to eat every calorie allotted.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Normal daily fluctuations, don't let them stress you out.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    You don't want to be that under everyday, but an occasional light calorie day won't hurt. Try to think of your calories as a rolling average, not a set daily number. That way you won't beat yourself up if you happen to have an over day.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    The numbers will go up and down all the time. Don't stress over it and don't adjust your day based on that morning's reading. Watch the overall trend. If you don't lose in 3 weeks, make adjustments.

    It's a long, long process. If you wig out at daily scale readings, you'll go mad. Just note them. :)

    You're an adult. You don't have to eat your calories if you don't want to.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    The number of calories you ate yesterday has almost no impact on your weight today. The weight of the food you ate yesterday, however, has a significant impact today but will have no impact two days from now. Calories is a long term thing.
  • fitchlets
    fitchlets Posts: 58 Member
    Thanks all! So, is it a general rule you should eat as many as your calories as MFP says or can I be under often? I'm eating a ton of veggies, some fruits, lots of lean meats, yogurt. Pretty much whole, clean foods. So if I'm full and not eating all of my calories I will still lose weight, right?
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    sure... or I throw in some ice cream, wine, chocolate or whatever I want to get to goal lol
  • fitchlets
    fitchlets Posts: 58 Member
    clambert1273 wrote: »
    sure... or I throw in some ice cream, wine, chocolate or whatever I want to get to goal lol

    CHOCOLATE!!!! <3
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
    As everyone else said... Weight can fluctuate wildly, sometimes up to five pounds if you're a woman who suffers with bloating during ovulation/period time!

    As for eating all of your calories; not eating enough one day or two days is okay, but it should never be a long term goal to eat less than your allotted calorie goal, especially if your deficit is already rather large.

    While it won't stop you from losing weight (spoiler alert: starvation mode is a myth), it can give you less energy, fatigue, hair fall, brittle nails, etc.; and having too big of a deficit risks a large amount of lean body mass loss, which you really don't want.

    If you've finished your meals for the day and met all of your vitamin and mineral needs, ate all your veggies, etc... Enjoy a small dessert without any guilt to meet your remaining calories! :)
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    fitchlets wrote: »
    clambert1273 wrote: »
    sure... or I throw in some ice cream, wine, chocolate or whatever I want to get to goal lol

    CHOCOLATE!!!! <3

    the wine goes excellent with it ;)
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