my fitness plan is saying I'm not eating enough I'm confused

pats12tbrady
pats12tbrady Posts: 3
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I log in everything I consume. I hit just under my goal calories for the day. That is eating 3 meals and a couple snacks. I just don't get why it told me today I wasn't eating enough.

Replies

  • Th3Ph03n1x
    Th3Ph03n1x Posts: 275 Member
    Are your goal calories at 1200? It will yell at you if you eat below 1200.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    What is your calorie goal? I've been under the impression that if you log under 1200 calories MFP will tell you it's too little. I've never eaten that little though so I'm not absolutely positive about that.
  • pansyviolet
    pansyviolet Posts: 34
    You need to keep very close to your mfp calorie goal. This is very important for weight loss
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    because it wants you to eat at least 1200 calories.
  • pats12tbrady
    pats12tbrady Posts: 3
    Yes my calorie goal is 1200. The most I have been of by is 40 calories. I will try to monitor it better and see if it tells me that again. Thank you for the insights. This is my first "diet" so I'm not completely sure I am doing it right and freaked out when it said that.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    pats12tbrady wrote: »
    Yes my calorie goal is 1200. The most I have been of by is 40 calories. I will try to monitor it better and see if it tells me that again. Thank you for the insights. This is my first "diet" so I'm not completely sure I am doing it right and freaked out when it said that.

    Not diet, lifestyle change. Getting to 1200, means getting all of your nutrients.
  • bighoops2010
    bighoops2010 Posts: 1 Member
    Mines does the same thing. I just try not to go over that amount but I think it depends on the foods you eat.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    bighoops2010 wrote: »
    Mines does the same thing. I just try not to go over that amount but I think it depends on the foods you eat.

    No it doesn't. It's MFP protecting itself from people that are eating under 1200 calories, because, as aforementioned, they start lacking nutrients.
  • ilfaith
    ilfaith Posts: 16,769 Member
    I get that message now and then too. I think it's hard when you're smaller and have a lower calorie goal. I can be 100 calories below my maintenance and get the message, whereas someone with a 2000 calorie goal can be up to 800 calories under and be fine.
  • pats12tbrady
    pats12tbrady Posts: 3
    Thank you all I got closer to my nutrients goal today and didn't get that message. I just have to work at it...trial and error I guess lol
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
    edited January 2015
    I have the same problem with one difference. I'm off by 600 calories or so daily. I don't have much of an appetite and my weight loss has pretty much come to a halt. What do you do when you're not hungry but still have so many calories left?
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Not diet, lifestyle change. Getting to 1200, means getting all of your nutrients.
    Getting to 1200 does NOT mean you necessarily get all your nutrients.

    It is very easy to not get them even eating much more than 1200. Nutrients are about what you eat just as much, or even more, than it is about how much you eat.

  • oarngesi
    oarngesi Posts: 73 Member
    Its a setting just manually add a couple calories to hit 1200 and not worry about it
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    Why is my post flagged? It violated no rules. I suppose someone just disagrees with what I wrote. Flagging every time you disagree really seems like abuse of the system to me.
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    I would recommend going to see a dietician since you are new to dieting. I have also just started and it gets very, very confusing because different things work for different people.

    I actually thought you HAD to be under 1200 to lose weight and though I was exercising like mad, I was not losing at all. (still haven't lost kilos yet but inches yet!) and then my dietician told me that my body will not let me lose because it thinks I am starving it and will store any food I give it for survival purposes.

    Nutrients are also important so MFP might still see you are not eating enough if most of the calories are from sugars or fats for example!

    Come join us newbies that are helping each other out.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
    edited January 2015
    pats12tbrady wrote: »
    I log in everything I consume. I hit just under my goal calories for the day. That is eating 3 meals and a couple snacks. I just don't get why it told me today I wasn't eating enough.

    Did MFP recommend that calorie level, or did you manually input it? Unless you are a short healthy weight woman already, 1200 cals. a day could be an inappropriate level for you. For example, a 34-yr.-old 5'2" to 5'5" woman of 120 lbs. (Healthy BMI) is recommended 1320-1340 cals. to lose .5/lbs. per week. On the other hand, using Scooby's calculator, a 34-yr.-old 5'2"-5'5" woman of 160 lbs. (Overweight BMI) is recommended more fuel, at 1415-1430 cals. to lose .7/lbs. per week.

    You may wish to check against Scooby's Workshop to ensure you really need to be at such a low calorie level to achieve a healthy weight loss goal. Feeling less deprived in your eating can lead to greater success in sticking with a plan.

    Also, are you exercising at all? If so, be sure to log that, get those extra calories earned, and eat back at least some of those exercise calories (I see people recommending 50-75%, but I eat back most all of my exercise calories and am still losing). If you are exercising and eating back most of those earned calories, you're less likely to trip over the "too little calorie" warning. Be healthy & good luck!

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    P.S. I'm following the MFP recommended guidelines and eating back exercise calories. So far, it's working! Scooby's aligns fairly closely with the MFP calculations, but it's just a bit easier to manipulate. So, it's a nice tool to cross-check.
  • kellysdavies
    kellysdavies Posts: 160 Member
    Your dietician needs a new job! Absolute rubbish. Starvation mode doesn't exist. Tell the hungry people in Africa this cause they can't lose weight either... Jesus.

    The smaller you are the less calories you need. I only burn 1200-1400 cals a day (with no activity) so I need to eat below this if I want to lose weight.
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