Help! Using all of my calories!

KatieAsha89
KatieAsha89 Posts: 9 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there! I just joined a few days ago. I noticed that I'm using the majority of my calories allowed before noon! Is anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions?

Replies

  • NinaMichele11
    NinaMichele11 Posts: 9 Member
    Maybe plan ahead, how many calories are you allowed?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Nope. Pre-log. And if you don't pre-log, you should be getting a pretty good idea of how many calories are in food the more you log, and you can make wiser choices.
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
    Pre-logging the whole day's food the night before helps a lot.
  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
    If you open your diary we might be able to suggest some changes.

    The key for me is to preplan my day - log what I expect for lunch and dinner so that I see exactly how many calories I have left for breakfast and snacks throughout the day. That helps keep me in check. Also, look up the calories of the foods you're going to eat before you eat them, so you don't get nasty surprises. As you get more experience with this you will have fewer of those anyway.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,260 Member
    Reasonable goals also help. Are you set to lose 2lbs a week? Should you be? Are you eating back exercise calories? At what %?
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Preplanning is the key.... I couldn't "wing" it, I need to know I won't starve at dinner
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Preplanning is the key.... I couldn't "wing" it, I need to know I won't starve at dinner

    Agreed. And I need to know there is room for something after dinner.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    As the others have said, Prelog! I fill out my diary for the day when I'm having my morning cuppa. That way you can tweak things to fit, or you can do more exercise to MAKE them fit :tongue:
  • Jmgkamp
    Jmgkamp Posts: 278 Member
    I don't pre-log, because I feel different about what I want to eat each day :). I have a 1200 limit/allowance. Because I know that I don't "need" breakfast (NOT a morning person) I often skip it entirely. Many days I'll only have soup for lunch (Progresso light, betw 120-160 calories per can) and I'll eat a snack and dinner in the evening. I also workout to give myself some extra calories (careful about the estimated burns, they can run very high) if I feel I need them.

    Good luck! You can do this!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,630 Member
    As most others have said ... plan ahead.

    For me, it breaks down to approx. 400 cal for lunch, 500 cal for dinner, and about 300 cal for snacks here and there throughout the day.

    If I exercise, dinner can be more and/or I can have an extra snack toward the end of the day.

    I am also not a breakfast eater ... blech. I just can't stomach food before 10 am.
  • cyronius
    cyronius Posts: 157 Member
    I'm not a big one for planning ahead. If I had to do that, I'd probably lose my momentum and stop bothering...

    What I do do though is to make sure that I don't eat/buy my food until I've logged it. So when I go out for lunch at work, I don't know what I'll get the night before, but before I actually buy it, I put it in the phone to make sure it's going to fit.

    And the more often you do that, the better "feel" you get for what you can eat when...

    Of course, if pre-logging works for you, go for it. But it's not the only way to do it...
  • JoanaMHill
    JoanaMHill Posts: 265 Member
    It does sound like you're falling into the newbie mistake of thinking that you can still eat the way you did before you decided to lose weight. While it's true that you can still have ice cream, burgers etc, that serving of ice cream might be three times what the label says is 140 calories (or whatever) and going out to a restaurant for a burger is going to pack on the calories vs having one at home that you made frozen or from ground beef.

    Of course we can't say what's tripping you up without seeing your diary or knowing how many calories you are allotting yourself in a day, but even if it was just 1200, having that much by noon is a bit excessive if you're trying to change your habits.
  • KiwiAlexP
    KiwiAlexP Posts: 186 Member
    I eat 2/3rds to 3/4s of my kilojoules before 1pm - I don't normally snack in the afternoon and lately have preferred a lighter dinner. This works for me but obviously isn't for everyone
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    How many calories are you set to eat a day? And could you also open your food diary?
  • KatieAsha89
    KatieAsha89 Posts: 9 Member
    Thank you everyone for your awesome suggestions. Looks like surveys says--pre plan!!! I am just beginning after many years of bad habits. I'll try pre logging, and making better choices, and see where that gets me. I'm allowed 1,200 calories a day.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    You are using calorie dense foods? Find ways to reduce the calorie load of the foods you are eating before noon so you can plan your day

    it's hard to know what you are currently eating but as a fr'instance

    my breakfast is generally 2-250 calories which includes a 50 calorie allowance for milk in my coffee during the day

    - a bowl of porridge made with water with honey and maybe banana or berries
    - egg whites scrambled with mushrooms and cheese / ham on a slice of white toast

    my lunches are generally pre-thought out from bulk cooking at the weekend and are around 3-400 calories
    - mixed vegetable meditteranean stew with 100g basmati rice and 10g cheddar
    - chicken cacciatore with 100g basmati rice and mixed leaves
    - butternut squash risotto with mixed leaves
    - lentil sambar
    - ham salad sandwich with light mayo

    so by lunchtime, to include a mid-morning snack of chips at around 85 calories I've consumed around 700 calories

    I would then have a 200 post-work snack (toast, cottage cheese, avocado and tomato) and a decent dinner and snack through the evening

    also with 1200 calories just move more to earn more .. you should be able to have more calories than that

  • m4n1x
    m4n1x Posts: 65 Member
    As everyone has said, pre-planning your day in advance is key.

    I would also say to be completely realistic while you are doing this, If you know that you aren't going to stop at half a bagel at breakfast (for example) then log what you think you really will eat.. If your plans are unrealistic when you put them in the night before, you will still have the same problem by lunchtime.

    Don't be ashamed to have days where you eat more, just log it properly and learn from it.

    Finally, have you considered adding in some walking/exercise to your daily routine to free up some additional calories? I walk a majority of my daily commute (about 2/3 hours a day) which removes 600 - 1000 Kcal for me and has been the main reason I have lost 3 stone so far..
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I don't log a full day of calories before I consume them. For me, that would lead to overeating, but I make it a rule that I don't put something in my mouth until it has been logged. For breakfast, I allow myself 250-350 calories. For dinner, up to 700 calories. For supper, whatever is left over. Sometimes I'll throw a small snack in there between meals.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    KatieAsha89 wrote: »
    Thank you everyone for your awesome suggestions. Looks like surveys says--pre plan!!! I am just beginning after many years of bad habits. I'll try pre logging, and making better choices, and see where that gets me. I'm allowed 1,200 calories a day.

    1,200 is a choice - it doesn't have to be 1,200. The rate of weight loss you select drives it to a very large degree. Make your goal sustainable for the long term.

    It's also 1,200 plus exercise calories.
  • runrascal
    runrascal Posts: 53 Member
    I don't pre-log but do kinda portion out the calories - so about 250 for breakfast, about 250 for lunch, about 500 for dinner and the rest I can snack on.
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
    I pre-log breakfast and lunch because I take those with me to work. I use 1/2 of my calories between those two and leave the other half for dinner. This has helped me swap out foods that may not fit as well.
  • jadey_lady
    jadey_lady Posts: 32 Member
    I had that problem too until I really took a look at what I was eating and realized my choices were very poor.
  • jchite84
    jchite84 Posts: 467 Member
    edited June 2015
    If you just joined, I'd say that's not a bad thing. You are getting an idea of how badly off the mark you have been eating. Now make adjustments at each meal to get yourself to your goal. Look at each part of each meal and see where you can cut calories, whether it is reducing portions, forgoing a muffin with your cereal or the extra tablespoon of sugar in your coffee. Let your body adapt, and pretty soon you won't believe how many calories you used to consume!

    *Edit I also saw that you are starting off at 1200 calories and trying to lose 58 lbs. I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't be that low until you are closer to your goal. What settings did you put in? Generally, unless you have a legit hardcore sweating all day kind of job, you can put in "Sedentary" or "Lightly Active" for your activity settings. Maybe start with losing 1 or 1.5 lbs per week, it will get you extra calories and allow your body and your mind time to adapt to eating at a deficit. It's a process, and you should be sure you are doing it healthily and sustainably.
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    edited June 2015
    I would just like to add to all the excellent advice above - make sure your goal is reasonable. If you have at least 50 lbs to lose, then 2 lbs a week is probably reasonable, but in that case you would probably eat more than 1200 cals and still lose it.

    MFP has you eat a certain amount of calories, i.e. 1200, but if you do any exercise you are supposed to eat back those too, although most people prefer to eat about half of them since MFP/machines/HRMs overestimate burns as a whole).

    *edit - or do what the person above says and don't enter sedentary as your activity level. Almost everyone when they're new rushes to those minimal 1200 calories that MFP won't go under; most of the people who persevere (of those who have a lot of extra weight so 1200 is too low for them) learn that this number is not sustainable, up it and still lose successfully.
  • KatieAsha89
    KatieAsha89 Posts: 9 Member
    Thanks again to everyone for the additional advice. Because I am exercising, I will change my activity level in hopes to have a higher caloric allowance. Also, I won't get so discouraged at the end of the day when I'm not meeting my goals. The calories are kind of like money, you have to spend them wisely, or they will be gone. This has been a struggle for me for a while, and will take some getting used to. So appreciative of the wonderful, supportive community here! You guys ROCK! :)
  • lehcarenna
    lehcarenna Posts: 3 Member
    This helped me: before shopping I browsed food categories to find out which were low calorie per serving and tried to buy those things. I realized that there were lots of times in the past that I made things I thought were healthy foods (example: breakfast smoothie w soy protein, milk, banana, almond butter, fruit, and honey) and yet those foods ended up having large numbers of calories. For me personally smoothies were a bit of a curse because they did not 'feel' like I had eaten anything and yet were usually 500 calories. I personally find that I feel full more easily after eating something warm.
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    KatieAsha89 wrote: »
    Thanks again to everyone for the additional advice. Because I am exercising, I will change my activity level in hopes to have a higher caloric allowance. Also, I won't get so discouraged at the end of the day when I'm not meeting my goals. The calories are kind of like money, you have to spend them wisely, or they will be gone. This has been a struggle for me for a while, and will take some getting used to. So appreciative of the wonderful, supportive community here! You guys ROCK! :)

    If you're using the MFP method, activity level is determined by normal activity. Exercise is added separately, and you eat a proportion of those calories back.

  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
    I started by setting my goal for just maintaining current weight. That way I hot used to logging and learning. Then after about a month of that I set it for .5 pound loss per week. After a few months adjustment to that I increased to a pound per week. Now I'm at 1.5 pounds per week after 17 months of work. I think too many look for a quick fix. That's why they gain back. This has to be a lifestyle change.
  • KatieAsha89
    KatieAsha89 Posts: 9 Member
    Thanks everyone! I've gotten much better at watching my calories!
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