Help! Using all of my calories!

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  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    Thanks everyone! I've gotten much better at watching my calories!

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