How do I know when I am eating too few calories?

Use MFP > Goals tab on the My Home tab. It will set them for you

I am dropping my calorie intake, but i am not sure how low i can go without it being unhealthy or counter-productive to my weight loss & exercise regiment.

Hunger. If you eat enough healthy food to never be hungry than you should be fine.

Hi. let's introduce some precision into how you can answer this question successfully for YOU.

1) Use the BMR calculator on this site, it is probably the best I have found. I'm pretty sure it adjusts for age which many out there do not. That part is crucial.

2) Next get your best estimate of your activity over and above your BMR. Use a pedometer if necessary. People repeatedly over estimate their exercise calorie values. Google some to get a feel. 8-12 calories per minute of actual moderate aerobic intensity (not standing around or resting or getting water, etc. ACTUAL activity meeting the definition) seems to be a reasonable guideline.

3) Using 1 & 2, set calorie intake targets (adjust accordingly for exercise vs. non exercise days). Factor in your calorie restriction according to the # lbs across time period you wish to lose. Plan your calorie distribution (% protein, carbs, fats).

4) Hard part. STICK TO IT for at least a week, NO FAIL.

5) Evaluate and tweak. Scale readings, Brutal self honesty are crucial.

6) Do not confuse a little bit of hunger with you are being too strict. If you followed the above, the only thing you may need to adjust is % of slow to fast carbs. Also, back out your saturated fat and add 1 tbls Olive Oil or Canola oil for each 100 calories you need to add. Good fats will improve your satiety.

7) Plans that tell you if you follow their scheme you won't feel hungry are trying to sell you something. Any reasonable reduction will feel initially different. Drink an extra 1-2 glasses (12-16 oz size) after your meal--It does wonders for me.

8) Look in the mirror naked and ask yourself "what is more important, feeling full like I used to and continuing to look that way, or slowly changing how much I eat and getting to look like I want to."

9) BIG trap: Cutting too much too fast. Shouldn't happen if you follow above.

GO GET 'EM!

I'd have to say that I'm in almost complete agreement with webbed1's 9 step process. My only difference would be I'd say give yourself more than 1 week on the plan before you make any decisions, I'd say closer to a month, but other than that, awesome job dude!


I'd like to point out one thing about the second post, for all of those who read this, he's at a very specific (and very fit) stage in his progress, where specific body fat gains (losses actually) are difficult to come by and you have to make more specific and drastic cuts to your nutrition to see tangible results. For the average joe or jane doe, this is probably an unnecessary thing if you just want to get into the normal body fat range (7% body fat is elite fitness level usually only achieved by professional athletes, and generally not sustained, and FYI, it's what I'd love to hit one day, it's just very difficult to do, especially for someone approaching 40 with a 10 hour a day, sedentary job, I'm shooting for about 9% at this point).

SHBoss1673, thanks for chiming in and adding needed clarification. I agree with you wholeheartedly about taking the month to evaluate vs. the week, but for people I've worked with, they hear "month" they lose confidence. So I switched to something less psychologically intimidating--I tell people now, "Ok, now do another week." You are right, that if the 9 steps are dialed in as I outlined, they should indeed be able to hit a month, especially since if they do the steps, #9 should be impossible.

I have heard people come to me in gym or people from the gym who see me around ask, "my nutritionist told me to go on a 2200 calorie diet and I don't think I can do that." Quick visual assessment by me (I don't say this) indicates possibly 80+ lbs overweight. So when I ask how many calories they were eating, they reply with 3500-4500, something like that. I always tell them I am not going to countermand their nutritionist, but I do tell them to find another one. Counseling someone to cut 1000-2000+ calories daily inside a month will probably always create failure. It could be medically disasterous. It drives me nuts to hear nonsense like that.

FYI--I'm 43 with a sedentary job, you are right, it is SO hard.

Man I like your style guy. Can't disagree with anything you're saying on here, and have to agree about the nutritionist stuff. course I DO contradict some nutritionist advice, but only after checking their credentials and making sure I'm fully confident that they're an idiot! I almost always tell someone that comes to me with "my nutritionist said" statements to go see a registered dietitian. I have one that I work exclusively with that I refer clients to if they ask. Its so worth it though, as soon as someone matches up the qualifications needed for a nutritionist (basically zero in Massachusetts, just enough money to print business cards) and what's needed for a registered dietitian (a 4 year degree and a re-occurring qualification test), they're usually convinced right away.

I'm a little jealous of your BF% actually. I'm at about 11% or so right now (although I haven't checked in a month now, should probably get back to that bod pod soon) and with all my extra curricular stuff, I'm finding it really hard to get down to 10. Which makes me sad. But then again, my focus is more about explosive sports performance rather than body fat % and those are two very divergent paths with regards to calories consumed and training schedule (I do a ton of plyo and agility stuff, which doesn't necessarily lend itself to a fat burning regime, too much anaerobic work for it to be optimal), but I'll be damned if I'm not 1 full tenth of a second faster on my 40 time this year than last year (that's a big deal for an explosive athlete).

Awesome posts guys...lots to let absorb .

Still on my phone so a full post is difficult lol..but I wanted to thank you for sharing!

Cris