Under eating??

Looks legit to me! You're eating a lot of bulk, so that's not too surprising.

1. Not that it really matters to your situation right now, since your starting weight is high enough to cope with the discrepancies, but... that typical day doesn't show you WEIGHING your food. It shows you measuring it. Cups and spoons aren't at all accurate for measuring solids, so you may well be eating more than you think. That could be why you aren't as hungry as you should be for the number of calories you are logging. Weigh all the things. :-)

2. If you aren't hungry, don't force yourself to eat more. However, you don't have to eat ONLY 'healthy' foods to lose weight. In fact the consensus among successful dieters on MFP is that you should have a good balance of whole foods and treats. Eat in a way you can eat forever, and that way you'll keep off the weight you lose.

3. 1500 calories is the minimum you need, as a man, to get all the nutrients you need. The ones that keep all your bits and pieces healthy and working properly. At your size, I dare say you need a bit more than 1500 in order to properly nourish your body. However, starvation mode doesn't really exist, so you shouldn't stop losing weight from eating so little. You might find, as I have, that starting so low means that you'll have to stay low in order to sustain your rate of loss. Where do you go in fifty or a hundred pounds time? You either have to eat even less, or accept a slower rate of loss. One is unhealthy, the other can lead to frustration and giving up.

4. If you can eat more calories and still lose weight, why not do that? You can add back in some of your favourite foods, be that beer, cookies or burgers. If you're scared of these foods in some way, because, for example, you think you can't control yourself with them, well, they aren't going away. They are always going to be there. Might as well learn how to enjoy them in moderation now while you're changing the way you eat anyway.

Try and get out of the mindset of good and bad foods. Eat what you enjoy as long as it fits in your calorie goal. Will be much easier to stick to that way!

I lost 5 and a half stone without giving up chocolate, cheese or my old favourite - Kettle Chips!

danieltsmoke wrote: »

Nice job! My real vice is soda, and I'm afraid thats a slippery slope, I won't ever go back to drinking that regularly again...but my fav foods are mac and cheese, bacon cheese burgers, well, frankly, anything with meat and and cheese in it is my fav :]

With you on the cheese, but vegetarian so not so much with the meat! Lol!

I use the recipe builder on here and have put in my homemade macaroni and cheese recipe so I can still eat it occasionally. Moderation is the key! Good luck again!

Starvation mode doesn't exist. I would start using a food scale, so you can accurately ascertain your true consumption. A week in eating at that level of deficit you should have some poundage off, yet your profile says 0 pounds lost?

I would definitely recommend altering your mindset from the clean/non-clean food dichotomy. As it was said before, eating a good balance of foods is a much better approach because it is something you can do after you’ve lost the weight and are going into maintenance.

Also, and this is important: you weigh 320 and are getting under 100g of protein per day. The common recommendation to maintain muscle mass during weight loss is 0.8g/lb, so you need to be eating a whole lot more protein (around 250g?). Some say this much isn’t necessary, but it would probably still be best if you at least doubled your current intake. Meat and dairy products are great sources of protein.

Edited to add: Great job getting started so far, and I love your tracking accuracy and great attitude

danieltsmoke wrote: »

No I legit weight all my food, my roommates think I've become OCD over it, lol. This is a typical day for me, and I often just eat the same thing every day for simplicity.

no milk with the oatmeal? The serving you have says 'dry'

I would say give it some time. A week doesn't always show the scale moving. I just recently came off a plateau and I was really disheartened that for 3 weeks I was still the same weight. I am pretty sure I was just retaining water since the scale is saying I lost 10 lbs in the past two weeks.

If you are weight training 3x a week take pictures and tape measurements. I wish I did that because as your body builds muscle and loses fat only weighing yourself can lead to a loss of motivation. Nothing worse than working hard and eating well and having the scale move only slightly.

As mentioned above spend some calories on food you enjoy, just be sure to calculate it correctly. For a few weeks I tried veggies + lean proteins and it got to the point where I started to gorge myself. Dieting will fail. Instead make it a lifestyle change. Never say "I will never eat "x" food again." You CAN have what you want just in the right proportion.

TL;DR: Give it time. Don't rely on only a scale. Don't be so strict that you will eventually give up and binge eat calorie dense foods.
(Of course this is only my opinion.)

sheltol wrote: »

So why doesn't anyone see anything wrong with the fact that a 320 pound male is eating ~1500 calories and not losing weight? With exercise? So lets just say he burns 300 calories exercising leaving his body 1200 calories to function on. That's on the low range for a female. I see multiple posts that starvation mode doesn't exist. I dont care what you call it adaptive thermogensis, fat adaptation, metabolic damage but a prolonged period at this extreme of a calorie deficit is forcing muscle loss which will further the cycle of making it more difficult to lose weight. The goal should be to eat as many calories as possible and lose weight not the other way around.

That's what I was thinking, you aren't eating nearly enough in my opinion.

danieltsmoke wrote: »

Sooooo I've been tracking and using the app for a little over a week, eating "clean" the whole time. Now I'm 6'1, 320, and every app/website says I need to eat about 2500 calories just to maintain, before exercising. Now, eating clean and exercising, I've only been eating between 1200-1600 calories a day.
The thing is, I'm never hungry, I eat a LOT of food I feel like. For instance a typical day will be a serving and a half of oatmeal, with some peanut butter, then i'll eat like a couple pieces of toast, each with a serving of cream cheese or peanut butter on them for lunch, and later I'll eat a big meal (like 800 calories) of chicken, veggies and potatoes.
The bottom line is that I feel full, I'm eating healthy stuff, but I'm routinely under my caloric goal by over a thousand, every day. Am I going to go into "starvation mode", even though I never feel starving?? Should I eat even when I'm not hungry to come close to my caloric goal? Or should I just chill the hell out and keep doing what I'm doing? Thanks much, Dan.

Daniel have you ever ran your numbers in something like Scoobys to figure out what your TDEE could be?

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

You can use that if you'd like & you can enter how much percentage you want to lose weight. Anything at 25% is suggested to see a doctor. With this approach you can enter it manually through the goal tab & if you follow the TDEE approach you wouldn't have to worry about eating back your exercise calories since it's already factored in.

If you don't want to follow this approach & plan to use MFP then you should eat close to what they suggest & most of your exercise calories. Since you have a higher amount to lose you should look at the calories as a way to keep fueling your body for the days you exercise & just to keep you functioning throughout the day.