Why do I have to eat more?

staceyhoy wrote: »

I am allotted 1500 calories a day and adding extra calories for exercise I only ate about half. I tried to complete my food journal and was told to eat more calories. I ate tuna, yogurt, vegetables, a large vegetable smoothie...all very healthy but low calorie. I was totally full. Why do I have to make myself eat more when I'm not hungry? Isn't that what fot me into trouble in the first place?

Yes to the bolded

But

Are you absolutely, positively sure of how much you are today? Weighed everything you ate (in grams, preferably)?

staceyhoy wrote: »

I am allotted 1500 calories a day and adding extra calories for exercise I only ate about half. I tried to complete my food journal and was told to eat more calories. I ate tuna, yogurt, vegetables, a large vegetable smoothie...all very healthy but low calorie. I was totally full. Why do I have to make myself eat more when I'm not hungry? Isn't that what fot me into trouble in the first place?

If you keep undereating to that degree for more than a few weeks, your body will lower it's BMR "basic metabolic rate" and start to expect less food, so metabolism will slow down to store the food. If you keep a constant higher supply combined with exercise then your BMR will stay higher.

Only time it won't let you close your diary is if you have logged less than 1000 calories. If you aren't weighing all solids (including prepackaged, those can still be off considerably), you are likely eating more than you realize anyway. If you are exercising you should eat some of those calories as well, because you want to fuel your body. In the short term there may not be much damage, but after a while (days-weeks) you may feel lethargic, unable to concentrate, dizzy, plus more. If you continue past that point, you can start doing long-term damage through malnutrition.

For one day, I wouldn't worry about it, but maybe plan tomorrow a bit better so that you are getting as close to that 1500 as possible plus 50% of exercise calories. 50% because the program tends to overestimate calorie burns. Give it some time (several weeks) and revaluate your progress. Are you seeing the losses you expected? Too much loss, increase your calories. Not enough loss, decrease your calories.

Your body can only burn so much from fat reserves and will use muscle beyond that point, so 2lb/week is maximum to aim for. Weight loss should decrease as you get closer to your goal weight, to help preserve your muscle mass, and to help with transition into maintenance.

Best of luck! There are some great threads stickied at the top of the getting started and general diet forums called Most Helpful Posts (each forum has different posts linked). These have some fabulous information in them.

Like, a handful of peanuts would fix your problem. Meeting cals is hard because you are eating low cal foods only, then supplement with a few calorie dense foods to make it up. Put sesame, or flax in your tuna, put some nut butter on your toast, switch to 2% dairy or higher.

@stmokomoko

I have pretty much the exact opposite problem. I love spices, nuts, seeds,etc. Add them to everything when cooking, and because they are very nutrient dense calories add up fast! I wind up eating much smaller portions than what I am used too. Now I normally have a veggie salad of some kind that I can eat in addition to whatever that is more filling.

You and OP can do something similar but in the opposite direction and meet calories easily.

Who told you to eat more? You don't HAVE to do anything, including eating when you're not hungry. A lot of people on this site watch 19 yo girl after 19 yo girl try to lose weight quick on an 1100 calorie diet, it makes people quick to say "you need to eat more" - and sometimes you do. But if you're fulfilling your human nutrition requirements adequately, the numbers are up to you.

toe1226 wrote: »

Who told you to eat more? You don't HAVE to do anything, including eating when you're not hungry. A lot of people on this site watch 19 yo girl after 19 yo girl try to lose weight quick on an 1100 calorie diet, it makes people quick to say "you need to eat more" - and sometimes you do. But if you're fulfilling your human nutrition requirements adequately, the numbers are up to you.

and some of those 19year girls will wonder why their hair is falling out, loss of periods after long time at very low intake.

also we are not even talking 1100 here, OP is saying half of her 1500 intake and is even exercising

If you're a woman of average height, you should have at least 1200 cal/day to be sure you get all the nutrients
you need to stay healthy. If you're shorter, or elderly, or your doctor says it's OK, you could go lower.

+1 to using more calorie-dense foods.
Full-fat dairy, nuts, fatty fish, avocado, pasta, legumes.
And ignore the estimate MFP gives you for exercise calories, just aim for your healthy calorie goal.
Most machines overestimate calories burned. If you're losing weight too fast, add some back in.

The last link in the first section of this blog post about goal setting (including weight, calories, and macros)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045
is to a calculator which can help you estimate a reasonable calorie goal, as well as servings of the food groups.
Other useful links / info there, too.

If you're counting on calories from a high vegetable diet, you may be disappointed in how many calories you take in. I stopped counting them altogether, and eat green veggies as "free" (I don't even log them any more). I also tend to eat more veggies, since I'm ignoring how many I eat. Most veggies are "negative" anyway (if they're green).

Eat. More. Protein. Your calories will go up - but, then you definitely have to watch the fat.