Do I *have* to eat all my calories?

No I usually have 100-300 calories left. Sometimes I bank those calories and use them on Saturdays but typically not this way I can lose at quicker rate.

1200 is MFP's default minimum BEFORE exercise. I'm guessing you put in a slightly aggressive weekly weight loss goal, so you bottomed out at 1200. This low number is more appropriate for seniors and very petite ladies.

Hunger is not a good indicator of adequate nutrition. Are you meeting protein and fat goals? Calorie dense foods (small portion sizes) will help you reach goal. Nuts, nut butters, avocado, olive oil, eggs, full fat dairy.

The reason you want to eat "enough," the reason you want moderate paced weight loss is to support existing lean muscle mass. Fast weight loss makes the scale look good, but healthy weight loss reduces your body fat percentage.

In my case, I generally am -100 or so but I don't like it. I'm learning to eat more because at some point I'll be at maintenance and need to be able to eat at that amount to stay at a stable weight. So I'm training myself now to be able to gradually increase my intake to the right levels. I don't wait for hunger to eat either. Your body will get used to the additional food and expect it. I used to never eat breakfast and sometimes skip lunch. Now, if lunch gets delayed too much, I get hungry, so my body is adapting to the new normal.

Listen to your body. There are days I am right at my calories (which is also set at 1200) and I don't eat back my exercise calories at all. Other days I eat every single calorie I'm allotted. If you are hungry, eat. If you aren't, don't eat more. But do aim to hit your goal at minimum. Part of my personal challenge is learning to pay attention to what is true hunger and what is boredom eating. A big part of this is learning what is sustainable for you, so that your habits can continue long term and you aren't forever "on a diet".

Are you bulking or cutting? When cutting, that's great! You cut a little faster. Don't change a thing.

If bulking, then 300 calories deficit will depend on what it is a deficit from. If your goal is +500 over TDEE and you are only at +200, then that's fine, you're still bulking. If you are -300 from your TDEE, that's bad, that's cutting when you should be bulking.

Quick fix: Olive oil is 120cals per tablespoon. Have 2-3 tablespoons of that for a quick 240-360 calories, boom.
Other option: Protein shake in milk. Tastes delicious, and liquid makes it easier to consume.

mayuree wrote: »

Hellooooo
I was just wondering, if at the end of the day I haven't eaten all of my calorie allowance and I'm genuinely not hungry, do I have to eat them anyway? Even on the days i exercise so probably have an additional deficit. I'm on 1200 calories and I'm 5'2". I exercise about 3-4 time a week at the gym (tabata/ weights/ cardio) but other than that I'm very sedentary desk bound job!

Thanks for any advice.

OP, unless you are an under 5 foot, over 60 yrs old, totally sedentary woman, you need to eat at least 1200 calories a day. It's okay to be under every once and a while, but you should be averaging AT LEAST 1200 per day to avoid malnutrition and losing muscle.

Having said that, are you using a food scale? If not, you are probably eating more than you think and not really falling short at all.

If your goal is 1200, eat 1200 and @ half your exercise calories on top of that.

TeaBea wrote: »

Danimri84 wrote: »

Listen to your body. There are days I am right at my calories (which is also set at 1200) and I don't eat back my exercise calories at all. Other days I eat every single calorie I'm allotted. If you are hungry, eat. If you aren't, don't eat more. But do aim to hit your goal at minimum. Part of my personal challenge is learning to pay attention to what is true hunger and what is boredom eating. A big part of this is learning what is sustainable for you, so that your habits can continue long term and you aren't forever "on a diet".

Lets face it, most of us here are "not good listeners." But the whole eat when you are hungry thing is over rated. Some people manage to feel full by drinking tons of water (this doesn't fuel existing lean muscle). Some people manage to feel full eating tons of high volume low calorie, low nutrient food (again this doesn't fuel existing lean muscle). Anorexics will tell you they are not hungry on a ridiculously low number of calories.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/your-hunger-hormones

1200 is a DEFAULT minimum. There are 3 possible reasons for being set at 1200:

A. YOU set an aggressive weekly weight loss goal
B. You are a senior citizen
C. You are very petite.....like 4'11" tall

Fast weight loss (especially close to goal) = a higher percentage of lean muscle mass loss. Google skinny-fat.

True, most aren't. And I know I wasn't. I am much better at it now though. The whole eat when you're hungry works for some people. Maybe not for everyone, but some do have success on it. I'm still working on understanding how I genuinely feel full on 1200-1300 calories, eating high nutrient food, but I can also easily pack away 6,000+ calories of crap without feeling like a bloated immobile blimp. The human body is weird. And there are a lot of mental factors at play. A couple years ago I lost 70 pounds in 10ish months, with 1300 as my calorie goal. One emotionally devastating event and I gave up and just ate. And gained a lot back. For some, what goes on in the head plays a huge role.

Point being, my experience doesn't work for everyone, but it does for some, and I was offering the poster my insight, not giving her a hard and fast rule for weight loss.

Do you "have to" no, no one here is going to come a force you to eat, however, that doesn't mean you shouldn't eat them. You most certainly should seek to eat all the calories you have available. The number is a goal to reach, not something you seek to be significantly below.

The reason you should is that too big a deficit will result in loss of lean mass from both muscles and organs. It will also be difficult to get the nutrition you need, and that need will not show up right away. Malnutrition takes time, and is often not indicated by hunger.

That leads to the advice about listening to your body. Frankly, if you are here to lose weight, you have shown that either you are a horrible listener, or more likely, that your bodies signals in terms of hunger are messed up. That is why you need to count calories.

TLDR: Yes.

middlehaitch wrote: »

Eating as much as you can means your bones, muscles, hair, skin and organs will stay healthy.

Hunger cues are not reliable for a lot of people so don't depend on them.

I think this is an important point. A lot of people approach calorie restriction by assessing the maximum they can restrict their food intake without being "too hungry". I have been guilty of this in the past. But there is value to food, and reducing it by too much has tradeoffs.

@size102b eating back exercise calories is an important part of a healthy calorie deficit when using the MFP NEAT method.

One is shortchanging oneself if only eating to ones daily activity level.

An accurate HMR isn't needed to get an accurate reading of ones calorie burn. Extrapolating the data one accrues on MFP can give one the best estimate as it takes into account any logging idiosyncrasies.

Personally. I burn just under 200 cals per hour for most exercises. I ate back 175 of those calories until I got to the last 5-8 lbs then slowly dropped it to 125 to reach my goal.

As I said up thread I am the little old that that 1200 is perfect for, so by the time I was close to my 105 lbs goal the only thing I had left to drop, without going into an unhealthy deficit, was some of my exercise calories. That still had me eating 1350.

I now maintain between 1400-1550 at 100-105 lbs, 5'1, 62yo.


If one chooses one can use an off site TDEE calculator, the exercise is already included. It is best if one has a constant exercise routine.

Cheers, h.

I should add: If one isn't losing while eating back a portion of their exercise calories, when knowing that estimate is pretty accurate, it is poor logging practices that need to be remedied, not calories being cut.

3dogsrunning wrote: »

size102b wrote: »

I lost 71lbs in 11 never ate my exercise calories I'd have tons
That works for you but not everyone

@size102b - are you at maintaince now? If so, for how long?


Also, the more you have to lose, the more of a deficit you can manage. Someone who has less weight to lose risks losing more LBM.
There is also the issue of how active you are. There is a difference between not eating back calories burned from a walk or a light weight session and someone who is very active not eating exercise calories back.

This. If I didn't eat extra for my 14-23km runs or my 2 hour gym cardio sessions, I'd be in hospital by now. If I didn't eat my walking calories (I walk a lot), I'd probably just be grouchy and tired.

I always eat to within 60 calories of my calorie goal, because I plan my calories out the night before, and if I had more than 60 calories left I could fit at least some kind of snack in.

Apart from the day I got in a car accident and missed a meal entirely, I haven't undereaten.