Should I eat all my calories?

suzlee1995
suzlee1995 Posts: 27 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
MFP says I can have a little over 1600 calories a day to lose weight (2 pounds per week). Should I be eating them all? Ive been eating around 1200-1300!

Replies

  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
    You can eat them all. No reason to starve yourself.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    The calories MFP gives you is with a calorie deficit already set to lose the 2lb/week. There is no reason you should be eating so far under it unless you're just not hungry. If you're hungry, eat. 300 extra calories can mean some ice cream, or some peanut butter. Heck, I had dutch caramel wafers because I was so low today (wth happened..).
  • stellabest99
    stellabest99 Posts: 44 Member
    I usually aim to eat back half, as I can't always use my food scale and any bought food can be hard to measure. That's the advice I was given by various people on this site when I first joined and asked the same question :smile:
  • heavy_heavy_lowlow
    heavy_heavy_lowlow Posts: 45 Member
    food can be ur enemy and friend, eat the right stuff and ur good. i can have 3,030 calories a day i workout in the morning and usually burn 600 calories adding more to my limit. by 11am im usually at like 3,630 calories to have for the whole day i usually eat Maybe 1300 of those maybe 1600
  • suzlee1995
    suzlee1995 Posts: 27 Member
    edited April 2016
    Thank you all for the replies!!
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    Yes, go for it. I eat 1660/day (or somewhere near there) and that's quite sustainable for me, especially when I add a couple of hundred extra cals a few times a week from exercise.
    I think if you go into this with a long term view and realistic expectations, it can be a pleasant revelation when you discover that you don't have to starve in order to lose weight.
  • MynameisChester
    MynameisChester Posts: 107 Member
    Instead of daily calories, I like to think of it more as a combination of being mindful of whether you feel hungry or not and tracking weekly calories. So for you 1600 x 7 = 11,200 for the week. On Monday you may feel full on 1200 calories, but on Tuesday you eat feel full on 2000 calories. Your average for those days still come out to 1600. As long as the week averages out to your calorie goal, you're good to go!
  • cadavis0609
    cadavis0609 Posts: 1 Member
    Here's a tip, eliminate as much sugar as possible and you can eat a ton and still stay under. I have to find ways to up my calorie intake because I never meet my goal and I'm just not hungry enough.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    stellabest99 wrote: »
    I usually aim to eat back half, as I can't always use my food scale and any bought food can be hard to measure. That's the advice I was given by various people on this site when I first joined and asked the same question :smile:

    She was not talking about exercise calories, she was talking about her base calories, and she should eat them all. The goal with losing weight is not to eat as little as you can, but to eat at a moderate deficit that allows for healthy and sustainable weight loss.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    cadavis0609 wrote: »
    Here's a tip, eliminate as much sugar as possible and you can eat a ton and still stay under. I have to find ways to up my calorie intake because I never meet my goal and I'm just not hungry enough.

    Not necessary.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    cadavis0609 wrote: »
    Here's a tip, eliminate as much sugar as possible and you can eat a ton and still stay under. I have to find ways to up my calorie intake because I never meet my goal and I'm just not hungry enough.

    Not required unless medical reasons.
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
    You should definitely eat all your base calories. MFP is designed for you to eat those and your exercise calories but there is a chance they overestimate your exercise calories so most people advise you to eat back 50-75%. You can look at my diary and see what I've been doing.
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