Am I under eating?
kate_cross
Posts: 4 Member
Hi all, Im 23, female, 173cms tall and 64kg. I have recently made a commitment to myself to eat clean food with treats in moderation. I am now trying to allow myself a treat meal once a week which is satisfying my sweet tooth. However, I have been sitting below 1200 calories every day, but I'm scared that if I go up, I will put on weight again. I feel like I'm eating a lot- 3 meals + 4 small snacks a day, (mostly protein and vegetables) and I work out 6 times a week, sometimes I walk on top of my workout. Lately I've been waking up with hunger pains in the middle of the night, sore muscles, headaches and I'm extremely irritable. Does anyone have any advise? Eat more? I'm worried about undoing all my weight loss progress. Thanks:)
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Replies
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Definitely eat more. You're already at a healthy weight, so you shouldn't be aiming to lose more than .25 kg a week (which will put you well above 1200 calories). Eat that much plus some of your exercise calories to fuel your body, and make sure you log everything as accurately as possible.0
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Are you drinking at least 3L of water a day? Tired muscles and hunger pangs are a sign of dehydration. Increase your calorie intake to maintenance for a few days while you fix your water intake.0
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Normal people do not need 3L of water a day. If you are a roofer in Tucson in July, 3L would be a fine suggestion .7
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Yep. Undereating will also only reduce your metabolic rate, which intern reduces your fat loss expenditure.
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Use the MFP kcal calculation based on your goal. Stick to if for at least 3 weeks to assess results. Then if all is well you can start to eat back some of your exercise kcals.1
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Mavrick_RN wrote: »Normal people do not need 3L of water a day. If you are a roofer in Tucson in July, 3L would be a fine suggestion .
I sure don't envy those Tucson roofers this time of year! Even when they're properly hydrated.
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I eat just under 1200 a day if I don't exercise but when u exercise u must eat more to make up for it or ur body will be starving and start eating away at ur mussel u might stay slim but u won't have any tone to ur body Iam very small and Petite tho everyone's body works different but if u have pains and stuff ur body is trying to tell u something x0
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Are you drinking at least 3L of water a day? Tired muscles and hunger pangs are a sign of dehydration. Increase your calorie intake to maintenance for a few days while you fix your water intake.
Or a sign that OP is exercising strenuously and not taking in enough calories to fuel her body...
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What is with the rash of under eating healthy calorie levels lately, and advice that there's nothing wrong with that. Is it a summer time thing?
OP what are your goals? Are you still trying to lose? Did you put in a goal weight and rate of loss into MFP? Since you are already at a healthy weight, the most you should be aiming to lose is 0.25 kg/week or 0.5 lb. that would be a deficit of 250 cals from your NeAT maintenance, and I can guarantee you can eat more than you are without gaining. Are you eating back exercise calories?
With regards to trying to eat clean but allowing for a treat meal, nothing wrong with trying to eat more nutrient dense foods. However "clean" is a subjective term that means something different to everyone. It isn't required for weight loss and some people find the idea of trying to be very restrictive all week long to save up for a cheat meal to be a bad habit to get into, as it creates feelings of guilt when you aren't eating the "clean" foods. I prefer to just work the treats into my diet on a more regular basis, while still focusing on eating a primarily nutrient dense diet.
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What is MFP?0
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WinoGelato wrote: »What is with the rash of under eating healthy calorie levels lately, and advice that there's nothing wrong with that. Is it a summer time thing?
OP what are your goals? Are you still trying to lose? Did you put in a goal weight and rate of loss into MFP? Since you are already at a healthy weight, the most you should be aiming to lose is 0.25 kg/week or 0.5 lb. that would be a deficit of 250 cals from your NeAT maintenance, and I can guarantee you can eat more than you are without gaining. Are you eating back exercise calories?
With regards to trying to eat clean but allowing for a treat meal, nothing wrong with trying to eat more nutrient dense foods. However "clean" is a subjective term that means something different to everyone. It isn't required for weight loss and some people find the idea of trying to be very restrictive all week long to save up for a cheat meal to be a bad habit to get into, as it creates feelings of guilt when you aren't eating the "clean" foods. I prefer to just work the treats into my diet on a more regular basis, while still focusing on eating a primarily nutrient dense diet.
^^^This.
There has been so much of it lately too. I'm glad I started way back where there was more great people combating this way of thinking. There's still several around, but not nearly as many. Combating isn't really the word I mean, but supporting balance without the extreme thinking that is so often promoted by the diet industry.
The process of labeling foods as "clean" or forbidding foods which were not "healthy" always lead to issues for me. I would eat something that I considered forbidden and then would throw out the diet for the day because I blew it. A few days later I would blow it again, but this time, I was more angry with myself for not being able to stick with it. The cycle was endless once I got started on it.
By not having these labels, I realized it was okay to eat a cookie. I naturally gravitated towards increasing whole food consumption because I found that I could feel full longer while meeting my calorie goals. I no longer had that guilt and shame for failing and being weak. Made a big difference in my emotional state while losing.1 -
Ohh, the App name. Hahaha2
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Op, you can eat p to your maintenance calories and not gain weight.What does MFP tell you if you set your weight loss to maintain instead of lose?ashleybrownlj wrote: »I eat just under 1200 a day if I don't exercise but when u exercise u must eat more to make up for it or ur body will be starving and start eating away at ur mussel u might stay slim but u won't have any tone to ur body Iam very small and Petite tho everyone's body works different but if u have pains and stuff ur body is trying to tell u something x
This isn't a good idea, OP. Going below 1200 any time (unless you're a sedentary, older lady and less than 5' tall) is never a good idea. if you have a large deficit, your body will still consume muscle as well as fat regardless if you exercise or not. A smaller deficit, resistance training and adequate protein minimizes muscle loss. Suggesting to the OP who is already at a healthy weight to go below 1200 is not a good idea.WinoGelato wrote: »What is with the rash of under eating healthy calorie levels lately, and advice that there's nothing wrong with that. Is it a summer time thing?
OP what are your goals? Are you still trying to lose? Did you put in a goal weight and rate of loss into MFP? Since you are already at a healthy weight, the most you should be aiming to lose is 0.25 kg/week or 0.5 lb. that would be a deficit of 250 cals from your NeAT maintenance, and I can guarantee you can eat more than you are without gaining. Are you eating back exercise calories?
With regards to trying to eat clean but allowing for a treat meal, nothing wrong with trying to eat more nutrient dense foods. However "clean" is a subjective term that means something different to everyone. It isn't required for weight loss and some people find the idea of trying to be very restrictive all week long to save up for a cheat meal to be a bad habit to get into, as it creates feelings of guilt when you aren't eating the "clean" foods. I prefer to just work the treats into my diet on a more regular basis, while still focusing on eating a primarily nutrient dense diet.
I don't know, but I've seen it, too. Must be summer rush.. I don't know.
What gets me the most is if you inform someone that they're eating too little after someone asking for help, another will chime in with a 'you are SO MEAN" post.
Apparently disagreement = mean/not supportive now.
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WinoGelato wrote: »What is with the rash of under eating healthy calorie levels lately, and advice that there's nothing wrong with that. Is it a summer time thing?
OP what are your goals? Are you still trying to lose? Did you put in a goal weight and rate of loss into MFP? Since you are already at a healthy weight, the most you should be aiming to lose is 0.25 kg/week or 0.5 lb. that would be a deficit of 250 cals from your NeAT maintenance, and I can guarantee you can eat more than you are without gaining. Are you eating back exercise calories?
With regards to trying to eat clean but allowing for a treat meal, nothing wrong with trying to eat more nutrient dense foods. However "clean" is a subjective term that means something different to everyone. It isn't required for weight loss and some people find the idea of trying to be very restrictive all week long to save up for a cheat meal to be a bad habit to get into, as it creates feelings of guilt when you aren't eating the "clean" foods. I prefer to just work the treats into my diet on a more regular basis, while still focusing on eating a primarily nutrient dense diet.
It could be one of the side effects of the kinder/gentler atmosphere of these boards. Bad advice does not get the same treatment it used to.0 -
kate_cross wrote: »Hi all, Im 23, female, 173cms tall and 64kg. I have recently made a commitment to myself to eat clean food with treats in moderation. I am now trying to allow myself a treat meal once a week which is satisfying my sweet tooth. However, I have been sitting below 1200 calories every day, but I'm scared that if I go up, I will put on weight again. I feel like I'm eating a lot- 3 meals + 4 small snacks a day, (mostly protein and vegetables) and I work out 6 times a week, sometimes I walk on top of my workout. Lately I've been waking up with hunger pains in the middle of the night, sore muscles, headaches and I'm extremely irritable. Does anyone have any advise? Eat more? I'm worried about undoing all my weight loss progress. Thanks:)
OP I'm 20 years older than you, same height and weigh around 67kgs, I lose netting 1600 calories. You could definitely eat a lot more and still lose weight.
In answer to your question... Yes, you are under eating, 1200 calories is torture for me, i can not stick with it, and you don't need to either!!0 -
If you don't weigh all of your food, you are probably eating more than you think.0
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Yes. Christine_72 is the success story here.1
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@kate_cross You are 5'8" tall and you weigh 141lbs with a BMI of 21.4, and you are eating under 1200 kcal/day. Is that correct?
It sounds as if you need to heed (and trust) those body signals (waking up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs, irritability, etc.)
You could try adding some nutrient dense foods that fit into your overall plan, perhaps some nut butter or avocado. You can afford to eat more calories.
Good luck.0
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