Do you force yourself to finish meals to meet calorie goals?

No in fact the opposite I eat between 11-5pm most days, it helps me with hunger.

ETA no I don't force myself to finish a meal if I'm satisfied.

I found that a 600 calorie breakfast, 600 calorie dinner, and 200 calories of lunch along with 200 of snacks after dinner are what works for me. The evening after work was my biggest challenge, as for a lifetime I'd been an eating machine during evening hours at home. I had to find a way to eat nutritious food, stop eating, and be satisfied.

I actually switched to eating five or six small meals a day because I was having a problem with hunger in between three larger, more spaced out meals. I typically eat between 1,500 and 1,600 calories a day, broken down into several 200-400 calorie meals, and I'm finding it much more sustainable than I did the larger, more infrequent meals.

Everyone's different, of course, but it works well for me. If you're having trouble forcing in a large meal in one sitting, then there's no harm in giving it a try. Just plan what you intend to eat in advance, and measure accurately, so maybe you're less likely to over-indulge.

Always play around with meal timing.. its different for everyone. Its a great strategy to help with adherence to your calorie goal, a method to help you with satiety and fullness, and over compliance..

I don't force myself to finish. I try to stop when I'm full and let it settle. If I'm hungry later, I'll have a snack. If not I'll bank calories for another time in the week - provided I'm not under 1200 total. If I am, and still really not hungry, I'll have something high calorie like a hot chocolate or chocolate biscuits, which I don't have to be hungry for. I'm happy to bank calories but I don't like going below 1200 unless I'm actually ill and off my food.

I don't totally trust my feelings of wanting or not wanting food. Sometimes if I've undereaten throughout the day, I'll get into a state where I'm not interested in food, even though I really need it. This happens especially if I am anxious or overtired. The best approach then is to nibble something until the appetite appears. Anyone with small children has seen this happen when they're overwrought.

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

I don't totally trust my feelings of wanting or not wanting food. Sometimes if I've undereaten throughout the day, I'll get into a state where I'm not interested in food, even though I really need it. This happens especially if I am anxious or overtired. The best approach then is to nibble something until the appetite appears. Anyone with small children has seen this happen when they're overwrought.

good to know.

I had similar concerns as the OP, of not meeting calorie goals, from not feeling hungry enough.

Can someone explain in simple lay person terms what is wrong with eating below the calories mfp sets (1400 or 1600)? or what is wrong with eating below 1200 calories? I ask as a person with zero (none at all) history of eating disorders. Yes, I am capable of overeating which is how I joined all you cool people here.

Thanks for this, it is simple enough and I now understand why this limit is given frequently.

wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

I don't totally trust my feelings of wanting or not wanting food. Sometimes if I've undereaten throughout the day, I'll get into a state where I'm not interested in food, even though I really need it. This happens especially if I am anxious or overtired. The best approach then is to nibble something until the appetite appears. Anyone with small children has seen this happen when they're overwrought.

good to know.

I had similar concerns as the OP, of not meeting calorie goals, from not feeling hungry enough.

Can someone explain in simple lay person terms what is wrong with eating below the calories mfp sets (1400 or 1600)? or what is wrong with eating below 1200 calories? I ask as a person with zero (none at all) history of eating disorders. Yes, I am capable of overeating which is how I joined all you cool people here.

Your body needs a minimum number of calories to do the very basic things you need it to do: heart beating, breathing, digestion, cell repair, etc etc etc. Your mfp goal includes the deficit you need for the weight loss goal you chose. If you eat too much less than that on a regular basis you will lose weight quicker, which could lead to more muscle loss, since your body can only burn so much fat at once.

1200 is a generalized minimum because the vast majority of people will need more than that. Some older or very petite sedentary women might be okay with less than that, but they would be few and far between!

At least all of that is my understanding :drinker:

Baxie23 wrote: »

So I've been at this for almost two months now. Things are going really well - I've had steady weight loss, I'm getting so much fitter, and I bought a scale so I'm tracking way more accurately. Lately though, I've noticed that I get half way through a meal and I'm overwhelmed by how much food I still have left to eat. My calorie goal is 1400 a day. I'm thinking about switching to 6 smaller meals throughout the day but I am worried about that leading to binges. Has smaller more frequent meals helped other people or do you find that it's better to eat more than you feel like at each meal?

While I'm not opposed to overeating for psychological reasons from time to time, I don't believe overeating is ever good physiologically. This is probably why I naturally gravitate to smaller meals more frequently. My OH, however, is fine with three larger meals per day.

Cbestinme wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

I don't totally trust my feelings of wanting or not wanting food. Sometimes if I've undereaten throughout the day, I'll get into a state where I'm not interested in food, even though I really need it. This happens especially if I am anxious or overtired. The best approach then is to nibble something until the appetite appears. Anyone with small children has seen this happen when they're overwrought.

good to know.

I had similar concerns as the OP, of not meeting calorie goals, from not feeling hungry enough.

Can someone explain in simple lay person terms what is wrong with eating below the calories mfp sets (1400 or 1600)? or what is wrong with eating below 1200 calories? I ask as a person with zero (none at all) history of eating disorders. Yes, I am capable of overeating which is how I joined all you cool people here.

Because your body does require a baseline of energy to operate. Calories aren't evil...you need them..they are a unit of energy...the energy that fuels your body...makes your heart pump...makes your lunges pull in oxygen...makes your kidneys and other essential organs function...your brain, hair growing, etc, etc, etc...

1200 is basically the minimum MFP will go to for liability reasons...but the reason that number exists is because below that, healthcare persons have determined that it becomes much more difficult to get essential nutrition, particularly without assistance. This is why VLCDs are generally doctor supervised and also usually involve a dietitian, etc.

If you search around the forums, you will find plenty of posts of, in particular, females losing hair, nails becoming brittle, losing menstrual cycles, etc due to substantial underfeeding and insufficient nutrition. When you don't provide your body with enough energy to just perform basic operating functions, it starts to shut down what are deemed more or less "non-essential" functions to keep you alive. Note that this does not happen from having a low calorie day here and there or a couple of weeks or whatever of underfeeding...this happens over longer periods of time consuming very few calories...these issues will arise sooner with someone who is leaner vs obese/morbidly obese.