Why do so many people say they can't reach their calorie goal?
Replies
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@edena001 don't take it personal - there are a lot of folks that say this and it does seem strange that over weight folks trying to loose weight can't eat 1200 calories otherwise how did they become overweight.
I totally changed the way I was eating when I first started and I was eating a ton of protein bars that gave me a heavy feeling in my stomach. Since I stopped eating those I've returned to having no problem eating 1250 calories.
I think there are legitimate reasons but they don't usually last.
The problem isn't necessarily over weight people eating too much, it's that they're not exercising. There would be some days I would only take 60 steps? And eating the wrong type of foods. During the last year because of the flat I was in I was eating stuff like snacks for dinner and pot noodles, shop brought sandwiches etc, take aways. If you go from that to cooking all your meals from scratch then there's a huge change in how many calories you consume.
You don't come on here and keep your exact eating pattern. You change and adapt it it's the whole point of this app
There are no "right" or "wrong" foods when it comes to weight loss.
I also eat the same foods as before. The only thing that has changed is that I weigh my food and log it. I am more mindful of what I eat and how much.3 -
A few people are mentioning "bad foods" and "the wrong foods" - I think this is at the bottom of it in a lot of cases. The types of foods someone was eating too much of before they started losing weight - high carb, high fat, calorie dense - get labelled as "bad foods" and cut out completely. And they won't add them back even when they have the opposite problem.
So you end up with someone who is 200cal below their calorie limit and doesn't know what to do. But they're having low fat or no dressing on their salad, no butter on their baked potato, no nan with their curry, cutting the fat off their meat etc. Just adding a bit of butter to their veg or mayo on their salad or sprinkling some grated cheese on their chilli or some bread with their dinner would solve it, but there's a mental block to that - those are "bad foods" and you can't eat "bad foods" when you're on a "diet".
People who are struggling to meet your calorie limit, are you demonising the exact types of food that would solve your problem?
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I think there may be a simpler answer to this. When I joined, I found that I was eating a bigger breakfast and lunch but by supper time, I had very few calories left. So I switched to a low cal breakfast and less at lunch, but then found that I struggled to get the surplus calories down! So now, after a few weeks, I've been able to spread the calorie intake more evenly throughout the day and by the end of the day I'm usually within a few calories of my 1200.6
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I'm not sure about others, but in my case it's the net calories I have trouble getting to 1200 on. I exercise a couple hours a day (walking and biking) and usually burn at least 400 calories, so I have no problem eating 1200 plus the exercise calories, but I usually try to leave between 100-200 exercise calories "on the table," so to speak, so that more often than not only has me netting 1050 for the day. I never feel deprived of food, though. Of course I'd love to eat more, but I want to lose more weight. I'm also not saying I don't have 3,000 calorie days, because I have them at least once a week. So I obviously don't have any problems eating calories if I want. The problem is that when I'm adhering to the 1200 calories MFP gives me to lose .5 pounds a week (I'm 5'1") and only eating part of my exercise calories back, it makes it difficult to reach 1200 net calories.
I'm not sure that would be what other writers are talking about when they say they have a hard time reaching 1200 calories, but that's my story. I have recently (started last week) been making myself eat 1200 net calories, but I have to admit, it's a really hard thing mentally for me to do. I'm scared I will not lose at least the .5 pound per week.
Your 3000 calorie cheat days "at least once a week" could very well wipe out your deficit for the entire week and put you in maintenance or gaining mode instead. If you find you've stopped losing after several weeks of meticulous logging, this would be the first thing to take a peek at.
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Personally, I have no trouble at all eating about 2000 to 2500 calories a day. And there's not a lot of so-called "junk food" in that. When I eat anything less than that, I'm some degree of hungry.
Unfortunately, 2000-2500 calories a day causes a very slow, gradual weight gain.
Reaching 1200 calories is way too easy for me ...
Morning snacks: 200 cal
Lunch: 350 cal
Afternoon snacks: 200 cal
After work snacks: 200 cal
Dinner: 500 cal ... oops, I'm over and I haven't even had my evening snacks yet.
Thank goodness for exercise!
Same here. 2000 - 2500 seems to be my comfort zone. It's fine if I'm exercising a lot, but currently I'm only putting in about 30 mins or so most days. I can eat 1200 calories in a single setting (usually dinner). If anything, my difficulty always lies in staying at my calorie goal.
I almost wish I had the opposite problem sometimes.2 -
@edena001 don't take it personal - there are a lot of folks that say this and it does seem strange that over weight folks trying to loose weight can't eat 1200 calories otherwise how did they become overweight.
I totally changed the way I was eating when I first started and I was eating a ton of protein bars that gave me a heavy feeling in my stomach. Since I stopped eating those I've returned to having no problem eating 1250 calories.
I think there are legitimate reasons but they don't usually last.
The problem isn't necessarily over weight people eating too much, it's that they're not exercising. There would be some days I would only take 60 steps? And eating the wrong type of foods. During the last year because of the flat I was in I was eating stuff like snacks for dinner and pot noodles, shop brought sandwiches etc, take aways. If you go from that to cooking all your meals from scratch then there's a huge change in how many calories you consume.
You don't come on here and keep your exact eating pattern. You change and adapt it it's the whole point of this app
I eat all of the same food I ate before, I just fit it into my calorie goal, so no, not everyone changes everything. Completely changing would not have been sustainable for me.
I said you change and adapt? You've changed you're eating plan to adapt to your needs? I didn't say it was a drastic change to anyone ? But you're not going to come on here and continue eating takeaways 3 times a week and chocolate bars every day?
Why would you assume that someone here used to eat takeaways 3 times a day and chocolate bars every day?3 -
KWlosingit wrote: »Every time someone posts another thread about how they are on 1200 per day and can't reach that much I just scratch my head. How did you become over weight if you can't eat over 1200 calories. I know me personally I never have trouble eating my calorie goal, and it is much higher than 1200. What is the deal?
I sometimes wonder if people really mean they CAN'T eat more than 1200 (if they say that, I think they are logging poorly or should see a doctor). But what I experienced before and right after coming to MFP is that I felt okay eating under 1200. Basically I over-cut my calories -- I took my usual meals (pretty healthful), cut out snacking and mindless eating, cut out most of the high fat extras (cut WAY down on oil for cooking, no cheese, no nuts or seeds, no olives, taste from herbs and spices and peppers, mostly), and I also increased the servings of non starchy veg and decreased the servings of starches. I did not change meat/fish servings, which had always been mostly based on about 4 oz. The result of this was a meal plan that was pretty much as filling as what I'd been eating before, just as much volume, and yet FAR fewer calories, coming in from 900-1200.
I did not feel stuffed, like I couldn't eat more, but when I started logging and saw how little I was eating I had some angst about eating more when I felt like I was eating enough--I often suspect this is what people are really saying: "if I don't feel like I need to eat more, should I? isn't that wrong?" I never posted about it, but in some cases someone doing that might be asking for reassurance that they really should go ahead and eat more -- I think there's a dieting mindset sometimes that eating food just for pleasure is wrong, that you must not eat things like cheese or oils or potatoes, or chicken with skin on it or steak, because those are sinful in some way, I dunno.
I am really glad that I did look at what I was doing (with the help of MFP) and add in some of the foods I had over-aggressively stripped out, though -- more higher fat extras, more starches again, and also that I realized that if I was going to cut out these things to some extent I should also increase protein servings a bit to compensate. I think this allowed me to create a more interesting and sustainable and varied way of eating that felt more like just the way I liked to eat and not like I was dieting or missing anything. (I also added back in some desserts when I started exercising more and had more calories.)10 -
I have an eating disorder where I overeat and binge. When I diet and reel it in, this binge behavior, I tend to shut down completely and not want to eat at all. So there are days when I don't eat but 500 cals or less and I have to force myself to eat. If for whatever reason I have a bad day and end up binging I can eat around 2500-3k cals and that ends up balancing out my 500 calorie day for the week. At the end of the week I end up maintaining my weight equally, or gaining a pound. So it is a struggle to lose weight with this behavior. The only thing that works for me is meal prepping and making myself eat whatever I have prepped at certain times throughout the day. I think it has to do a lot with how I wrecked my metabolism in the past, living on a fast and then all out binging. It's a habit I am working to correct and exercising helping me in staying hungry. 2
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i'm on 1210 a day and sometimes, usually the weekend if i'm home alone, i don't make my target. that's because i don't really eat much if i'm in the house alone. if i do, it's usually something a few handfuls of mushrooms and baby tomatoes. i'll snack through the day on veg. i can go through a cucumber without much thought. most of the time though i dont have much trouble making the goal.0
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I think the basic reasons have been covered. When I'm under, it's always one of three reasons.
1) I was super busy all day and didn't eat anything until dinner (busy = not hungry). If I then eat at home instead of going out, I'll be plenty satisfied with 800-1000 cals of dinner + dessert and not want to eat more. Especially since the high-cal things at home take work to make. Not something I'm likely to do if I've been run off of my feet all day.
2) There are a couple of meals that I find highly satisfying and are low cal. Combine those in a single day and I'll be < 1200 cals unless I go and eat something I don't really want.
3) I feel like my diet has gotten out of control lately so I add in more veg, take out some treats and voila.
I'm almost never under 1200, though, especially since my goal is higher than 1200 anyway.0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »I'm not sure about others, but in my case it's the net calories I have trouble getting to 1200 on. I exercise a couple hours a day (walking and biking) and usually burn at least 400 calories, so I have no problem eating 1200 plus the exercise calories, but I usually try to leave between 100-200 exercise calories "on the table," so to speak, so that more often than not only has me netting 1050 for the day. I never feel deprived of food, though. Of course I'd love to eat more, but I want to lose more weight. I'm also not saying I don't have 3,000 calorie days, because I have them at least once a week. So I obviously don't have any problems eating calories if I want. The problem is that when I'm adhering to the 1200 calories MFP gives me to lose .5 pounds a week (I'm 5'1") and only eating part of my exercise calories back, it makes it difficult to reach 1200 net calories.
I'm not sure that would be what other writers are talking about when they say they have a hard time reaching 1200 calories, but that's my story. I have recently (started last week) been making myself eat 1200 net calories, but I have to admit, it's a really hard thing mentally for me to do. I'm scared I will not lose at least the .5 pound per week.
Your 3000 calorie cheat days "at least once a week" could very well wipe out your deficit for the entire week and put you in maintenance or gaining mode instead. If you find you've stopped losing after several weeks of meticulous logging, this would be the first thing to take a peek at.
Oh, don't I know it! That's why it's taken me 15 months to lose 55.4 pounds! I'm pretty sure I should have lost my goal of 84 pounds by now if I didn't insist on having at least one cheat day per week.
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@edena001 don't take it personal - there are a lot of folks that say this and it does seem strange that over weight folks trying to loose weight can't eat 1200 calories otherwise how did they become overweight.
I totally changed the way I was eating when I first started and I was eating a ton of protein bars that gave me a heavy feeling in my stomach. Since I stopped eating those I've returned to having no problem eating 1250 calories.
I think there are legitimate reasons but they don't usually last.
The problem isn't necessarily over weight people eating too much, it's that they're not exercising. There would be some days I would only take 60 steps? And eating the wrong type of foods. During the last year because of the flat I was in I was eating stuff like snacks for dinner and pot noodles, shop brought sandwiches etc, take aways. If you go from that to cooking all your meals from scratch then there's a huge change in how many calories you consume.
You don't come on here and keep your exact eating pattern. You change and adapt it it's the whole point of this app
I eat all of the same food I ate before, I just fit it into my calorie goal, so no, not everyone changes everything. Completely changing would not have been sustainable for me.
I said you change and adapt? You've changed you're eating plan to adapt to your needs? I didn't say it was a drastic change to anyone ? But you're not going to come on here and continue eating takeaways 3 times a week and chocolate bars every day?
I can't speak for everyone, but yes, I do eat takeaways 3 times a week and I have chocolate (or a similar sweet treat) pretty much every day. I even have wine and cheese and I'm eating leftover steak for lunch even as I type. How? By eating mindful portions. I don't need an entire full-size candy bar. I can be content with a fun-sized or even a "Hershey's nugget." I can have a burrito bowl from Chipotle, but not with *everything* on it (or I can order it with everything and make two meals of it). I snack on pistachios, but I measure them out carefully on a digital scale, so I know how much to log. My wine... Well, hands off my wine. That stays.
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Heh, I read that initially as three times a day.0
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People think that they have to totally change everything they eat and that foods are bad so they "can't" eat certain things like AMG...a Burger.
so they eat only low fat this, low carb that, salad, fruit etc.
That's how they "can't" reach 1200 calories a day...try eating 1200 calories of low fat yogurt, salads with no meat and soup etc...*sighs*
either that or they are eating more than they think.
in my active weight loss phase I ate a chocolate bar every night but made sure I hit my macros first...recently it's been chips or gelato..2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »@edena001 don't take it personal - there are a lot of folks that say this and it does seem strange that over weight folks trying to loose weight can't eat 1200 calories otherwise how did they become overweight.
I totally changed the way I was eating when I first started and I was eating a ton of protein bars that gave me a heavy feeling in my stomach. Since I stopped eating those I've returned to having no problem eating 1250 calories.
I think there are legitimate reasons but they don't usually last.
The problem isn't necessarily over weight people eating too much, it's that they're not exercising. There would be some days I would only take 60 steps? And eating the wrong type of foods. During the last year because of the flat I was in I was eating stuff like snacks for dinner and pot noodles, shop brought sandwiches etc, take aways. If you go from that to cooking all your meals from scratch then there's a huge change in how many calories you consume.
You don't come on here and keep your exact eating pattern. You change and adapt it it's the whole point of this app
I eat all of the same food I ate before, I just fit it into my calorie goal, so no, not everyone changes everything. Completely changing would not have been sustainable for me.
I said you change and adapt? You've changed you're eating plan to adapt to your needs? I didn't say it was a drastic change to anyone ? But you're not going to come on here and continue eating takeaways 3 times a week and chocolate bars every day?
Why would you assume that someone here used to eat takeaways 3 times a day and chocolate bars every day?
Possibly because she did.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »KWlosingit wrote: »Every time someone posts another thread about how they are on 1200 per day and can't reach that much I just scratch my head. How did you become over weight if you can't eat over 1200 calories. I know me personally I never have trouble eating my calorie goal, and it is much higher than 1200. What is the deal?
I sometimes wonder if people really mean they CAN'T eat more than 1200 (if they say that, I think they are logging poorly or should see a doctor). But what I experienced before and right after coming to MFP is that I felt okay eating under 1200. Basically I over-cut my calories -- I took my usual meals (pretty healthful), cut out snacking and mindless eating, cut out most of the high fat extras (cut WAY down on oil for cooking, no cheese, no nuts or seeds, no olives, taste from herbs and spices and peppers, mostly), and I also increased the servings of non starchy veg and decreased the servings of starches. I did not change meat/fish servings, which had always been mostly based on about 4 oz. The result of this was a meal plan that was pretty much as filling as what I'd been eating before, just as much volume, and yet FAR fewer calories, coming in from 900-1200.
I did not feel stuffed, like I couldn't eat more, but when I started logging and saw how little I was eating I had some angst about eating more when I felt like I was eating enough--I often suspect this is what people are really saying: "if I don't feel like I need to eat more, should I? isn't that wrong?" I never posted about it, but in some cases someone doing that might be asking for reassurance that they really should go ahead and eat more -- I think there's a dieting mindset sometimes that eating food just for pleasure is wrong, that you must not eat things like cheese or oils or potatoes, or chicken with skin on it or steak, because those are sinful in some way, I dunno.
I am really glad that I did look at what I was doing (with the help of MFP) and add in some of the foods I had over-aggressively stripped out, though -- more higher fat extras, more starches again, and also that I realized that if I was going to cut out these things to some extent I should also increase protein servings a bit to compensate. I think this allowed me to create a more interesting and sustainable and varied way of eating that felt more like just the way I liked to eat and not like I was dieting or missing anything. (I also added back in some desserts when I started exercising more and had more calories.)
^All of this.
When you're new and eager, you can be a bit over-zealous with how much you strip out of your diet. I did the same thing, and went through the same thing you did.
I gradually added some things back, and also gradually added dessert items as my activity levels increased.
I understand the people who are not sure that it's okay and are just sort of seeking validation. I don't understand the people who push back about it, and actively worry about some of them.2 -
I do have trouble understanding the mindset - no matter how many calories I have left over, I can surely find SOMETHING to do with them. 50cal - small biscuit. 100cal - big chocolate biscuit or a hot chocolate. 200cal - big chocolate biscuit AND a hot chocolate (or a Graze punnet). 300cal - cake! Ice cream! 400cal - aw yeah!
Food is there to be enjoyed. If I didn't feel that way, I wouldn't be fat - but losing weight doesn't mean I have to stop enjoying my food!13 -
Have leftover calories? Save them for a nice dinner out. That's what I do.4
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I personally struggle to eat my calories BUT I'm eating to fuel powerlifting 4x a week, plus taking/teaching barre classes several times a week. In my case, it's a mind game to go from eating 1200 calories a day to 2100+ calories a day in order to net enough calories/get my macros. It's working, but it's also hard - I eat all the time and rarely actually hit the caloric goal.
I think there's also a relationship with food to work through. Maybe you've gone through a lifestyle change and no longer eat a lot of junk food. Getting back to a place where its okay to eat some junk food (in moderation/caloric goals) can be harder for some - it was for me.1 -
I struggled to hit 1200 most days. I was eating strictly vegetables for the most part which fill you up for very few calories for alot of them. Going from huge sugar and fat diet to the vegetable diet i felt full constantly at the start and i had to get creative to fill up the calories XD It was just ditching out on the processed foods completely1
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I actually started logging calories cause I wasn't eating enough, side effect of my meds is bad loss of appetite. When I first joined here I was maybe at 500-700 calories per day.. if I was lucky. If I recall correctly I asked for advice here on how to build up to 1200 calories again. Got some helpful answers.
Usually I didn't reach 700. It took me about 5 weeks to train my body to eat 1200 calories again and now I'm struggling to eat under 1700 calories.. :P
If I'm guessing I think it's people who don't know what to eat to eat healthy and aren't healthy. That was one of my main problems.. So that their struggle to get 1200 isn't because they're not hungry but because they don't know what to eat.. Or they're just nuts like I was.0 -
JaydedMiss wrote: »I struggled to hit 1200 most days. I was eating strictly vegetables for the most part which fill you up for very few calories for alot of them. Going from huge sugar and fat diet to the vegetable diet i felt full constantly at the start and i had to get creative to fill up the calories XD It was just ditching out on the processed foods completely
Lots of whole foods are calorie dense, and a balanced diet generally doesn't consist of just non starchy veg. (Not commenting on your diet if you had a health reason for it, but I don't agree that it's hard to hit 1200 on whole foods.)6 -
Yes, there's this idea that in order to get to your goal you need to eat "junk", and I just don't see that. You just need to include some more fat and carbs.
This problem often seems to occur when people swing from one extreme to another - they go from eating whatever to completely cutting out fat, grains, sugar - not reducing the carb portion at dinner but cutting it out completely; not reducing the amount of fat they cook with but vowing never to fry anything again, cutting all the fat off their meat, skin off their chicken etc. It seems to be an all-or-nothing kind of thing.6 -
Humble-brag plus need for attention. Oh noes look at me I can't eat 1200 calories, it is just to much for me....le-sigh.
Or, alternatively, an unreasonable belief that to lose weight you need to eat only X where X is something very low calorie and very fiber dense and they just can't eat enough of it to get to 1200. Like, how can I eat 1200 calories its so much....I mean I know I'm only supposed to eat brocolli and cabbage so how can I possibly eat that much? In which case they are just being really silly.
In those cases I just try to remind them at somepoint they were able to eat a lot more than 1200 calories and so therefore if they remember how they did that they can probably figure out how to get "up" to 1200 pretty easily.11 -
Me personally, I have had a decrease in appetite. I have quite a ways to go from my goal weight but I do have days from time to time where I don't hit 1200 calories, my daily "goal" is 1500. It's possible. But for me, not an everyday issue.0
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Just curious how many people are eating within their set macros? I recorded earlier that I was new to MFP and have concerns with cholesteral and high blood pressure so I'm trying to eat better choices.0
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lizardlipsagain wrote: »Just curious how many people are eating within their set macros? I recorded earlier that I was new to MFP and have concerns with cholesteral and high blood pressure so I'm trying to eat better choices.
I try, but I'm actually happy if protein (or fat) is higher than goal. Mostly, I view my protein and fat numbers as targets since without conscious effort, I eat primarily carbs (albeit healthy ones).2 -
There was a time when I went from getting the majority of my calories from soda, candy and ramen to trying to "eat clean". I regularly failed to reach 1200. For me it was a combination of the change in volume of food and the fact that veggies and protein weren't particularly appealing. I eventually found more of a balance but still anytime I try to eat healthier (which I really should), my appetite vanishes.0
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@edena001 don't take it personal - there are a lot of folks that say this and it does seem strange that over weight folks trying to loose weight can't eat 1200 calories otherwise how did they become overweight.
I totally changed the way I was eating when I first started and I was eating a ton of protein bars that gave me a heavy feeling in my stomach. Since I stopped eating those I've returned to having no problem eating 1250 calories.
I think there are legitimate reasons but they don't usually last.
The problem isn't necessarily over weight people eating too much, it's that they're not exercising. There would be some days I would only take 60 steps? And eating the wrong type of foods. During the last year because of the flat I was in I was eating stuff like snacks for dinner and pot noodles, shop brought sandwiches etc, take aways. If you go from that to cooking all your meals from scratch then there's a huge change in how many calories you consume.
You don't come on here and keep your exact eating pattern. You change and adapt it it's the whole point of this app
I eat all of the same food I ate before, I just fit it into my calorie goal, so no, not everyone changes everything. Completely changing would not have been sustainable for me.
I said you change and adapt? You've changed you're eating plan to adapt to your needs? I didn't say it was a drastic change to anyone ? But you're not going to come on here and continue eating takeaways 3 times a week and chocolate bars every day?
Well, no, but I did come on and continue eating chocolate 3 times a week and takeaways pretty much every day (weekday lunches and brunches or dinners on the weekend) (and lost more than my initial target, and have maintained for nearly 3 years now). Does that count?
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lizardlipsagain wrote: »Just curious how many people are eating within their set macros? I recorded earlier that I was new to MFP and have concerns with cholesteral and high blood pressure so I'm trying to eat better choices.
If you're under a doctor's care, you want to abide by his/her guidelines, but it's my understanding that reducing your weight will probably have a larger impact on your cholesterol & BP than any particular food choices. Macros are helpful in achieving a balanced diet, and many find their satiety increases by hitting them, thus improving the odds of sticking to your weight loss plan.0
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