Is not eating enough making me fat?

2

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    michellechristianclay8184 wrote: »
    Hi

    Sorry didn't mean to cause so much conflict! Maybe I am loggin my food incorrectly? I'm selecting things from the list that's on there. Not sure how to create my own manual entry. I'm 5.1 and weigh 141lb but wanted to get back to my normal weight 119lb. I don't know how you open your diary but I took a picture of today to show you. 2hlkada89q4l.png

    Just like to say thanks for all your responses


    You eat dry cereal with no milk?
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    @michellechristianclay8184 what about drinks? Juice? Smoothies? Those fancy coffee drinks? Soda? Milk?

    Please please please open your dairy!
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    those few screenshots do not provide enough information.
  • tawnyd24
    tawnyd24 Posts: 19 Member
    I wish I had that problem with under eating:( Definitely fit a few more healthy snacks in to keep the metabolism going.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    So you gained an unwanted 22 lbs which on someone who is 5'1 can be a lot. However, if you were previously eating enough to gain the weight then being on a legit 1,200 calories/day wouldn't feel very much like too much food. So I would suggest that you aren't logging properly and that you might still be eating more than you think.

    As others have probably suggested - make sure you are very, very accurately logging as you might be eating more than you think. Also, you have a smaller room for error than I do - as I'm 5'10 and weigh just over 250lbs so I naturally need more than you each day to keep going. I still need to lose about 70lbs but I also eat just under double what you do every day at 2,250 calories.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    Most likely you are eating more than you think. It's really not possible to be eating 800 cal per day and gain weight. Especially when you're first starting out it's really important to log and weigh everything at least to get a basic idea of how much your intake is.

    If you log one serving of cereal, but in reality fill an entire bowl and eat it, you could be off by hundreds of calories just in one meal.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    Traveler120 wrote: »
    If you're overweight, eating when you're not hungry makes NO sense whatsoever. Cramming more food in just to reach a number dictated by mfp and overriding your own body's natural signals, is just absurd. Listen to your body!

    Kay, but no.

    I eat 6 x a day and I'm hardly every hungry but I just eat. By the time you physically feel hunger pains it's too late. I subscribe to the theory that by consistently eating small amounts of food you are asking your body to always be digesting which burns calories.

    I also feel better when I eat 6 x a day and I'm not hungry than when I wait until I'm hungry, have a huge meal because my brain is telling me to eat all the things and then I feel like crap because I'm so full. People who are overweight actually benefit more from eating small amounts, multiple times a day even if they aren't hungry because it trains them to not eat huge meals when they're starving. Being hungry sets your brain into a mode to eat everything in sight, even though you logically know it's way too much food. I consume less now by eating more frequently than I ever did waiting until I actually felt hungry. I don't think your advice is healthy.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    tawnyd24 wrote: »
    I wish I had that problem with under eating:( Definitely fit a few more healthy snacks in to keep the metabolism going.

    Your metabolism doesn't need snacks to keep going. it can be helpful to keep you from becoming ravenous and overeating by the end of the day though.
  • michellechristianclay8184
    michellechristianclay8184 Posts: 4 Member
    Yep I think you guys are right I've not been logging the milk in my cereal and cups of tea! I don't know how you open your diary for others to see though? I find it hard to know what to select for example if I made had home made spag Bol it can vary on there from 900cal to much less :( I don't even know how much would come too! I guess it's a bit of trial and error.

    Many thanks :)
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    michelle i posted instructions above

    go settings>diary>and then scroll down the page and click diary viewing open to public
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    michellechristianclay8184 wrote: »
    Yep I think you guys are right I've not been logging the milk in my cereal and cups of tea! I don't know how you open your diary for others to see though? I find it hard to know what to select for example if I made had home made spag Bol it can vary on there from 900cal to much less :( I don't even know how much would come too! I guess it's a bit of trial and error.

    Many thanks :)

    Hey! I just posted these elsewhere, I think they will help clear up a lot of your confusion!


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    if you make homemade anything - build a recipe with what goes into in, then weigh the recipe and determine serving size (i.e. for me, i'll make a recipe and take the overall weight in grams, make that the number of servings and then log the number of grams i eat as number of servings)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2017
    @michellechristianclay8184 go here and scroll all the way down to the bottom, and click on public.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    I drink over 300 calories worth of milk everyday, measure it and log it! As for the spaghetti bol, there's a recipe section here, enter all your ingredients and the amount of serving sizes and you're good to go. Do not use the generic entries in the data base as you have no idea what and how much ingredients they used.
  • michellechristianclay8184
    michellechristianclay8184 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you for your help I've made my diary public now and will look at creating my own recipe section
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
    edited January 2017
    Weigh your weetabix.

    If you choose two weetabix, it will be a different weight each time. Because you're small with not too much weight to lose, accuracy is key.

    Don't use a cup measure for your melons. That is a solid food. Weigh it. I can pack a lot more into a cup if I wanted to and call it 'a cup' but it wouldn't be accurate.

    Edited to Add: Look at today's diary.

    Things like 'portion' 'cup' '1 cake' are not the best entries to use as '1 cake' will mean different things depending on brand and size.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Few things I see:

    Weigh the fruit if you can. How are you getting .13 cup of pineapple and papaya? Also, the papaya says 145 g also, but that's not 8 cal or .13 cup. 20 cal seems low for the coconut milk, is that consistent with the package?

    That aside, that's all you had for lunch and you aren't hungry for more?

    On dinner, similar comments -- weigh the sweet potato. I usually eat around 100 g (similar to what you wrote) and that's usually not close to a whole one. Did you add anything like oil or butter? That would be logged to. Generic entries usually aren't great, but that one doesn't look obviously off.

    Tuna, what's on the package -- I'm not saying it's off, but finding the good entries is important and that doesn't look like one.

    What is a "portion" of beetroot?

    How large is a small pepper? (Probably not enough calories to matter, but IME a bell pepper normally has more than 10 calories.)

    Did you weigh the cheese? (Just asking because other things aren't weighed.)

    Peanut Butter is especially easy to underestimate from what I hear.

    It takes a while to get the logging down and then it becomes easy, so this is totally normal. (I am still curious about the questions I asked above and it might be relevant to the "not losing" thing, if you wish to answer.)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    michellechristianclay8184 wrote: »
    Yep I think you guys are right I've not been logging the milk in my cereal and cups of tea! I don't know how you open your diary for others to see though? I find it hard to know what to select for example if I made had home made spag Bol it can vary on there from 900cal to much less :( I don't even know how much would come too! I guess it's a bit of trial and error.

    Many thanks :)

    Hey! I just posted these elsewhere, I think they will help clear up a lot of your confusion!


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

    These are great, btw. The logging one especially taught me a lot when I was new.
  • rugratz2015
    rugratz2015 Posts: 593 Member
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    if you make homemade anything - build a recipe with what goes into in, then weigh the recipe and determine serving size (i.e. for me, i'll make a recipe and take the overall weight in grams, make that the number of servings and then log the number of grams i eat as number of servings)

    Great advice, Or, as you will have input the quantities when building the recipe then just divide by the no. Of servings you want it to stretch to.

    I find I use the same ingredients for recipes I make often so there wouldn't be that much of a difference.

    The nutritional content of Packaged food can vary by 30%, so it's not unreasonable to have slightly different calories per portion.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    You definitely did not gain weight eating too little. It is likely that you were not being honest with yourself about your intake.
  • JaznJamie
    JaznJamie Posts: 12 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    @michellechristianclay8184 go here and scroll all the way down to the bottom, and click on public.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    I drink over 300 calories worth of milk everyday, measure it and log it! As for the spaghetti bol, there's a recipe section here, enter all your ingredients and the amount of serving sizes and you're good to go. Do not use the generic entries in the data base as you have no idea what and how much ingredients they used.

    Thank you for the link! I found this helpful to add pre and post workout meals.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    rugratz2015 wrote: »
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    if you make homemade anything - build a recipe with what goes into in, then weigh the recipe and determine serving size (i.e. for me, i'll make a recipe and take the overall weight in grams, make that the number of servings and then log the number of grams i eat as number of servings)

    Great advice, Or, as you will have input the quantities when building the recipe then just divide by the no. Of servings you want it to stretch to.

    you can do that - but i think that works better if you were to divide up the servings into individual ones then and there - which I rarely do - i'll make a pan of whatever and then dump it into a larger container for storage - then i just grab what i want - if i want 100g i eat that, 250g i eat that...easier to adapt and log
  • steingrunnen
    steingrunnen Posts: 18 Member
    I'm new to this and having the same problem. When I count diligently, I struggle to meet my calories. But when I don't count? I know I'm eating to much, and the wrong things, when I'm not accountable to anyone (even a website).
  • insk8ngf
    insk8ngf Posts: 3 Member
    Studiog608@yahoo was correct about starvation mode. I saw in another post that she is an ACSM certified trainer, so perhaps she does know something about kinesiology and nutrition.
    Starvation mode does exist. Read the article in the link below. To all the idiots who swear it does not exist, get educated before you make stupid posts that attempt to belittle someone else. The childish attacks on others are small minded and petty. Get a life. To the OP, please do some research about the proper way to diet for your needs and goals. In the meantime, read the article in the link below. It's backed by physicians and scientific data.


    http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage






  • insk8ngf
    insk8ngf Posts: 3 Member
    No. Lol.
  • insk8ngf
    insk8ngf Posts: 3 Member
    I don't do forums much. But came into this one to look for some recipes for protein because I use mfp to log my diet. I ran across this thread and couldn't believe the *kitten* posted. I had to comment. I won't be back to these forums.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    SideSteel wrote: »
    insk8ngf wrote: »
    Studiog608@yahoo was correct about starvation mode. I saw in another post that she is an ACSM certified trainer, so perhaps she does know something about kinesiology and nutrition.
    Starvation mode does exist. Read the article in the link below. To all the idiots who swear it does not exist, get educated before you make stupid posts that attempt to belittle someone else. The childish attacks on others are small minded and petty. Get a life. To the OP, please do some research about the proper way to diet for your needs and goals. In the meantime, read the article in the link below. It's backed by physicians and scientific data.


    http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage






    the biggest issue I have with this isn't the resources, it's that he's using valid studies on adaptive thermogenesis, something we KNOW exists and it's been measured, and using it to talk about "starvation mode".


    Metabolic downregulation occurs when people lose weight. We know this happens.

    What DOES NOT happen is for people to experience so much slowdown in energy expenditure that they start to gain weight on a caloric intake that used to cause weight loss.

    The adaptive response is not so aggressive that it causes people to store fat in a deficit. It's not possible.

    And while we are at it, there's a massive difference between adrenal insufficiency (a condition that can actually be diagnosed and tested) and adrenal fatigue (a nonspecific diagnosis that pseudoscience practitioners push on people) but Jade seems to group them together in this rather silly article.

    And if it matters (it really doesn't, but I mention this because you mention it above) I'm also a personal trainer.

    To add, some of us already discussed adaptive thermogenesis in previous post. If this dr wants to call it starvation mode ok, but it doesnt mean what most people think it means.

    If anyone is interested, one of the local PhDs created a thread on it.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1


    What often can occur, is people have multiple factors that come into play. They might have some metabolic slowdown but its not going to be several hundreds or thousands of calories in a short period but generally in an environment like MFP, people tend to be inaccurate with logging and not consistent which tends to mean they eat more calories than they think they are. Additionally, others tend to be impatient, where they expect daily and weekly changes which is just not how the body works. So compound 3 or 4 different factors and you tend to see the true story.

    With that said, i had one client have metabolic slow down of roughly 300 calories below the norm. She did the hcg protocol for a year (3 cycles). When i started to work together her maintenance was around 1400 while following a 3 day full body routine and 2 days of cardio. Over a year period, she was slowly able to get her tdee to 1700 without change in weight and little change in composition. So anecdotally, i do believe adaptive thermogenesis can be exacerbated by extreme calorie suppression, low protein and little to no weight training, it certainly wont be to the extent that many new comers believe.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    SideSteel wrote: »
    insk8ngf wrote: »
    Studiog608@yahoo was correct about starvation mode. I saw in another post that she is an ACSM certified trainer, so perhaps she does know something about kinesiology and nutrition.
    Starvation mode does exist. Read the article in the link below. To all the idiots who swear it does not exist, get educated before you make stupid posts that attempt to belittle someone else. The childish attacks on others are small minded and petty. Get a life. To the OP, please do some research about the proper way to diet for your needs and goals. In the meantime, read the article in the link below. It's backed by physicians and scientific data.


    http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage






    the biggest issue I have with this isn't the resources, it's that he's using valid studies on adaptive thermogenesis, something we KNOW exists and it's been measured, and using it to talk about "starvation mode".


    Metabolic downregulation occurs when people lose weight. We know this happens.

    What DOES NOT happen is for people to experience so much slowdown in energy expenditure that they start to gain weight on a caloric intake that used to cause weight loss.

    The adaptive response is not so aggressive that it causes people to store fat in a deficit. It's not possible.

    And while we are at it, there's a massive difference between adrenal insufficiency (a condition that can actually be diagnosed and tested) and adrenal fatigue (a nonspecific diagnosis that pseudoscience practitioners push on people) but Jade seems to group them together in this rather silly article.

    And if it matters (it really doesn't, but I mention this because you mention it above) I'm also a personal trainer.

    This is who I'd rather believe over some broscience article
This discussion has been closed.

Categories