Do you have to eat your allocated calories for the day

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kylieesler
kylieesler Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to my question please. I'm on 1200 Cal's per day. Do I have to eat all of them or can I go lower on some days?

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  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
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    If you average out at your 1200 calories (Net) over the week then it really doesn't matter, but why would you want to eat lower than 1200 calories per day?
  • annabel92
    annabel92 Posts: 77 Member
    edited June 2017
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    My goal is 1,300 but there are days I'm well under this - between 1000 - 1200. 1200 is the ideal minimum, but definitely make sure you're never going lower than 1000 net.

    That said, I work in a sendentary job with long hours so some days I'm hardly on my feet at all. You need to do what works for you - if you're on your feet all day 1000-1200 is definitely too low.

    Additionally, on the days I'm under it's because I've made highly nutritional choices that keep me fuller for longer - make sure you keep an eye on your nutrition details on myfitnesspal, as these are just as important as calorie intake!!

    I weigh all my food and log correctly, and sometimes I struggle to hit 1200, and sometimes I go over 1300. Do what works best for you but DON'T go under 1000 net.

    Hope that helps!
  • jelly_potato
    jelly_potato Posts: 77 Member
    edited June 2017
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    Three questions:
    1. Are you logging accurately?
    2. How tall are you?
    3. How active are you?

    As mentioned before, people usually under report the amount of calories they consume because they do not measure it accurately or they underestimate the caloric value of food. Are you using a kitchen scale, how are you measuring the food you consume?

    However, I have been in a different situation where due to my extremely sedentary life and small size (1,62m), my body was perfectly happy consuming 900-1200 calories a day at the start of my journey. My appetite returned and my calorie needs increased to 1300-1600 as soon as I began regularly exercising.

    If you do not feel like eating much, then there is no need to force your body to do so. Instead you could switch out less calorie dense foods for more high calorie dense foods and play with variety. 1200 is just a number, try not to go under 1000 to avoid health issues but in the end do what your stomach tells you...not the brain, eating a bucket of ice-cream is not a good idea no matter what you tell yourself and your stomach will not appreciate it.
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
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    We can't see your food diary so we don't know what you are eating.

    We also don't have any idea as to the level of physical activity that you are engaging in.

    That said, 1200 calories are pretty low especially if you are exercising.

    If you have no appetite on 1200 calories (and none of your food ingredients / "fillers" are meant to create that feeling of fullness), then I would check in with a medical professional just to make sure that everything is okay.

    1210 calories could look like this:

    Breakfast (345):
    2 eggs =140
    1 slice of cheese = 110
    1 medium apple = 95

    Lunch (215):
    3 oz Canned Tuna in Olive Oil = 110
    5 saltine Crackers = 65
    8 oz Mixed Salad w/o dressing (lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery) = 40

    Snack (190):
    2 TBSP Peanut Butter

    Dinner (420):
    3 oz Rotisserie Chicken Breast = 120
    8 oz French Green Beans = 40
    1/2 TBSP Real Butter = 50 calories
    4 oz Basmatti Rice (raw) = 210
  • Muana1005
    Muana1005 Posts: 172 Member
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    I sometimes can't eat all of them then other times I go over, it's no big deal if you average 1200 across the week.

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