Why eating too little calories is a bad idea.....

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Replies

  • kyubeans
    kyubeans Posts: 135 Member
    edited July 2017
    This was a really REALLY helpful post. Especially that graphic for how the BMR etc are calculated. I was searching for that info and nowhere was it better put. I really think this should be stickied. Many new members might not read the stickies but some of us read them all religiously. I vote for putting it up there!

    Edit: Typos
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    kyucifer wrote: »
    I struggled with whether to turn the negative calorie adjustment on or keep it off, but it felt like keeping it off would only be doing myself a disservice. If I'm not really burning that much on my sedentary days, shouldn't I eat less to make up for it? Can someone tell me if this is the correct approach?

    Thank you.

    Yes, you should turn it on. But it may not make much of a difference as you are set as sedentary, and you have to be a real lazy bump on a log to get a negative adjustment with this setting (I've done it, but only once or twice and I think being hungover was the bigger issue).

    I played with my settings (I have a Garmin) and changed to lightly active, got more calories to start but then would get them taken away, so I've left it at sedentary and get the bonus calories.

  • EsmeMary101
    EsmeMary101 Posts: 154 Member

    Thank you so much for the advice. I went for a blood test last week. I'm on holidays for a few weeks so I won't have the results for a while. I've also ordered a fitness tracker with heartbeat monitor. I plan to reassess when I get home. My hair is still falling out but I don't feel as tired.


  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
    What's frustrating for some of us is that in order to lose the last 5 lbs we have to create a deficit by working out every single day, which is also not a good thing. The body (or at least mine) needs at least one rest day per week. MFP had it set so that my goal should be to eat just over 1300 calories a day. Very annoying because on my rest days I go way over. Fortunately I swim and do Aqua Zumba, so I burn about 500 cals on my exercise days to make up for it.

    Hmmm, I have a base amount of 1200cal, but just by wearing my Fitbit and doing my normal daily walking (no workouts) I easily get another 300-400 per day. Do you wear and sync a fitness tracker? That might help you feel less pressured to work out every day.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    Coleteo wrote: »
    Thank you so much for the advice. I went for a blood test last week. I'm on holidays for a few weeks so I won't have the results for a while. I've also ordered a fitness tracker with heartbeat monitor. I plan to reassess when I get home. My hair is still falling out but I don't feel as tired.

    But are you eating more? With less than 10 pounds to lose your weight loss goal should not be more than a half pound per week. Losing weight too quickly can definitely cause hair loss.

    And have you started eating your exercise calories back? MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • ragan4bama
    ragan4bama Posts: 58 Member
    This is a wonderful post!
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    I found that my FITBIT underestimates my calories by a good 2-300 a day - it tells me I rarely burn more than 2000 (just in daily activity), but I'm maintaining about approx. 2500 a day

    I think mine over-estimates.
    It claims I burn about 2,200 a day on average, and I'm maintaining on 1,900-2,000.

    I do wear my fitbit on my dominant wrist though, because my watch is on the other one, and it's an old fitbit flex so it's not a watch too. I have it set up that way, but I'm not entirely convinced their algorithm corrects perfectly for that.
    Ah well, c'est la vie.