Calories left!!!!!
traceyayre
Posts: 3 Member
New to MFP this week so only a few days in, however I'm struggling to eat all my calories. Is it just as bad to eat too few as too much. I have got 206 calories left (out of my target of 1210) and I've even eaten things "for the sake of it" just to use some
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Replies
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You really should be hitting that 1200 number consistently - it's quite low as it is, and too few calories can cause serious health problems.6
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For one day, no, but yes it is bad to eat too little in the long run.4
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Be aware that consistently hitting your calories can prevent binges.8
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I'll have to review what I'm eating, I feel full but am nowhere near my calorie allowance
I might try and up portion sizes or add in some snacks during the day.5 -
How accurate is your logging? If you're so stuffed full on less than 1200 calories that you couldn't possibly eat another bite I have to wonder if you're really logging everything with 100% accuracy? An occasional low hungry day is one thing but most people are not stuffed full on 1000 or less calories.19
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Are you sure you're logging correctly? Sometimes people feel full on 800 calories because they actually ate 1500 but don't know that due to inaccurate logging.
Make sure you weight/measure everything and make sure the entries you're using are correct entries. If you already are doing all that, at least it's something you can rule out.9 -
Like pps said-make sure you're actually being accurate with your calorie intake (measuring out portion sizes on a food scale, counting any drinks or drink add-ins with calories etc). Also make sure you're choosing correct food entries from the database, since there's quite a few user entered ones that are wrong.
If you're logging is accurate though, then yeah add a snack to get you closer to your calorie target. A low day here and there isn't a big deal, but you don't want to make it a habit. Peanut butter or other nut butter, nuts and seeds, a couple cookies, a serving of chips or ice cream are all easy ways to get in calories. Or kick back with a good beer or glass of wine
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Can I have them?????19
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Aside from accurate logging, as stated above, this tends to happen to people when they first start. It's the "honeymoon period" of calorie counting. If you're truly eating so little, the hunger will come in time. You'll see.9
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I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die12
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Personally I never worry if I come out below my calories (rare) because I am 100% that I'm not always accurate with measuring. I try, but I know there are extra calories sneaking in.
Or, not "sneaking in" exactly..but for example, I had a gin and tonic this evening. I use diet tonic and gin itself doesn't have a lot of calories, especially because I don't make it very strong. But it's still calories. And I don't always record it, because I just forget. 5 -
I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
I'll never understand people who go down to 1200 when they don't have to in order to lose weight. Or lower (a friend of mine is being stupid and limiting herself to 500 a day, she knows it's wrong but won't listen).0 -
MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
I'll never understand people who go down to 1200 when they don't have to in order to lose weight. Or lower (a friend of mine is being stupid and limiting herself to 500 a day, she knows it's wrong but won't listen).
Us shorties have no choice if we want a calorie deficit. Exercise calories are awesome in this scenario just to be able to have some kind of treat. No way would I have stuck this low if it wasn't needed though.0 -
You don't need to eat more per se - you can just substitute higher calorie items in your existing intake. Alot of us, when we start out, go for the "lower is better" approach to calories, and end up under target. Oils, full fat dairy and dressings, less lean cuts of meat etc all add back calories without necessarily upping the amount you eat.4
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
I'll never understand people who go down to 1200 when they don't have to in order to lose weight. Or lower (a friend of mine is being stupid and limiting herself to 500 a day, she knows it's wrong but won't listen).
Us shorties have no choice if we want a calorie deficit. Exercise calories are awesome in this scenario just to be able to have some kind of treat. No way would I have stuck this low if it wasn't needed though.
I'm 5'2" and losing on 2000 calories a day - I'm about a third of the way to my target goal and don't plan to go below 1700 to get there. It's going to take another year and change, but I'll be at a normal BMI eventually. I do a decent bit of walking, but that's it. I just don't understand the idea that short people cant create a deficit without going super low. Maybe people mean shorter than 5'2"? Or those last ten pounds?3 -
No, a couple hundred calories under isn't an issue, as long as you're eating back some of exercise calories. It's so easy to over estimate exercise calories, that it's likely a couple hundred calories is actually faurly close.0
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Lillymoo01 wrote: »MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
I'll never understand people who go down to 1200 when they don't have to in order to lose weight. Or lower (a friend of mine is being stupid and limiting herself to 500 a day, she knows it's wrong but won't listen).
Us shorties have no choice if we want a calorie deficit. Exercise calories are awesome in this scenario just to be able to have some kind of treat. No way would I have stuck this low if it wasn't needed though.
I'm 5'2" and losing on 2000 calories a day - I'm about a third of the way to my target goal and don't plan to go below 1700 to get there. It's going to take another year and change, but I'll be at a normal BMI eventually. I do a decent bit of walking, but that's it. I just don't understand the idea that short people cant create a deficit without going super low. Maybe people mean shorter than 5'2"? Or those last ten pounds?
I am now at my goal weight and MFP has given me a NEAT of just under 1400 calories a day to maintain my weight. Fortunately my NEAT is closer to 1600. I am a few inches shorter than you but as you get closer to your goal weight you may just have to get much closer to 1200 before exercise to continue losing than you would like. Even with between 1 and 1 1/2 hours of walking a day I am gaining at 2000 calories.1 -
Yeahhh like everyone else is saying, if you're on 1200 and struggling to eat them then you're not measuring your food accurately. I'm a tiny person on a 1300 calorie diet and I'm always hungry. Trust me, measure your food with a scale. I can bet my unborn child that you aren't measuring correctlyyyyy!0
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I have actually weighed every morsel that I've eaten and a lot of my packaged food has been logged by scanning the barcode (yogurt, cheese, ham, fish etc). I've logged every coffee/tea etc.0
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traceyayre wrote: »I have actually weighed every morsel that I've eaten and a lot of my packaged food has been logged by scanning the barcode (yogurt, cheese, ham, fish etc). I've logged every coffee/tea etc.
Packaged food should also be weighed. It can be off by a lot.3 -
I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
Yes, I did too. I got dizzy on low calories and unhappy and weak. But something changed in the last 8 days and here I am, getting my favorite foods to find one where I actually would eat up the full portion that I used to wolf down just 10 days ago. I have no idea what happened, but now I am suddenly struggling to eat enough. Appetite is there, hunger is there, but after half of the food I wanted (and logged, and need to be in plan) I cannot eat more.
It is the same stuff that I logged and ate before, so I am not having new, incorrectly weighted/logged food that gives me more calories than I would expect.
I am eating half of what I used to from the same stuff and I don't want to do that. And I do get weak. Training yesterday I felt like a failure. I don't even lose weight or body fat on it so far. No idea what happened. Even though my knowledge of biology tells me this does not exist, I would say my body decided to live on less. Just because.
Eh.. sorry for the rant. To get back on topic: What I am trying right now is more social eating. Meeting friends for a good lunch. I will try my best to not make them worried by not eating enough, so I will definitely eat what I order and hopefully be closer to my planned calories than I was in the last days.0 -
traceyayre wrote: »I have actually weighed every morsel that I've eaten and a lot of my packaged food has been logged by scanning the barcode (yogurt, cheese, ham, fish etc). I've logged every coffee/tea etc.
Don't go by scanning packages-actually weigh food out on a food scale.0 -
Assuming that you're logging correctly, a quick fix for that is a candy bar0
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Lillymoo01 wrote: »MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »I'll never understand these "struggling to eat 1200 calories" I'd freakin die
I'll never understand people who go down to 1200 when they don't have to in order to lose weight. Or lower (a friend of mine is being stupid and limiting herself to 500 a day, she knows it's wrong but won't listen).
Us shorties have no choice if we want a calorie deficit. Exercise calories are awesome in this scenario just to be able to have some kind of treat. No way would I have stuck this low if it wasn't needed though.
I'm 5'2" and losing on 2000 calories a day - I'm about a third of the way to my target goal and don't plan to go below 1700 to get there. It's going to take another year and change, but I'll be at a normal BMI eventually. I do a decent bit of walking, but that's it. I just don't understand the idea that short people cant create a deficit without going super low. Maybe people mean shorter than 5'2"? Or those last ten pounds?
Same here. I'm 5'2 and lost >30 lbs eating 1600-1900 cals. I was set at 1200 when I first started on MFP for a couple weeks, before reading on these boards that most people, even petite women, don't have to go that low in order to lose.
MFP still underestimates my NEAT maintenance cals based on my stats even after adjusting my activity level. I average 15k steps/day and so some light weights and according to my FitBit and my actual results, my TDEE is near 2200.
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