Mfp recommends too many calories

elliemae1981 wrote: »

Not sure what to do. Mfp has be set at 1,560 calories a day. If I eat under 1,000 it says I,m eating to little and refuses to register. So I have been forcing myself to eat to 1,000 or hust over to get mfp to friggin register even though I'm not hungry for anymore food. I feel this is also why I'm losing weight. Just stuck for almost 2 weeks at the same weight and I'm majorly frustreated. Should I just ignore mfp recommendations and just finish my diary with the below 1,000 calories even though they won't register my progress?

I'd recommend that you should eat a more reasonable calorie goal. 1000 calories isn't enough for most people and I have yet to see really anyone achieve the body they wanted with such a calorie goal.

What are your stats and what is your workout plan if any?

elliemae1981 wrote: »

I work 9 to 5 take care of my disabled mother and I'm raising my brother's 3 children. I work as a home health aide so I'm always lifing and on the move. I'm just not hungry enough to eat at least 1,000 calories everyday. I'm too tired and too stressed to eat that much. My highest weight was 290 and I'm now stuck at 202 and I'm frustrated. My calorie goal is 1,560 but that is just way to much especially since right now I have to force myself to eat to 1,000 just to shut up mfp even when I'm not hungry.

So you are a fairly active person and aggressively cutting calories. I am not surprised your body is exhausted and tired. You aren't fueling it with adequate nutrition. If you are struggling to get calories, I'd recommend reading the below thread.


http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

When you have prolong periods of calories suppression, your body will downregulate functions to burn less calories, which gives you less room for error. So if you have binges or miscalculations, you will unlikely lose weight. If it's been a long time, I'd recommend a diet break for your sanity and then come back with a smaller deficit. You'd be amazed at what it can do for your mental and physical health.

Also, if you think you are eating 1000 calories but "not hungry" for more, I'd ask how / if you are carefully measuring your portions.

Very very often I see people who believe they are hitting a very low calorie target, but are logging food based on guesstimating how big a portion they ate of any one thing. That glass of milk is "probably" 8 oz, that was "probably" 1/4 cup of oats, that piece of chicken was "probably" 3 oz. I'm sure I put less than 2 tbsp of dressing on my salad or sour cream on my burrito. LOL No. You'd be surprised how often people who think they're doing everything right turn out to be eating twice as much as they think.

If you are not already doing so, measure your portions, especially when just starting out. It's amazing how our eyes and our judgement deceive us.

FWIW lots of people here will demand that you measure your portions with a scale. I use a scale (I like the accuracy, but in the end I've found it's easier than measuring volumes) but I personally don't think a scale is absolutely necessary. If you don't have a scale, use measuring cups / spoons to start. Huge improvement over eyeballing.

Also, just my two cents, but speaking from experience of being overweight and/or obese for a lot of my life, I don't think that "being hungry" is actually a great indicator of whether I need to eat or not. I get both false positives (think I'm hungry, but I know I'm well fed) and false negatives (don't think I'm hungry, have a scary body crash a couple of hours later that could have been prevented with a half a cheese sandwich). Our bodies are not necessarily as smart as people think.

elliemae1981 wrote: »

I'm thinking I'm also just to stressed, tired and exhausted. Taking care of everyone and everything. Just reaching my goal weight is important but is just an impossible feat

You can drink calories; look at fairlife chocolate milk. But low calorie diets increase tiredness and exhaustion. I am sorry that you are stressed, but what you are doing is making it worse, not better.

The way you're talking about this is weirdly externally focused. MFP is a calculator; it's not telling you to do anything or forcing you to do anything. It takes the data you input and spits out a number. It's also programmed to give you error messages if you're under a certain number. That's all that MFP can do. Everything else is up to you -- the numbers you input in the beginning, how you measure your intake every day, and what you do with the error messages a computer program shows you.

I also find it odd that your solution to "maybe 1560 is too many calories" is "fine, I'll eat under 1000 calories." There's a lot of room between those two numbers. The fact that you're giving an external calculator a lot of control over what you do, plus the fact that you're drastically undereating, points to what could be an unhealthy relationship with food and weight. If you were me, I'd think about working on my approach to caring for myself rather than just focusing on the number on the scale, because it doesn't sound like you are taking the time to care for your own needs as much as you should. (I think this is absolutely understandable, given what you've shared about your current situation. I just think you're also very important too and deserve some care). I think that might serve you well in the long term.

elliemae1981 wrote: »

I'm thinking I'm also just to stressed, tired and exhausted.

Yep crash dieting is stressful and will leave you tired and exhausted.
So maybe don't crash diet?

Take a break at maintenance, be kind to yourself and then refocus.

Dear, I highly recommend that you eat at least the 1,560 calories recommended by MFP.

1000 calories is too little for an active girl your size. Regardless of what society, media, and the doctors want you to believe, 202 lbs is probably a very healthy weight for you, and you don't need to lose anymore.

Buy yourself some pretty new clothes, and learn to love and accept yourself just the way you are. Everyone else will too.