Daily Calorie Help

jenspadafora
jenspadafora Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Over the past year I've gained about 10 pounds which doesn't seem like a lot but I'm small and I didnt know why it was happening. I never had to diet or exercise to remain small and I didn't want my bad habits catching up to me over the years. So here I am now realizing why I gained weight, I'm really struggling to keep my goal of 1200 calories without being hungry all day. Anyone else have the same goal and have any suggestions?

Replies

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    If you exercise (cardio), you can (you're in fact supposed to) eat the burns. So you can eat a bit more, like 1400-1500 I imagine.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    With ten pounds to lose, set your Goals here at "lose 1/2 pound per week," then when you exercise you also enter your exercise into the Exercise tab, and you will be awarded more calories for that effort.

    With so little to lose, 1200 may be too low. Reset your goals and see if you get more calories when it's set at 1/2 pound loss. I don't know what you set it at to start, but you can't afford to cut too much with not much body fat to draw on for energy.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    jenspadafora wrote: »
    Over the past year I've gained about 10 pounds which doesn't seem like a lot but I'm small and I didnt know why it was happening. I never had to diet or exercise to remain small and I didn't want my bad habits catching up to me over the years. So here I am now realizing why I gained weight, I'm really struggling to keep my goal of 1200 calories without being hungry all day. Anyone else have the same goal and have any suggestions?

    With only 10 lbs to lose, make sure your goal is set to half a lb per week. You should also be logging your exercise and eat back at least some of those extra cals.

    In general protein, fat, and fiber are filling so try to get at least the mfp default goal for those. Having said thst, satiety is diff for everyone so you might feel better with a bit more protein or fat. Take a look at the days you've logged so far and start to notice a pattern of where you are wasting calories, what do the meals that filled you up for awhile have in common, etc.

    Personally, I found increasing my daily activity level (like walking a lot more) and eating those extra cals was necessary for me.

    Good luck!
  • jenspadafora
    jenspadafora Posts: 13 Member
    Thank you both so much! I changed it to lose 1/2 pound per week and it allows me 1400 daily now. I definitely need to make better choices with the food I eat, I'll try noticing some patterns. I really appreciate the advice :)
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    Yay, and don't be surprised to lose more than that 1/2 pound per week. You'll be okay at 1400-1700 (you get more to eat if you exercise, remember.) You said you're small, I'm 5'7" and I can do okay on 1500 for long stretches - so give it a shot. 1200 sucks, though. I agree. 1200 is really hard.
  • haniame
    haniame Posts: 97 Member
    Have you had a change of lifestyle in the last year?
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    haniame wrote: »
    Have you had a change of lifestyle in the last year?

    This. Assuming your weight was stable before this past year, it appears that something changed in the last year that led you to either eat around 4K more calories a month, or to burn off about 4K less. I would follow the advice earlier in the thread on loosing those ten pounds, but also take a good hard look at your last year and see what needs to change going forward so that you don't put that weight back on.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    Based on your picture I'm guessing you're low 20s? I gained weight at/around age 22-24 simply from adding 2-3 drinks a week, socially. I was better off with the college cycle of binge drink at parties and then swear off alcohol for a month. Oh and snacking. Being in grad school/the real world and not having a dining hall meant that I bought snacks and plowed through them.

    There are 3,500 calories in 1 lb, so 35,000 for 10 lbs. Divide that by days in the year... 35000/365 = 95 excess calories per day. It adds up fast. Sad, right? But using the same math, cutting 95 calories per day would also mean losing 10 lbs in a year.

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