Am I eating enough?

Put your info and MFP calculator and go from there. That is what I did and I am down almost 17 pounds. You do need to reset as you lose. I didn't realize till 15 pounds down that I needed to reset it. When I did I went down about 100 calories to eat. It a great starting point and you can mess around with how many you need. I try to eat a lot of vegetables and lean proteins so I can normally stay in the 1300-1500 range. I did recently add some starchy carbs back to my diet and it can put me up to 1600. MFP calculator is the best place to start.

How much are you eating a day and how are you determining those calories?

Enter your stats on MFP, and choose an *appropriate* weekly goal (2lbs/week is really only for those who are very overweight). This post is helpful in explaining how MFP is set up, how activity level & calorie burns will effect your calorie allowance, and why it's inadvisable to undereat.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1

If the issue is that you are not seeing progress, that simply means you are taking in too many calories for your current activity level. Accuracy is the key. Make sure you have entered your stats correctly, that you are weighing your food and choosing reliable database entries, and that you don't overestimate calories earned through exercise. If you are using the MFP database to calculate calorie burns, it's better not to eat back more than 50% of those and adjust accordingly based on your progress.

Wait... are you trying to gain/bulk or lose?

dimroses wrote: »

Whenever research what my caloric needs SHOULD BE, it says that I should eat around 1100 to 1200 calories. I am guessing due to my height. However, with my work out schedule (6 days), I was wondering if I should perhaps be eating more.

If you enter a half pound a weekend into MFP, and then enter your exercise and eat the extra calories, I bet it'd be a LOT more than 1200.

macgurlnet wrote: »

BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »

dimroses wrote: »

Whenever research what my caloric needs SHOULD BE, it says that I should eat around 1100 to 1200 calories. I am guessing due to my height. However, with my work out schedule (6 days), I was wondering if I should perhaps be eating more.

If you enter a half pound a weekend into MFP, and then enter your exercise and eat the extra calories, I bet it'd be a LOT more than 1200.

Not if she's short, not too overweight and has her activty level as sedentary.

I think I get 1260 calories for 0.5lb/week loss. I'm 5 feet tall, 120 pounds and get close to 1200 for Sedentary. I try to get plenty of walking in so I can eat more since 1200 isn't fun.

~Lyssa

but if you exercise you get to net 1260...not gross.

So if you burn 250 calories exercising that is more food to eat...

dimroses wrote: »

Whenever research what my caloric needs SHOULD BE, it says that I should eat around 1100 to 1200 calories. I am guessing due to my height. However, with my work out schedule (6 days), I was wondering if I should perhaps be eating more.

If you use MFP as designed, set at an appropriate rate of loss, and log any purposeful exercise outside of your normal daily activity level (which sounds like sedentary), it will give you additional calories to fuel the extra activity. Many people find fitness trackers a good way to track any additional burn as well.

However... you are saying you aren't seeing any progress eating 1100-1200 calories while exercising and not eating back any exercise calories, right? So that just means you are not accurately tracking your calorie intake, not that you need to eat more. That's not judgment or criticism. Tracking calories accurately is a skill that requires education and practice like any other. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the stickied posts at the top of the Getting Started and General Diet and Weight Loss forums.

dimroses wrote: »

Thank You Guys! I enjoy all your tips. Just so you know, I have seen lean progress, but I can't seem to get the muscle definition I need. That's why I feel like I am not eating enough.

you never did answer if you are trying to lose fat or bulk or what?

dimroses wrote: »

Thank You Guys! I enjoy all your tips. Just so you know, I have seen lean progress, but I can't seem to get the muscle definition I need. That's why I feel like I am not eating enough.

If you aren't getting definition, it's because your body fat isn't low enough, and it's possible you dont' have enough muscle. But if you are eating 1100 calories and that active in the gym, it's not doing you any favors.

dimroses wrote: »

I'm trying to lose fat whilst building lean muscle.

It takes work for women to build muscle and you generally can't do it if you are eating with a calorie deficit.
You can try to recomp - although it is a slow process. General idea is you plug your info in the MFP for maintenance, eat that many calories and lift heavy. You need patience.