One more question: about calories

randimcnulty
randimcnulty Posts: 6
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Is it a bad thing if you don't eat all your calories in a day? Also, is it bad if you don't really space out your calorie intake?

Replies

  • mrphil86
    mrphil86 Posts: 2,382 Member
    It depends on how many calories and your lifestyle.

    Also, spacing out the calories doesn't really matter but again, it depends on what you are doing.
  • cownancy
    cownancy Posts: 291
    I don't like the word "bad"....I would prefer to say that it is better for you and your weight loss goals if you stay as close to your calorie goal as possible and spread out your calories. They are fuel for your body and your body works most efficiently when you eat at regular intervals and with enough fuel that it does not shut down and enter any type of "starvation mode". Does this help at all? It's over simplified, but I hope it's clear enough.
  • randimcnulty
    randimcnulty Posts: 6
    That was very helpful, thank you so much!!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    deadhorse.gif

    Yes it's bad to not eat enough calories. Starving doesn't work.

    Meal timing doesn't matter. Your body will use what it needs, when it needs it. Whether you eat it all in one meal, or split it up into a hundred meals.
  • lerachase
    lerachase Posts: 11
    It depends on how much below your goal you are. Too few calories will make your body think you're starving yourself and it will do what it has to in order to keep you alive. Namely, packing away all it can. If you're not sure where you're cut off is, you probably want to check with a pro.

    What my trainer has told ME is that spacing out your calorie intake can help to rev up your metabolism. The dumbed down version I understood was that 1) breakfast helps to "turn on" your metabolism to start using energy and 2) spacing out your calories helps your body adjust to having calories to burn so it stops "worrying" and storing more away than you need. He's a trainer, though, not a doc so take it with a grain of salt, but so far it's working for me.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Scientific studies have proven meal timing to be a myth. It doesn't matter how many meals or how often you eat them. The total calories are all the difference. Your metabolism never stops and doesn't slow down as long as you are eating enough calories, even when your sleeping. Your body actually does a ton of work when your sleeping, which keeps your metabolism "revved up" just fine.
  • randimcnulty
    randimcnulty Posts: 6
    Do you eat the calories that you burn or do you just eat what calories you are given? I seem to be confused by that by some of the reading that I have looked at.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    If you're using the recommendations from MFP, you eat the calories you burn. MFP already has a deficit set in for you to lose weight, so you have to eat back any calories you burn to ensure you get enough nutrition.
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