Meeting the minimum calorie requirements on MFP?
JennaSpier
Posts: 4 Member
Hi all. I had a Roux-N-Y (gastric bypass) in July 2006. I began at 244 and got down to 115. Life struggles, 12 years, and 3 close family deaths later (my mom, dad, and little sister), I got back up to 196 pounds. I started getting serious with MFP (which I had stopped doing for a couple years) again in April 2018 and am now down to 180 with a long way to go. However, MFP won't give me the 5 week prediction or give me credit for completing my daily journal because on most days I have a really hard time meeting 1000 calories. Over the past 12 years I feel like my "pouch" has stretched and I was almost able to eat as much as everyone with a normal stomach. But thanks to the past several months of being diligent on MFP, my pouch seems to have shrunken back down and I just can't eat very much anymore. It is counter-productive for me to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry or to eat higher calorie foods just so I can meet the 1000 cal limit. What do you guys do to solve this problem?
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Replies
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The prediction is nonsense, it doesn't mean anything, closing your journal for the day isn't necessary.
1) If you are not hungry don't eat.
2) Don't worry about closing the diary.15 -
If your doctor is okay with you eating less since you've had WLS you're fine. The warning is there for those who are using the program to fuel disordered eating patterns. Besides, the 5 week prediction is usually inaccurate.15
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I would talk this over with the medical team who did the initial surgery and post op care 12 years ago. If not available, your current medical team.
You were probably given supliments to help with nutrition during you initial weight loss phase, and were monitored for nutritional deficiencies.
Are these supliments still available?
A low cal diet, after a weight regain may be counter indicated without monitoring.
Eat smaller meals more frequently, if possible, to get at least 1200 cals until you discuss your regain with your medical team.
Cheers, h.13 -
The prediction really is nonsense. I've always lost at a much faster rate.10
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I frequently don't meet my 1200 calorie goal. I eat a lot of fresh food, and I feel like my nutritional needs are being met. I don't worry about it. Lots of days it scolds me that I am likely not eating enough.21
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Without disagreeing with the above, I'd add that it's important that you get the nutrition that your doctor says you need, at minimum. If you can accomplish that on less than your MFP calorie goal - which seems like it could be difficult - then it may be OK to eat less, because you're acting under medical advice.
In general, without specific guidance from their own personal health care team, people using MFP should eat the number of calories recommended as a minimum, for best health outcomes.15 -
I eat what is right for me. I may eat 1000....I may eat 1200....I may eat 900. Today I ate about 1000 and I feel full. I am not going to push it. I eat balanced so that's the main thing.29
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You could consider using a trending app like Happy Scale or Libra.3
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I foresee an end to this thread.2
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gebeziseva wrote: »I foresee an end to this thread.
sooner rather than later hopefully7 -
I find these claims that it is hard to eat enough calories in a day impossible to believe for a person who can eat mostly normal food. If you are under a doctor's care for a low calorie diet I suppose it is fine. Personally I would question if my doctor suggested one and I would do my own research to make sure he/she is PROPERLY monitoring me and not just checking my vitals and then moving on to the next patient.
Unless you have some extreme food restrictions due to medical issues or you are sick YOU CHOOSE what you eat. Eating more calories is as easy as CHOOSING to eat something with more calories instead of filling up on something with less. I am not talking about the occasional instance where your appetite may be diminished one day or you make a mistake because that happens to me but you can always eat more the next day or at least in that week to offset it.9 -
Add in some higher calorie foods that are low on the satiety scale. Olive oil, butter, peanut butter, nuts etc. You know, all those things that most of us have to be careful of to stay UNDER our calorie requirement.5
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I find these claims that it is hard to eat enough calories in a day impossible to believe for a person who can eat mostly normal food. If you are under a doctor's care for a low calorie diet I suppose it is fine. Personally I would question if my doctor suggested one and I would do my own research to make sure he/she is PROPERLY monitoring me and not just checking my vitals and then moving on to the next patient.
Unless you have some extreme food restrictions due to medical issues or you are sick YOU CHOOSE what you eat. Eating more calories is as easy as CHOOSING to eat something with more calories instead of filling up on something with less. I am not talking about the occasional instance where your appetite may be diminished one day or you make a mistake because that happens to me but you can always eat more the next day or at least in that week to offset it.
The vast majority of people who say they are fine/full eating less than 1200 cals for extended periods are not using a food scale consistently, have unlogged days, etc. (In other words, they're not). Some are very small, sedentary, and/or older. Some have undiagnosed medical issues. A few are allowing the high of being a "virtuous" eater to overpower their body asking for more fuel.
OP, if I'm reading your post correctly, you've been averaging around 1lb per week weight loss. If this is the case, I'd bet you are eating more than you think you are. Are you using a food scale?
I don't believe it's possible your stomach has re-shrunk. You do need to eat more than the minimum calories to be healthy, as it sounds like you are no longer under a doctor's constant care from your surgery. Tighten up your logging and I'd bet the picture gets clearer. These threads might help as well:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p15 -
I find these claims that it is hard to eat enough calories in a day impossible to believe for a person who can eat mostly normal food. If you are under a doctor's care for a low calorie diet I suppose it is fine. Personally I would question if my doctor suggested one and I would do my own research to make sure he/she is PROPERLY monitoring me and not just checking my vitals and then moving on to the next patient.
Unless you have some extreme food restrictions due to medical issues or you are sick YOU CHOOSE what you eat. Eating more calories is as easy as CHOOSING to eat something with more calories instead of filling up on something with less. I am not talking about the occasional instance where your appetite may be diminished one day or you make a mistake because that happens to me but you can always eat more the next day or at least in that week to offset it.
The vast majority of people who say they are fine/full eating less than 1200 cals for extended periods are not using a food scale consistently, have unlogged days, etc. (In other words, they're not). Some are very small, sedentary, and/or older. Some have undiagnosed medical issues. A few are allowing the high of being a "virtuous" eater to overpower their body asking for more fuel.
OP, if I'm reading your post correctly, you've been averaging around 1lb per week weight loss. If this is the case, I'd bet you are eating more than you think you are. Are you using a food scale?
I don't believe it's possible your stomach has re-shrunk. You do need to eat more than the minimum calories to be healthy, as it sounds like you are no longer under a doctor's constant care from your surgery. Tighten up your logging and I'd bet the picture gets clearer. These threads might help as well:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
And some - by direct self-report here, under cross-examination - came from a way of eating that involved near zero fiber and negligible veggies/fruit (maybe some ketchup?
) and went straight into meals of veggies, whole grains, whole fruit, etc. . . . and discovered - mirabile dictu! - that real food is filling. (Soon after, many discover, much to their chagrin, that they need some fats with all that fiber. ).
OP, if that's you, the nuts/olive oil/peanut butter/seeds/full-fat cheese advice is pretty darned useful.7 -
Without going down the road of healthy intakes and liability and all that, which is basically what this thread is daring to do...
Everyone should be, at the very least, cognizant of minimum nutrient intake for health. Getting sufficient nutrients is REALLY hard to do without significant supplementing on such a low intake.
IMO, follow the guidance of your doctor and eat for bigger-picture health.2 -
The vast majority of people who say they are fine/full eating less than 1200 cals for extended periods are not using a food scale consistently, have unlogged days, etc. (In other words, they're not). Some are very small, sedentary, and/or older. Some have undiagnosed medical issues. A few are allowing the high of being a "virtuous" eater to overpower their body asking for more fuel.
I am unsure of how you know what the vast majority of people eating under 1200 are doing. I think you are right that some of them are definitely eating more than they realize. I am not sure you can count on the fact they are eating more each and every day though especially on days they log 900ish.
Eating too little is not as hard for some people as it is for others.
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The vast majority of people who say they are fine/full eating less than 1200 cals for extended periods are not using a food scale consistently, have unlogged days, etc. (In other words, they're not). Some are very small, sedentary, and/or older. Some have undiagnosed medical issues. A few are allowing the high of being a "virtuous" eater to overpower their body asking for more fuel.
I am unsure of how you know what the vast majority of people eating under 1200 are doing. I think you are right that some of them are definitely eating more than they realize. I am not sure you can count on the fact they are eating more each and every day though especially on days they log 900ish.
Eating too little is not as hard for some people as it is for others.
I think she based on the many posts we see here where someone whose self-disclosed stats describe them as obese, yet they say they've been eating 1200 calories for weeks and not losing any weight. Some error on the CI side, the CO side, or both. It was stated as a definite, just as a likelihood.
OP, a few low-calorie days here and there are fine, but if you're consistently unable to eat enough, please go seek out the advice of your treatment team. You need to make sure your nutrition is on point (mostly) because by the time you feel the effects, damage has been done and is very difficult to reverse.9 -
The vast majority of people who say they are fine/full eating less than 1200 cals for extended periods are not using a food scale consistently, have unlogged days, etc. (In other words, they're not). Some are very small, sedentary, and/or older. Some have undiagnosed medical issues. A few are allowing the high of being a "virtuous" eater to overpower their body asking for more fuel.
I am unsure of how you know what the vast majority of people eating under 1200 are doing. I think you are right that some of them are definitely eating more than they realize. I am not sure you can count on the fact they are eating more each and every day though especially on days they log 900ish.
Eating too little is not as hard for some people as it is for others.
Okay, good point, I should have added "in my experience". The vast majority of women I've helped IRL and the posters who have insisted they were full and not losing weight on less than 1200 cals that I have seen were not logging correctly.
It's actually really easy to think you are eating 400 calories + less than you really are when you're not logging or not logging well.
But yes, there are certainly instances where people are under-eating and need to eat more for their health. Considering it seems OP has been losing at a pretty reasonable pace over a few months, I think incorrect logging is more likely than legit under-eating, but hopefully she has gotten plenty to think about from this thread, and if she is under-eating she will make the choices she needs to in order to eat more rather than work around the system.5 -
Crochetluvr wrote: »I eat what is right for me. I may eat 1000....I may eat 1200....I may eat 900. Today I ate about 1000 and I feel full. I am not going to push it. I eat balanced so that's the main thing.
Dear o dear o dear hardly decent advice is it? The odd day is totally acceptable but on a regular absolutely not.6 -
Thank you everyone for your responses. You've given me a lot to think about and some good advice. Thank you and good luck to everyone in their health and fitness goals!
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