Daily calories are too much!! HELP!
Replies
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To further help you understand, when I first set up MFP, my weight, height, and goals all calculated I should eat 2,400 calories. I did, with ease. But once I talked to the nutritional doc, we adjusted it down to 2,000.8
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Likely. And if/when it does, I'll adjust. I'm not wedded to any approach — but I am grooving on the ease and simplicity of what I'm doing now, so I'll rock it till it's time to rock something else.cmriverside wrote: »As you get closer to a healthy weight, expect this game to stop working.5 -
DaveScadlock wrote: »Not knowing your plan, what you want to lose (or gain), it sounds like your planned calories are set to high. I am at 2,000 for the day. I might suggest talking to your doctor, form a plan, and adjust your calories accordingly. You can do this manually in your settings.
Again, not knowing your objective, but I would think your planned calories should be around 1,400-1,500. I am not a doctor, so please take this advice as someone wanting to help, and not from a medical point of view.
I would like to look at your logging, and help you adjust.
DaveDaveScadlock wrote: »Not knowing your plan, what you want to lose (or gain), it sounds like your planned calories are set to high. I am at 2,000 for the day. I might suggest talking to your doctor, form a plan, and adjust your calories accordingly. You can do this manually in your settings.
Again, not knowing your objective, but I would think your planned calories should be around 1,400-1,500. I am not a doctor, so please take this advice as someone wanting to help, and not from a medical point of view.
I would like to look at your logging, and help you adjust.
Dave
What exactly are you basing that recommendation of 1400-1500 calories on?
I’m a petite female 5’2 and 120 lbs and I can lose (slowly) at 1900 calories/day. OP is 8 inches taller and about 100 lbs heavier and you are suggesting her goal of 1900 is too high based on...???19 -
To directly answer your question, MFP will give you that message if you have eaten under a certain number of calories, regardless of your calorie goal. I do not know what the threshold is for the message, but they cite "For safe weight loss, the National Institutes of Health recommends no less than 1000-1200 calories for women and 1200-1500 calories for men." There is no way to fix this.
But I would like to add another vote in support of you eating more. It is difficult to meet healthy fat, protein, and vitamin & mineral requirements on a very low-calorie diet. Also, even someone lying in bed all day needs a certain number of calories per day to support their body's functions, and the larger your body, the larger the support (more calories) it needs. This is why your calorie suggestion may seem large to you, especially if you compare it to the daily intake of someone with similar stats but a lighter weight.
Also please keep in mind that MFP calorie suggestions already account for the calorie deficit based on your weight loss goal (as mentioned earlier), and that eating too little can actually inhibit weight loss because your body thinks it is starving, storing as much as it can and using its energy as efficiently as possible and on cheat days storing those extra calories. And although men are usually cited as needing more calories than women, female bodies can be more sensitive to intake that deviates from their weight-maintaining needs, leading to hormonal issues (such as missed periods) that are an indication of stress on the body, which is not going to be conducive to weight loss. Some women are extremely sensitive to this and others seem to be unaffected.
If you are uncomfortable eating that much, I recommend beginning with a small increase (such as to 1200--not saying that's healthy but it is a step in the right direction) and faithfully tracking your weight and intake (by weight, everything that enters your stomach), and keep an eye on your water, fat, protein, and nutrient intakes. If you're loosing more than 2 lbs per week average, you're not eating enough. If you aren't loosing weight it could be an indication that you are not meeting nutrient requirements / starving your body, telling your body to store energy and/or throwing off your hormones (which also play a factor in weight), or some other issue is at play.
Keep in mind that weight loss is still not 100% understood, and that calorie calculations are imperfect. If you are meeting your nutrient needs and not losing weight too rapidly, you are in the right calorie range, even if that is a little lower or higher than what is recommended by MFP or any other calculator. It is more important to be healthy than to be at a certain weight. You already have some activity in your life, so that is good, and you are trying to get down to what I hope is a healthy weight for you, and that is good, too, just make sure you are meeting the other needs of your body as well.15 -
That is so frustrating! Hang in there, it will work. There is a ton of great advice here. I totally agree: doctor and nutritionist is the way to go.
You had asked about what we do. I lost 70 pounds and kept it off for a number of years. I'm back at it because severe depression and the associated self-abuse packed it all back on plus 15 pounds - yep, this is physical and emotional stuff many of us are dealing with. It's coming off again, and I'm doing exactly what I did before with a lot more self-care, a little more exercise, and more gentle-ness around the occasional treat with friends.
My big thing is to avoid as much processed non-recognizable stuff as possible. If it's packaged and has a ton of ingredients, I probably would do better to not eat it. I also try to avoid flours and sugars, though the occasional sandwich is nice. I eat a couple whole grain servings a day (quinoa, oatmeal). I eat about 2 1/2 lbs of varied vegetables including greens, cruciferous, random things from the farmers market, and starchy vegetables like winter squash though I try to avoid too much corn and white potatoes. I have about 4 oz of lean protein (equivalent of 1 c yogurt, 2 eggs, lots of fish) per meal and about a teaspoon or so of fat at each meal. I also make sure to have a serving of nuts each day. And I drink a ton of water and unsweetened tea (green, black, herbal) and avoid fake sugar - at this point I can kinda taste the chemicals. I'm eating about 1100-1200 calories a day and losing 1.5-2 lbs a week. I have energy to exercise, corral my students, and watch too much television. One or two meals a week I order what looks good (I don't go nuts, but I don't keep a leash on myself), and have a great (and tasty) time out with friends and family.
I also make sure to do serious meal prep. I just cooked up about 30 1/2 c portions of quinoa and froze those in separate portions. I cooked an extra turkey at Thanksgiving and froze that in 4 oz portions. I buy frozen veg on sale and heat up a bag with different spices then drizzle a teaspoon of garlic oil or good quality olive oil over the top. Meal prep means that getting home starving from a full day at work won't take me out.
You've got this. The doctor and nutritionist will help you a lot. You said you were studying, so if finances are a challenge, there are some good on line resources that are reliable: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Consumer Reports ... but I would compare the info before taking any at their word. My own doctor loves to say that this is all really simple. Just not easy. She's tall and thin. I kinda want to kick her. Unfortunately, she's really competent, and right.
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YES, and those two are definitely linked for me. If I do the Sunday prep, eating whole foods throughout the week is much easier.My big thing is to avoid as much processed non-recognizable stuff as possible.
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I also make sure to do serious meal prep.
Helps if you don't mind repeating meals, and I don't, as long as it's something I love. I'll have yesterday's crustless quiche every morning this week, and tuna & white bean salad with arugula four lunches out of five. (The fifth: homemade chili from the freezer, already portioned.)
Glad you're back at it, sorry for the rough patch.2 -
@magdilinab
Not sure if this was answered in the thread, apologies if it was AND I might have misunderstood your problem or expected outcome.
It's possible you are also including "exercise calories" in your daily calorie calculation.
For example, if you had a 2000 calorie/day program, entered 2000cals of food, and didn't log a workout. The MFP app should say you have 0 cals left.
However by default, the app takes into consideration exercise calories, possibly automatically from an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Then under the exercise section in your daily journal, you'll see an entry with its calorie equivalent. As an example, if you walked for 60mins and it recorded that in your daily journal then your remaining calories would be negative as the calories from the walking were factored in.
You can remove this option in the app settings under More > Goals > Fitness Goals > Exercise Calories = Off.
I hope this helps.6 -
@magdilinab
Not sure if this was answered in the thread, apologies if it was AND I might have misunderstood your problem or expected outcome.
It's possible you are also including "exercise calories" in your daily calorie calculation.
For example, if you had a 2000 calorie/day program, entered 2000cals of food, and didn't log a workout. The MFP app should say you have 0 cals left.
However by default, the app takes into consideration exercise calories, possibly automatically from an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Then under the exercise section in your daily journal, you'll see an entry with its calorie equivalent. As an example, if you walked for 60mins and it recorded that in your daily journal then your remaining calories would be negative as the calories from the walking were factored in.
You can remove this option in the app settings under More > Goals > Fitness Goals > Exercise Calories = Off.
I hope this helps.
But that's the way MFP works. It gives you a lower calorie goal and you're supposed to eat at least some of those calories back. If you ignore your exercise calories, you will possibly be undereating.
If a user first makes sure their "calories in" logging is as accurate as possible, then they can start to watch their weight trend and determine if their exercise calories are accurate or need to be tweaked. I think there's value in trying to get accurate data rather than just ignore one variable entirely and hope it covers up other mistakes.14 -
magdilinab wrote: »So I'm new to MFP. I have lost about 20lbs on my own, but I wanted to try this out since my friends tried it and said it was great! But the daily calories I was given are too much! After I entered my food for the day, a message came up saying it won't be logged cause I ate too little. How do I fix it?
So based on what you've said on this thread so far, you logged 900 calories intake. If that's the honest level, then you're getting the message because you're eating below the threshold. That's the simple, exact answer.
What I usually tell people when they start talking about "being bigger my whole life" and targeting huge deficits... Since MFP starts with an initial deficit built in based on your activity level, if you see a negative 1000 at the end of the day, you're actually -2000 calories from your daily burn (assuming you put in that you want to lose 2lbs/week). This kind of deficit is not recommended for ANYONE other than bariatric patients being closely monitored (this including medical VLCD patients, because they are technically bariatric patients too).
I started losing weight at 535lbs. My initial calorie intake goal was 2900 calories before exercise, and I often came in at 1500. Didn't think it was a big deal at first because the water weight came off but then I hit a stall right off. Talking with my doctor and getting bloodwork done, it was clear that I was not doing healthy things. He told me not to go under 2600 a day at minimum. It sounded humongous.
But you know, I decided that instead of arguing that it didn't make sense or that I'm so big I don't need extra food or whatever other justifications I wanted to use to not listen, I decided to abide by it. About 4 days into eating a proper amount of food, I was ravenous and also lost a lot of weight. We're talking up to 6lbs a week while eating 4k+ a day with exercise. Every health number improved. I slept better. I could exercise for hours. And there's no other reason for it other than the fact that I actually gave my body what it needed rather than telling myself I was fat enough to ignore it.
I lost 115lbs by myself before the tactic didn't work anymore and I eventually ended up having a gastric bypass anyway. But this is what I tell people...
Even after a gastric bypass, patients are NOT advised to eat less than 1000 calories a day. In the beginning, you absolutely do eat very little... You eat maybe 200 calories a day... but you also take boatloads of vitamins and you lose your hair and you stop getting your period and all the other things that happen with anorexia... but then as time goes by, you step it up until you are eating and maintaining at 1200-1500 for a longer period of time.
My point being, even the very medically compromised patient is not told it's okay and healthy to eat 900 calories or less for any extended period of time unless they are being acutely monitored for health problems.
You know what happens to some of us? We end up not being able to eat because we didn't eat enough after surgery and we have to fed through tubes. Not that that will happen to you but what I mean is that eating a minimum amount of calories is THAT important that even when you are a fatty like me, where you have a lot to lose, a whole person and more to lose, they will put you on IV food if you can't eat more than a couple hundred calories a day after a short while.
I'm not chastising, I'm just saying, be smart. If you're going to use the tool, use the tool. What's the point in being here if you're not going to use it?16 -
900 calories is not sufficient to sustain health in a woman our size. (I am 5'10" too). Your weight goal is healthy, but I think your body has gone into calorie-conserving starvation mode. Try INcreasing your calories to 1200/day (I would suggest 1500/day) to see if you start losing weight that way. Your eating looks very healthy but you may be getting too little fat, which is important to your health because certain vitamins are fat-soluble, which means without fat you aren't digesting them but just passing them on through. There are many healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado, to name two - google it.
Starvation mode is a myth.
^^^ AGREED!!!
If you want to see what "starvation mode" looks like, Google the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. THAT is "starvation mode."
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900 calories is not sufficient to sustain health in a woman our size. (I am 5'10" too). Your weight goal is healthy, but I think your body has gone into calorie-conserving starvation mode. Try INcreasing your calories to 1200/day (I would suggest 1500/day) to see if you start losing weight that way. Your eating looks very healthy but you may be getting too little fat, which is important to your health because certain vitamins are fat-soluble, which means without fat you aren't digesting them but just passing them on through. There are many healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado, to name two - google it.
Starvation mode is a myth.
^^^ AGREED!!!
If you want to see what "starvation mode" looks like, Google the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. THAT is "starvation mode."
There is no denying that the Minnesota Starvation Experiment was an invaluable study, but one thing that bothers me is that no women were included. I am curious to know if there would be any significant differences in results in women, due to our biological differences-higher body fat percentage, protection of fat stores for childbearing, hormones, etc.1 -
Also, regarding the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, I found this really interesting article and I just wanted to share:
http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2009/12/the-minnesota-starvation-experiment/
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Congrats on your 20 lbs lost. Don't get stressed out about the numbers. The key is that you are eating enough nutritious foods and liquids to maintain energy, focus, and body functions. If you have days that are below 1000 calories just make sure the calories you do eat are quality calories. Science has shown that when someone routinely eats less than 1000 calories/day there are greater risks of becoming malnourished and doing long term damage to their metabolism. You can set your own calorie and macro percentages per day with the free version instead of using the apps calculated amount. But you will still need to log a minimum of 1000 calories each day if you want the app to complete your entries and give you a daily "If every day were like today...You'd weigh XXX.x lbs in 5 weeks" message. Keep up the good work, keep learning, and stop stressing over numbers.12
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Congrats on your 20 lbs lost. Don't get stressed out about the numbers. The key is that you are eating enough nutritious foods and liquids to maintain energy, focus, and body functions. If you have days that are below 1000 calories just make sure the calories you do eat are quality calories. Science has shown that when someone routinely eats less than 1000 calories/day there are greater risks of becoming malnourished and doing long term damage to their metabolism. You can set your own calorie and macro percentages per day with the free version instead of using the apps calculated amount. But you will still need to log a minimum of 1000 calories each day if you want the app to complete your entries and give you a daily "If every day were like today...You'd weigh XXX.x lbs in 5 weeks" message. Keep up the good work, keep learning, and stop stressing over numbers.
the If every day were like today...You'd weigh XXX.x lbs in 5 weeks" message. is just an estimate for one and for two you would have to eat the same thing day after day,burn the same amount of calories and so on for 5 weeks to lose what it says you would and there still are NO guarantees so that part is pointless. as for undereating,it doesnt matter what you are eating. undereating is undereating.if your body doesnt get enough calories it will turn to fat,lean mass and muscle(including your heart and other organs) the types of food arent going to make a difference between one way of basically staving your body compared to another.
starvation is starvation and your body will be malnourished by starving.if a person ate nothing but "healthy" foods and was still undereating/starving they would still end up malnourished and not eating enough causes long term damage if done for a period of time.5 -
Please read this re your not losing on low calories:
The dude knows what he's talking about, he's a top coach.11 -
I have not read everything that has been said but i think you should go into the settings and lower your activity level. Try to get at least 1000- 1200 calories a day and you will be fine. (my goal is 1200 calories and if i log 1000 it doesnt tell me im eating too few calories. 1900 calories is just because you put that you are active in there. Personal trainers and carpenters are that active not walk to workers.
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@magdilinab
Not sure if this was answered in the thread, apologies if it was AND I might have misunderstood your problem or expected outcome.
It's possible you are also including "exercise calories" in your daily calorie calculation.
For example, if you had a 2000 calorie/day program, entered 2000cals of food, and didn't log a workout. The MFP app should say you have 0 cals left.
However by default, the app takes into consideration exercise calories, possibly automatically from an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Then under the exercise section in your daily journal, you'll see an entry with its calorie equivalent. As an example, if you walked for 60mins and it recorded that in your daily journal then your remaining calories would be negative as the calories from the walking were factored in.
You can remove this option in the app settings under More > Goals > Fitness Goals > Exercise Calories = Off.
I hope this helps.
But that's the way MFP works. It gives you a lower calorie goal and you're supposed to eat at least some of those calories back. If you ignore your exercise calories, you will possibly be undereating.
If a user first makes sure their "calories in" logging is as accurate as possible, then they can start to watch their weight trend and determine if their exercise calories are accurate or need to be tweaked. I think there's value in trying to get accurate data rather than just ignore one variable entirely and hope it covers up other mistakes.
Agree, I understand that as well. The OP said something about MFP saying she isn't eating enough. Which btw, I've never seen that error message/banner before. My assumption was that she is seeing a surplus of extra calories, which caught her offgoard despite entering in "calories in", and making that assumption herself.
So yes, assuming she is using the MFP program properly - allow the MFP calculator to do its job, re-test, adjust, re-test.
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@magdilinab
Not sure if this was answered in the thread, apologies if it was AND I might have misunderstood your problem or expected outcome.
It's possible you are also including "exercise calories" in your daily calorie calculation.
For example, if you had a 2000 calorie/day program, entered 2000cals of food, and didn't log a workout. The MFP app should say you have 0 cals left.
However by default, the app takes into consideration exercise calories, possibly automatically from an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Then under the exercise section in your daily journal, you'll see an entry with its calorie equivalent. As an example, if you walked for 60mins and it recorded that in your daily journal then your remaining calories would be negative as the calories from the walking were factored in.
You can remove this option in the app settings under More > Goals > Fitness Goals > Exercise Calories = Off.
I hope this helps.
But that's the way MFP works. It gives you a lower calorie goal and you're supposed to eat at least some of those calories back. If you ignore your exercise calories, you will possibly be undereating.
If a user first makes sure their "calories in" logging is as accurate as possible, then they can start to watch their weight trend and determine if their exercise calories are accurate or need to be tweaked. I think there's value in trying to get accurate data rather than just ignore one variable entirely and hope it covers up other mistakes.
Agree, I understand that as well. The OP said something about MFP saying she isn't eating enough. Which btw, I've never seen that error message/banner before. My assumption was that she is seeing a surplus of extra calories, which caught her offgoard despite entering in "calories in", and making that assumption herself.
So yes, assuming she is using the MFP program properly - allow the MFP calculator to do its job, re-test, adjust, re-test.
That warning shows up when someone tries to close their food diary with less than 1000 calories logged for women, and (I think) less than 1200 calories logged for men. Log a small meal and try closing the diary (you will still be able to make changes later), that will show you the screen that is being referred to. This warning is only related to that minimum number of calories, nothing to do with activity settings, exercise logged, or anything else.9 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »@magdilinab
Not sure if this was answered in the thread, apologies if it was AND I might have misunderstood your problem or expected outcome.
It's possible you are also including "exercise calories" in your daily calorie calculation.
For example, if you had a 2000 calorie/day program, entered 2000cals of food, and didn't log a workout. The MFP app should say you have 0 cals left.
However by default, the app takes into consideration exercise calories, possibly automatically from an Apple Watch or Fitbit. Then under the exercise section in your daily journal, you'll see an entry with its calorie equivalent. As an example, if you walked for 60mins and it recorded that in your daily journal then your remaining calories would be negative as the calories from the walking were factored in.
You can remove this option in the app settings under More > Goals > Fitness Goals > Exercise Calories = Off.
I hope this helps.
But that's the way MFP works. It gives you a lower calorie goal and you're supposed to eat at least some of those calories back. If you ignore your exercise calories, you will possibly be undereating.
If a user first makes sure their "calories in" logging is as accurate as possible, then they can start to watch their weight trend and determine if their exercise calories are accurate or need to be tweaked. I think there's value in trying to get accurate data rather than just ignore one variable entirely and hope it covers up other mistakes.
Agree, I understand that as well. The OP said something about MFP saying she isn't eating enough. Which btw, I've never seen that error message/banner before. My assumption was that she is seeing a surplus of extra calories, which caught her offgoard despite entering in "calories in", and making that assumption herself.
So yes, assuming she is using the MFP program properly - allow the MFP calculator to do its job, re-test, adjust, re-test.
That warning shows up when someone tries to close their food diary with less than 1000 calories logged for women, and (I think) less than 1200 calories logged for men. Log a small meal and try closing the diary (you will still be able to make changes later), that will show you the screen that is being referred to. This warning is only related to that minimum number of calories, nothing to do with activity settings, exercise logged, or anything else.
this I accidentally clicked close one time and I had eaten less than 1000 calories. I didnt mean to click on close but it gave me that message. now if you are netting less than 1000 then no you wont get that message which it should still give that message.0 -
Cahgetsfit wrote: »Please read this re your not losing on low calories:
The dude knows what he's talking about, he's a top coach.
only part of this I dont agree with is them mentioning soma types4
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