Not enough calories
LCASU96
Posts: 7 Member
Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
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Replies
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Your body needs protein and good fats too.
If you are gaining weight on 600 to 800 calories per day (which is no where near enough nutrition by the way) you either have a medical condition or massively underestimating how much you are eating).
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You'd be a medical marvel if you were gaining weight on 600-800cal a day. Get a food scale if you don't have one, weigh everything, track accurately for a month and have a look at just how much you're actually eating.
There are no positives to actually consuming that little. You'll lose a great deal of muscle mass, get brittle nails, poor hair quality/hair falling out, poor complexion and long term will cause internal damage to your organs which is not immediately noticeable or easy to reverse, if at all.10 -
leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
do you weigh your food?2 -
Hun, your body needs about 1000/1200kcal just to stay alive, for your brains to work, your heart to beat, all the other organs to function. You can´t really slow down your organ function without getting really sick. I don´t think you´re counting calories properly, like others have said.5
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leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
So, the main point is... If you feel full and happy, and you have energy, don't worry about the calories. Just make sure your nutrition is maximized as several metabolic issues, including low thyroid function could be caused by malnutrition.
That is absolutely not the main point. Calories are fuel, and while quality is helpful, quantity is also necessary. How a person "feels" or how hungry they are is not a reliable indicator, as how we feel is easily influenced by our emotions and other factors.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p11 -
OP, are you saying that you have simply been counting the calories and have not changed your diet in any significant way from the past year, or did you begin counting calories as part of a weight loss plan where you are trying to cut calories?0
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You are eating more than you think. Purchase a food scale and weight everything for a week. Then come back and let us know what you find!1
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TavistockToad wrote: »leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
do you weigh your food?TavistockToad wrote: »leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
do you weigh your food?TavistockToad wrote: »leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
do you weigh your food?TavistockToad wrote: »leahcastleasu wrote: »Hey everyone, just looking for some advice. Over the past year, I've become much healthier but at the same time gained 15 pounds. Since I'm already a vegetarian who doesn't eat junk food, only drinks water/green tea, and loves veggies I decided to finally try counting calories. But I'm only eating about 600-800 calories a day. I feel like I'm eating plenty, it's just a lot of vegetables low in calories. I have enough energy throughout the day and I feel good, should I really be trying to eat more calories? I have no clue why I keep gaining weight and eating more calories like the app is telling me just doesn't seem right?
do you weigh your food?
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Yes I have a scale and weigh all my food. I didn’t count calories when I gained the weight “I finally decided to try counting calories”. I’ve only been keeping track for a little over a week now. But I suppose the overall conclusion is I need to eat more, just feels like I won’t lose the weight since i was already pretty healthy during the weight gain.1
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leahcastleasu wrote: »Yes I have a scale and weigh all my food. I didn’t count calories when I gained the weight “I finally decided to try counting calories”. I’ve only been keeping track for a little over a week now. But I suppose the overall conclusion is I need to eat more, just feels like I won’t lose the weight since i was already pretty healthy during the weight gain.
Assuming your logging is accurate, and you haven't made any drastic changes to your diet (extra veggies & fruit often require a digestive adjustment), I would probably chalk this up to the dieter's honeymoon phase. It's very common... we're excited about the new diet and feel like "I can't possibly bring myself to eat anymore". That will likely pass, but again, if your confident in your logging, try to pad your calories with some higher-calorie additions like healthy fats, nuts, avocado, full fat dairy, etc.
Edited to add: As to your last statement, you gained weight due to a calorie surplus, not the make-up of your diet. Regardless of what you think, you were just eating above your maintenance calories this past year. Now you need to be in a calorie deficit- about 250 less than your maintenance calories- to lose the 15 lbs in a healthy fashion. Set your weekly weight loss goal to .5 lbs/week and eat the full number of calories MFP gives you.5 -
Can I ask how tall you are? I'm 5ft 1 and my BMR is 1200 calories a day which may seem really low for some people but if I eat anything over that then I gain weight. So to lose weight I have to eat under that. I'm pretty small so I don't need as many calories as the average woman. You may be underestimating how much you consume. Do you log the liquids you consume as well? Theres a lot of calories in certain drinks.6
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Howl_Of_Solace wrote: »Can I ask how tall you are? I'm 5ft 1 and my BMR is 1200 calories a day which may seem really low for some people but if I eat anything over that then I gain weight. So to lose weight I have to eat under that. I'm pretty small so I don't need as many calories as the average woman. You may be underestimating how much you consume. Do you log the liquids you consume as well? Theres a lot of calories in certain drinks.
Your BMR is what you use if you're just lying in bed all day doing nothing, so it's unlikely that you will gain weight if you eat over your BMR.
You're thinking of your TDEE, your total daily energy expenditure. If you eat more than this, you will gain weight.6 -
Howl_Of_Solace wrote: »Can I ask how tall you are? I'm 5ft 1 and my BMR is 1200 calories a day which may seem really low for some people but if I eat anything over that then I gain weight. So to lose weight I have to eat under that. I'm pretty small so I don't need as many calories as the average woman. You may be underestimating how much you consume. Do you log the liquids you consume as well? Theres a lot of calories in certain drinks.
I’m the same height as you. Not sure how much you weigh, but I can tell you that even at my lowest weight ever (110, which is much lower than my current weight) I could easily lose weight at 1200. Something is off about this.
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It's not uncommon to feel ok for a while if undereating. The problems will start showing up over time, though. Many people experience a wide range of health problems, many start bingeing uncontrollably. So, even though you may feel fine now, it will catch up to you sooner or later.3
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