Having trouble eating enough calories

retgarr
retgarr Posts: 13 Member
So I have been very active and sucessful the past month. My current calorie goal is 1690 a day to lose 2 lbs a week. I have been doing intermittent fasting eating 8, fasting 16 and eating mostly protein and vegetables. I have also been going to the gym 3-5 days a week, with 3 of the days being quite intense.

The problem is that according to the calculations of myy apple watch, on many of these days I'm burning 800+ calories. So MFP credits me those calories. But with that credit I don't think I can eat enough food to meet the 1200 calorie minimum.

Using today as an example, I consumed about 1300 calories of food. But accorrding to my exercise log, I burned about 1100 calories. Leaving me 1500 calries left. I just finished dinner and feel like theres no way I could eat anywhere near 1500. Even if I say the watch is way off and I only burned 500, that still leaves me with 1000 caloris to eat. Again, I don't think I can do that.

Is this something to be concerned about? Or do I just need to get the 1200 min regardless of exercise?
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Replies

  • retgarr
    retgarr Posts: 13 Member
    edited December 2019
    I feel most of my food has been measured accurately. Scanning labels and using declared weights. I do assume that my calorie burns at the gym are inflated and often adjust them significantly.

    I am trying to stay ahead of things because so far the results have been great. Slightly over 2lbs a week weightloss and noticable increases in strength and performance at the gym. So it certainly seems to be going well, but it seems like things can be deceiving at the start.

    Thanks for the reply. I will try supplementing with those suggestions on hard gym days.
  • retgarr
    retgarr Posts: 13 Member
    I am tracking weight using a wifi connected scale, measured each morning at approx the same time. I satrted at 217 with a goal of 175. I just kinda felt like if I was being too aggressive, I would be hungry all the time. But I feel good, with good energy.

    Maybe I'm just lucky so far and should adjust when there is actual evidence of a problem.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    retgarr wrote: »
    So I have been very active and sucessful the past month. My current calorie goal is 1690 a day to lose 2 lbs a week. I have been doing intermittent fasting eating 8, fasting 16 and eating mostly protein and vegetables. I have also been going to the gym 3-5 days a week, with 3 of the days being quite intense.

    The problem is that according to the calculations of myy apple watch, on many of these days I'm burning 800+ calories. So MFP credits me those calories. But with that credit I don't think I can eat enough food to meet the 1200 calorie minimum.

    Using today as an example, I consumed about 1300 calories of food. But accorrding to my exercise log, I burned about 1100 calories. Leaving me 1500 calries left. I just finished dinner and feel like theres no way I could eat anywhere near 1500. Even if I say the watch is way off and I only burned 500, that still leaves me with 1000 caloris to eat. Again, I don't think I can do that.

    Is this something to be concerned about? Or do I just need to get the 1200 min regardless of exercise?
    retgarr wrote: »
    So I have been very active and sucessful the past month. My current calorie goal is 1690 a day to lose 2 lbs a week. I have been doing intermittent fasting eating 8, fasting 16 and eating mostly protein and vegetables. I have also been going to the gym 3-5 days a week, with 3 of the days being quite intense.

    The problem is that according to the calculations of myy apple watch, on many of these days I'm burning 800+ calories. So MFP credits me those calories. But with that credit I don't think I can eat enough food to meet the 1200 calorie minimum.

    Using today as an example, I consumed about 1300 calories of food. But accorrding to my exercise log, I burned about 1100 calories. Leaving me 1500 calries left. I just finished dinner and feel like theres no way I could eat anywhere near 1500. Even if I say the watch is way off and I only burned 500, that still leaves me with 1000 caloris to eat. Again, I don't think I can do that.

    Is this something to be concerned about? Or do I just need to get the 1200 min regardless of exercise?

    The default minimum for an adult male is 1500. That calorie goal would be fine if you are short and sedentary.

    What do your macros look like - protein, fat, and carbs. Are you meeting protein goals, are you getting a decent amount of dietary fat? Dietary fat doesn't make you fat. Olive oil, nuts or nut butter and avocado are calorie dense options. Fill out the rest of your calories with carbs.

    Exercise calories can be tough to pin down. Google your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) get a rough estimate to start.

    When we lose weight, we lose fat+muscle. Aggressive weight loss can result in a larger % of muscle mass. 2 pounds a week is only appropriate if you have 75+ pounds to lose.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    Are you using a food scale?
  • retgarr
    retgarr Posts: 13 Member
    edited December 2019
    So my take aways here are to improve food measuring for accurate calories to see if the caloric deficit isn't too extreme in the first place and to eat energy dense foods with higher levels of protein andd natural fats if I am actually eating too little. And adjust to slow down the weight loss a bit.

    Now to reconcile that with estimated calories burned. Todays workout was about 1.5 hours long including short breaks. My workouts tend to be a strength ond conditioning type. So free weights with aerobic activity in there too. It seems like even though the apple watch is well regarded, those would be the types of exercise it would struggle to accurately count. How should I be estimating calorie burn?
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    Honestly, it's damned near impossible to know how many calories you are burning beyond a best guess. Set your calories according to your activity level using MFP, and eat that number of calories every day no matter what you do excercise-wise.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    edited December 2019
    retgarr wrote: »
    So my take aways here are to improve food measuring for accurate calories to see if the caloric deficit isn't too extreme in the first place and to eat energy dense foods with higher levels of protein andd natural fats if I am actually eating too little. And adjust to slow down the weight loss a bit.

    Now to reconcile that with estimated calories burned. Todays workout was about 1.5 hours long including short breaks. My workouts tend to be a strength ond conditioning type. So free weights with aerobic activity in there too. It seems like even though the apple watch is well regarded, those would be the types of exercise it would struggle to accurately count. How should I be estimating calorie burn?

    If your exercise is relatively consistent, I actually would just adjust intake based on results. For example:

    Say you've been losing 2 lbs/week and want to make it 1 lb/week, add 500 calories/day to your intake.

    That being said, I am a middle aged short woman, and can lose 2 lbs/week on 1700 calories/day when I'm working out quite a bit. So I suspect there are probably some inconsistencies in your logging (as already explained).

    My suggestions: Start off by adding 500 calories per day, tighten up your logging, and see what happens over the next few weeks. If you are still losing too fast, continue to increase your calorie intake until it levels off where you want it.
  • MrBubbleWrap
    MrBubbleWrap Posts: 5 Member
    I was having this exact same problem. After a little over a month of not making my daily calorie goal my energy level just dropped. After some research I saw enough articles say IF starts working best between 14-18 hours, so when I was towards the end of my 8 hour feeding window and still had almost 1,000 cal left to eat I'd give myself another hour or two to get what calories I could in. Also, If you know that day's workout will burn 1,000 cal eat a larger/higher cal breakfast, and lunch.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    retgarr wrote: »
    I am tracking weight using a wifi connected scale, measured each morning at approx the same time. I satrted at 217 with a goal of 175. I just kinda felt like if I was being too aggressive, I would be hungry all the time. But I feel good, with good energy.

    Maybe I'm just lucky so far and should adjust when there is actual evidence of a problem.

    Alas, energy and hunger levels aren't always a good indicator of issues, especially early on. Often, you don't realise you're in trouble until more serious problems start popping up. Honestly, I would drop to a goal of 1lb loss per week if I was you.

    ^^^ +1
  • Viking_Dad
    Viking_Dad Posts: 185 Member
    It's also easier to drink calories than to eat them. A big PB and banana protein shake made with whole milk can easily add 700-800 calories.
  • retgarr
    retgarr Posts: 13 Member
    My choice to use IF is based upon convenience (I do lunch and dinner), the appetite suppression effects, easier calorie restriction, and info such as this https://health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156 . I'm very happy with it so far, so I will concentrate on supplementing with calorie and nutrient dense foods
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    edited December 2019
    retgarr wrote: »
    So my take aways here are to improve food measuring for accurate calories to see if the caloric deficit isn't too extreme in the first place and to eat energy dense foods with higher levels of protein andd natural fats if I am actually eating too little. And adjust to slow down the weight loss a bit.

    Now to reconcile that with estimated calories burned. Todays workout was about 1.5 hours long including short breaks. My workouts tend to be a strength ond conditioning type. So free weights with aerobic activity in there too. It seems like even though the apple watch is well regarded, those would be the types of exercise it would struggle to accurately count. How should I be estimating calorie burn?

    In all likelihood, the workout you describe is nowhere near 1100 calories.

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    Honestly, it's damned near impossible to know how many calories you are burning beyond a best guess. Set your calories according to your activity level using MFP, and eat that number of calories every day no matter what you do excercise-wise.

    This approach assumes that zero is a better guess of calories burned from exercise than actually making an educated guess. You would have to be pretty bad at making educated guesses for that to be true.
  • retgarr
    retgarr Posts: 13 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    retgarr wrote: »
    So my take aways here are to improve food measuring for accurate calories to see if the caloric deficit isn't too extreme in the first place and to eat energy dense foods with higher levels of protein andd natural fats if I am actually eating too little. And adjust to slow down the weight loss a bit.

    Now to reconcile that with estimated calories burned. Todays workout was about 1.5 hours long including short breaks. My workouts tend to be a strength ond conditioning type. So free weights with aerobic activity in there too. It seems like even though the apple watch is well regarded, those would be the types of exercise it would struggle to accurately count. How should I be estimating calorie burn?

    In all likelihood, the workout you describe is nowhere near 1100 calories.

    Yeah, I figure that's the case. On those workouts where there is a lot of weight training involved, I'm guessing the watch is not as accurate so I often reduce the recorded amount by half. Which still left me with a lot of calories to eat.

    For elucidation here was the workout that day

    3x10 single leg squats to 20" box
    3x40yd farmer carry 40lb kettlebells
    3x40yd claw grip dumbbell carry

    box jump to max height, increasing from 14" to 32" by 1.5 inches at a time or so 3 reps each height

    30x1 Deaadlifts starting very light bar, adding to max, then dropping to finish out 30

    5 reps of 30 kb swings followed by lunnge 15yds with kb over one shoulder, then back on other shoulder.