Under eating

hi all!! so i have lately been under eating but not on purpose?? I still have about 500 calories left. Will this affect my progress? I have hit my protein goals.

Replies

  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    Under eating in the short term won't have a negative effect. Each time you get ill you'll likely under eat. When you get stressed you'll under eat. There's lots of reasons why you might find your appetite decreased for a short while.

    Under eating only really becomes a problem with it's deliberate and/or it's long term. Prolonged under eating can lead to a whole host of health problems. However more than likely you won't get to the point where it's negatively impacting your health as the body tends to be very good at self preservation. Under eating more often than not results in a corresponding binge or over eating, often overcompensating and ending up with you being in a calorie surplus overall.
  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    no reason at all! I feel like I eat a good amount. Example day:
    bfeast: over night oats with PB, banana, protein, almond milk
    lunch: big salad with chicken, veggies, dressing
    3 hard boiled eggs
    snack: strawberry blueberry protein smoothie, PB crackers
    Dinner: turkey and cheese sandwhich, hummus and veggies, grapes or usually rice and chicken with veggies
    and I workout everyday usually burning 800 calories. My app says 700 left but i said 500 because of maybe estimating wrong
  • CupcakeCrusoe
    CupcakeCrusoe Posts: 1,421 Member
    For people to help you, it would help if your food diary was made "Public." That can be done under "Diary Settings."

    What are your protein goals?

    Tell us about yourself- height, weight, calories you set with MFP, do you like to run or lift or go skydiving?

    There are lots of things that affect not only how fast or slow you lose weight, but how you feel while losing weight.

    Weight loss is simple- calories in vs calories out. What is not simple about it is how long you can sustain what you do. Too few calories and you start to get physically weak, hangry, maybe not sleeping well, might do real damage to yourself. That's why it's important we know details before advising you. :smile:
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    I can't tell if that's adequate without knowing amounts, along with the other information the poster above mentioned.

    What are your workouts? That's a relatively high calorie burn, so may be an overestimate. And you should be taking rest days.
  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    Just made my account public! i am 5’5 about 133, my calories right now are around 1900. I lift!! and play basketball 3 times a week
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 499 Member
    What is your goal? You are a healthy weight now, are you trying to lose more weight? How long are your workouts? Fitness trackers are notorious for way over-estimating calorie burns. You aren't far off my size, and I wouldn't burn 700 calories if I was balls to the wall running for an hour - more like 3-400 going my hardest, on top of whatever I burn just being alive. Although I'm probably a few years older than you, which can make a difference. At your stats, 1900 sounds likely to be close to maintenance amount, so if you are trying to lose at a reasonable rate your calories look reasonable for the last few days, other than the one where you skipped lunch.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    Logging isn't very accurate at all, cups/spoons measurements (if measured and not guessed).

    Are the Aramark meals accurate? Aramark are a contract catering service, is this just an entry you've searched and picked out rather than just filling out a recipe for something you made yourself or a more accurate restaurant entry?

    A food scale is the best way to log. If not you need far higher estimates.

    Also with the exercise, at your stats, I would doubt very much that you're burning that many calories on the eliptical.

    n1wcm57g1e8d.jpg


  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Just made my account public! i am 5’5 about 133, my calories right now are around 1900. I lift!! and play basketball 3 times a week

    Her diary is now open, which means we can access the exercise diary by changing /food/ to /exercise/ in the URL. Does 700 calories for 70 minutes at her stats sound right to people? I don't use the elliptical so can't say one way or the other.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Just made my account public! i am 5’5 about 133, my calories right now are around 1900. I lift!! and play basketball 3 times a week

    Her diary is now open, which means we can access the exercise diary by changing /food/ to /exercise/ in the URL. Does 700 calories for 70 minutes at her stats sound right to people? I don't use the elliptical so can't say one way or the other.

    Not to me, unless she's at running speed on the highest resistance for 70 mins. If it's at medium intensity, I'd say maybe half of that.

  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    it doesn’t allow me to put my lifting calories in or i simply don’t know how unless it’s premium i don’t pay for that. so i just put it under cardio. sorry.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    it doesn’t allow me to put my lifting calories in or i simply don’t know how unless it’s premium i don’t pay for that. so i just put it under cardio. sorry.

    Are you using the eliptical entry for weight lifting?

    There is an entry in the cardio database for strength training.
  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    when i go go strength it just tells me to put in my reps and weight
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    when i go go strength it just tells me to put in my reps and weight

    You go into Cardio and search the cardio database for "Strength Training"
  • samanthamuredda
    samanthamuredda Posts: 16 Member
    oh wow.. just found it thank you so much!!!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited February 2020
    it doesn’t allow me to put my lifting calories in or i simply don’t know how unless it’s premium i don’t pay for that. so i just put it under cardio. sorry.

    As you've just learned, you are supposed to add your strength training time in the Cardiovascular section of your exercise diary. The Strength Training section is just for notes, not where you earn calories for lifting.

    If you've been adding elliptical when what you really were doing was lifting, you got way more calories than you actually earned :)
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    I would have guessed that 700 calories for 70 minutes of anything sounds a bit much - unless you were literally at heart busting level constantly.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    Psychgrrl wrote: »

    Are the Aramark meals accurate?

    I work with (not for) Aramark on Campus and I will say they have very strict recipes and portion sizes, instructions and serving utensils. Calorie counts, macros, carbon footprint, water footprint are posted publicly.

    Sure, there can be over/unders, but they’re a profit driven company and I’d guess they have less variance than the average restaurant.

    I use their entries and they match what’s posted on their menu boards. Lost my weight, have maintained the loss.

    Yeah I have worked with them previously and other contract caterers, but quite often when I first started using MFP their entries would be close to the top when searching for a generic entry rather than using my own recipe/restaurant info and I can tell you now from experience, my recipes were a lot higher calorie than Aramark's.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    I would have guessed that 700 calories for 70 minutes of anything sounds a bit much - unless you were literally at heart busting level constantly.

    Depending on stats, not necessarily but yes definitely in the case of a 133 average height female.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    edited February 2020
    I don't think i would burn that much if I was running away from zombies! Uphill! Carrying a bag of rocks!

    I'm 250lbs and 5'8" so I reckon doing stroke position in a currach* against the tide/wind for 70 mins would probably be reasonably close to that (and has been in the past).

    * ETA image
    mofyovdyx837.png
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,176 Member
    I would have guessed that 700 calories for 70 minutes of anything sounds a bit much - unless you were literally at heart busting level constantly.

    Depending on stats, not necessarily but yes definitely in the case of a 133 average height female.

    I'm about that size (5'5", mid-130s), reasonably well-conditioned but definitely way sub-elite (also kind of old :lol: ). I'm the other kind of rower, skinny boats like in the olympics (mine is slower ;) ); I do rowing machine workouts in Winter. I've raced both on-water and indoor. Rowing machine is generally considered a fairly decent calorie-burner.

    Based on recent logs from indoor rowing, I can still hit a pace that, using the Concept 2 data and adjustments (generally well-regarded), would equate to around 700 calories in 70 minutes (about a 2:27 per 500m pace, 110 watts), including the bodyweight adjustment to 133 pounds specifically. I believe that's gross calories (includes RMR) rather than net.

    I believe I could hold that pace for 70 continuous minutes if you made me, though I usually do 10 minutes on, 2 minutes off, with some water-drinking and gentle rowing in the 2 minutes. (That pace was from a random 3 x 10 minutes on, 2 minutes off workout. It was 50% zone 4, 30% zone 3, rest of the time zone 2/1, in a 5-zone HR scheme. If I'd gone longer or more continuously, HR would likely have drifted up into Z5.)

    So, yes, possible. Not heart-busting, with reasonable long-term conditioning. Probably toward the higher end, I would guess, of what a normal recreational athlete could typically be sustaining for 70 continuous minutes (even one younger than me) on a day-in day-out basis, but not crazy high.

    I don't know how to compare elliptical as a modality to rowing, which I'm pretty familiar with. Weight lifting, for sure not 700 calories in 70 minutes. More like 200 for 70 minutes, maybe.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    For running I think the general comparison is about 700 cals for running 7 miles in 70 minutes if you are 150. (The Runners World calculator does give a higher estimate, but that's the rule of thumb I learned (and perhaps the difference is backing out cals you would have burned anyway.) For running when around 125 or 130, I've always rounded down from 100 cals per mile.

    I think elliptical cals tend to be overstated by the machines/MFP, and MFP's has the added error factor of measuring it by how hard you perceive yourself to be working, which I would only go by without downgrading if I were quite experienced at the activity and in good shape (which OP very well could be, of course). That said, if experienced at elliptical and working hard, having it burn about as much as you could do running in that time is fair, so if OP thinks it was a bit harder than running 7 miles in that time for her, it could be about right.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    Psychgrrl wrote: »

    Are the Aramark meals accurate?

    I work with (not for) Aramark on Campus and I will say they have very strict recipes and portion sizes, instructions and serving utensils. Calorie counts, macros, carbon footprint, water footprint are posted publicly.

    Sure, there can be over/unders, but they’re a profit driven company and I’d guess they have less variance than the average restaurant.

    I use their entries and they match what’s posted on their menu boards. Lost my weight, have maintained the loss.

    Yeah I have worked with them previously and other contract caterers, but quite often when I first started using MFP their entries would be close to the top when searching for a generic entry rather than using my own recipe/restaurant info and I can tell you now from experience, my recipes were a lot higher calorie than Aramark's.

    Ahhh, got it. I only used Aramark entries for Aramark food when I'm eating on campus.
  • rodnichols69
    rodnichols69 Posts: 83 Member
    What is your goal? You are a healthy weight now, are you trying to lose more weight? How long are your workouts? Fitness trackers are notorious for way over-estimating calorie burns. You aren't far off my size, and I wouldn't burn 700 calories if I was balls to the wall running for an hour - more like 3-400 going my hardest, on top of whatever I burn just being alive. Although I'm probably a few years older than you, which can make a difference. At your stats, 1900 sounds likely to be close to maintenance amount, so if you are trying to lose at a reasonable rate your calories look reasonable for the last few days, other than the one where you skipped lunch.

    Heck, I weigh 200 and I have a hard time eating 1900 calories a day.
  • TanyaHooton
    TanyaHooton Posts: 249 Member
    I like the elliptical a lot, but I have a hard time believing that I burn like 350 calories in 35 minutes or whatever those machines tell you. As far as numbers, I try to ensure I hit a specific pace (10 or 11 minute mile, for example) but I use this site to calculate my calories: https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-on-elliptical/ And even then, I still only eat two-thirds to three-fourths back just to account for minor discrepancies in logging.