Going Public

If you are exercising like you said you need to eat way more than the 1100 ish you are, and even more than the 1200.

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week.

So either log the workouts and eat the extra cals or change you activity level to active, which will also give you more cals, but this way you would not have to add exercise calories.

Not eating enough will cause you to burn more lean muscle than you would burn if you were fueling your body properly. Although power 90 is not as intense as P90X you should still be eating no less than 1500 (1800 with P90X, according to the diet guide)

Excellent explanation, erickirb!!!!

Ok, thanks Eric... Maybe you can help me here bc I eat until I am full and eat snacks when I get hungry... I almost always go over in the protien dept so I am not sure what I should add to my diet to make up those extra calories... Am I feeling full so fast bc I am drink to much water? I drink anywhere from 9 to 16 cups (8oz) a day. Usually 2-3 cups while I eat...

Eating more calories is quite easy as you don't have to eat more food, you just have to make different food choices.
- Have a glass of juice in place of a glass of water (120-200 cals)
- Stop eating any lite or diet foods and opt for the "real" thing
- Eat nuts, seeds, and/or dehydrated fruit as a snack
- eat nut butters
- eat higher % milk fat products such as yogurt, milk, cheese etc. (i.e. switch from skim to 2% milk)
- add olive oil to soups, sauces and salads
- add avocado to salads and sandwiches

Don't worry about going over on protein, MFP defaults to 15% of total calories where a balanced diet can consist of up to 30
% protein (double MFP amount), and is really important to retain muscle as you lose weight. Some people even eat up to 40% protein. You can change your % to something that suits your diet by going to goals, change goals, custom.

It's a big step making your diary public but it has two really nice benefits. One, as you've seen from Eric's posts, it can help the more experienced and knowledgable folks here provide you with solid feedback on your current habits. That said, don't be shy about telling people their feedback is not welcome if they send it to you without you asking for it. I've heard rumors of that happening although I haven't experienced it myself (and mine is public). Second, having a public diary is a nice motivation to make good choices. When you know that everyone else can see what you're doing, it puts a little "peer pressure" on you. I've found that to be helpful too.