Having trouble staying under my calorie limit

Given I can't see your diary I can't see what you're eating. At a guess you're eating the wrong things.

If you're choosing high calorie options you're going to find that staying under the calorie goal is really hard. Also if your portion sizes are too big you're also going to have this problem.

Start by reducing the portion sizes of things. See how that does. Other things like not having butter on your sandwich when you've got mayonnaise will cut the calories there and allow you to have extra fruit/vegs or healthy snacks.

Also drink water. You may not actually be hungry. You might actually be thirsty.

Try eating denser foods with lower calories. Chicken breast, for example. I personally think yogurt is a wonder food. So few calories and really fills me. Eat more veggies and drink more water. You could fill your plate and belly with something like brocolli and have very few calories consumed. Eating a huge plate of brocolli doesn't appeal to me, but you get the idea... Good luck!

Some things that work for me:

Distractions that consume. For me it is painting, sewing, call a friend to catch up and sometimes I will leave the house and get away from food.

Time. The first few days are the toughest.

Exercise. A brisk walk not only leaves you less hungry, it earns you more calories.

Shifting to more protein and less carbs, at the same calorie level. It tends to be much more satisfying.

Carbonated drinks. Diet soda, or the healthier option of sparkling water.

Good luck & hang tough!

It really is necessary to see your diary to know how to help, but what I can tell you is this. The people I see on here who have a few foods to stay under their calorie limit are eating a lot of bread products, processed foods (including nutrition bars etc) and sweets. Basically eating the same way they always have, just less. This will make you feel hungry a lot because your body is not getting the nutrients it needs. The people I see on here eating lots of fruits and veggies and being careful what they eat with their proteins (not a lot of thick, heavy sauces on meats etc) are getting plenty to eat and not feeling hungry. Plus they feel MUCH better for having eaten so well. Also drinking water is a good filler

You need to ditch the sugar cereals, reduce your sodium intake to 1,500mg/day, stop eating processed foods, eat more veggies and protein and fewer carbs. By protein I mean lean meats...no chicken wings or other fried foods.

The site assigns you your daily calories based on your weekly weight loss goal, your activity level, and your size. Maybe you picked too lofty of a weekly goal. 2lbs a week is HARD. I try for 0.5lbs per week (when I try, which I'm not right now). Also not as many people are actually "sedentary" as think they are.

Try adding protein powder to your diet that's what help me.

Are you having enough protein?? that usually keeps me full. I can have a Greek yogurt cup (6 oz) & some fruit and feel full for a few hours, until my next meal or bedtime. It's good for a snack or meal (with added fruit or nuts, or having it with a side salad) try to find snacks that are low in calorie, as mentioned before lol Special K fruit crisps are very yummy, or the Fiber One brownie. just a few examples. But you should definitely research on what's good & count up your calories. The more cardio you do, the more calories you can burn (:

Hi Laura,
Here are a few more thoughts after viewing your diary. You are eating alot of carbs in the form of refined sugar and flour. These things tend to make you crave. They raise your blood sugar and then you get a crash that sends you into cravings. (hunger) I know its hard if this is how you have eaten most of your life but I would suggest you try to limit your bread, cereal (the stuff in the box-real oatmeal is fine), pasta (unless its whole wheat), crackers and cookies to no more than one portion per day. Trade those in for more fruit and veggies. If you want something crunchy try red, yellow or orange bell peper slices, celery and or baby carrots. Instead of the cookies try grapes (really good frozen too) or a sugar free pudding cup with whipped cream. Instead of the deli meat try grilling or baking a few boneless skinless chicken breasts and use these. A few ounces of good lean protien will fill you right up. You ate 400 calories with a few tortillas. Eat the stuff inside and forget the tortilla and you could have eaten twice as much filling. If you have questions about calorie counts try plugging in what you are thinking about eating before you eat it. Then you can see where you could trade something that is small with lots of calories for something more filling. Good luck. Figuring all of this out is really hard. The best place you can be to figure this out is right here! Think about just makeing small changes and you will be amazed at how they add up...

One more thought. Drink more water.

I think there are a few things to consider here.

The first one is - are your weight loss goals realistic? If you are set to lose 2 pounds a week this might be too agressive for your weight. If so, change your setting to 1 pound or 1/2 pound a week. Yes, you might lose weight a bit slower, but if you have a program that is sustainable you will see results in the longer term, instead of giving up in a few weeks because it's too hard.

Are you set at the right activity level? If you are really sedentary this chose this, otherwise think about what you do in a regular day (excluding exercise) and choose lightly active or a higher activity setting if this seems accurate.

Are you adding your exercise into your diary? MPF calculates your daily calorie allowance without taking exercise into account. This means that when you exercise and add this into your diary you get to eat the extra calories - and you still have a calorie deficit and you still lose weight!

You've had lots of suggestions about food - I think you need to treat this as a learning process and experiment with different meals and snacks. In general less processed stuff is going to have less calories and will fill you up more for the amount of calories you get. So, things like a banana or almonds will give you more nutrition and fill you up more than the same amount of calories in cookies or crisps.

And, dont panic if you go over your calories. Depending on your setting you will have a deficit of 1000/500/250 cals a day - do if you eat an extra 200 cals you will still have a deficit and can still lose weight. Just slower.
Remember, you don't have to change everything at once, if it all seems to hard then change one meal at a time to a healthier option and you will see results!

Ship the calories over to me. I have trouble eating my daily calories.

I love cheese too. This is probably the hardest food for me to give up. That and real salad dressing (ranch). I remember trying reduced fat cheese a few years a go and thought it was like eating rubber. Wrong consistency and flavorless. I was happy to figure out that the 2% cheeses now are a lot better. Especially when added to other foods like in a taco salad or an omlett I really can't tell the difference. Same goes for fat free ranch. I do not like the flavor on a salad on its own but when added to other things and with foods that also have a lot of flavor it works great. The other cheese things that I have found that are not bad are to replace cheddar with Motzerella and the mini baby bell cheese rounds. I know a lot of people like the laughing cow cheese wedges too. I try to save these for the evenings for those days that I still have lots of calories to make up. (Trust me you'll get there). I think the hardest part of doing this is eating with other people and especially eating out. I took my God son (17) to dinner at quaker steak and lube last weekend and even though I was careful it was the worst meal in months. Luckily I planned for it and ate very low calorie stuff the rest of the day but it is amazing what resteraunts do.

I was told and it seems to be true that you can have one larger meal like that once a week without it hurting you too much. As long as its not too horrible (no eating full cakes and gallons of ice cream) you will still have that weekly deficit that will allow loss.

Whoever talked about going over the protien-Most people believe that MFP levels for protien are a bit low. Its OK to go over here and in fiber (cause the more the better). Its the other categories that you want to be careful in -carbs, fat, calories.