Calories

uphall1970
uphall1970 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

hi all .should I be hitting my calories numbers . As I am short every day . But I was thinking this would not matter as it would help with weight loss can anybody tell me if this is ok

Answers

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,338 Member

    You should be trying to hit your calories every day. A tiny bit over or under doesn't matter, but consistently undereating is not good. Sure, fast weightloss sounds cool, but fast means potentially losing muscles (they're difficult to replace, plus risk of osteoporosis and loss of mobility at age), looking not great but grey, flabby not fit. Think hair loss, dull skin, etc. Or your body simply catches up with your brain and you start binging and giving up. This assumes your daily calories are already very low with what MFP gives you. If you're very big and you've been given a high calorie number then going a bit faster early on might be ok. But we don't know as we don't know anything about you, or your stats.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,366 Member

    if you’re not hungry and you’re getting your protein and proper nutrition then don’t worry about it if you can get by with a few less calories by getting in the proper nutrition then that’s totally fine.

    Calorie counting is never going to be absolutely perfect so there’s a potential that your calories may be a bit different than you’re actually recording. Also, it would be good to know your height weight and gender as things like that are definitely a factor if you can get by with fewer calories and what is the calorie amount you're shooting for.

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,482 Member
    edited March 17

    Don't drastically undereat. Your hair will fall out. Your skin will slough off. You won't sleep, but you'll lie in bed for hours. Ask me how I know.

    If you haven't cut calories very deeply already and you're undereating by 50-100 calories, it's probably fine.

    The fact that you're posting at 2:30 in the morning makes me wonder if it's already affecting your sleep?

    @uphall1970

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,851 Member

    Aggressively fast weight loss increases health risk, can compromise appearance, and makes giving up more likely because It's. Just. Too. Hard.

    What matters is not theories about how many calories we need, what matters is actual loss averaged over 4-6 weeks, or at least one whole menstrual cycle.

    My advice would be not to lose faster than 1% of current body weight per week, unless under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications . . . and 0.5% of current weight per week would be better for a large range of people.

    I lost too fast at first by accident, because MFP significantly underestimates my calorie needs: Rare but possible. I got weak and fatigued, maybe had some hair thinning, which usually happens down the road a few weeks from the too-fast loss. No one needs any of that, and I was lucky: Consequences can be much worse in some cases.

    Here's the thing: Sometimes a more moderate weight loss rate will get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some aggressive plan that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered overeating, breaks in the action, or giving up altogether. As a bonus, gradual loss can help us find the new, positive routine habits that will keep us at a healthy weight long-term, ideally permanently. Most people find maintaining the loss more difficult than losing in the first place.

    On top of that, there's no way to get adequate nutrition on too-few calories, because we need minimum gram amounts of certain essential nutrients, including protein and fats.

    Don't routinely lowball your calorie goal. A little under some days, a little over others: No big deal. It's the average over a few days to a week that's going to matter. But way under, lots of the time: Generally not a good plan.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,366 Member

    without knowing all of your details, it’s impossible to give you any real advice. You could be hugely overweight, and the app is telling you to eat 4000 cal or something. We just don’t know so until you can give some actual statistics and information it’s all just guessing what to tell you to do.

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