Question for people who have been doing this a while

I can't see your diary, there are options to make it public if that's what you want. What foods are you eating? Processed and high carb foods aren't as satisfying for their number of calories as natural and high protein foods. You'd have to eat a kilogram of broccoli or a large chicken breast to eat the same number of calories you'd get from a normal sized bar of chocolate or two slices of bread.

Never heard that multiplying thing, doesn't sound particularly scientific to me, try the tools that you find on here to work out your BMI and BMR, that'll give you a better idea.
Drinking water is the best for hunger pangs, before, during and after eating. Or look up carbs that are slowly digested like swapping white pasta for whole grain, or searching/googling for the miracle soup, veggies or meat - liguid and chunky helps your stomach out.
good luck!

That multiplication theory doesnt make any sense. I would definately GAIN if I ate that much (I calculated 2688cals)

MFP tends to trim back calories very gradually. In 62lbs my caloric intake has only decreased about 300 calories daily.. And thats been over 7 months.

I could not see anything in your diet without your permission.

If you want to make your diary public, go to Settings > Diary Settings and scroll down until you see "Diary Sharing" at the bottom.

I don't know what constitutes "a while", but I've been doing this for about 6 weeks. At first I needed snacks to get through the day but after a week or two I found I was not hungry until just before meal time. It might be what you are eating, too; some things will fill you up and stick with you for longer. I find that something high in protein and fiber works best.

Multiplying by 12 will give you a rough estimate I suppose, but it was kind of high for me.

I think your body does adjust a bit to the change in calories. I find myself hungry between meals now, but it is not a STARVING type hunger. I also have learned that finding low calorie snacks that can help me make it to my next meal (like a handful of carrots) do help. Keep track of the type of food you are eating - that makes a big difference...eat fruits and veggies, which are lower calorie and will help you feel full for longer than if you have a 100 calorie snack pack (for example). I also like the green giant 'for one' frozen veggies as a snack too....

I've never heard of the whole multiplying by 12 thing...I just did/ate what MFP told me to do, which seemed pretty hard at first, but after a couple of weeks, it seemed MUCH easier!

No one can see your food diary unless you go into your settings and set it as public, but you have to make a step to do that - by default it is private.

Welcome aboard and I hope to hear of good, healthy news from you!

In my opinion, if you're hungry, you've cut the calories too much. You should never feel weak, deprived or unsatisfied with what you're eating. Your goal is to be healthy, and you don't need to punish yourself to get that way. It's better to eat a little more and lose a little slower, but feel good and be able to stick with it, than be hungry and miserable trying to lose faster, then falling off the wagon.

When you cut your calories down, do you find that you are hungry a lot more? If so, did your body adjust to the change? I read recently that if multiplying your current weight by 12 is the number of calories you need to maintain the weight. That was a lot of calories for me and I have cut them by more than half. I just feel hungry most of the time now though. I used to eat a lot even though I wasn't hungry, but now I feel like eating a lot because I am hungry. Can anyone help? Also, as a little side note, can everyone see my food diary or is that private? Thanks for the help!

Meghan

I am a big fan of Steve Troutman (stroutman81 here on MFP). He's extremely knowledgeable and down to earth...he doesn't follow crazy trends & just tells it like it is - a voice of reason & sanity! Here's his website: www.body-improvements.com. Anyway - stealing from his "Eat" documentation (Under Resources/Eat on his website - read the whole article if you can - great stuff!), here's his suggestion for coming up with a rough calorie estimate:

1. Estimate total daily energy expenditure by multiplying your body weight by 14-16 calories per pound. If you’re obese, relatively sedentary, feel that you have a slow metabolism, or you’ve lost a significant amount of weight in the past… you might consider using 12-14 cal/lb. If you’re very lean, highly active, or feel that you have a fast metabolism… you might consider using 16-18 cal/lb.
2. Set your calorie intake at a level above or below the above estimation depending on whether you want to gain or lose weight, respectively. For fat loss, we suggest a deficit of 20-35% in most cases. For muscle gain, we suggest a surplus of 10-25%. As it turns out, 500 calories above or below maintenance isn’t a bad starting point sans the illogical expectations noted above.
3. Use as many metrics as you can to track progress. The scale is an obvious tool, but it can play games with you – especially when you’re relatively lean and trying to get leaner. For that reason, you should also rely on the fit and feel of your clothes, pictures taken at regular intervals where you’re wearing the same outfit standing in the same lighting and the same distance from the camera, and measurements with a soft tape measure. If you have access to body fat % testing, you could use this as well, though I don’t use it with my clients. Track your metrics every 2-4 weeks.
4. Based on the trend you’re seeing with your tracking, adjust your intake accordingly. If fat loss is the goal, you can use a target rate of weight loss of 1% of body weight per week on average. If muscle gain is the goal, aim for about an average monthly weight gain of 1 pound. If after 2-4 weeks you’re actual rate of weight change is above or below the targets, adjust calorie intake up or down accordingly by 10% or so.
5. Rinse and repeat steps 3 & 4 until you a) reach your goal or b) your goals change.