Food intake

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louisatanhuiying
louisatanhuiying Posts: 17
in Food and Nutrition
Actually, I don't understand some things. Let's say my breakfast is a wholemeal slice - 63.5 calories, then a glass of water. My lunch is a bowl of rice and okra and baby shrimp and onion, which brings it to about 450 calories. My dinner is a Singaporean local dish called char siew rice and it's 603 calories. I drink plain water throughout the day. So my overall everyday can range from 750 - 1500. Will this adversely affect my weight?

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  • lizgreenhill
    lizgreenhill Posts: 185
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    it depends. Are you exercising? If you are exercising are you eating your exercise calories? Changing up your metabolism is good for losing weight. i used to eat the same time every day and the scale didnt budge for a week. I switched up the times i ate and didnt eat my exercise calories and the lbs just dropped. try eating small meals 5-6 times a d day if possible or atleast eat every 3-4 hours. it keeps your body from starving and keeps your metabolism going. If you are exercising and not eating enough i dont think you will lose the weight either. Maybe try eating your extra calories some days and then less the next. Good luck to you
  • bjberry
    bjberry Posts: 665 Member
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    It might work just fine as long as you average 1200 calories per day over the course of a week. As long as your body does not think you are starving, you can still continue to lose weight. Drinking losts of water, as you are doing, is always a good thing.
    Have fun! :drinker: (water)
  • shovav91
    shovav91 Posts: 2,335 Member
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    You need to be eating at least 1200 calories a day NET (meaning that if you burn 300, you need to be eating at least 1500). If you go below that daily for a significant period of time, you will stop losing weight because your body will be struggling to survive by holding on to everything you give it.
  • AdAstra47
    AdAstra47 Posts: 823 Member
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    Goodness, child, that doesn't sound like enough food to keep a bird alive! :smile:

    I can't answer your question. No one can, unless it's your doctor. I don't know how tall you are, or what your frame is like, or your genetic ancestry, or the altitude where you live, or how much stress you're under... there are a hundred different variables that can affect how many calories you "should" eat and how your weight loss will work. Your BMR, the number of calories that your body burns just in order to keep itself alive, can vary widely even among people who are the same gender & size. The only way to tell for sure how fast or slow your metabolism is, is to have tests done by your doctor. So my point is that the guidelines on MFP are just extremely rough estimates, and you're going to have to tweak them to fit your individual metabolism. Everyone is different. People on this site can offer good advice about what worked for them, but their suggestions may or may not work for you.

    But with that said, the conventional wisdom is that a woman should never eat fewer than 1200 calories per day. Very few women have a BMR lower than that. And your BMR is what you would burn if you were sitting around in a coma... since you're on MFP posting things, I'll assume that you are up and walking and talking and living a nice full life, which will burn even more calories. So my point is that 750 calories seems very very low. Yes, you want to lower your calorie intake if you're trying to lose weight. But you also want to make sure that you're getting all the nutrients you need, and not stressing / starving your body too much.

    My other concern, from your food description, is protein. The baby shrimp and the char siew both have protein, which is good, just make sure your portions are large enough so you meet or exceed your daily protein goals. Biochemically, when your body burns fatty acids for energy, the chemical reaction also requires amino acids. Amino acids come from protein. So if you don't eat enough protein, you can't burn your fat very efficiently. Protein is also a vital ingredient to keep your muscles healthy. The MFP guidelines come from the amount of protein needed to sustain normal body functions. But if you're trying to lose weight, you really need more than that. Many people find it beneficial to try & eat 1g of protein for every 1lb of body weight. I weigh around 250 lb, so I eat 250g protein every day... That isn't for everyone; as I said, everyone's body is different. But you certainly don't want to eat any less than MFP's recommended amount.

    Just listen to your body, and if you're unhappy with your progress, try changing something. But after every change, give it a month; sometimes these things are cumulative. No one likes to hear this, but it is a long, slow process of trial and error, figuring out what will work best for your body. Apply the scientific method: change one thing, see what happens. Change one more thing, see what happens. The good news is that the tracking tools on MFP make it much easier for you to really see what you're doing.

    Good luck to you!

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