Eating less than your recommended daily calorie intake?

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  • gooberr4
    gooberr4 Posts: 253 Member
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    it seems that it just depends on the person. Some people say they lost weight because they didn't eat their exercise calories, some people say they lost weight when they ate their exercise calories back. I'm gonna go with loganaw and say eat when you're hungry, don't eat when your not. I guess you just gotta figure out what works best for you.
  • ronnieabc
    ronnieabc Posts: 23
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    Hey I am here if you want to push each other. I have trouble as I am excercising and not sure how accurate the amount of calories I am burning is as I am doing excercise tapes! If you have any experience with that let me know and I would be glad to call you friend!
  • chickybabe05
    chickybabe05 Posts: 48
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    Hi there, I am also having a hard time eating all of my allocated calories, and its seems to be a pretty heated debate about under-eating. I eat healthy foods when im hungry and drink plenty. I haven't dropped heaps of weight but its coming of slow and steady. Trying to find high calories snacks has helped bump up my intake a bit, don't panic its a learning curve and i hope we can learn together!!
  • runningneo122
    runningneo122 Posts: 6,962 Member
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    Starvation mode is a myth according to one poster who linked to some research. Apparantly, you have to not eat ANYTHING for 2 and a half days to get to starvation mode!! I think going under a couple hundred cals every so often is ok.

    That poster was citing studies that had NOTHING to do with "starvation mode" b/c they weren't talking about exercise cals and in one study the subjects were completely sedentary!!

    Read this:

    http://www.burnthefat.com/starvation_mode.html
  • becks0127
    becks0127 Posts: 15
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    Good to know. That is what everyone keeps telling me. Kinda hard to believe that you have to eat more to lose more, isn't it? I believe it, though!
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    My goal is set at 1200 on any given day before exercise I eat like 1200 to 1300,after exercise its lower.Ive been tracking my calories in diffrent ways for over a year,with no eating back of exercise calories unless im hungry.ive lost weight just fine.
  • 123Jude
    123Jude Posts: 56 Member
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    Robin, u really are harsh, and quite frankly it is a FACT if u eat less, u loose weight, does it matter in figures how MUCH less??
    Either way, your comments are supposed to be a supporting comment, not one that makes members (and anybody trying to loose weight) feel like they are doing something wrong when they are clearly progressing.
  • ramseyrose
    ramseyrose Posts: 421 Member
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    A few years ago in a gym I had a metabolic test (I weighed slightly less than now). It worked out for my body (organs etc) to run correctly each day I needed about 2200 calories for my size and weight. If I ate less than that I would lose weight.

    Both this site and another that I am using say I can eat 1500 calories and will lose weight but still stay in a healthy range. I find this amount easy to eat, a banana being about 100 calories, a pear 80 it soon adds up. A small amount of rice or pasta will also bump up the calories as will a slice of wholemal bread.

    A couple of days I have gone under but I used them up on Saturday and treated my self to a couple of glasses of wine. I keep reading in mags that its the average over the week that counts so if you need more at weekends you can use any unused ones from the week.

    If you eat too few calories, your body will start to use muscle for energy and thats when you run into problems. Bad breath is one of the bad side-effects.

    If possible I would say you need to eat your calories inluding exercise ones. Its seems to have worked for most people on here.
  • deeanne22
    deeanne22 Posts: 28
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    I really panicked when I saw that my daily diet is under.
    The thing is that I never feel hungry after eating a meal any more,

    I have protein foods for breakfast and not hungry til 1 and then lunch and not hugry until 8/9pm

    I am supposed to snack between meals but dont feel hungry so no need to pick.

    what do i do then??

    I dont want to force food down my throat when i am not in the least but hungry
  • bbb84
    bbb84 Posts: 418 Member
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    Nothing here is 100%. Sometimes you have to play with the numbers a little to find out what works best for you and what keeps your metabolism running full force. What works for me may not work for you. Personally I try to stay close to my recommended calories or within 100 or so, a range if you will. Most days I eat back my exericise calories, but some I do not. On the days that I do not, either A) I am not hungry or B) I played two games of softball around 8-10pm and its really too late to try to make up those calories. I am recommended at 1500 give or take and I have been losing consistently 1-2 lbs a week and my food calories (not net) are almost always close. You have to do what works for YOU and your body!. Good luck on your journey, this is an awesome place to be!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    Robin, u really are harsh, and quite frankly it is a FACT if u eat less, u loose weight, does it matter in figures how MUCH less??
    Either way, your comments are supposed to be a supporting comment, not one that makes members (and anybody trying to loose weight) feel like they are doing something wrong when they are clearly progressing.

    Says the person who just joined, to the person who has done tons of research, helped tons of people, and REACHED their goal....

    Does it matter how much less? HELL YES! It matters a LOT! Do you only want the number on the scale to go down by any means necessary? If so, then by all means starve yourself. But the number on the scale will reflect loss of muscle, not just fat.

    You don't want to lose "weight". You want to lose FAT. and if you have too high a deficit you will lose MUSCLE. which is BAD. And if you have WAY too high a deficit, your hair can fall out, your skin will be dull, your metabolism will slow drastically...
    read this thread:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/174065-starvation-mode-is-real-and-ugly
    a first hand account of a woman who is dealing with the effects of long term underfeeding.

    You want to be HEALTHY, STRONG, SLIM,and FIT.....not "skinny".

    I am not being "harsh". My responses are to educate and help people. And I get way more inbox messages asking for help and way more thank you's than I do comments like yours .
  • runningneo122
    runningneo122 Posts: 6,962 Member
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    Robin, u really are harsh, and quite frankly it is a FACT if u eat less, u loose weight, does it matter in figures how MUCH less??
    Either way, your comments are supposed to be a supporting comment, not one that makes members (and anybody trying to loose weight) feel like they are doing something wrong when they are clearly progressing.

    Says the person who just joined, to the person who has done tons of research, helped tons of people, and REACHED their goal....

    Does it matter how much less? HELL YES! It matters a LOT! Do you only want the number on the scale to go down by any means necessary? If so, then by all means starve yourself. But the number on the scale will reflect loss of muscle, not just fat.

    You don't want to lose "weight". You want to lose FAT. and if you have too high a deficit you will lose MUSCLE. which is BAD. And if you have WAY too high a deficit, your hair can fall out, your skin will be dull, your metabolism will slow drastically...
    read this thread:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/174065-starvation-mode-is-real-and-ugly
    a first hand account of a woman who is dealing with the effects of long term underfeeding.

    You want to be HEALTHY, STRONG, SLIM,and FIT.....not "skinny".

    I am not being "harsh". My responses are to educate and help people. And I get way more inbox messages asking for help and way more thank you's than I do comments like yours .

    WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO !! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
  • 123Jude
    123Jude Posts: 56 Member
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    so because i don't get people e-mailing me for help, or get comments, or because ive just joined, means i know nothing about this process, and i have done no research ??

    hmm, well i hope your happy with yourself for making me feel belittled, JUST BECAUSE ive just joined the site.

    if you "help" people so much, im sure these people will have had a "just starting point" at the first stage, so im sorry if ive JUST decided yes im fat and i need to do something about it, but hey, **** **** stinks.

    and im not somebody who wants to become the worlds fittest human, i just want to loose WEIGHT, FAT is obviously a part of that.
  • Xanadar
    Xanadar Posts: 23
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    Eating too little will cause your metabolism to slow down. Remember, your body does not know you are trying to lose weight. If you are not getting enough nutrients, your body thinks food is scarce. It wants to keep you alive, and will slow things down if you are not eating enough. On the flip side of the coin, you cannot just eat 1200 or 1500 calories in one or two big meals. The same thing happens. Your metabolism slows down. NEVER skip a meal. Eat small meals six to eight times a day, about two to three hours apart. Keep it under 300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have three or more snacks of 100- 200 calories each. This will boost your metabolism like you won't believe. I've been following this plan and have lost about 3/4 of a pound every day. If you are having trouble eating your required calories, I suspect that you are not hungry because your activity level is too low. If you increase your level of exercise, your body will require more calories, and will respond by increasing your hunger.
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
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    I'm curious what people having trouble reaching 1200 calories a day are planning on doing once they're at that magical number on the scale that makes every day sunny life's problems just disappear. Do you just plan on undereating forever? How long do you think you have until your body has eaten away any muscle or tissue to protect itself from starving? Or is it that you're saying that you can't reach your target because you're hoping that by starving yourself, you'll shave a couple of weeks off your weight loss journey? Do you have a timelimit or something? If that's the case, what do you think will happen when your body -- that is used to eating less than 1200 calories a day for YEARS -- when it's reintroduced to maintainence calories? Do you think it'll be all "oh I can totally adapt to this new caloric amount and will use it properly"? 'Fraid not. That's why this likely isn't your first time going through weight loss, and frankly won't be your last time.

    And your body isn't hungry because you've CONSTANTLY UNDERFED IT so it doesn't bother to waste what little fuel it has sending messages to your brain or stomach to let you know that you're hungry because you've ignored it for so long.

    My left eye is extremely poor. I grew up in the country with practically no access to doctors and eye exams weren't exactly top priority. I didn't bother telling anyone when I was a kid because I honestly thought everyone's left eye was weaker than the right one. By the time it was noticed, I was in my early twenties (after I had moved to the city), so I went to as many eye specialists as I could find. Every one of them has said that by then, it was too late for corrective lens/surgery because my brain has learned over the years to ignore any information from my left eye and to rely solely on my right eye. I've continued to try eye specialists to see if science has caught up with me, but sadly, that's confirmed time and time again. So if I have my right eye closed and my left eye sees a Mac truck heading towards me, my brain will not register the danger. Doesn't mean the danger isn't there, just my brain won't register it.

    (hopefully you can see how that relates to hunger signals, but if not, left eye seeing danger = chronically underfed body experiencing hunger.)
  • sdoherty1000
    sdoherty1000 Posts: 146 Member
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    My story is this, in the first 2 months I lost loads of weight really quick and then it stuttered, in march I haven't lost that much and here's why. On a saturday I would weight myself and noticed only a slight drop in weight but then by Tuesday I had put on a kg- 1.5kg then by Saturday I was still heavier than what I weighted in at the week previous. I then started making sure my net cals were 1200 or higher and the weight is now dropping off again at a decent rate. In my opinion you should make sure your net calories is higher than 1200. You need to eat more to lose more and this is certainly working fr me at the minute.

    Today I burnt 1079 calories in the gym which now gives me a total of 2469 calories which I intend to use till me net is 1200
  • kfue
    kfue Posts: 17
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    If one day I go WAY(~300-400) over my calories and the next day I exercise a ton and am under my daily calorie intake, is that a bad thing?

    I still have 400 calories left to consume today (already entered in my dinner). I just don't wanna send my body into shock.

    Anyone know?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,404 MFP Moderator
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    I can tell you that the study that i did on mfp and posted suggested those with lower body fats ate more. I can tell you there is a thread right now on eating more to lose more works, from personal experience and working with others on this board and i can tell you hih deficit cause muscle loss which causes your metabolism to slow down. So i ask is a little more short term weight loss greater than longer terms weight loss? I can tell you when you lose a lot od weight quickly and much of which is muscle it sure makes losing weight more difficult in the long term. Hell people on the hcg tend to lose 50% of their weight from muscle loss. So i question do you plan to always eat vlcd or would you like to be able to eat 2000+ calories without gaining weight?
  • samkomissarov
    samkomissarov Posts: 2
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    I'm curious what people having trouble reaching 1200 calories a day are planning on doing once they're at that magical number on the scale that makes every day sunny life's problems just disappear. Do you just plan on undereating forever? How long do you think you have until your body has eaten away any muscle or tissue to protect itself from starving? Or is it that you're saying that you can't reach your target because you're hoping that by starving yourself, you'll shave a couple of weeks off your weight loss journey? Do you have a timelimit or something? If that's the case, what do you think will happen when your body -- that is used to eating less than 1200 calories a day for YEARS -- when it's reintroduced to maintainence calories? Do you think it'll be all "oh I can totally adapt to this new caloric amount and will use it properly"? 'Fraid not. That's why this likely isn't your first time going through weight loss, and frankly won't be your last time.

    And your body isn't hungry because you've CONSTANTLY UNDERFED IT so it doesn't bother to waste what little fuel it has sending messages to your brain or stomach to let you know that you're hungry because you've ignored it for so long.

    My left eye is extremely poor. I grew up in the country with practically no access to doctors and eye exams weren't exactly top priority. I didn't bother telling anyone when I was a kid because I honestly thought everyone's left eye was weaker than the right one. By the time it was noticed, I was in my early twenties (after I had moved to the city), so I went to as many eye specialists as I could find. Every one of them has said that by then, it was too late for corrective lens/surgery because my brain has learned over the years to ignore any information from my left eye and to rely solely on my right eye. I've continued to try eye specialists to see if science has caught up with me, but sadly, that's confirmed time and time again. So if I have my right eye closed and my left eye sees a Mac truck heading towards me, my brain will not register the danger. Doesn't mean the danger isn't there, just my brain won't register it.

    (hopefully you can see how that relates to hunger signals, but if not, left eye seeing danger = chronically underfed body experiencing hunger.)



    in two months alone i lost 13 pounds because when i burn off my calories i dont eat them back. If your not hungry dont eat!! DUH its not rocket science. I am by no means starving im just active and eat healthy. Sorry if i cant stuff my face when im not hungry just to hit a calorie goal. Not being a glutten doesnt mean your starving it means your not hungry.
  • Rays_Wife
    Rays_Wife Posts: 1,173 Member
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    in two months alone i lost 13 pounds because when i burn off my calories i dont eat them back. If your not hungry dont eat!! DUH its not rocket science. I am by no means starving im just active and eat healthy. Sorry if i cant stuff my face when im not hungry just to hit a calorie goal. Not being a glutten doesnt mean your starving it means your not hungry.

    You just missed the whole point of her post. DUH! :flowerforyou:

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