cant seem to meet my calorie goal....

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brandis26
brandis26 Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
i have been working out like 3 to 4 times a week,i am trying really hard to stick to my calorie diet,i always fall short of my calories is that bad? what r somethings i can do to meet my goals?..plzz help!!!!!
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  • brandis26
    brandis26 Posts: 5
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    i have been working out like 3 to 4 times a week,i am trying really hard to stick to my calorie diet,i always fall short of my calories is that bad? what r somethings i can do to meet my goals?..plzz help!!!!!
  • Omni2463
    Omni2463 Posts: 36
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    add a couple snacks in between meals, maybe a yogurt or cereal bar.....or even a treat you've been craving....yuuum :smile:
  • marshall153
    marshall153 Posts: 150 Member
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    dont worry about it, unless you arent eating much or starving yourself
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,119 Member
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    I know this is ridiculously silly, but eat more.

    Sorry. I had to do it. :wink:
  • racoon1
    racoon1 Posts: 78
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    falling short of your calorie intake is not a bad thing , if your working out more than the usual. your body is telling you you need the extra calories for energy and by eating wisely you will then increase your metobolic rate. try training yourself to eat something healthey every couple of hours along with your awesome excercise and you'll melt the pounds off snap like that.:wink:
  • REB89
    REB89 Posts: 493 Member
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    its important to eat your extra calories burned frome xercise (or at least some of them) its quite easy to make up calories simply add a handful of nuts, almond butter, peanut butter, cheese etc. to your diet. Foods such as nuts are full of good fats and quite high in calories so within a handful you can up your calorie content. There are many similar posts on this so you could try searching through the posts to see what others said.
  • rheston
    rheston Posts: 638
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    First of all you're not on a "diet" you're on a healthy eating plan and lifestyle change. If you were on a diet you would be cutting out a lot of essentially healthy foods in order to lose weight that would eventually creep back on you after you've reached a goal.

    When you say you're falling short of your daily intake does that mean the normal intake before exercising or after?

    It's often a misconception that you have to eat to your exercise "earned" level of calories but that's only if you want to maintain your current weight. If you're falling short of your daily intake calculated after exercising then that's a good thing because you are working off the weight and still eating healthy.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
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    First of all you're not on a "diet" you're on a healthy eating plan and lifestyle change. If you were on a diet you would be cutting out a lot of essentially healthy foods in order to lose weight that would eventually creep back on you after you've reached a goal.

    When you say you're falling short of your daily intake does that mean the normal intake before exercising or after?

    It's often a misconception that you have to eat to your exercise "earned" level of calories but that's only if you want to maintain your current weight. If you're falling short of your daily intake calculated after exercising then that's a good thing because you are working off the weight and still eating healthy.

    I respectfully disagree with the idea of not needing to eat your exercise calories. For the most part, if you follow the goal section, eating your exercise calories will keep you in the range set aside for you to maintain a healthy calorie deficite. I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion Bob, maybe if you could explain why you think not eating exercise calories will be ok, then I (we?) can understand better. I just can't see having a deficite and then opening it up wider by not eating the calories to keep it there. I mean, exercise burns extra calories, so why would you think that not putting those calories back is the right way? Please understand, I'm not critsizing, just trying to understand.

    -Steve
  • REB89
    REB89 Posts: 493 Member
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    First of all you're not on a "diet" you're on a healthy eating plan and lifestyle change. If you were on a diet you would be cutting out a lot of essentially healthy foods in order to lose weight that would eventually creep back on you after you've reached a goal.

    When you say you're falling short of your daily intake does that mean the normal intake before exercising or after?

    It's often a misconception that you have to eat to your exercise "earned" level of calories but that's only if you want to maintain your current weight. If you're falling short of your daily intake calculated after exercising then that's a good thing because you are working off the weight and still eating healthy.

    i could be wrong but i thought that MFP already calculates your calorie deficiency (in order for you to lose weight) into your daily goal without exercise, so if you burn any extra calories on top of your normal daily activity, then you should eat these or else you risk going into starvation mode. For example: If like me you need 1,200 calories a day (which calculates to around 1lb weight loss a week) then if i burnt 500 calories at the gym and didn't eat the extra calories I burnt, i would have only 700 calories which would put me in starvation mode as that is less than my body needs to function. As I said, I could eb wrong but there are many posts on this any I'm pretty sure this is what the majoity of people think.

    Read the post The answers to The Questions, i think it will give the answers you were looking for!
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
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    Eat all of your daily calories plus all or most of your excercise ones. If you're a bit short sometimes don't worry about it but make a concious effore not to be! If you're really not hungry, do what I do, and drink your calories! Stick to 100% fruit/ vegetable juices, and skim milk. If you don't eat all your calories you risk having your body go into starvation mode, which will make losing weight difficult because it slows down your metabolism. DOn't do that to yourself. Good luck!
  • Kirsty
    Kirsty Posts: 40 Member
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    I was just about to put the same subject in myself,just done a work out burning 500 calories and i haven't eaten many high calorie foods yet,yet I've had my dinner which was small,as I'll have my big dinner later,i think i will have a gone size portion of nuts for my snack later and hopefully put back my calories I've burned I've never worked out so hard as I've done today and hope to keep it up. I'm throughly enjoying getting fit and healthy x
  • rheston
    rheston Posts: 638
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    You may feel it was incorrect for me to make my comment but I thought the purpose of these posts was for each of us to offer our opinion about what works for them. There's nothing on the web or medical journals that disprove what I've commented on in fact you can find for yourself that there are many posts that go down the line I've suggested.

    Whether to eat to the exercise calorie earned level or to remain at your base level should be determined by each individual. Look at all of the posts regarding this topic and you will see that each individual is having either some difficulty with eating to their level of earned calories many to the extent that they've gained weight.

    We all need energy to survive. If we want to be scientifically accurate we should all focus on the three basice calorie burners 1) Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. 2) Physical activity, consumes the next highest number of calories. And, 3) The thermic effect of food. This is the amount of energy your body uses to digest the food you eat. But we don't do that collectively we do that selectively and without much scientific accuracy at that.

    Most all of what MFP and other sites offer are general guidelines based on general information and there's no one out there who can empatically say that one solution is the be all and end all for everyone and if my comments came across that way I apologize.

    One thing about exercise is that it raises your metabolic rate not only while you're huffing and puffing on the treadmill, it continues to function at a higher level, burning an increased number of calories, for about two hours after you've stopped exercising.

    If you eat exactly the number of calories that you burn and you are only talking about your weight, the answer is no. If you burn what you eat, you will maintain your weight, and if you burn more than you eat, you will lose weight.

    The basic theme that you will see on the web is to follow what your body dictates and not your mind when trying to decide whether you eat to your exercise bonus points or not. This all about a lifestyle change and coming into a balance of eating, exercising and being healthy about it all.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
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    I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative. But all the research I have done leads me to conclude that creating a deficite based on your maintenance weight, minus the desired amount will give you weight loss. Exercise calories increase that deficite, often it can increase it to the point where your body begins to think it isn't receiving enough to run the metabolism at a normal rate.
    I'm not saying everyone is the same, as a matter of fact, I usually tell people that everyone has a different level of calorie burn based upon the fact that each body is a dynamic, complex system.
    But overall I can't see how the logic is debatable.

    My facts are this.
    you have a rate at which you burn calories through a normal day
    this is called your maintenance rate. I don't believe anyone can dispute this.

    You can subtract a certain amount of calories from that maintenance rate and acheive weight loss.
    I also don't think this is debatable.

    Exercise burns calories. Obviously not debatable.

    Eating below a certain amount of calories will put your body into starvation mode. Also not debatable.

    The only thing I can think of that IS debatable is how many calories will put you into starvation mode.
    The research I have done suggests somewhere between 1000 and 1200 calories below your maintenance mode for an average male, and 700 and 1000 for an average female.
    (obviously these vary widely depending on your height, weight, metabolic rate...etc)

    Most people on here tend to create a deficite of between 500 and 1000 calories. Add 400 to 1000 exercise calories to that and don't eat those calories after, and many, if not most people would go into starvation mode (after a period of time, I'm not talking about a single day or anything) and would start burning less fat, and more lean tissue, as well as slowing down their base metabolism. There are some caviats to this of course, being obese is one of them (having a BMI in the 30's or above).

    Again, I'm not trying to call anyone out. I just want to know why you would say not to eat your exercise calories.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
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    I just wanted to make it clear rheston, I deeply respect your opinions on things, I am not trying to say anything that will upset you, hopefully you realize that this is just a lively debate. Anyway, I just wanted that out there so you didn't think I was picking a fight or something. I'm really not.
  • yesIcan
    yesIcan Posts: 66 Member
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    My trainer would tell me when I couldn't eat all my calories to force myself to eat them anyways, but I had some problems with that a found a couple ways to add calories without stretch out my stomach.
    I either do one of two thing, I plan out ALL my meals for the entire day including an estimate of how many calories I will burn at the gym and just try to fill them up. For instance, if I know i'm going to be under and will be full, maybe i'll add cheese to my veggie burger to up the cals or chose a particular snack higher in calories.
    Another thing that I do, is I buy meal replacement shakes. You can get them preprepared in a can (not too expensive either), all differing amount of calories, or you can get the powders and mix them for youself. I like the cans cause they're easier and usually taste better. If you're not hungry but need the fuel, just drink one of those. Kinda like a light milkshake plus they're loaded with vitamines and minerals IN liquid form which is even easier for your body to absorb.
    Hope that helps! :drinker:
  • yesIcan
    yesIcan Posts: 66 Member
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    PS. I've wasted so much time and energy in starvation mode, I actually go a little higher in my calories just incase i'm burning extra that I'm not aware of... that way i cover my bases.
  • brandis26
    brandis26 Posts: 5
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    just wanted to thank everyone for ur help!!!!!!!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,119 Member
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    I agree with Steve. And that's all I have to say about that.

    :flowerforyou:
  • Aoife101
    Aoife101 Posts: 7
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    Hey guys,

    A calorie by definition is a unit of energy which we absorb through our food intake. We must consume a certain amount of calories which will provide us with enough energy to go about our daily routine. This website gives an estimation of what your ideal target calorie intake should be this is directly correlated to your current weight, age and activity levels. Each of us will have a different target calorie intake depending on our personal situation.
    The general conception is that when you excercise you are using up the energy which you have abstracted from your food intake. It is important to replace the energy which you have used up by eating high energy low fat foods such as pasta. If you notice athletes eat a high calorie diet because they are using up so much energy and nutrients in their daily routine.
    If you have increased excercising but not your calorieintake your poor body will not know what is happening to it and you will feel more tired and lethargic. In order to benefit from your excercise you should be eat food that wil replenish and replace nourishment lost at the gym!
    My suggestion for you would be to eat a high calorie low fat food source before excercising and after excercise such as a banana beforehand and a bowl of pasta afterward to ensure you are providing your body with the energy it needs. Smoothies can be a good way of replenishing energy levels especially those with high fruit content. Dont forget to drink loads of water too as thirst can often be mistaken for hunger.
    Hope this helps a little bit,
    Aoife.:tongue:
  • icandoit
    icandoit Posts: 4,163 Member
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    I also agree with Banks (Steve-did not know your name) I found when I ate all my calories, I would have more energy and I also found that I was losing weight. Before understanding all of this. I was not eating my calories and I was not losing. Our body needs the energy that food gives for our metabolism to get it's boost.
    If you are running short of calories, grab some almonds or some peanut butter.

    This is a very important post that all should read
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

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