Am I Eating Enough?

ckerrcanchaser
ckerrcanchaser Posts: 34
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I was wondering if I was eating the right amount? I've been reading some topics on how people raise their calorie intake from 1200 up to 1600. I have been working out for about 2 1/2 weeks and I've lost 3 pounds so far. I'm not complaining at all about my weight loss and I'm quite happy of what I have lost but I was wondering if I need to eat more calories?

I rarely eat over 1200 calories and I work out 6 days a week, burning around 550 calories each workout. I've been drinking at least 3 glasses of water each day (but I hate water lol so I'm working on drinking more), eat three times a day or more and I work out an hour after I have breakfast. But I never seem to eat around 1200 calories, I always eat less. I'm 138lbs, was 140lbs, and my goal weight is 115lbs but I would be just as happy with 120lbs. I'm also 5'4" and turning 21 in three months if size or age has a fact in it. Below is the information of what I ate today.


Goal Food Exercise = Net
1200 846 - 556 290

Replies

  • Colbyandsage
    Colbyandsage Posts: 751 Member
    I would probably eat back half ur calorie burnt for a week and see how it goes. I bumped up to 1400 to 1500 with 400 cals a day being burnt and am loosing more plus I have way more energy. I also added protein shakes to get more protein. It's working for me but everyone is different. :)
  • jillthemom
    jillthemom Posts: 31 Member
    It looks like you are way under eating to me.
  • ckerrcanchaser
    ckerrcanchaser Posts: 34
    I'm not to sure how to eat more without feeling stuffed though. :/ I only eat when I'm hungry and I try not to eat when I'm not hungry or over eat when I am eating a meal.
  • taryn_09
    taryn_09 Posts: 196 Member
    id say under eating which is going to slow down your weight loss a lot. its scary saying eat more to lose more but its so so true. if you keep being under so much your body will hold onto anything and everything as fat because it thinks it wont be fed again for who knows how long. (which is also why your not hungry either)
    one definitely dont go under 1200 (something that took me a while to grasp) then also from exercising you really do need to eat back your calories. i used this website http://www.bestdallaspersonaltrainer.com/energy-expenditure-calculator.html

    its probably going to give you a different number of calories to hit, but 1200 isnt for everyone.

    for instance, this site says if i did nothing i need 1580 really i need 1590 since i run, though i actually need 1830-2000 depending on if i do 5 days a week, and thats just to MAINTAIN.

    try doing shakes, its helped me a lot, blend milk, banana, protein powder and ice. tastes awesome gets the calories in
    also if you lift weights (light weight high rep) you'll tone + rase your rmr + become more hungry

    hope that helps a bit.
    :]
  • JacksMom12
    JacksMom12 Posts: 1,044 Member
    I'm not to sure how to eat more without feeling stuffed though. :/ I only eat when I'm hungry and I try not to eat when I'm not hungry or over eat when I am eating a meal.

    You don't have to "eat more" to achieve your calorie goals. There are lots of ways to up your calories without eating dense food, like add some olive oil to your food while cooking. Eat a handful of trailmix, a spoonful of peanut butter. Add avocado to your sandwich. Use full fat cheese rather than fat free, same goes for dressing. There is no reason you should be netting only 200 calories a day.
  • dovesgate
    dovesgate Posts: 894 Member
    Well, what I did when I needed to increase calories was split my daily calories into three 300 calorie meals and two 150 calorie snacks (for 1200 calories). Then I started eating on a schedule whether I was hungry or not. Eventually my body learned I was going to feed it and I started feeling hunger again.

    When I first started working out I had to resort to eating things like Magnum ice cream bars just to get my calories up without eating a whole lot of volume but once my body straightened out the whole calorie thing, it got much easier and I didn't have to eat the ice cream anymore. Ha - like it was such a huge deprivation, right?

    I've had to increase my calories due to a plateau. Now I pretty much eat 3 meals and 3 snacks or make sure one or two of my meals are larger to compensate for exercise and/or missing a snack.

    Simple things that will easily add 200 calories to your diet -
    Avocado on your sandwich
    2 Tbsp Nutella
    2 Tbsp peanut butter
    Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup granola (250 calories for my favorites)
    Almonds (1.5oz is 260 calories in my favorite flavors)

    I'd also advise you to add some fruits or vegetables to your diet. A medium banana is around 100 calories and won't fill you up too much.

    Are you actually weighing the food you eat? 1 ounce of mashed potatoes doesn't sound like very much at all.
  • kfayjay
    kfayjay Posts: 7
    Hi, your question is right up my alley! It took me literally YEARS to figure this one out and I am just now trying to get the hang of this. I am now 52 years old and I too work out 6 days a week, but I burn anywhere from 500 - 1200 cals a day!!!!!!! I had been wondering why I was not losing and the problem is that I was not eating enough to substantiate the workouts and cals I was burning. Your body needs fuel by way of food to burn. So if you are to eat 1200 cals to lose weight and you burn 500 cals exercising then you need to add 1200 plus 500 to get a total of 1700 cals that you need to eat in order to still lose AND also give ur body what it needs to fuel ur body. The bad side of it is if say you do the opposite and do the 1200 and you burn 500 cals then that means your body is struggling to maintain itself with only 700 cals!!!! And like a previous post says it will sabotage your efforts and your body will cling onto anything ( starvation mode) that it gets and you will not see a weight loss.

    I totally understand you with eating so much food cuz I am the same way. So what you and we have to do is eat more during breakfast and snacks and lunch and have them equal more cals without sacrificing the other important nutrients. I am sure if you did that you will see a great difference. I am hoping myself that this change will be what I need because I work really hard and this has to be why my weight loss is at a snails pace for the amount of cals I burn.

    I am eating late right now to get these cals in since I got a late start working out! And it is after 10 pm here! But I plan to stay up for a few hours so not so bad, but if I had not eaten most of the cals I needed my workout would be for lost. I needed to eat about 2400-2600 cals because I burned 1200 cals working out and 1463 was what I normally need to take in ( 1200 + 1463 =2663 cals) When you really get into how the body works all of this kinda makes sense. Wish I knew it at your age!!! :) Good luck and I hope this made sense.....

    Oh...Btw, with what ur goal intake is and what u burned during exercise you should be eating the total of the two which would be somewhere around 1700 cals....
  • SteveHunt113
    SteveHunt113 Posts: 648 Member
    My first thought is that you are under eating. But, you also have not hit a plateau either. So you are still seeing a weight loss. Given that, you can probably continue with what you are doing (though I've seen others say you must not go below 1200 per day) But, if/when you hit a plateau, you will absolutely need to eat more. I just read a great article about plateau's that another MFP member posted:

    http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html
  • ckerrcanchaser
    ckerrcanchaser Posts: 34
    Thank you all so much for the info and advice! I really like the last comment though. I think I might just keep eating how I have been but if I stop losing weight I'll definitely bump up my calories intake.
    And the next time I go to the grocery store I'm definitely buying more healthy food! I've been wanting to make smoothies for the longest time!! Also, I think I'm measuring my food out correctly. With the 1oz of potatoes, it was a pretty small amount, about have the size of a small plate or a little less so I figured that it was around 1oz.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    You are eating to low. There are many days you don't even hit 1000 calories without taking into account your exercise calories. This is not healthy or sustainable. You need to bump up the calories you are eating.
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