Can we talk Calories please

MallardDucky

Ok so various sites have given me 1200 calories a day ( I believe I get more with working out- just not going to till I am feeling better).

Now I just had breakfest which gave me a total of 280 calories, and feel like I do not eat again for a while. What if at the end of the night I have not had all my calories ( I read other post and most say to eat all allowed calories) and I am just not hungry to eat anymore?  Then what?

Joenali

If you aren't hungry don't eat.

feinicstine

Then don't eat.  If you're spacing your calories out throughout the day then you're more likely to get all of your calories in without hunger pangs.  If you're "saving up" you calories for a big dinner then you might only net about 1000 but not be able to force any more food in.  That's something I had trouble adjusting to, but you will get used to it.

Sessalee1010

I eat about 1300/day right now, and I space it out as such:

300 - breakfast

100 - snack

300-400 - lunch

100 - snack

100 - preworkout snack (this is not counted towards 1300)

400-500 - dinner 

I'm not hungry most of the time, though one of my meds suppresses my appetite as is. 

Julia-Henry

Hunger fluctuates. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. There will be days when you have calories left over, and days when you would like to eat everything in sight. FOr me hunger varies based upon activity level, food choices, water, time of month and other things.

These days, I'm mostly more hungry than not. I'll take your leftover calories!

MallardDucky

Will not eating all the calories interfer with losing weight?

clseale13

You could also just make sure that what you're eating has more calories. If you're eating an apple for a snack, throw an extra 100 calories into that with a tblsp of PB. Eating a salad for lunch? Throw in some avocado. There are ways to get in extra heathly calories without really filling you up.  

MallardDucky

clseale13:

You could also just make sure that what you're eating has more calories. If you're eating an apple for a snack, throw an extra 100 calories into that with a tblsp of PB. Eating a salad for lunch? Throw in some avocado. There are ways to get in extra heathly calories without really filling you up.  

Thanks that is something to think about while getting my food list ready for shopping

 

kat.in.the.hat

is it going to hurt weight loss?  not if you don't eat all your calories today, but it might be if you're only netting 1000 calories over a week.

calorie counting shouldn't be looked at from a 24 hour to 24 hour period of time.  Your body doesn't know it's midnight and automatically resets itself to 0 calories at 12:01 a.m., it's an ongoing process.

Keep track of your calories consumed every week and take your average for seven days and see how that looks.  Work your numbers based on a weekly average more than just one day.

Also, most people don't eat the exact same thing for seven days in a row, so like others have said, some days you'll eat more, some days less and if you want a cheat meal, you'll have to either work out more to take a little from each day to account for that.

nmlahaie

Like everyone else has said, if you're not hungry don't eat. But also, try to be conscious of throwing in things to get those extra calories - days that I am significantly under what I should be eating (even if I'm not hungry), I find myself eating everything in sight the next day and going significantly over.

shannon5176

While I agree that if you aren't hungry you don't need to eat I also think it's important to make sure you are getting ENOUGH calories EVERY day. 

My situation:

Spark people gave me a range of 1230 - 1580.  I was having a difficult time getting to 1200 and my trainer scolded me and told me I needed to be sure to be at that as a MINIMUM every day.  He said if I was having difficulty doing it to throw in a protein shake.  I now eat between 1200 and 1400 on any given day and try to aim more for 1400.  I found that I wasn't dropping weight at 1200 because I essentially was "starving" my body and it was storing the calories I did eat.

Tracking was the first step for me.  By doing it I learned how to eat correctly and WHAT to eat to be in the right ranges for calories, fat, carbs, etc.  For me it was a bit of a trial and error process when I started.  Hope that helps ;-)