Am I eating enough?

[JennyRebecca]

Hi Everyone,

On Decembe 28th I started using "My Net Diary" to log my food.  I told it I wanted to lose 1.5 lbs a week.  Based on my information it said I should eat 1500 calories a day.  On January 10th, I started wearing my Charge 2.  (Oh happy day!)  I have Fitbit linked to My Net Diary.  Since they are linked, it gives me the option of eating my "exercise calories" if I want.  I rarely do during the week.  I'm usually right at 1500 or I might go over just a few.  On Saturday I usually go over the 1500 by a couple hundred and sometimes on Sunday too.  It just depends on what we're doing.  I've been averaging a loss of 2lbs per week which is amazing. 

But I just noticed that Fitbit is saying I'm under my target calories everyday.  There was only 1 time it was green and that was the day I ate 2,104 calories.

What do you guys think?  Am I really not eating enough?  Those of you trying to lose weight, how often do you eat your exercise calories?

[Mummyg]

I find my goes in the green depending on if I am more or less active. I am also working on a 500 cal deficit and some days I am in the green some days not.

2000 cals is what we need to consume a day and the 1500 will show as the target number but if you are walking/exercising/active it increases the amount you potentially could eat. So it will show you as being under (not in the green) as the 500 cals deficit is at a different point. If that makes sense! ie if you burnt 2500 cals because you were very active that day but logged 1500/1600 cals you would show up as under as you could have consumed 2000 cals. 

its totally up to you if you want to eat more or not but if your having a blalanced diet and feeling full/content with what you are eatting keep it up! Weight loss can slow down so don't feel disheartened if it does.

[A_Lurker]

@JennyRebecca - at 1500 calories a day you're losing ~2 lbs/week.  This means between what you're burning and what you are eating there is 1000 calories a day difference.  If you are going to increase your calories try splitting the difference (say 1750 calories).

I do tend to eat more when I do more, but I also assume that the numbers aren't set in stone.  I've had days where I burn 3000 calories, and I'll eat ~2000.  However, on a 4000 calorie burn day I might stop eating at 2500 calories.  So far this has worked for me (sustained losses over a year's time).  You'll have to find what works best for you. 

[Dominique]

@JennyRebecca: you didn’t mention how much you need/want to lose, nor your starting weight. Both can determine whether or not you’re eating "enough". A high deficit (such as the one with which you observed an average weekly loss of 2 pounds) can be fine if you’re 250 lbs and looking to lose dozens of pounds, but unnecessarily high if you’re 140 lbs and only looking to lose 10-15 lbs.

[JennyRebecca]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm 43 years old and eight weeks ago I started at 218 and today I'm at 203.  I have a 10 hour day desk job M-Th so I have to work hard to get my 10,000 steps in during the week..  My goal is to get to 145.

[JennyRebecca]

Thanks Anne!