Never really thought I'd be asking a question like this, but I don't know if I'm eating enough! I started my weight loss plan last week at 245lbs, 5'10", and have been tracking my calories on Fitday. It's done wonders for killing most of my cravings for foods I used to binge on even though I knew they were bad (chips and dip, candy, etc). I've been also watching my nutrients and taking a multivitamin to make sure I'm getting what I need. So here's my "problem" - I'm eating less without feeling as hungry as I used to (!), but 3 of the 7 days last week I've barely eaten 1200 calories, and I think only one day was over 1500. I want to do this right so that it lasts, but I don't want to inadvertently switch my body into starvation mode or slow down my metabolism because I'm not eating enough. I'm not sure what to do, because I'm trying to teach myself to only eat when I'm hungry, but I don't want to eat less than what is healthy. I weighed myself this morning and my first week I've already lost around 10 lbs!!!! That doesn't seem safe to me...but I feel fine!

For example, this is what I ate yesterday that calculated out exactly to 1200 calories:

Breakfast - serving of FiberOne cereal and skim milk
Lunch - hearty ground beef soup (lots of veggies) and a piece of 100% wheat toast
Snack - Diet Coke cupcake (search the other threads for the recipe, they're awesome!)
Snack - 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
Dinner - 4(!) pieces of Jacks Canadian Bacon frozen pizza (I was going to eat fewer pieces and would have been fine, but I knew I could/should because my calories were low for the day)

So yeah, any advice on why I can eat a half a pizza and still have only 1200 calories without being hungry or feel like I'm missing out?

(Note - I usually have a piece or two of fruit as a snack or with breakfast, but we were all out! Grocery shopping friday! So this day was kind of an exception, but not by much)

Thanks for any and all feedback!

I can't help you out with "why" but I know that I would never make it lunch if all I'd had for breakfast was a bowl of cereal! As for your big first week weight loss, though, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Most folks lose a huge number during their first week due to water loss.

One suggestion I would make would be for you to plan out the day in advance, what you want to eat and when. You shouldn't feel "forced" to eat half a pizza to make up calories. I would bulk the breakfast up more (maybe add some yogurt along with the fruit you mentioned). Then you'll have things balanced out a little better.

I fix my day's food the night before and put it in my lunch sack to bring to work. I figure out all the calories as I'm fixing it and that way I know how many I can have at dinner that night. I normally eat breakfast at home, a mid-morning snack, lunch and a mid-afternoon snack at work. I'll then eat dinner and (sometimes) dessert at home. It's great portion control too... because I can only eat what I bring (I don't have any other snacks lying around during the day to tempt me).

Yes you are eating too little and this will catch up with you in the long run. You can add simple items such as 1oz of nuts per day as a snack. You mentioned you usually have fruit but even with adding that in your overall fruit and veggie count is pretty low.

What is your % of Fat/Protein/Carb - how much fiber are you getting per day. The answers to these questions will drive what is your best solution to adding a few calories per day

Lori

I agree with the calories being too low for the long run. When I was at 245 I ate 1800-2000 calories a day, with 6 days a week of exercise. Definitely add more fruit and veggies, I try to have 3 servings of fruit and at least 4 servings of veggies a day. Like Lori mention add nut,s that's a healthy way to add some more good calories. Or maybe throw some natural peanut butter on your bread. Just some ideas.

Alligator ~ The only suggestion I have is go to the food pyramid. To me your not eating enough. I know when I logged into the food pyramid they asked some questions like height, weight and gender then gave me a plan on how much I should eat from each food group. I believe it also told me how many calories I had to eat a day to maintain. Oh and lets not forget it told me to lose weight. LOL! Like I didn't already know that. I was way off and it was nice to see what they had to say. I have since changed my eating plan, not a diet because I plan on doing this for the rest of my life, so that it is very close to what they suggest.

you ARE eating too little. I am the same height as you and a few pounds lighter and at 1,600 calories I usually hit my monthly goal of 5 pounds easily. I would recommend setting a small goal and remaining consistent, remember weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. It would be better to track everything you eat religiously even when you cheat, aiming for 1,800 per day and even when you cheat (which is not often) not letting yourself go over 2,500. Where over the course of 8 months you'll probably loose 40 lbs and not feel deprived, than to starve yourself like your doing now and get off track in a month or 2.

The thing is, I DO track everything...no un-logged cheating to speak of as of yet! And I'm not feeling deprived at all, in the sense that I'm not hungry... Really all that's changed is that now I'm eating when I NEED to instead of when I WANT to, and eating measured portions of stuff thats better for me (cottage cheese, yogurt, fruit) instead of porking out on half a bag of potato chips when watching tv without even realizing it. I do plan on getting some more fruits and veggies next paycheck, but even those I'm only going to eat when I'm hungry...

oh, a bit of a related question. How many of you guys' daily calories are usually coming from drinks? I've been drinking an average of 3 liters of water a day, so I didn't know if that makes a difference since I'm not taking in any calories from pop or juices or stuff like that.

ugh, one more thing :P ! As of right now I'm leading a VERY sedentary lifestyle - don't have a job at the moment, we're in the middle of a blizzard/cold spell so walking is pretty out of the question, and with me not working we can't afford a gym membership (which I would love ) I've already ordered some WATP tapes and a DDR game (which I'm really excited about ) on ebay, but haven't got them yet. Once they get here (hopefully this week sometime) I plan on using them 4-6 days a week, and on those days I'm sure I will crave/need more calories. So yeah, I guess I just wanted to make sure I'm not doing anything detrimental healthwise by not forcing the extra calories traditionally recommended for my statistics.

I don't drink calories other than Skim Milk. I have milk with my cereal in the morning and the occasional glass after dinner.

I rarely do soft drinks - maybe a diet coke at the movies. I am purely a Black Coffee (no sweetners) and Water drinker with an occasional 1-2 alcoholic beverages at most once per month.

I don't touch soda, and juice is a rarity (I eat plenty of fruit, but juice is too filled with added sugar for it to really be healthy). I have probably 3 drinks alcoholic drinks a week, which is a lot for a dieter but very little compared to most of my bar-going friends (I still go with them, but now I tend to nurse one drink for a while). I definitely make exceptions to the "no drinking your calories" rule, but in general, I'd rather have food than liquid.

I personally prefer to eat, not drink my calories. I drink black coffee in the morning for some pep and the rest of the day water. I drink 100 oz a day and I after drinking all that water I don't want anything else.

Tip on exercise:

Before I got my gazelle, I used to just walk in place while watching TV. It got me moving. I sometimes still do it because I get tired of doing the gazelle and I like to mix up my exercise. I also turn on some good music and dance when no one else is around. Dancing can be some really good exercise, stress lever and a way to express ourself. I would have to say this is my favorite way to exercise.