hey girls!!

I have a little problem these days with SOMEHOW being under my calorie limit at the end of the day! I enter every single thing I eat into TheDailyPlate because I often eat the same foods or blends of foods every day- lots of fruits, lean meats, and proteins----I also enter my exercising (usually jogging or Turbo Jam) and somehow I end up still NEEDING to eat 300 or more calories at the end of the day! If I don't eat the leftover calories, will this screw up my body? The reason I don't is because I feel majorly full by this time and couldn't stomach eating anything more!

For example---today I had about 800 calories left around 3pm. I walked at work for 20 minutes ( -72 cals, according to TDP) and jogged once I came home for 25 mins ( -258 cals). After eating a delicious dinner of green peas, onions, ground turkey, and tomato sauce all mixed up and eaten with whole grain toast----I'm still under by 606 cals (which would, in theory, bring my daily calories to 1,286. I cannot possibly eat 600 calories now when it's 7pm!!

So..my question is...if I DON'T eat these leftover calories...will my weight loss suffer for it? Will I go into "starvation" mode? because i really dont want that to happen..........


xoxo
leda

I have a little question first. Are you deducting your exercise calories from your actual calories eaten? That's what is sounds like to me, if I'm wrong I do apologize in advance. I just want to make sure I've got the facts right. Get back to us please so that we can answer you with accuracy.

Robin, yes! I'm putting all the exercise I do into TheDailyPlate, so it automatically deducts those exercise calories from the actual calories I ate in my day.

Hun, that's your problem then. Your calories EATEN and your calories spent EXERCISING are two different matters entirely.

You eat what you eat, and you can't negate that. You will still get all the proper nutrition and energy that those calories provide. You can of course create MORE of a deficit by burning more calories through exercise, but that doesn't mean that you should consume MORE calories. I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear here.

How many calories are you actually eating? Nevermind burning. Just eating alone? Let's say it's 1500 calories. You need to count those 1500 without deducting ANYTHING. Your calories burned are a totally separate issue. You eat what you eat and you burn what you burn. That's why your calories are coming out to be so little. When we talk about how many calories we allot ourselves, we mean actually eaten, NOT INCLUDING what we burn off. That's why you will have trouble hitting your mark. Did I make any sense to you whatsoever?

I agree with Robin about separating exercise from calories eaten. Exercise helps to create the calorie deficit that's necessary for weight loss. If you "eat back" the calories you've exercised off, then you've negated your exercise for weight loss purposes. And that doesn't make sense.

The Daily Plate is the only site I've ever heard of that tries to encourage you to eat back what you've burnt off with exercise. I'm not sure why, if your goal is weight loss? In any event, I personally would ignore that aspect and just count calories for foods eaten. So long as you're packing in lots of nutrition and not going a whole lot below 1200 calories per day, you should be just fine.

Think about it -- if you're trying to lose fat, what sense does it make to force yourself to eat when you're not hungry?

hey ladies, thanks so much!!

to make it more clear, let me type up the facts just so we are on the same page. seperating calories eaten vs. calories burned is a WHOLE new thing for me---so I just want to make sure I get it right!!

According to the The Daily Plate, I must eat 1,286 cals a day in order to lose 1.5 pounds per week (an amount chosen by me). SO! THe website automatically deducts everything I eat from that total of 1,286. Whenever I plug in my exercises, it ADDS calories to that total number. right this moment, it says that I may STILL EAT 606 additional cals.

so could you girls please explain to me if I am doing well or not? I feel so confused!

thank you!!!!!

xoxo
leda

ps: when i took off the exercises, it says I ate about 1,010 cals today which might be a little low because i made a dish which was hard to measure. so probably over 1100-1200 WITHOUT exercise.

Holy excessive calories, Batman! I just went to the Daily Plate to check it out and for fun asked it how many calories I would need to maintain my weight. I entered that I was "moderately active" (walking 2.5 - 3 mph) which is a joke, because I do high intensity cardio every day and lift weights five days a week.

Get this -- it said I could maintain on 2,074 calories per day! Nope, sorry, not in my world! I maintain on 1400 - 1600 calories per day, with exercise.

Wow, once again metabolic calculators are way, way off. Beware!!

Leda, I think your calories are just fine where they are. If you feel like you're losing too fast, don't be afraid to increase a bit. But don't worry about forcing yourself to eat if you're not hungry.

I've never looked at the dailyplate. I simply can't believe that they automatically deduct calories burned from your daily intake of calories. How could they possibly know with any accuracy what somebody is really and truly burning? It's impossible to know that.

Anyway. I really urge you to not use that method of tracking your calories. Just track what you are EATING.

Ummm, yeah 1100 calories eaten is fine. We aim for 1200 or so and if it's a bit under one day, so be it. You're quite light and in order for you to create a deficit I would imagine that you would need to stay on the lower side of the calorie spectrum. Have you been steadily losing? Are you happy with your weightloss?

Actually...Robin...haha this is where it gets tricky... When I began with 3FC, I was 141 but that was a while ago....and since then I've been stuck at 137. No loss for about a month. I tend to be an emotional eater and sometimes binge on something after eating healthily during the whole day! I think it might have been because I was eating too few calories, and with no substantial food that would make me feel full. it's a big problem thats so sooo difficult for me to get over, but today I did exceptionally well, it seems!!!
so I will keep track of my EATING and not necessary look at the calories AFTER exercising. I will remember only the cals I get from eating---and continue my jogging as usual!! I wish I could lose faster...but my greatest enemy seems to be myself these days....


xoxo
leda

I'm glad you had a good day today. May there be many more of them in your future.

Yes, please, just track your calories actually EATEN and forget what they say about your exercise. But of course DO keep up with your jogging.

As far as being hungry goes, eating foods high in protein and fiber are the most filling.

Good luck to you!

Leda - I use dailyplate too! Don't you love it?!?! Anyway, I always count my total calories. I like looking at the net calories just for curiosity but I don't use them to adjust my food intake. See if it works better for you just going by your daily total rather than net. Let us know!

Nutridiary does it too. When you add exercise, it automatically adds its idea of calories-burned to your remaining calories for the day. Since I'm maintaining and wear a HRM and adjust the exercise I log to reflect what my HRM tells me, I'm ok with it. But it is dumb if you're trying to lose weight. You should at least be able to opt out of 'net calories' while still logging your exercise.

Leda, as long as you're actually eating at least 1200 calories a day and you're feeling good and losing steadily and not too quickly, you're fine. If you feel crummy and tired, or your weight isn't shifting, then it might be time to re-evaluate. But do try to maintain at least a 1200 daily average. Your body needs its nutrients!

thanks girls!!!

I'm going to focus more on my eaten calories rather than what shows up after I add in my exercise! this time I won't freak out if it seems i'm undereating, thank goodness!
hope to stay on plan today and make sure it works for my body