Daily Goal question

Hey everyone, I'm 5'3.5 and weigh 145 lbs and am 17 years old. I was wondering, how does the 'Daily Goal' work? It tells me my daily goal calorie intake is 1950 cal in order to maintain but I'm lucky if I consume 600-700? Well, here is my layout

Breakfast:

Wheatbicks, which is Australian, but it's basically two wholegrain bars with low fat milk and a teaspoon of sugar springled on top.

Cup of Coffee, half a sugar with low fat milk.

Lunch:

Just a bowl of 1x apple and 1x orange cut up into small pieces.

Dinner: Whatever my grandmother makes me, but it is ALWAYS homecooked, and ALWAYS non-processed ingredients, and will always contain at least one side of some sort of green veggy.

Inbetween meals: Inbetween meals, lets just say, by the end of the day I've consumed 3x 750ml water bottles easily, which is the equivalent to around 9.5 glasses of water. (If I did my math right.) So I'm always at 55-60% water; according to my scale.

Now if I add the calories for the day, I am looking at, according to the food tool on Calorie Count, to be around 252 calories, but if I factor in the fact I add one teaspoon of sugar for my coffee and yadayada, and averaging maybe 300 or so calories in my dinner (I don't go beyond the inner cycle of my plate) <-- May correct me on the last one, I'm still only looking at roughly 600-maybe 650 calories. Now... That is apparently, obviously, way below the 1950 cal it takes to maintain my weight, with a deficit of 1350, not counting the exercises I do. Walking to and from school, occasionally up a near 90 degree hill to get to my house. I'll also start going to the gym soon after exams finish.

SW: 159 lbs

CW: 145 lbs

GW: 130 lbs

SF:  14 lbs lost.

So what gives? If I eat more than that I'll puke, especially because I'm use to the water intake which makes me full enough.

Can someone explain this all to me? Am I not factoring in something?

Thanks!

Your calorie intake is absurd.

If you exercise on top of maintaining on 1950. You need to be eating at least 1800.

I absolutely despise posts as these. I know its not your fault that you're ignorant of this stuff, but it bothers the hell out of me when young girls are developing anorexic-like symptoms unknowingly.

It jerks my girk even more to know half of the girls dont even listen to us when we say they're not eating enough.

Guess what happens when you eat under 1200 calories WITHOUT EXERCISE? You body stops burning fat. Is that your goal?

Guess what happens if you're a teen, and are eating under 1500? THE SAME THING!

Stop starving yourself, if you're not gonna go about this the right way, then i advise you not to go about it at all. You're not even supposed to have a 1000 calorie deficit if you're under 200 lbs.

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html

Use it, use it wisely.

Not trying to sound rude or bitter, but this site isnt here to help you starve yourself. Please eat sensibly. Please please do.

Thanks for your quick answer,

I'm not so ignorant as to have ignored it at least, I did the proper math, but I'm struggling with the idea of consuming more than double that amount. It's not the 'I want to lose weight fast' mentality, and I'm in no way in the mentality that I'm starving myself. I was merely inquiring if there was some other factors I wasn't educated about.

I know about starvation mode, and actually got out of it, but only by eating the way I'm eating. This is why I was puzzled when it indicated I was below the required amount; heck, I'm told everyday by my gandmother I eat too much. Then again, she boasts about being 95 when she was my age. And no, that's not a factor I should consider, but it's someone else watching my eating habits.

You give me insightful information, but I wouldn't know the first thing about eating more than that, any tips? I feel as though If I eat more, I am really being overindulgent or somehow over consuming; perhaps the dinner part is under-appraised? Maybe it's more calories. Also, if I look at my intake, the choices I make are healthy, and I can't imagine how it could be too much. Though I'm sure it is, because I'm no dietitian.

Not sure, but the thought of being on the road to anorexia is frightening, and I certainly don't think that way.

Original Post by hakusaki:

Thanks for your quick answer,

I'm not so ignorant as to have ignored it at least, I did the proper math, but I'm struggling with the idea of consuming more than double that amount. It's not the 'I want to lose weight fast' mentality, and I'm in no way in the mentality that I'm starving myself. I was merely inquiring if there was some other factors I wasn't educated about.

I know about starvation mode, and actually got out of it, but only by eating the way I'm eating. This is why I was puzzled when it indicated I was below the required amount; heck, I'm told everyday by my gandmother I eat too much. Then again, she boasts about being 95 when she was my age. And no, that's not a factor I should consider, but it's someone else watching my eating habits.

You give me insightful information, but I wouldn't know the first thing about eating more than that, any tips? I feel as though If I eat more, I am really being overindulgent or somehow over consuming; perhaps the dinner part is under-appraised? Maybe it's more calories. Also, if I look at my intake, the choices I make are healthy, and I can't imagine how it could be too much. Though I'm sure it is, because I'm no dietitian.

 

Not sure, but the thought of being on the road to anorexia is frightening, and I certainly don't think that way.

 

"I know about starvation mode, and actually got out of it, but only by eating the way I'm eating." so you used to eat even less? If you're not in starvation mode already, its not far away. Obviously your grandmother doesnt know what shes talking about. She obviously knows nothing about nutrition. Encouraging anorexia on her granddaughter isnt helping either.

So what dont you understand? Did you enter your stats into the calculator? Its calibrated for teens. I use it too, im 18. I deem myself as lightly active. Heck, until i get my bodybugg and know how much im burning, i might be undereating too.

If you need tips on how to sneak in cals, i have a few. first of all, the reason youre not hungry is because your body has adapted to eating so little. Its a survival defense mechanism.

I understand you dont have the mentality of an anorexic, thats why i said you are "unknowingly" starving yourself. If you care to share stats and info, i can plug them into the calculator for you to determine approx. how much you should be eating.

How often do you exercise? And what do you do, and for how long?

Hah, she's always been like that, she use to slap my theighs playfully as a kid and poke fun about how I was chubby. Playfully, but still hurt a lot. We don't get along partially for that reason. And as for when I was in Starvation mode, that was back when I was living with my mother in the US, she barely earned enough to put food on the table so I'd sometimes go a week with barely bread and milk, occasionally my sister and I had to bake a cake and that'd be what we'd eat the entire day. It was desperate times. I was heaviest at that time at 74 kilos, which is 160-162 lbs.

I'm now living with my dad in Australia, who is more financially stable, and according to my nutrition analysis on Calorie Counter I'm graded as A. I'm very much into eating right and healthy and the right amounts. So 'unknowingly' indeed.

As for exercising, just small things, like the 10 minute walk from the bus stop to school and back again, and occasionally up a 85-90 degree angle hill home, seeing as we live right up in the high country. I was thinking about incorporating running at the local habitat reserve or whatever. But yes, just small things, occasionally I'll pick up a dumbell. I wont even bother counting walking between classes at school.

My stats are in the original post under everything, it puts me at 1820 at sedentary, I don't like overestimating my level of activity.

The starvation mode explains why you were at your heaviest, i can imagine. And the nutrition scale has nothing to do with the amount you eat, only the quality of what you eat. Just so thats said. enter a stick of celery for the whole day and im sure you'll still get an A for the good choice of food.

Well i would consider you lightly active. You're walking 20 minutes a day, also in between classes.

How tall are you?

I'm 163 cm, or 5'3.5 ft. 66 kilos/ 145 lbs. I'm only barely in the normal range. Hum..

You're in the healthy BMI range, but just barely. I assume you dont want to lose that much. 10 lbs perhaps? I recommend you eat 1700-1800 a day for a slow and steady weightloss. You burn about 2170 on a daily basis given your stats and activity level. You're not big, and you dont have much to lose, so losing a little over a half a pound a week should be good. If you wanna lose a full pound a week, add inn about 100 calories of extra exercise. Running for 10 minutes a day would do the trick. Its not much, but its sufficient. I'm advising a tiny but of extra activity because I wouldnt advise you do go below 1700.

It's okay maybe once or twice a week to eat maybe 1500 if all you're doing is laying in bed all day, which is what i do on sundays. lol. So i eat 1600. But note-i weigh 185. so i have to eat a bit more than you.

D: Hoookay, I'll try up the intake then.

I'll also consult my doctor for additional advice.

Thanks for your assistance. :]

Dont try.

Do it.

Its crucial.

And if i were your doctor, i wouldnt be happy about hearing how little you're eating.

Start by eating more often. sneak in some oil if you're cooking, sneak in some peanut butter, more fruits. Eat a substantial breakfast, eat bread. Yogurt, cereal and other normal breakfast foods. Eat something similar for lunch.

Your water intake isnt anything spectacular either, thats the recommended amount. On TOP of normal food consumption.

Work your way up to at least 1700. You'll notice the more you eat, the hungrier you become, its due to your metabolism speeding back up. Isnt that what you want? =D

Im glad to have been of help.

Well I went to a doctor months ago about my concerns, and I asked her if I could get a diabetes and thyroid test, because no matter what I couldn't lose weight.

She told me I should just eat salad for dinner, and see how that goes. She also said that I'm trying to find excuses, ie: wanting a diabetes test. She basically made me look like a complete overconsuming cow. o: On top of that, what kind of doctor refuses to test you for something? I was a 10 lbs 8 ounce baby, and three weeks early. that in itself is a telling tale, but nonetheless.

Hopefully the next doctor will be more inclined to help :P

Thanks again.

well gladly now you know the reason why you werent losing weight.

Unless she knows how much you're eating, and how much you exercise, she has no say on how much you should be eating. Doctors SUCK at giving nutritional advice, they have had minimal training in nutrition. If you wanna talk to someone who knows what theyre talking about, talk to a nutritionist, ask your doctor to refer you to one, or even find someones email online, and send them a message.

You're deffinately not the only one who's complained about a wacko doctor on here, so take my word for it. Good luck.

To agree with the others:  You're definitely not eating enough, especially for a growing teenager.  

Some tips to eat more - whenever you have an apple, throw some peanut butter on it.  It's high cal - 200 for 2 tbsp, and contains healthy fats that are important for brain function.  Also, when eating salads, use an olive oil-based dressing, or just in cooking.  1 tbsp has about 100 calories.  In between meals nuts are a great snack - high in calories and don't fill you up.  Any kind are good - walnuts, almonds, cashews are my favorite (I always get raw and non salted).  

Hope this helps, and good luck staying healthy!