do I eat all the calories, even if I am not hungry?

Hi, My calorie counter said that I should eat 1300 but I don't feel hungry enough to eat that when eating all the low calorie foods? Do I need to make sure I eat that many or is less okay?

no less is not okay, 1200 IS THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, and is far too low for most people. if you have difficulty meeting this amount then don't use "diet foods" like light ice cream, sugar substitutes, and eat your egg yolks. use regular bread products and drink more milk, eat more nuts, and use olive oil on everything. not very difficult really. but in short, yes you need to eat even if you're not hungry.

My recommendation is no where near that low, in the 2,000s mine is...but even though I don't eat any diet foods like chrissy1988 mentioned (I actually avoid them like the plague) I still find it hard to make sure I get in the recommended calories even though I thought I was surely over-eating, but when I review my food log (which I record by also rounding UP even to add extra calories) I'm sometimes about 500-600 calories short. Today I would have been about 900 short but after seeing my food log decided to eat two pieces of lemon cake to nudge me closer to my recommendation.. But chrissy1988 is correct in saying it is recommended that women intake AT LEAST 1200 calories a day...which I could burn in no time so I just don't know how you're alive if all you are recommended is 1300. But I do understand your frustration since it's kind of a pain to make sure it is exact everytime.

What are your stats? Unless you are very tiny even 1300 might be too low. But as others said above, make sure you eat no less than what is recommended no matter how you feel. As Chrissy said there are very easy ways to up your cals without feeling full

This is from the incredible Ask Mary section of Calorie Count (Mary Hartley is our resident nutritionist):

Why eating only 1200 calories or undereating doesn't work

In the long run, you won’t lose weight faster by eating 1200 calories a day.  Under-eating deprives your body of essential nutrients and leads to muscle breakdown to provide energy.  With less muscle, you require fewer calories and you reach a weight low plateau more quickly.  Restrictive dieting also places you at risk for binge-eating which can lead to weigh gain and a life of yo-yo dieting. Use the Calorie Target calculator in the Tools section to figure out how many calories a day you need and set yourself up for lasting weight loss success.

Why must I eat at least 1,500 calories a day when I want to eat less?

In order to get the daily food servings you need for a balanced diet, it takes about 1200 calories a day (1500 for teenage females, 1800 for teenage males). With careful planning, you could have a balanced diet on 1000 calories, but the restrictiveness of a very low calorie level can lead to binging and weight cycling, which will take you further from your weight loss goal. What's more, very low calorie diets can cause excessive muscle breakdown and metabolic adaptations, which can drive down your calorie requirements. In the end, you'll need fewer calories to maintain a higher weight.

Will I go into starvation mode if I eat 1000 – 1200 calories a day?

Your body will not selectively burn stored fat because your central nervous system needs glucose and you can’t make glucose from fat. But protein can be converted to glucose, and so the body breaks down your muscles to provide it. Ultimately, you lose lots of muscle along with fat, and that drives down your calorie requirements because muscle burns calories but fat does not. You then maintain a higher weight on less food making weight gain inevitable.

I weigh 165 and am 5'4, so you think that the calories are to low? I answered the questions truthfully and that is what they said I should be eating, do you think I need to add more calories and will I still be able to lose weight.

I think I put myself in a kind of starvation mode. I was a smoker as of a month and a half ago and would usually eat just a bag of chips which was about 120 calories and usually didn't have breakfast so I could have that cigarette during breaks. But would eat a whole lot at dinner so now that I am trying to eat through out the day since not smoking it is hard to eat since I am not hungry at those times and usually just ate ate supper. I do weight 165 know that I have gained some of the weight from not smoking. From the sounds of it the calories that they recommended seem so low compared to everyone else. Maybe I'll increase them and pray I don't gain anymore weight.

When did you say you wanted to lose weight by..what was your time frame? Maybe it is too short for your weight loss goal? As such I've just started monitoring my caloric intake four days ago and I thought I consumed way more calories than it turns out that I do and burn more than I thought I did...so now that I noticed that, if I were to eat MY recommended amount of calories in order to lose the 10 lbs I'd like to....I'd actually GAIN weight because my recommendation is to eat more than I really do...I think that this calorie stuff isn't so straight forward. I'm not an expert by any means, but I understand your frustration. I answered the questions honestly too and I am supposed to consume MORE calories than I normally do to lose weight . But then also the questions were quite general...I didn't fit exactly into one of any of the groups that it had for level of activity..I'm thinking I maybe should retake it or do some surfing on the web to see what others have to say about it. Or, now that I know my caloric intake isn't out of control like I thought it was...I may just say screw this stuff and just make sure I exercise regularly and keep making good food choices...IDK. But good luck.

ONLY eat when youre hungry!! 

THat's the best way possible to lose weight. Your body will let you know when you need food!

livvv:

I am in no way attacking you but I tried suggesting that once and it didn't go over too well. post got deleted.

So like the good calorie counter that I am I now suggest  that if you haven't had your bare minimum of calories or on the verge of ending the day without enough  you should go eat NOW. GO NOW EAT SOMETHING!

That's my aunts secrets, she never counts calories - only just listens to her body and what it needs. 

She's maintained a healthy and gorgeous weight her whole life, i think it works well.

Yes, but undereating can depress your appetite - many people undereat while hiding behind the idea of "I only eat when I'm hungry."

Today I am forcing myself to eat something. I was hungry when I got up, ate oatmeal with almond milk and raisins and I haven't been hungry since.    So I forced myself to eat a handful of almonds around lunch time and then I forced myself to eat half a pb and j sandwich.         It's dinner time now and I'm still not hungry but I am forcing myself to eat some raw veggies (no dip).  

I don't usually have to force myself to eat at all  :(     I'm 5'8 and 194lbs trying to lose weight and CC says that I should eat 1850 per day.  I can't get past 1700 EVER because I'm only hungry first thing in the morning.... I don't get it.

I ran a mile last night and I don't usually do that so maybe that's part of my problem today?  I don't know....

If you don't feel hungry and have to force yourself to eat, eat higher calorie healthy foods. Throwing in a few high cal snacks in between meals. Pair a luna bar with a piece of fruit. Eat brown rice with dinner. You can do it

Part of the reason I joined cc is because I know people that have followed it to the letter and have lost 100+ pounds.  I am no expert, but, I have seen with my own eyes that if you follow this closely you will lose the weight.

I do not use nor do I encourage my children to use diet foods, I tend to believe that the natural things are far better for you in lesser amounts (with the exception of pop).

I feel very full when I follow the guidelines I have been given but, eat anyway to help my body work along with the exercise.

I have also found that if I eat throughout the day instead of 3 square meals it is much easier to do.  My claorie consumption is 1400 a day.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if people are struggling so much to meet minimum calorie requirements-how did you become overweight?!

after changing your diet and eating foods light in calories like veggies and  mostly drinking water instead of drinks laced with sugars you can have a hard time eating a bunch of calories.

eg.

Since I changed my diet in full force in april I've started eating load of veggies I always liked but never ate much of. I would eat an entire bag of california style mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflour and carrot mix) that has 11 serving but only 25 calories per seriving. Needless to say that's ALOT of veggies and that amount of food can fill up anybody very easily and it's only 275 calories per bag (11 servings). Lets say if you drank alot of sugar loaded drinks with dinner and switched to diet drinks or just water. there goes all the calories you used to consume to get your count up there.

It's not hard to be full of food and not consume enough calories per day.

(To up my calories to 1500 or more I USED to eat a few servings of nuts (on "advice" from some people here, but when I started that my weight loss stalled ( I don't know why) but when I switched over to granola bars to boost calorie consumption  I started losing again.)

junk food ...... unlimited soda..... baked cookies all the time......  as a kid.  Weighed 114 in the 4th grade!   Always been bigger....

My body just stored the fat I think.    When I don't eat sugar foods..... I'm not always hungry.       I don't eat that crap anymore though!!!   And now I struggle to eat more food that's good for me, and I'm not always hungry like I used to be on sugar binges.

Cassie_bee

Haha! That is the best thing I've read thus far. Very true. I personally don't have a hard time getting my calories in because, although veggies and fruit fill me up at that moment, in an hour or two my hunger has come back with a vengeance! lol My target is 1300 calories, fyi...

If your body and your brain were communicating about your caloric needs properly, then you wouldn't need this site.  Ideally, you'll get to the point where you don't need it again. 

In the interim, count and log your calories and make sure you that you get at least the minimum calories you need 1200F/1500M + 300teen + %exercise and have no more than a 1,000 calorie deficit on any given day.

I find that when I'm eating foods like rice and beans and veggies that getting my minimum calories can be challenging if I forget to eat a snack or a meal.  I try to keep nuts and snack bars available for those days when I get too busy or distracted to pay attention to what my body needs.  Not that I eat a ton of calories in one sitting, but I can eat a bar or a handful of nuts every half hour or so if I'm on the short calorie side.  When I eat more processed foods I generally find myself at or over my calorie target by the end of the day.

Original Post by cassie_bee:

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if people are struggling so much to meet minimum calorie requirements-how did you become overweight?!

pregnancy did it for me although i'm not considered overweight, i'm the exact weight i'm supposed to be for my height but i have a small frame and am used to being thinner.  Why are you here?

Original Post by sarahcatherinejohnson:

Original Post by cassie_bee:

I don't mean to sound harsh, but if people are struggling so much to meet minimum calorie requirements-how did you become overweight?!

pregnancy did it for me although i'm not considered overweight, i'm the exact weight i'm supposed to be for my height but i have a small frame and am used to being thinner.  Why are you here?

read her bio - she's trying to lose weight. I understand where she's coming from, though...when I was trying to lose weight, I never had the problem of undereating lol! It was so hard for me to cut back on the amount of calories I was consuming.