I have a question maybe someone can answer it for me.

If I am not hungry do I still need to eat all those calories that it says I am suppose to have for the day?

Example: I should have 1590cals a day to lose weight. Yesterday after inputting everything that I would have for dinner while I was at work and calculating everything that I had all day it still said I needed 600 more calories. I wasn't hungry in fact felt quite stuffed. Any ideas?
Thanks for any input.
Bellaryna
PS: this has happened on 3 other occasions as well

Are you counting calories on a special diet? Rule of thumb do not eat if your not hungry or stuffed UNLESS you are anorexic or you need certain vitamins/minerals or you are on a cleansing, balancing food program ie in other words need to eat for a special reason. Kathy

Is your goal weight loss?

If so, are you losing weight?

If so, how long have you been eating like this?

No special diet just trying real hard to eat healthier than I was because I need to lose some poundage.

So I assume your weight was constant up until 2 weeks ago, right?

And weren't you eating much more food than you are now before you started this?

Sorta constant.
I know sounds stupid. I weighed like 206 in February. In March I was sick (dizzy spells) and off work the whole month. Very physical job that was. Lifting 50# boxes 10 hours a day. So gained 10-15#'s from not moving at all for the whole month. In May I switched job postitions so I no longer do the very physically demanding job. New job has almost no physical qualties to it. Gained another 10-12#'s. I know that I ate enough at the time to maintain my weight even with the labor job but then did not change eating habits with the new job. So yes I was eating more food 2 1/2 weeks ago than I am now. That and I would eat the most unhealthiest stuff ever!
Bellaryna

Right, so I don't understand why it *feels like* you can't eat more than you are now.

The problem with underconsumption of calories is this: The physiological survival adaptations will kick in much sooner and harder than had you done things using *sane* calorie deficits.

I would think when you eat foods that are better for you - such as a salad you are consuming more "bulk" and therefore she probably feels stuffed. If you are eating junk and not eating enough fiber or the healthier stuff, your body will still feel starved - like if you are just filling up on empty calories. So I can understand how she can't eat more - even though she is eating less.

Really?

IMO, 900 calories of anything shouldn't fill an above-average sized adult up to the point of not being able to eat more unless something was *off*.

Well she is also drinking a lot of water - more than she ever has (I know cause she's a peep of mine.) And I know that does fill us girls up. Yeah, 990 cals. is not enough to sustain us if we are working out and all that. But, if you can't eat more - why force yourself? If you bulk up on fibrous foods it is quite possible that you will be feeling more full. There is a lot of information out there that says just as much.

She may also find out that she is hungrier later in the evening - since I know her work schedule and for 1/2 of the week she is working and staying up much later than the other 1/2 of the week.

I know that sometimes I go to bed w/o eating the recommended cals for weight loss and until I actually lie down, I don't realize how hungry my body is.

She may need to also start working out with weights - it will make her want to eat more.

Hey, if you're confident in your approach....

I've worked with enough people in my time to believe that eating under 1000 calories per day is not going to translate into long term results for most.

If you've found a way to make it work... have at it.

I eat more than 900 calories a day. I ususally fall somewhere around 1300-1400 cals. I was told that to lose weight I needed to eat 1590. When I add in my exercise it bumps the amount up to like 1750-1850. That is where I was wondering about the cal intake. I'm just not that hungry to eat that many cals. And isn't the whole point of exercising to burn cals not have to eat additional ones?
Bellaryna

Good to know.

It's one of the benefits of exercise.

Certainly not the "whole point."

You should check out Sheryl's diary (MsGhettoBooty). She works out about 2-2.5hrs a day and eats an average of 2100 calories per day. Obviously, the more you work out, the more calories you're going to burn. So you need to increase your eating a bit to keep from going into starvation mode. And believe me, even if you are eating more calories, you will still lose weight. Sheryl has lost over 30lbs. So obviously, this works. And believe me, Steve knows what he's talking about. I would take his advice seriously. It's ok if you only eat 1000 calories sometimes, but doing it consistantly will bring your weight loss to a halt b/c your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will slow down. There is a very good sticky you should read in the Harsh Truth section. It the first sticky: 5 Ways to Gain Fat. Excellent. I printed it out and keep it close at hand.

I never said I was eating under 1000 cals. I said that if she didn't feel like eating - or felt full - why try to eat more?

I believe that 1000 cals is way too low too - and maybe it's a miscalculation? I think if you're full you should stop no matter what the calculation is.

I am by no means an expert, I was offering her advice as to why she would feel full - you said that she couldn't by any means be full on such little intake - which could be true for you (I've read parts of your journal that say you eat 4000 cals per day - there is no way the average person could do that unless they were working out quite a bit - or if they were hitting the weights pretty hard.) But for her, the answer isn't to tell her that she's not full, it's to help her figure out why she might feel full.