too few calories in one day

[moosh]

Hey all!

I've been using FitDay to monitor my food, and after dinner I noticed that I only had 816 calories! I know we're not supposed to be counting calories, but that seems way too low for me. I feel too full to cook myself eggs and sausage, though. Should I forget about it and go to sleep or do something about it? I'm at about 16 net carbs today.

Thanks!

maryam

[Moochiecat]

Re: too few calories in one day

That is pretty low, yes, but odds are you'll have days that are lower and days that are higher, so it should average out over the course of the week. You don't want stretches of days that are either too low or too high, of course. Examine your Fitday and think about ways you can tweak your foods in order to get nearer to the calories you need.

We don't want you to stress out about the calories...the best way of putting it is that we don't count calories, but calories do count.
Here are some sites to get a range of calories to shoot for:
http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm

You'll be given a low and a high number, and the idea is to stay within that range.
But again, don't stress out about this too much. There's no need for you to cook up a bunch of food at 8 at night because you were low on carbs or calories for the day.
Eat until satisfied and then stop. Each day is a learning experience and each new day is the chance to improve that much more, right?
(an FYI, most people average between 13 to 17 carbs a day during Induction - it's not required to get exactly 20...the idea is to not go above 20. People have mentioned in the past that if they keep their carbs up near 20, they 'feel better' so see how it goes for you.)

If you do find you are consistently low on one or the other, then you need to tweak your menu.
You can always post a few sample menus in "Review my Menu" forum and we can have a look at them as well.

[2big4mysize]

Re: too few calories in one day

If you have ever seen a small child eat they will be picky and not eat much on some days and on others they are putting away so much food you wonder where it is going. They are listening to their body and feeding their hunger something you will learn to do on Atkins too. When your body needs more food then you are providing it will signal you either with hunger or with tired and/or weakness. it takes weeks of eating below your true BMR for starvation mode to set in so just go to bed and feed your hunger with calorie denser foods if this becomes an ongoing issue for you.

Happy low carbing

[Elizellen]

Re: too few calories in one day

As Moochiecat and 2big said, dont worry about the occasional low-eating day, your body will catch up when it wants to and some days you will find you eat much more than others. Just listen to your body.

One way to make sure you arent eating too little that I have tried is to have more at breakfast-time.

I was never a breakfast-eater - just a cup of coffee on getting up then nothing till lunchtime - but now I make sure that I have at least 1/3 of my carbs at breakfast (keeping to the 65% fat/30% protein/5% carbs ratio for induction) and also have a 'proper' lunch rather than just a snack. Evenings I usually have a light meal.

I did read on one of the Atkins boards I visit that we should

Break your fast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper

Some people swore that when they switched to that regime their weightloss picked up!

Edited to add:
So that you dont 'discover' at the end of the day that your eating was 'off' why not plot your intended eating on fitday earlier in the day? Then you can add some more 'carb/calorie-dense foods to your dinner menu if you feel you need to.

[JenDoe]

Re: too few calories in one day

I was also worried at first because my calorie intake was so low, but as Elizellen suggested I started planning meals ahead on Fitday and then if I was really low I'd add in some other things. That said I'm still often pretty low, but this is my 17th day on induction and I feel fine so I don't worry so much

[Elsie150]

Re: too few calories in one day

I usually plan my meals ahead and use fitday and use more calorie dense food to help with this problem.

[2big4mysize]

Re: too few calories in one day

just remember even if you planned it if your hunger is satified before you consume all the food on your plate you need to stop and put it up for another time when you are hungry again.

happy low carbing

[Elizellen]

Re: too few calories in one day

Thanks for that reminder, 2big!

[2big4mysize]

Re: too few calories in one day

your welcome. And I just can't get over how great you look in your new pic

[Elizellen]

Re: too few calories in one day

Me neither to be honest!!

[tabekat]

Re: too few calories in one day

I wouldn't bother counting calories.

I would be concerned about eating everything you are supposed to on induction. did you eat your 3 cups of veggies for the day? liberal amounts of fish and meat and eggs? 4 ounces of cheese? i wouldn't go under 20 carbs, and do make sure you get a strong taste of butter and meat fat everyday so that your brain gets the chemical signal it is safe to release your fat stores.