Am I eating too much?

[mandiam]

I really don't know how many calories i should have a day. Maybe someone could help?

For breakfast and lunch, i always eat the same thing.

Daily Breakdown:

AM GYM: Either a 5k run, an hour of weights, or crossfit WOD
B: 1/2c almond cashew mix
L: PB&J with banana slices and an apple)
After work, I go on a 25-25 mile ride
D: Usually a something equivalent to: a salad, 1/2 avo, a meat, & taboli, maybe a sweet tater

So yeah, I really don't know if i'm on track.

Just wondering what your thoughts are and if I am eating too many/not enough calories a day. I figure the 1/2c nuts in the morning is quite a lot :)

Thanks girls-- i love this forum.

[Eden]

try using myfitnesspal.com (if you have a smart phone or ipod the app is great)

You can put in your expenditures (exercise) and your intake and see if they match. I've been using it for a month or two and I think that it is relatively accurate. I've been keeping my intake to around 100-150 calories less/day than my expenditures (base + exercise) and I've been slowly losing a few pounds.

[mandiam]

Eden, thanks for the tip....I am going to go download it. I am in the market to maintain and maybe get a six pack BAHAHHA.

maybe this app will help...thanks lady. My family is headed to CiCi's tonight. Let's pray I can keep on track. ahaha!

[Tri Girl]

For the workouts you're doing- it seems to me like you're not eating nearly enough to keep your body properly fueled. (I'm not a doctor, tho, I only play one on TV). ;) My basal metabolic rate is 1200 calories a day. That's just what I need to function. If I workout and burn 1000, I need to eat some of that to be able to function. I guess it depends on how tiny you are to begin with, and how many calories you need just to function each day. Just seems like not enough with all the exercise you are doing. Of course, I could be wrong (I *am* currently 15 lbs overweight, so I'm probably not one to give nutrition advice). ;)

[Eden]

For the workouts you're doing- it seems to me like you're not eating nearly enough to keep your body properly fueled. (I'm not a doctor, tho, I only play one on TV). ;) My basal metabolic rate is 1200 calories a day. That's just what I need to function. If I workout and burn 1000, I need to eat some of that to be able to function. I guess it depends on how tiny you are to begin with, and how many calories you need just to function each day. Just seems like not enough with all the exercise you are doing. Of course, I could be wrong (I *am* currently 15 lbs overweight, so I'm probably not one to give nutrition advice). ;)

I thought similar... but then it depends on portions too - dinner could be big portions? I do know that on workout days that I do something like what she does I have to eat a lot..... much more than I ever expected. It's so hard to say just from a brief description though.

I'm similar to you, I start from base of 1200 and add from there. On days that I do a training workout (usually 2-2.5+ hrs of pretty intense cycling) and walk to and from work I can also burn 1500-2000 *more*. Eating to fuel that actually seems a bit difficult at times, but it's been very helpful. By keeping track I've now evened out my eating to match my output. On my light/no workout days I no longer feel starving all of the time. Before I'm pretty sure I was eating way, way too much on those days (I've cut out an afternoon snack and about 1/2 my dinner portions on those days!) and not nearly enough on the hard days. It wasn't good for me in a lot of ways. I feel like I'm recovering better now, I'm not as tired and I'm dropping a little excess at the same time. I think I still need to really push myself to eat more on the bike, but hey - baby steps!

[mandiam]

i think downloading this app is going to help a lot....hey, it's always good to hear i need to eat MORE.:P :P :P

The dinner portions are pretty average--except taboli. I probably eat double what normal people do. haha! thanks for the help girls.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds like you might need more veggies too...

[ny biker]

try using myfitnesspal.com (if you have a smart phone or ipod the app is great)

You can put in your expenditures (exercise) and your intake and see if they match. I've been using it for a month or two and I think that it is relatively accurate. I've been keeping my intake to around 100-150 calories less/day than my expenditures (base + exercise) and I've been slowly losing a few pounds.

Hmmm. I just downloaded myfitnesspal. I entered current weight 142, goal weight 140, want to lose .5 lbs per week. It told me how many calories per day would get me to lose 2.5 lbs by May 25.

Except I don't want to lose 2.5 lbs. I want to lose 2 lbs and then maintain that weight.

Also the data fields for how much exercise you do are not really helpful. The number of days I work out in a week varies from 4 to 6, and some days I might exercise for an hour, other days 1.5 hours, other days more than that. But there is no way to indicate such variability.

[Eden]

Hmmm. I just downloaded myfitnesspal. I entered current weight 142, goal weight 140, want to lose .5 lbs per week. It told me how many calories per day would get me to lose 2.5 lbs by May 25.

Except I don't want to lose 2.5 lbs. I want to lose 2 lbs and then maintain that weight.

Also the data fields for how much exercise you do are not really helpful. The number of days I work out in a week varies from 4 to 6, and some days I might exercise for an hour, other days 1.5 hours, other days more than that. But there is no way to indicate such variability.

I guess I've never bothered about that part - I just use the tracker (food and exercise). I've not been particular about getting to any sort of goal in any sort of time. I just wanted to get down to my good climbing weight again for race season.... and in a manner that didn't leave me weakening myself or hungry all the time. 100 calories or so/day doesn't leave me wanting to chew off my own fingers and I've been slowly heading downwards, so I've been pleased.

What I like about this particular app is that it's got a decent database - most foods I look for are there, it's got a bar code scanner for packaged foods, it figures out the calorie counts for my recipes if I put in the ingredients and it works entirely on my ipod - I'd never keep up with it if I had to use my computer.

You do have to watch - anyone can add foods to the database and I've seen some just plain and obviously wrong data.

[Grits]

I've been using My Fitness Pal for about a month. Most of the recommendations that I have read say to enter your activity level as sedentary or light activity to get your baseline calories and then log the specific exercise you do on the days you do it. It will then give you back those calories you burn to eat as fuel for your activity. For example, my daily calorie goal is 1250 at light activity. I biked an hour and 45 minutes today at 15.6 mph which gave me an additional 1,000 or so calories I could eat. It recommends eating all of them to continue at a pound a week weight loss, although not everyone does. (Nancy Clark says to eat back 80%, I think).

I wouldn't worry about the extra half pound. When you get to your goal weight you need to go back in and change your settings to indicate that you no longer want to lose weight but maintain. You will then get a different calorie goal should you want to continue with MFP.

I have found it very helpful, and the data base is the best I've seen.

[Crankin]

Not knowing your height, body fat, etc. makes it difficult to say whether or not you are eating too much.
But, it really sounds like you are not eating enough, especially for your level of activity. I will qualify this with I am not a doctor or an RD, but eating the same thing every day for 2 meals is deadly for weight loss. Our bodies like us to change it up, in both food content and types of exercise.