Is 1700 calories a day too much?

bylot

Bro science/but I heard bro science probably isn't true/look at my wierd bro sciency diet, seasoned with some good advice - i.e. weigh food, Newton's laws.

MelodyandBarbells

Over what period did you continue your 1000 calories and stop losing weight? Depending on if we're talking just the short term It may be totally expected. I gain about 6-7 lbs with my cycle sometimes but my deficit is set to lose 2 lbs per month when I'm doing everything just right. If I looked at the body weight scale at the wrong time it could appear that I had "gained" 5 lbs rather than being successful in the long term with my 2 lbs per month loss.

New exercise routines can promote water retention. After about four weeks or so, that usually levels out and you get a nice drop though

If you were really doing 1000 the issues with that include getting all your nutrients, and whether or not you can do it as long as it would take to lose the weight you want to. Basically is it a temporary effort, or a sustainable one.

Finally, here's some more info about verifying that you're eating how much you think you are. With posts like yours, indeed it is the most common issue. So while I wrote the other stuff first my post would not be complete without these links, in case that needs to be reviewed as well:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

leggup

Are you trying to lose 10 lbs and then reevaluate, or is 10 lbs your final goal? If you are only trying to lose 10 lbs, you should adjust your MyFitnessPal settings to Goal: Lose 0.5 lb/week. Here is the general rule of thumb:

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

I bolded the part that applies to you. If you are actually hoping to lose more after the first 10 lbs, you may consider setting your goal to 1.0 lbs/week. How many calories you should eat to lose weight has a lot of factors. Height, weight, and activity level are the main factors. You can enter those into your Goals on MyFitnessPal and you will get a great calorie estimate. Have you played around with your settings? Since I don't want to mess up my own settings to figure out how much you need to eat to lose weight, I popped over to CalorieKing: http://www.calorieking.com/interactive-tools/how-many-calories-should-you-eat . 5'5" 180 lbs age 32 (I guessed based on your username), light office worker gives you: 1300 to 1500 calories per day to lose 1-2 lbs a week. Since you should be aiming for less than 1 lb per week of loss, that puts you at 1500 cals+. To maintain your weight, you need to eat 1800 to 2000 calories. So, if I were you, I would use the MFP settings, which will probably put you at 1600-1650.


However, it's entirely dependent on how accurate your food logging and exercise calculations are. If you are not using a food scale, I highly recommend it.

WalkingAlong

cookieinbk82 wrote: »

I am 5 foot 5 and weigh 180 pounds. I want to lose 10 pounds but the scale is not budging. I was eating 900-1000 calories a day and working out everyday. I was told to raise my calories and reduce my workouts. Do you think 1700 calories and 3 workouts a week would help me reach my goal?

I'm not sure why you would decide to almost double your calories and halve your workouts. What's wrong with 5-6 reasonably lengthed workouts per week and 1200-1500 calories? That is what most authorities recommend for most women to lose weight at a sensible rate.

I_Will_End_You

It's likely you can lose weight on 1700 calories a day, but be very careful with logging. You aren't going to have a huge deficit, so you can blow it with one or two high calorie days a week. I'm 5'6, started at 135 and lost on 1700-1800 a day. It was slow, though, and I had to be very disciplined.

Liftng4Lis

billieljaime wrote: »

this thread hurts my soul.....

This thread hurts my head!

psuLemon

OP, can you open your food diary? 1700 with only 3 hours of exercise might be a it much. Also, how long have you "not been losing weight"

Neikx

I think it's important to consider the quality of calories consumed. If you are eating 1700 calories of real food, and not processed food, that is enough depending on your BMR. It's so important to take a nutritional supplement as well.

emmycantbemeeko

Neikx wrote: »

I think it's important to consider the quality of calories consumed. If you are eating 1700 calories of real food, and not processed food, that is enough depending on your BMR. It's so important to take a nutritional supplement as well.

There is nothing inherent about processed food that makes it "unreal," and there is no evidence for nutritional supplements being effective for anything in the absence of actual nutritional deficiencies, which most of us do not have.

trjjoy

kjmace wrote: »

kellyb28 wrote: »

1700 is a perfect amount. Try it, see what happens!

I agree at 900 calories a day your body goes into survival mode and hangs on the the weight it has, as it thinks it is starving.

So that's obviously why anorexics, who more than likely eat far less than the OP, look so healthy.

chandanista

This thread's been dead over a year. Wondering why it was reopened when the argument within is still debated on a daily basis in these forums?

yourhiddengem

chandanista wrote: »

This thread's been dead over a year. Wondering why it was reopened when the argument within is still debated on a daily basis in these forums?

I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it!

Saraness

NoirMeow wrote: »

- Have 6 – 7 meals during the day (after every 2 hours): a lot of small meals will build metabolism, as will the lack of actual calories in them, causing you to burn more.


- Detoxification: black coffee or lemon water

Anyway, happy losing weight everybody!

Against popular belief you don't have to eat every 2 hours to boost your metabolism. If you want to loose weight just count your calories. BUT if you want to eat every 2 hours, you can do whatever makes you happy.

Also, your body doesn't need to be detoxed. You have a liver for a reason- but like I said before, if you want to drink coffee and lemon water by all means do what makes you happy!

k2mexox

I'm 255 and 5'5 and my goal set by Mfp to lose 2 pounds a week is 1660

Francl27

I lost 80 pounds eating 1700 a day. I'm 5'5", was 34 when I lost most of the weight, but I had 6 workouts a week and I weigh my food.

Damienriven

I don't know your age but assumed you were around 30. I plugged the info into the bmr calculator and said around 1600. As long as you eat below this you'll lose weight. I would suggest cutting that number by 300-500, it's your body you choose. I also suggest looking into IF-Intermittent Fasting, it isn't 'bs'. As soon as I applied eating 500 calories below my bmr and intermittent fasting my fat was melting off. Don't follow anyone who tells you about starvation mode or eating 6 times through-out the day, that *kitten* is a scam to make you stay the same weight. Apply this method for a week and see the results, if none? Then stop and follow what someone else said above me but I'm sure you will have success with this. So, Intermittent fasting(Try the 6-hour eating window) and either 1100-1300 calories a day. It's okay to eat junk food if you wish like a cheeseburger from mcdonalds or something or pizza if that's your craving foods, just make sure they work into your diet. The others above me are talking about eating above what your body needs to maintain weight to lose weight, now tell me if they make sense? (Sarcasm.) As for the gym try only 20-35 minutes in there of until the machines says you burnt at least 200 calories.

psuLemon

nillagfx wrote: »

I don't know your age but assumed you were around 30. I plugged the info into the bmr calculator and said around 1600. As long as you eat below this you'll lose weight. I would suggest cutting that number by 300-500, it's your body you choose. I also suggest looking into IF-Intermittent Fasting, it isn't 'bs'. As soon as I applied eating 500 calories below my bmr and intermittent fasting my fat was melting off. Don't follow anyone who tells you about starvation mode or eating 6 times through-out the day, that *kitten* is a scam to make you stay the same weight. Apply this method for a week and see the results, if none? Then stop and follow what someone else said above me but I'm sure you will have success with this. So, Intermittent fasting(Try the 6-hour eating window) and either 1100-1300 calories a day. It's okay to eat junk food if you wish like a cheeseburger from mcdonalds or something or pizza if that's your craving foods, just make sure they work into your diet. The others above me are talking about eating above what your body needs to maintain weight to lose weight, now tell me if they make sense? (Sarcasm.) As for the gym try only 20-35 minutes in there of until the machines says you burnt at least 200 calories.

Its not your bmr you take a cut from, its your tdee or total daily energy expenditure (aka your maintenance calories).

Also, if you are eating at 1100 to 1300 as a young male, you are gaurenteed to lose a lot of muscle which means its not all fat loss.

Additionally, IF is just one technique to control your calories. You can eat 6x a day or 10, it will literally have no impact on your weight loss if calories are equal.