How many calories per day to lose weight?
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I play it by ear. MFP's calorie count is just a goal to work toward based on a loose calculation. The best thing to do is boost your activity level, eat less than you normally would and see what happens on the scale and with body measurements.
Your body does need a certain amount of calories and nutrients to function adequately, so don't feel like you can't go over what MFP says. If you log your workouts, the number will go up. Just aim for that, but the ultimate measurement is what the scale and tape measure says.
I really only consider weights and measurements every two weeks. There's a good bit of fluctuation from day to day. Remember to measure as well as weigh yourself as the scale isn't always 100% spot on with what's going on with your body. Measure a good number of areas: Neck, chest, bicep, waist, hips, thigh, calf. The body can take fat from any number of areas, so it's important to track several.
Eat a good variety of food including meat, veggies, and fruit. The internet is a literal cornucopia of resources for improving your diet. Eat real food made at home from as much non-prepackaged food as possible. Eat out as little as possible. This will help you know exactly what is in your food.
People will argue about the number of calories you should eat based on any number of calculators (as can always be seen in threads like this). You shouldn't deprive yourself by going into ultra low (>1200 cals) diets. It is extremely difficult to get the nutrients your body needs eating less than this.
Do what MFP recommends as a starting point and then adjust accordingly. You may need to eat/exercise more or less, but my experience has shown that more activity is greater than eating less.
There are no hard numbers other than what shows up on the scale and the measuring tape. Everything else is guess work.0 -
brianpperkins wrote: »Do NOT eat back the calories you burn. You will lose weight at a much slower pace. My current plan is 1200 cals daily and moderate exercise daily as well and I've been losing weight regularly. Your plan sounds good/healthy though so keep it up, just don't eat those calories you burned.
Faster loss is not necessarily better for a person and MFP is designed around eating back exercise calories.
While you may be right about how MFP is designed, we all use the features differently
@jazmin220 Take it from someone that has been doing this a LOT longer than your 23 year old self. Faster loss is not better. Slow and steady wins the race. Why suffer with such a low number of calories when you can be more satisfied and still lose weight. Studies show that the faster the loss the more likely it is to return and then some. Lots of experienced members of MFP will attest to this.-1 -
Here's the thing. Pick the target; TDEE or MFP, follow for a few weeks, and adjust. Your sweet spot will be in between somewhere. You will know for sure as you go along.0
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Well, if you weren't confused before, you most definitely are now lol. So much conflicting info.0
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Well, if you weren't confused before, you most definitely are now lol. So much conflicting info.
That's what happens when you get on a community site where nobody is an expert but everybody thinks they are. Outside of a registered dietitian, take nothing on this site at face value and find something that works, do it for as long as it works, and then find something else that works, etc.
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Well, if you weren't confused before, you most definitely are now lol. So much conflicting info.
That's what happens when you get on a community site where nobody is an expert but everybody thinks they are. Outside of a registered dietitian, take nothing on this site at face value and find something that works, do it for as long as it works, and then find something else that works, etc.
I disagree. MFP works a specific way, if you use as intended then you will be good. Problem is people mix and match aspects of TDEE and MFP which isn't how this tool works
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Well, if you weren't confused before, you most definitely are now lol. So much conflicting info.
That's what happens when you get on a community site where nobody is an expert but everybody thinks they are. Outside of a registered dietitian, take nothing on this site at face value and find something that works, do it for as long as it works, and then find something else that works, etc.
Sorry, gotta disagree!! Listen to those people that have been successful and are where you want to be. This is how it is for everything in life. There are a lot of successful people on MFP that have lost the weight and kept it off. Add to that, there is another segment in that crowd that not only lost the weight and kept it off, but they have completely altered their body make up and composition. If all you want to do is lose weight, find the people on here that have lost the weight and have kept it off. If you want to take it a step further then find those people.
Registered dietitians in a lot of cases just have book and have no real life experience with weight loss/gain. For them it is all about the books.
Personally, if one pays attention, there is a core group of people on here that people should pay attention too. Sadly, there is also a group on this site that call that particular group bullies
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Well, if you weren't confused before, you most definitely are now lol. So much conflicting info.
That's what happens when you get on a community site where nobody is an expert but everybody thinks they are. Outside of a registered dietitian, take nothing on this site at face value and find something that works, do it for as long as it works, and then find something else that works, etc.
I would say the bigger issue is noobs not reading the stickies which pretty much explain how to use the tool. It's so simple, it amazes me that people have such a hard time with it. If they just read the instructions for this tool, they'd be fine.0 -
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Do NOT eat back the calories you burn. You will lose weight at a much slower pace. My current plan is 1200 cals daily and moderate exercise daily as well and I've been losing weight regularly. Your plan sounds good/healthy though so keep it up, just don't eat those calories you burned.
Of course you've been losing weight, but you have been losing the wrong kind of weight. It's better to not go under 1200 per day, which is what you've been doing with moderate exercise. Say you burned 300 calories, that means you've had 900 calories net and are in a dangerous very low calorie situation, you'll burn muscle, your hormones will go haywire, you'll leach calcium from your bones. Your hair skin teeth and nails will suffer. And guess what else is a muscle...your heart, and this is why anorexics suddenly drop down in cardiac arrest.
You can play with fire if you like, but don't encourage others to.
When you've lost all your muscle tone, come over to the gaining weight section for some bulking advice! Now that's much more fun.
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TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »Thanks Firefly0606 this site is great. Just for clarification I entered all my statistics and my TDEE is 2655 including exercise. I am allowed 2124 calls per day to lose a pound a week. In MFP if I add 500 cals a day due to exercise then my goal should be 1624 is this correct? Thanks
If you are using the TDEE method, you don't follow what MFP gives you. Go into your setting and change your calories to match what your TDEE -15 or 20% is. That's the number you should be eating.
Which is essentially what MFP does for you when you set your activity level to include your exercise.
Incorrect. MFP set with activity level is nowhere near as accurate as TDEE.
Prove it.
Well, when I use MFP settings (including my activity level), it gives me 1480 calories. When I use the TDEE method, it gives me 1823 calories. I've been using TDEE and losing weight each week, so.... point proven.
Dang than i did it wrong for 95 days.
You mean when i should have done TDEE i would have lost more then the 60+ pounds i did now by using MPF method and eating back 1/4 of my burned calories?
Shoot.
(kidding of course lol)
People it all comes down to a calorie deficit, which system/method doesn't matter at all.
There are only in my opinion healthy ways to lose weight and unhealthy ways.0 -
rhiannajohnson2015 wrote: »When you exercise it adds calories to your "allowance." So if I eat 1200, which is what it recommends and then burn 300 it says I can eat 300 more. Doesn't that basically cancel out the exercising?
Yes, you've fuelled your exercising, but you get to eat 1500 cals instead of 1200 which is better! Even though youll be hungrier because of the exercise! But you're still in deficit because your maintenance figure will be higher than 1500. Mines 1750 so I would have lost 250 cals that day. That's more than I can handle! I usually diet much much slower than that. At about 1650 net. But the weight comes off and it's mostly fat.
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brianpperkins wrote: »Do NOT eat back the calories you burn. You will lose weight at a much slower pace. My current plan is 1200 cals daily and moderate exercise daily as well and I've been losing weight regularly. Your plan sounds good/healthy though so keep it up, just don't eat those calories you burned.
Faster loss is not necessarily better for a person and MFP is designed around eating back exercise calories.
While you may be right about how MFP is designed, we all use the features differently
@jazmin220 Take it from someone that has been doing this a LOT longer than your 23 year old self. Faster loss is not better. Slow and steady wins the race. Why suffer with such a low number of calories when you can be more satisfied and still lose weight. Studies show that the faster the loss the more likely it is to return and then some. Lots of experienced members of MFP will attest to this.
I'm sure your right about what your saying however keep in mind that what works for you may not work for everyone else and visa versa. All I'm trying to say is people handle their affairs differently. And there's nothing wrong with that. Also, why assume that I'm suffering eating 1200 cals a day? Most of the food i eat is protein rich and nutritious keeping me fuller for longer. Losing weight is a hard long process and the OP asked the community a question, and i decided to post my own thoughts about my experience and what worked best for me.
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