inaccurate daily calorie allowance?

Dancetherapist

i calculated my TDEE on another site and it said around 1870. MFP says I should only eat 1200 cals a day to lose 1.5lbs a week. Does that sound accurate or too low? ( I currently weigh 135 and my goal is 125) Thanks!

Liftng4Lis

It sounds like your goal is set too aggressively. With that little to lose, you should have it set to half pound a week loss.

Iron_Feline

That's correct according to MFP - but really is too low as you should only be aiming to lose 0.5lbs a week with only 10lbs to lose.

This is a great thread to read


http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Sued0nim

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

i calculated my TDEE on another site and it said around 1870. MFP says I should only eat 1200 cals a day to lose 1.5lbs a week. Does that sound accurate or too low? ( I currently weigh 135 and my goal is 125) Thanks!

Agree that your goal loss rate is far too high

But the maths is spot on

If your TDEE is 1870 and your goal rate is 1.5lbs you need to cut 750 calories a day which would take you down to 1120 but the lowest amount is 1200

ana3067

MFP uses net. TDEE =/= net. MFP estimations will always be lower until you add in exercise calories (at which point they may still be lower depending on how many exercise calories you add back -- when I estimated this for myself I had to eat back 100% of the calories to equal my estimated TDEE).

Agree that goal should be set to 0.5lbs or 10% below TDEE. Eat back exercise cals if doing net method. Don't if doing TDEE.

Dancetherapist

Thanks! I'll decrease my goal. Sometimes after not doing much in a day I find that I'm totally full after eating like 900 cals total (I eat lots of protein and complex carbs that keep my full for a long time) and I hate when MFP tells me I'm not eating enough. I know 900 sounds super low but I'm just trying to listen to my body and not eat more if I'm not hungry just to appease MFP. Then there are some weekend days when I go out to eat and really enjoy plenty of carbs and cheese so I guess it all evens out

ana3067

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

Thanks! I'll decrease my goal. Sometimes after not doing much in a day I find that I'm totally full after eating like 900 cals total (I eat lots of protein and complex carbs that keep my full for a long time) and I hate when MFP tells me I'm not eating enough. I know 900 sounds super low but I'm just trying to listen to my body and not eat more if I'm not hungry just to appease MFP. Then there are some weekend days when I go out to eat and really enjoy plenty of carbs and cheese so I guess it all evens out

900 calories is not enough for anyone, regardless of how you feel. You need to be aiming to meet your minimums. Try eating calorie-dense, non-filling foods. More oil to fry your foods, nuts and nut butters, sugary spreads/condiments, have some chips or a donut, etc.

Unless you are logging on the weekends and are eating WAY above your goals so that your weekly average comes to your net needs, then you definitely need to be aiming to eat properly throughout the week.

Oh, and you could also try eating more cals in the morning. I prefer eating more in the evening myself, but if lack of hunger is an issue then getting in some calorie-dense meals in the morning could help. Adding a couple of glasses of juice or milk would be an easy addition without being all that filling.

Dancetherapist

So basically I need to eat around 1200 a day to lose weight (give or take a few on any given day) and if I'm too far below my calorie goal on too many days I won't lose weight cause my body doesn't want me to? Sorry, I'm new to this stuff and really bad at math! (Also feel free to look at my diary)

paperpudding

If you eat way below 1200 calories you will still lose weight - but you won't be getting enough calories or sufficient nutrition to fuel your body properly, in short your health will suffer.
- And you probably won't maintain it either as extreme dieting is not sustainable for most people, so you fall into a yo yo pattern...
-

*unless you are on a medically supervised VLCD for medical reason

* also unless you are a double amputee or 4 feet tall or other body anomaly.

Dancetherapist

I swear I'm not an extreme dieter, and I definitely make sure to eat the right amount of the right nutrients (and I usually eat enough calories, it's mainly on my days off when I literally lie around and do nothing all day that I sometimes don't get to 1000). Healthy fats are my fave, haha. Thank you for the help.

SergeantSausage

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

So basically I need to eat around 1200 a day to lose weight (give or take a few on any given day) and if I'm too far below my calorie goal on too many days I won't lose weight cause my body doesn't want me to? Sorry, I'm new to this stuff and really bad at math! (Also feel free to look at my diary)

No.

Just ... No.

**

BTW - How did you get heavy enough to need to lose weight, if 900 cal is enough to satisfy you.

Something ain't kosher in Denmark here, right?

Sued0nim

Over a week it's ok to eat less some days if you eat more others to average your net 1200 (eg your MFP base allowance your exercise calories)

Francl27

TDEE includes exercise. MFP doesn't. If you use MFP properly, you have to eat exercise calories back, and it ends up pretty close.

ana3067

Francl27 wrote: »

TDEE includes exercise. MFP doesn't. If you use MFP properly, you have to eat exercise calories back, and it ends up pretty close.

Every time I've estimated it for myself it comes up 100-150 cals short for me, and that's with eating all the exercise cals back AND setting a custom net intake (although I guess I could have made the net ev en higher)! This is why I prefer TDEE haha.

rosebette

SergeantSausage wrote: »

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

So basically I need to eat around 1200 a day to lose weight (give or take a few on any given day) and if I'm too far below my calorie goal on too many days I won't lose weight cause my body doesn't want me to? Sorry, I'm new to this stuff and really bad at math! (Also feel free to look at my diary)

No.

Just ... No.

**

BTW - How did you get heavy enough to need to lose weight, if 900 cal is enough to satisfy you.

Something ain't kosher in Denmark here, right?

She weighs only 135 lbs. It's not as if she's a blimp. It might be helpful to know her stats -- age and height -- to figure out if she should really be eating as little as 1200 calories for only a 10 lb. weight loss.

Dancetherapist

I don't consider myself heavy. I'm 5'3. I just have a spare tire that I would like to get smaller. I'm sorry if I've come off as wanting to eat only 900 cals a day, I really do eat enough in a week to balance it all out. I guess I was just trying to figure out if MFP was giving me correct information. I also just found it weird on the few days when I was so full after 900 cals because that doesn't seem normal. Sorry if my post irritated people!

auddii

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

I don't consider myself heavy. I'm 5'3. I just have a spare tire that I would like to get smaller. I'm sorry if I've come off as wanting to eat only 900 cals a day, I really do eat enough in a week to balance it all out. I guess I was just trying to figure out if MFP was giving me correct information. I also just found it weird on the few days when I was so full after 900 cals because that doesn't seem normal. Sorry if my post irritated people!

Eh, some people are being blunt, but they do have a point. Typically we get "fat" (you're not that overweight) by eating a lot of food, and then we want to get "healthy", and we eat mostly chicken and veggies and cut out everything "bad". It's really easy to feel full when you eat a ton of veggies and not much else. But, there isn't a reason to cut everything out, and you need to find a balance that leaves you feeling full, gives you enough nutrition, and provides enough calories to fuel your body.

There are days you eat over your calorie goal, so you definitely know how to get there. A few days under aren't going to be a big issue. Glancing around your diary though, you do seem to be pretty low on protein most days. I'd work on increasing that if you can.

Dancetherapist

I

rosebette wrote: »

SergeantSausage wrote: »

cmuzzi617 wrote: »

So basically I need to eat around 1200 a day to lose weight (give or take a few on any given day) and if I'm too far below my calorie goal on too many days I won't lose weight cause my body doesn't want me to? Sorry, I'm new to this stuff and really bad at math! (Also feel free to look at my diary)

No.

Just ... No.

**

BTW - How did you get heavy enough to need to lose weight, if 900 cal is enough to satisfy you.

Something ain't kosher in Denmark here, right?

She weighs only 135 lbs. It's not as if she's a blimp. It might be helpful to know her stats -- age and height -- to figure out if she should really be eating as little as 1200 calories for only a 10 lb. weight loss.

I'm 27. And last week I was "-715 over weekly calorie goal" so I think I'm ok.