1200 calorie goal?

Azathera

Hello, I want to start by saying that I am relatively new to MFP but not new to exercising. When I created the account in here I somehow been suggested that my calorie goal should be 1200. To be honest I don't remember if I picked it or it has been auto-magically calculated.
I am 33 years old, 58kg at the moment and my goal is 53kg (I am left with the extra weight after a baby, so tummy and back), and I am 164 cm tall (5"2 I believe).

My question is, do you guys consider 1200 a healthy goal? Isn't that too low of a number to stay under?

segacs

Go to My Home --> Goals and see what it says on the righthand side next to "projected weight loss".

Since you only have 5kg (11lbs) to lose, you should target a rate of 0.25kg/week. You can do this by choosing "change goals" and changing the rate of loss you're targeting. That will give you your baseline (before exercise) calories to eat every day. Since you're small and relatively light, your baseline goal might be close to 1200 but it shouldn't be 1200. I just tested it with your stats and it gave me 1290 for a 0.3kg/week loss rate.

When you work out, log your exercise and it will add more calories into your goal for that day. Eat back some or all of those calories on top of your daily goal. So you won't really be eating only 1290 calories; you'll eat 1290+your exercise burn for the day. For instance, if you burn 300 calories one day, you'd eat 1590 that day.

Just be careful as MFP over-estimates calorie burns by quite a lot for some people. Estimate conservatively -- you can change the calories burned when you log.

StaciMarie1974

MFP goal is before exercise. So its 1200 + more to account for exercise.

Other than that, what did you put for your goal in terms of pounds to lose per week? With the amount you need to lose, you may be better off with a less aggressive goal. So if you put in 1kg per week, you may find .25-.5kg per week to be more realistic.

Azathera

Ok, so 1200 should be a relatively good goal for me. Yes, I know I can eat back some calories. I don't seem to be hungry... More like craving, but that is another problem.

I saw on a few sites that I should target 1200 calories per day for "extreme" weight loss, and that to maintain I should eat around 1700 (1500 being a number to moderately lose weight for my stats). And that scared me a little since my goal here is 1200 and I have to stay under...

Azathera

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

MFP goal is before exercise. So its 1200 + more to account for exercise.

Other than that, what did you put for your goal in terms of pounds to lose per week? With the amount you need to lose, you may be better off with a less aggressive goal. So if you put in 1kg per week, you may find .25-.5kg per week to be more realistic.

I had 0.75/week and changed it to 0.5
My calorie goal updated to 1250
50 cals...what is that? 3 peanuts? ))

segacs

LucyAndKay wrote: »

I saw on a few sites that I should target 1200 calories per day for "extreme" weight loss, and that to maintain I should easy around 1700 (1500 being a number to moderately lose weight for my stats). And that scared me a little since my goal here is 1200 and I have to stay under...

That's the discrepancy between the two methods: NEAT (which is what MFP uses) and TDEE (which is probably what those websites were using).

Basically, with NEAT/MFP, you eat baseline calories and then you eat more calories on top of that when you log your workouts.

With TDEE, you figure out how much you usually exercise on average and build that into your calorie goal already. So you don't eat back more calories on top of that.

The two methods mathematically should average out to about the same thing. They're just different ways of getting there. Some people prefer one method, some prefer the other. There's a good thread that discusses that here if you're interested in more reading:

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10011773/tdee-vs-mfp-calorie-goal

But for now, I'd say since you're new here, stick to the MFP / NEAT method. I saw your post that said you updated your calorie goal. That's a good first step, and then make sure you're eating back some of those exercise calories too, 'cause that's how the program works.

Good luck!

Ellaskat

My goal through MFP is also 1200 cal; I'm 5'6" and weighed 148 when I started on Jan 10th; I now weigh 140. I eat back about 1/2 my calories most of the time. Sometimes slightly more, sometimes less. I try to look at my weekly cals, rather than daily - it helps me choose what I want to eat by making room for higher cal meals now and then, while staying on track in the long term... Sometimes I feel a little hungry, sometimes not at all; sometimes I find it hard to eat 1200. Every day is different, but I have found it a great and productive goal for me over all. I'm trying to lose down to about 130, I might modify that goal as I get closer, I'm more concerned with look and feel of my body than the scale.

minizebu

At 33 years old, 58kg and 164cm, your BMR (Mifflin St. Jeor equation) is 1279 kcal.

To maintain your weight with light activity (about 30 minutes of moderate exercise 3 times a week) (1.375 Activity Factor x BMR of 1279) your maintenance calories would be 1759 kcal.

You only have 5kg to lose, so it would seem to me that 1500 kcal would be a reasonable calorie goal given a light activity level, and assuming you don't want to experience deprivation.

segacs

minizebu wrote: »

At 33 years old, 58kg and 164cm, your BMR (Mifflin St. Jeor equation) is 1279 kcal.

To maintain your weight with light activity (about 30 minutes of moderate exercise 3 times a week) (1.375 Activity Factor x BMR of 1279) your maintenance calories would be 1759 kcal.

You only have 5kg to lose, so it would seem to me that 1500 kcal would be a reasonable calorie goal given a light activity level, and assuming you don't want to experience deprivation.

Again, don't confuse this. If you're lightly active, you're probably gonna eat back those 250 calories per day on top of the 1250 base goal to get to 1500 on average. But that's not the same as starting at 1500 and eating back more exercise calories on top of that.

It comes out to the same in the end. But no need to confuse yourself with BMR and TDEE numbers. Just use the MFP numbers -- they sound reasonable based on how you set up your goals now -- and follow the plan for a few weeks, see how it goes.

minizebu

segacs wrote: »

minizebu wrote: »

At 33 years old, 58kg and 164cm, your BMR (Mifflin St. Jeor equation) is 1279 kcal.

To maintain your weight with light activity (about 30 minutes of moderate exercise 3 times a week) (1.375 Activity Factor x BMR of 1279) your maintenance calories would be 1759 kcal.

You only have 5kg to lose, so it would seem to me that 1500 kcal would be a reasonable calorie goal given a light activity level, and assuming you don't want to experience deprivation.

Again, don't confuse this. If you're lightly active, you're probably gonna eat back those 250 calories per day on top of the 1250 base goal to get to 1500 on average. But that's not the same as starting at 1500 and eating back more exercise calories on top of that.

It comes out to the same in the end. But no need to confuse yourself with BMR and TDEE numbers. Just use the MFP numbers -- they sound reasonable based on how you set up your goals now -- and follow the plan for a few weeks, see how it goes.

Sorry. I did not specify that the calculations I referenced are TDEE based.

StaciMarie1974

I am 40 years old, 5' 5.5" and about 125 pounds.

A smaller body uses less energy. Sometimes it stinks LOL. On a normal day, lightly active and getting in 30-60 minutes of cardio I might burn 1850 the entire day. If I didn't make any effort I'd only clear about 1500-1600.

Sunday morning I ran a 1/2 marathon, my first ever, in 2:32:27.71. I wear a Fitbit tracker, and when I got home showed Hubby my stats. Was over 27,000 steps and at about 1600 calories burned approximately 11am. Hubby showed me his Polar Loop tracker stats, and he was at 1100 burned. He had been in bed, with perhaps a trip to the bathroom and kitchen. In addition to being a guy (burn more on average than women) he weighs almost 100 pounds more than I do. I ended the day at almost 2400 calories burned - and of course there is no way I could do that much running on a daily basis.

The moral of this story: the lower burn is why you have to aim for a small deficit. 250-500 is the most you can do and still eat enough to fuel your body. Which also means accuracy is important. Any guessing in your food log, and you could wipe out your deficit for the day.

segacs

Yeah and don't think of it as a lower deficit. Think of it as an equivalent deficit in percentage terms. You're losing weight just as fast as other people, when you look at it as a percentage of your total body weight.

Azathera

Makes sense and thank you for the lesson on formulas. I'm going to stick to MFP and eat back some of the calories. It's pretty easy to keep track of it this way. I'm logging all my calories lost via Cardio (strength training) since I didn't figure out how to add them in the Strength category.

Thank you again for the explanation and the advice.