Has any women lost any weight eating 1600 calories a day?
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Hi i started at 17st 2 and I'm now at 16st7 and lose 2lb a week generally. I eat 1600 cals a day. I rarely exercise due to health problems. I used to use spoons until I saw the video posted earlier. Now I weigh my crispbread then spread on my peanut butter or almond butter then weigh again and voila I now exactly what I've got in grams.
I do sympathise with you, it takes a while to unlearn myth and rumour and learn proper nutrition based on evidence. I promise you though, work out your bmi/ tdee from the sticky threads and then measure and weigh your foods so you log accurate ly and you'll lose in a safe way, whilst learning about portion control. Good luck0 -
If you're undereating, your body will start to consume more muscle and less fat (as muscle requires more calories for maintenance), but it has to burn SOMETHING for you to stay alive, and yes, you would lose weight if you were undereating.newstart1988 wrote: »
I thought your body can go into starvation mode If youre undereating and start holding onto fat for energynewstart1988 wrote: »I was eating 1200 calories a day but my body was holding onto the weight because I was under eating.
That's not how it works. Your body doesn't stop losing weight because you eat too little. That's impossible. You were probably underestimating calories if you weren't losing anything at 1200. Eating more will just make you gain weight if you weren't losing anything at what you measured as 1200.
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tiffanybrooks530 wrote: »tiffanybrooks530 wrote: »newstart1988 wrote: »
I thought your body can go into starvation mode If you're under eating and start holding onto fat for energynewstart1988 wrote: »I was eating 1200 calories a day but my body was holding onto the weight because I was under eating.
That's not how it works. Your body doesn't stop losing weight because you eat too little. That's impossible. You were probably underestimating calories if you weren't losing anything at 1200. Eating more will just make you gain weight if you weren't losing anything at what you measured as 1200.
eating less than 1200 causes the body to eat on its muscle, and you will lose weight, but that is not the right or healthy approach. You want to burn fat and gain or maintain your muscle mass. One month is not enough time for 1200 calories you need to keep it up and incorporate some exercise if you have a sedentary lifestyle.
When i was sick for a week and could not eat whole meals only consumed 500 a day i ended up in hospital and when they tested me my body had gone into starvation mode, they had to put an IV in me to give me the electrolytes and other nutrients I had lost. The R.N. told me ppl try to do this as a diet, it is not a good feeling, don't go below 1200.
good luck.
Eating any deficit is going to cause muscle loss. The reason you don't want to eat less than 1200 isn't because of muscle loss. It's because it's difficult to get enough nutrients in less than 1200 calories without using supplements. There's nothing magical about 1200 besides the fact that it's just easier to get enough nutrients. Nothing special happens if you eat 1100 calories.
When they checked you out at the hospital, you weren't in "starvation mode." You were dehydrated. When you have a very low calorie diet, you likely aren't going to get enough sodium. So even if you drink a lot of water, you'll end up dehydrated. They give you saline in an IV to quickly hydrate you.
No you're wrong. No i was not dehydrated and yes my body was in a state of "ketosis".
I stated that muscle loss occurs in that state and I had also lost nutrients that had to be replenished via IV. It wasn't fun, and I'm sharing my personal experience, if you had a different one by all means share it, but you are not my Dr. to tell me what I did and did not go through.
My advice to her is to be consistent with her choice be it 1200 or 1600, since she said she only did it for one month. based on her comments there appears to be a number of reasons why she isn't losing. But no one should aim for starvation, no one is suggesting that.
Yeah.... No. A standard IV contains normal saline (salt water) at a similar concentration found in blood. Lactated ringers and D5W may also be used. These are ised for dehydration, blood loss, electrolyte imbalances etc. they are not for nutrition. They do have have IVs that contain soluble protein, but that is rare. Your IV fluid was clear, right? Then it was just for hydration (as well as electrolytes and if needed, sugar).0 -
I personally think being condescending IS NOT HELPFUL. I feel like half the people here are trying to force this magical 1200 number on you and the other half are trying to tell you (with a little too much attitude) that if you're being logical & simply doing the math that eating more calories will not create a bigger loss. My opinion on this is
1) Eating more calories will NOT create a bigger loss for you.
2) However, 1200 calories is not the amount of calories everyone should be eating. Based on your statistics and a little bit of trial and error find out what your intake should be. If I can eat 1500 calories and lose weight steadily there is no way I would opp to eat 1200. It's harder to sustain and I'd be constantly hungry.
3) To answer your original question- yes. I lose consistently by eating 1500-1700 most days and doing high intensity workouts 5x a week. I'm 5"10 in the 160's.
Also, if someone says they are logging properly after I ask them if they are, I take there word for it, as I am not in their kitchen cooking their meals. If it continues to be a problem I'm sure she'll switch it up. People love to argue this moot point of the forums and I don't understand it.1 -
I'm sure plenty of women have lost weight on 1600 cals but there are a ton of other things to factor in. How active is their lifestyle? What are they eating on the 1600? Water Consumption? and various other things..I think perhaps you should decide if MFP is how you want to lose the weight and then get all the tools needed to do MFP the way that benefits you..Keep it very simple...I would be curious to know how often you are working out and what type of exercise.0
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I personally think being condescending IS NOT HELPFUL. I feel like half the people here are trying to force this magical 1200 number on you and the other half are trying to tell you (with a little too much attitude) that if you're being logical & simply doing the math that eating more calories will not create a bigger loss. My opinion on this is
1) Eating more calories will NOT create a bigger loss for you.
2) However, 1200 calories is not the amount of calories everyone should be eating. Based on your statistics and a little bit of trial and error find out what your intake should be. If I can eat 1500 calories and lose weight steadily there is no way I would opp to eat 1200. It's harder to sustain and I'd be constantly hungry.
3) To answer your original question- yes. I lose consistently by eating 1500-1700 most days and doing high intensity workouts 5x a week. I'm 5"10 in the 160's.
Also, if someone says they are logging properly after I ask them if they are, I take there word for it, as I am not in their kitchen cooking their meals. If it continues to be a problem I'm sure she'll switch it up. People love to argue this moot point of the forums and I don't understand it.
Shaunte, I'm just not seeing the condescension you're alluding to. Nor do I see anywhere where any of the knowledgeable posters said that 1200 calories is the amount *everyone* should be eating to lose weight.
And as to the logging issues, the OP may think she's logging correctly, and therefore say so, but if you just take her word for it, you may be missing the key to helping her actually resolve the issue behind her not losing weight currently. Which, I believe, is the reason the OP started this thread in the first place! Now whether she chooses to just continue *thinking* she's logging her food correctly is entirely up to her. Her diary definitely shows that she's not weighing things - or a least not entering things correctly. Why someone would weigh their food but then enter a generic measurement in their diary kind of eludes me.
Some amazing advice has been given here by people who have actually been in the OP's shoes at one time, made the same mistakes, learned, changed and LOST THE WEIGHT as a result, and are willing to take the time to share this hard-won info with the OP. I hope that she eventually realizes this and continues with more success on this journey of hers.
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I personally think being condescending IS NOT HELPFUL. I feel like half the people here are trying to force this magical 1200 number on you and the other half are trying to tell you (with a little too much attitude) that if you're being logical & simply doing the math that eating more calories will not create a bigger loss. My opinion on this is
1) Eating more calories will NOT create a bigger loss for you.
2) However, 1200 calories is not the amount of calories everyone should be eating. Based on your statistics and a little bit of trial and error find out what your intake should be. If I can eat 1500 calories and lose weight steadily there is no way I would opp to eat 1200. It's harder to sustain and I'd be constantly hungry.
3) To answer your original question- yes. I lose consistently by eating 1500-1700 most days and doing high intensity workouts 5x a week. I'm 5"10 in the 160's.
Also, if someone says they are logging properly after I ask them if they are, I take there word for it, as I am not in their kitchen cooking their meals. If it continues to be a problem I'm sure she'll switch it up. People love to argue this moot point of the forums and I don't understand it.
Most people aren't being condescending.
She was provided good info that she ignored.
No one is saying 1200 calories is what everyone should be eating.
Also, you can look at the OPs diary and if a large number of entries aren't weighed then you know that she isn't ... weighing. It's that simple. And it's obviously NOT a moot point - suggest you go see the sticky which covers the issue of improper logging. It's quite common.
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if u r exercising and eating 1200 calories u wont gain weight by going into starvation mode,bc 1000-1200 calories is the limit where u won't go into starvation mode.but u can still lose weight at a higher calorie goal like 1400-1600.0
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I've been losing at 1800 cal no problem. But remember that everyone is different. That works for one may not work for another. Change your goals from a 2lb per week loss to something less restrictive like 1lb per week. That'll give you more calories to eat and work with. It's not a race. And as others are saying, use the food scale and log accurately. Stay away from generic entries where possible. Scan the barcodes and use the correct portion from weighting.0
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yes , but ivee decreased it now i lose on 1560 cals i changed to 1560 after doing 1200-1410 cals for 6 months
and ive been losing weight better on 1560 cals then 12000 -
I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.0
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mwebster11 wrote: »if u r exercising and eating 1200 calories u wont gain weight by going into starvation mode,bc 1000-1200 calories is the limit where u won't go into starvation mode.but u can still lose weight at a higher calorie goal like 1400-1600.
starvation mode as the "general public" believes is false.0 -
Hi OP,
I have a little comparison exercise for you to try. I learned it while baking bread. Take one measuring cup on a scale and scoop flour lightly into the cup sort of adding air to the flour when putting it in (gently shake into cup). Fill up the 1 cup but don't pack down or scoop off. Records the weight. Now, figure out how much your measuring cup weighs (grams) and then zero your scale. Scoop that sucker into the flour and pack down as much flour as you can get in there. Now weigh in, minus the cup grams....what are the amounts of both "cups" of flour? Any difference will show that measuring cups are not that reliable. Thus people bake in weights as one loaf of break to another will have big differences in the flour amount (if using cups).
I noticed the differences for things like dressings and dips, chips etc on a scale as well knowing that my serving size of say 2 tbs or 10 chips was actually way over the serving size on the package in grams.
The problem I have is that I weigh it and can't find the food database appropriate and haven't had time to find out an easier way of doing that (for things without barcodes).
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@newstart1988
Yes I would lose weight eating 1600. My current 30 day average intake is 1973 for weight loss. However, I have to be as accurate as I can be or I could easily end up eating my deficit and then not losing or even gaining. I won't say everyone can eat as much as me, because well not everyone has my lifestyle or does the same workouts with the same intensity as me.
Threads that are good reads and will help:
Logging Accurately Step by Step Guide while you main not feel that this is the problem your having, I highly suggest taking a few seconds to look it over and keeping an open mind
A guide to get you started on your path to Sexypants
So you want a nice stomach
Oh and double check your entries.
You have a 7 oz Salmon entry @ 193 calories. USDA has 3 oz pink salmon @ 108 calories. So your 7 oz salmon was actually closer to 252 calories.
The generic large brown egg boiled. You would actually be better off logging 3 large eggs + anything you used to cook them with. You will get a more accurate calorie count that way.
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I eat 1800 - 2000 calories a day and in 10 weeks I've lost 10 pounds. It can be done But WEIGH EVERYTHING. Stop making excuses and stop lying that you are weighing everything. It makes a HUGE difference.1
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I eat more than 1600 and losing on average 1.5/wk0
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I'm eating around 1,600 cals a day, working out 5 days a week. I'm 5'6.0
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I am 4'11, currently 113 lbs, sedentary, and I've lost an average of 1.5lbs a week for 4 months eating 1600 kcal per day on average.
But I log everything and weigh everything (except when work takes me out of town for a few days).
OP, it really doesn't matter what number you pick if you don't weigh your food. If you like 1600 or 1800 or 1462, go with it and log EVERYTHING and see what your progress is. At this point, since you haven't been weighing, you really don't have any information to go off of. You don't know how much you were eating, so you can't yet make a judgement about what your perfect # is.2 -
I'm 5'6" and was losing about 2lbs a week for about 6 months eating 1600-1700 calories. Granted, I started off with a lot of weight to lose (and still have a bunch of weight to lose). Was working out 3-6 times a week depending on how I felt (but living VERY sedentary lifestyle), weighing everything on a scale. Like what other people have said, you have to just try it out for a few weeks and see if it works for you. I started off at 1200 and gradually added calories back in for a few months until I settled comfortably around 1600. If I wasn't still losing on 1600, I would have lowered it again until I found the sweet spot. You have to experiment and find out what works for YOU.0
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Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
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debsdoingthis wrote: »
Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
No..tbls is tablespoon...1ml does not = 1gr
1ml is a liquid measurement
1gr is a solid weight
Just know that it doesn't matter what the package says you can find an entry to log in weight in this database.0 -
debsdoingthis wrote: »
Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
That is strange. ML's are a measurement for liquids. Gram's are for solids.0 -
I've lost 55 lbs on eating 1600 calories a day and I normally don't eat much of my exercise calories back.0
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debsdoingthis wrote: »
Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
No..tbls is tablespoon...1ml does not = 1gr
1ml is a liquid measurement
1gr is a solid weight
Just know that it doesn't matter what the package says you can find an entry to log in weight in this database.
It does if the density of what you are measuring is 1gr/ml.
Trust the package over the database. Every single time.
The database seems to have been entered by a pack of monkeys MFP users without real regard to proper values.1 -
newstart1988 wrote: »Has any women lost any weight eating 1600 calories a day? I was eating 1200 calories a day but my body was holding onto the weight because I was under eating. So now im trying to eat 1600 calories a day instead. I would love your advice and experiences. Thanks. :-)
I have been doing MFP seriously for about 3 weeks. Today marks my 20th day of logging my food and exercise, and I am eating 1720 calorie which is recommend by MFP and so for I have losted 2 pounds. #onepoundatatime.0 -
You're supposed to eat back exercise calories with MFP. I used TDEE-20% and never ate under 1600 calories though (total). I weigh everything though (and measure liquids).Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »In my weight loss I was eating 1200, stopped losing so I upped to 1600 and started losing again, it is possible to be eating too little.
IMO when this happens it's just coincidence... someone hits a stall (which is completely normal), figure they are doing something wrong, then up their calories, and suddenly lose again... they would probably have lost anyway if they had kept their lower calories.
This isn't the case, I never decreased, I continued losing at a faster pace on the higher amount than I was on 1200. There came a point where I was maintaining with exercise on 1200. Maybe I am an abnormality but I know many people who the same thing happened to.You're supposed to eat back exercise calories with MFP. I used TDEE-20% and never ate under 1600 calories though (total). I weigh everything though (and measure liquids).Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »In my weight loss I was eating 1200, stopped losing so I upped to 1600 and started losing again, it is possible to be eating too little.
IMO when this happens it's just coincidence... someone hits a stall (which is completely normal), figure they are doing something wrong, then up their calories, and suddenly lose again... they would probably have lost anyway if they had kept their lower calories.
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No it doesn't.EvgeniZyntx wrote: »debsdoingthis wrote: »
Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
No..tbls is tablespoon...1ml does not = 1gr
1ml is a liquid measurement
1gr is a solid weight
Just know that it doesn't matter what the package says you can find an entry to log in weight in this database.
It does if the density of what you are measuring is 1gr/ml.
Trust the package over the database. Every single time.
The database seems to have been entered by a pack of monkeys MFP users without real regard to proper values.
1ml=1 milliliter which is a metric measure for liquid.
1gr= 1 grain which is not a measure for liquid
1 gr = 64.79891 milligrams
the abbreviation for gram=gm.
As for the database there are non user entered entries that are from the USDA database and others are scanned in from the package.
Some are user entered but even those a lot are correct so....0 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »You're supposed to eat back exercise calories with MFP. I used TDEE-20% and never ate under 1600 calories though (total). I weigh everything though (and measure liquids).Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »In my weight loss I was eating 1200, stopped losing so I upped to 1600 and started losing again, it is possible to be eating too little.
IMO when this happens it's just coincidence... someone hits a stall (which is completely normal), figure they are doing something wrong, then up their calories, and suddenly lose again... they would probably have lost anyway if they had kept their lower calories.
This isn't the case, I never decreased, I continued losing at a faster pace on the higher amount than I was on 1200. There came a point where I was maintaining with exercise on 1200. Maybe I am an abnormality but I know many people who the same thing happened to.
One of two things was going on then...
1 you weren't logging accurately which is probably the case and you were eating more than you thought...
or
2 you are that special snowflake everyone talks about and you need to contact some lab so they can study you...
Probably not the case...
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newstart1988 wrote: »Has any women lost any weight eating 1600 calories a day? I was eating 1200 calories a day but my body was holding onto the weight because I was under eating. So now im trying to eat 1600 calories a day instead. I would love your advice and experiences. Thanks. :-)
I have been averaging 1.5 lb a week on 1760 a day. I started eating 1950 a day.
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I never understand it. People come and ask advice. They're told the facts, they don't want to hear it
No it doesn't.EvgeniZyntx wrote: »debsdoingthis wrote: »
Thank you, my peanut butter jar has servings in TBLS and ML's. so 1ml=1gr?KhaleesiBlue wrote: »I weigh my peanut butter in grams. A serving size (2 TBS is 32 grams, but I don't like eating that many calories of just PB so I usually only eat a tsp or so. A tsp of PB is 5.3 grams.
No..tbls is tablespoon...1ml does not = 1gr
1ml is a liquid measurement
1gr is a solid weight
Just know that it doesn't matter what the package says you can find an entry to log in weight in this database.
It does if the density of what you are measuring is 1gr/ml.
Trust the package over the database. Every single time.
The database seems to have been entered by a pack of monkeys MFP users without real regard to proper values.
1ml=1 milliliter which is a metric measure for liquid.
1gr= 1 grain which is not a measure for liquid
1 gr = 64.79891 milligrams
the abbreviation for gram=gm.
As for the database there are non user entered entries that are from the USDA database and others are scanned in from the package.
Some are user entered but even those a lot are correct so....
Actually, the abbreviation for gram is g
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