Most people select a goal weight, and that determines their calories. Has anyone tried it the other
CoachJen71
Posts: 1,200 Member
way around? Select a calorie zone and let your weight fall where it may, just to see what happens? (I'm trying that for now. I want to see what happens if I eat 1400-1600 on most days, along with the occasional treat meal, and see what I end up weighing. I'm 5'2.5" and middle-aged, though, so I may find this range to be too high. We shall see.)
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Interesting. I picked my calorie budget based on my current height and weight, the only problem is being 5' 2", I can only eat within a narrow range that will allow me to lose weight, a few hundred calories more and I maintain, above 1800 I gain weight.0
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I can see the logic, and if it works for you, that's fine.
But I have to say it seems to be the equivalent of limiting how far I go on a trip by how much fuel I happen to put in my gas tank. It's one way people can choose to do things, but it also means your trip could end too short of or too far from a useful destination. That would depend on your situation. If you're in a more populated and developed area, you have better odds this approach will see you end up in a viable destination. If you're down here in the middle of nowhere, Texas, you might end up surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but scrub brush.
The same could go to this approach. Our bodies will do whatever they're going to do with what fuel we give them. I can't make my body lose, maintain, or gain. It simply does one of those things in response to the calories I provide and the calories I burn. If we went by determining our daily intake level, first, whatever calorie level we choose to consume could still be too high or it could be too low. That's part of why people tend to maintain weight using some kind of goal weight and then working from there.4 -
I can see the logic, and if it works for you, that's fine.
But I have to say it seems to be the equivalent of limiting how far I go on a trip by how much fuel I happen to put in my gas tank. It's one way people can choose to do things, but it also means your trip could end too short of or too far from a useful destination.
The same could go to this approach. Our bodies will do whatever they're going to do with what fuel we give them. I can't make my body lose, maintain, or gain. It simply does one of those things in response to the calories I provide and the calories I burn. If we went by determining our daily intake level, first, whatever calorie level we choose to consume could still be too high or it could be too low. That's part of why people tend to maintain weight using some kind of goal weight and then working from there.
I like the car analogy!! I was thinking the same concept but couldn't figure out how to word it properly!0 -
That's kind of how I ended up weighing 270. When you're eating around 3000 calories per day and not exercising enough to make up for it, that's where you end up.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »That's kind of how I ended up weighing 270. When you're eating around 3000 calories per day and not exercising enough to make up for it, that's where you end up.
Yep. Been there, done that!
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DeniseB0711 wrote: »Interesting. I picked my calorie budget based on my current height and weight, the only problem is being 5' 2", I can only eat within a narrow range that will allow me to lose weight, a few hundred calories more and I maintain, above 1800 I gain weight.
Being short can suck, at least as far as calorie allowance goes for some of us. Occasionally I see short athletes on here who can eat a lot more, but I already know that's never going to be me, thanks to some weary old knees.
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... The same could go to this approach. Our bodies will do whatever they're going to do with what fuel we give them. I can't make my body lose, maintain, or gain. It simply does one of those things in response to the calories I provide and the calories I burn. If we went by determining our daily intake level, first, whatever calorie level we choose to consume could still be too high or it could be too low. That's part of why people tend to maintain weight using some kind of goal weight and then working from there.
I have considered that. Like I said, we'll see. If I stop losing or start gaining, I'll have to make changes.
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I eat at maintenance of my goal weight based on being lightly active which is about 1650. Some days if I need to I eat back a portion of my exercise calories or save them for the weekend if I am going to be eating out.
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I am a little confused by the assertion 'Most people select a goal weight and that determines their calories'. How does goal weight determine calories (other than an indicator of a reasonable deficit to select). I think I must be missing something.
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I am a little confused by the assertion 'Most people select a goal weight and that determines their calories'. How does goal weight determine calories (other than an indicator of a reasonable deficit to select). I think I must be missing something.
No, that was what I meant. I am still in the process of losing, so am still looking at things from that point of view.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »I am a little confused by the assertion 'Most people select a goal weight and that determines their calories'. How does goal weight determine calories (other than an indicator of a reasonable deficit to select). I think I must be missing something.
No, that was what I meant. I am still in the process of losing, so am still looking at things from that point of view.
Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?0 -
Yup, that's what I did. I am absolutely miserable on anything under 1800 (and still a little cranky with that). I feel ok at 1900, and good at 2000-2200. 2200 fuels exercise activity pretty well. So that's what I've eaten, through my loss and maintenance. It's the amount that's sustainable for me, given my lifestyle and preferences, so I used it as my main constraint. (In fact, I couldn't eat less if I wanted to, I just have never been able to do it for longer than three hours or feel like a human being during those three hours)
It's a bit less than I consumed when I gained/was overweight; the bigger part of the deficit came on the "calories out" side, from more exercise (circuits and cardio).0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »I am a little confused by the assertion 'Most people select a goal weight and that determines their calories'. How does goal weight determine calories (other than an indicator of a reasonable deficit to select). I think I must be missing something.
No, that was what I meant. I am still in the process of losing, so am still looking at things from that point of view.
Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
If I understand the OP...
She has a bottom line as to how low she will go one her calories...1400-1600. At some point she will stop losing weight and that is the weight she will be satisfied with.
I feel the same way...I won't eat any less than 1600 (preferably 1800) calories again. So if I stop losing before I reach where I would like to be...I will just settle for that weight instead of lowering my calories.
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"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
This site...
http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/
uses the approach of what you are describing. I have used it to figure out my TDEE at what I think will be my goal. I compared it to what scooby and several other sites gave me.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
No, to lose weight it looks at what you weigh NOW and what your goal is (.5 to 2 lbs a week loss) Then they calculate a deficit based on what you weigh now, not what you eventually will be.1 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »way around? Select a calorie zone and let your weight fall where it may, just to see what happens?
Sure. If you set that number to your intake at your desired maintenance weight, you start eating at your proper intak from the start and there is no transition to maintenance.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
No, to lose weight it looks at what you weigh NOW and what your goal is (.5 to 2 lbs a week loss) Then they calculate a deficit based on what you weigh now, not what you eventually will be.
That's what a lot of people do, which is why a lot of people get in trouble. They use the wrong calculator, they don't account for BF%, and they end up over-eating.
A better way is to figure out your calories based on your end goal, and start eating like that.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
No, to lose weight it looks at what you weigh NOW and what your goal is (.5 to 2 lbs a week loss) Then they calculate a deficit based on what you weigh now, not what you eventually will be.
That's what a lot of people do, which is why a lot of people get in trouble. They use the wrong calculator, they don't account for BF%, and they end up over-eating.
A better way is to figure out your calories based on your end goal, and start eating like that.
BF%? I don't know what you mean by that.
MFP for a weight loss of 2lbs a week gives me 1530 calories per day. My TDEE for my goal weight is 1733.
If I ate at 1733 I'd still lose weight, but at a slightly slower pace. I'm not over eating though.
I'm just asking for clarification, trying to learn, not argue.0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »way around? Select a calorie zone and let your weight fall where it may, just to see what happens?
Sure. If you set that number to your intake at your desired maintenance weight, you start eating at your proper intak from the start and there is no transition to maintenance.
That is what I started doing. I couldn't take the changing of the calories...it just ended up frustrating me. It will take longer to lose but I am eating at the level that I will be when I lose all of the weight (or where ever I end up) that I want.
I am okay with it taking longer. I am trying to change my focus from weight loss to creating a more active life.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
That's one way to do it, but not the most common.
More often people figure out their maintenance at their current weight and then subtract a percentage or set amount.
When I lost before I didn't count calories, but had a way of eating that I followed that probably was on average a particular calorie level. I lost fast for a while and then gradually slowed down and stalled around 135 at which point I kicked up my exercise and ended up at 120.
I can't seem to keep a deficit at the moment (I've been maintaining at 125) so am trying to do something similar.
I'd be losing even now if I could stick to 1400-1600, though (which used to be easy). I'm 45 and 5'3.0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
No, to lose weight it looks at what you weigh NOW and what your goal is (.5 to 2 lbs a week loss) Then they calculate a deficit based on what you weigh now, not what you eventually will be.
That's what a lot of people do, which is why a lot of people get in trouble. They use the wrong calculator, they don't account for BF%, and they end up over-eating.
A better way is to figure out your calories based on your end goal, and start eating like that.
BF%? I don't know what you mean by that.
MFP for a weight loss of 2lbs a week gives me 1530 calories per day. My TDEE for my goal weight is 1733.
If I ate at 1733 I'd still lose weight, but at a slightly slower pace. I'm not over eating though.
I'm just asking for clarification, trying to learn, not argue.
My TDEE at goal weight is approximately 400 calories less than what it is now. I am trying to increase my activity level to moderately active and then it will be at about 650 less. I should still lose 1lb a week. As I lose...it will get slower.
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CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
No, to lose weight it looks at what you weigh NOW and what your goal is (.5 to 2 lbs a week loss) Then they calculate a deficit based on what you weigh now, not what you eventually will be.
That's what a lot of people do, which is why a lot of people get in trouble. They use the wrong calculator, they don't account for BF%, and they end up over-eating.
A better way is to figure out your calories based on your end goal, and start eating like that.
BF%? I don't know what you mean by that.
MFP for a weight loss of 2lbs a week gives me 1530 calories per day. My TDEE for my goal weight is 1733.
If I ate at 1733 I'd still lose weight, but at a slightly slower pace. I'm not over eating though.
I'm just asking for clarification, trying to learn, not argue.
The calorie calculators that don't use body fat tend to overstate your needed calories if you are overweight and do so more the more overweight you are. That's because it's lean mass that burns the calories and the calculators were created for people with more average amounts of lean mass at a particular weight than someone overweight will have. You can see this if you compare the Mifflin and Katch formulas--when I was overweight and estimated my fat percentage I'd get much higher numbers for TDEE and BMR with Mifflin. Now I actually get higher numbers with Katch. This switch seems to happen at higher body fat percentages for shorter people, not sure why.
IME, if you have an aggressive deficit or, like many at MFP, claim to be sedentary when you aren't really this effect gets more than balanced out. I was quite obese when I started and MFP claimed I'd be losing 1.8 lb/week at 1250 (my chosen goal), but I ended up losing 2.5 on average for a while, I assume because I was not as sedentary as I'd thought (I also ate back exercise calories but did not log routine daily walking, and I live in a city).1 -
Our bodies will do whatever they're going to do with what fuel we give them. I can't make my body lose, maintain, or gain. It simply does one of those things in response to the calories I provide and the calories I burn. If we went by determining our daily intake level, first, whatever calorie level we choose to consume could still be too high or it could be too low. That's part of why people tend to maintain weight using some kind of goal weight and then working from there.
^^ this
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I went by the BMI and body fat % at which the doctor told me I would be my healthiest, and then determined calories, nutrients, and exercise to get me there. Had I chosen a particular number of calories that I thought sounded reasonable, I'd still be fat.
I only get 1440 for maintenance, being five three and 46 years old. Before knowing what I know now, I'd have picked 2,000 calories and then I would end up at about 190 lb!!! And that is assuming that I continued to work out. If I didn't, I would end up over 200 lb! So I would consider it very dangerous to set a calorie level rather than BMI or body fat % as your goal. It's like putting the cart before the horse, to say the least. You could pick a calorie level that *sounds* entirely reasonable and end up as a giant ham planet. 0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »way around? Select a calorie zone and let your weight fall where it may, just to see what happens? (I'm trying that for now. I want to see what happens if I eat 1400-1600 on most days, along with the occasional treat meal, and see what I end up weighing. I'm 5'2.5" and middle-aged, though, so I may find this range to be too high. We shall see.)
It makes sense to me. You are basically eating at maintenance for someone in a normal weight range. The pounds will drop off just slower than someone who has cut to that magical 1200 and exercises out the wazoo to get an extra dollop of something to eat.
I'm 5'2" and pushing 60, Doc wants me to eat between 1300-1500 a day and my main exercise is walking, lots and lots of walking. I am still losing .5-1 lb a week
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That would not work for me. I would certainly pick a calorie range too high and get fat again.
Most of us have too much modern stress and there is too much higher calorie than we need foods readily available. The weight range for height is a very close estimate for our calorie needs. I think most of us need the guideline the way it's setup.
The biggest mistake I see is people not happy once they reach a healthy weight range and they get fixated on a specific scale measurement for body weight. If we just let the body weight scale go at that point, find the clothes that fit when we are in that healthy range, and accept the fact that we are human and it will fluctuate slightly that would be good.0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
Some people do it that way. There are a couple of issues with it imo. It does not take into account diet induced thermogeniesis, other metabolic variations or the wide range to select for what their healthy weight should be. However, as long as you tweak to adjust actual results, then its not a bad starting point generally - but it would be very individual and give some people calories that are either unnecessarily low for progress, or too high for sustained progress.0 -
CoachJen71 wrote: »"Sarauk2sf wrote:Then I am still confused and I still have the question as to how does goal weight determine calories?
I thought people work out what their healthy weight should be for their height/age/frame etc, then either MFP or a TDEE Calc would give them an idea of what their possible calorie intake should be to maintain that weight?
I think you're probably right that most people do that. As for where you'll end up with your selected calorie intake, it will probably be somewhere between 120 and 150.0
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