Is 1500 calories too little to eat to lose weight?

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.
  • steponebyone
    steponebyone Posts: 123 Member
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    omg, apples have no calories hooray! j/k, but I input my activity level and stats in MFP and aim for half my exercise calories back. How are you tracking your calories burned? I use a polar chest strap, I noticed that MPF tends to over estimate calorie burns.

    That sounds reasonable. Last night I went to bed SUPER hungry, so I probably need to add 200 lbs when I burn that much. For me, I'm big on using different machines at the gym, and they have the amount on them of calories burned.
  • steponebyone
    steponebyone Posts: 123 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I have done a little research on this and most things I come across says you should take your weight and times by 12 that's how many calories you need. You can stray from that but you shouldn't go too far until you start to see the scale drop and keep lowering then you can reverse diet to maintain.

    No, there's too much variability based on activity level, bodyfat, etc.

    MFP will give a better initial estimate.

    You are correct that people should adjust based on results.
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
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    senecarr wrote: »
    Okay so, 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound. Exercise is a key element to losing weight, but diet is just as important. Calories are not necessarily the key to dropping pounds, but in fact what you eat is significant. If you eat 1500 calories of junk food a day, or 2000 calories of healthy food a day, you're certainly more likely to loose it by eating healthier. Cutting back on calories can be hard as you're not used to it, so aim for 6 meals a day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and night snack. Snacks are essential as they'll prevent craving junk food during the day. Try and snack on apples as they're equivalent to 0 calories as your body burns off the amount of calories in them trying to digest it.
    Remember 3500 calories = 1 pound. Therefore if you're eating 1500 calories a day, it would be ideal if you could burn off 200, which would make you lose it faster!
    I hope this helped, good luck :)
    The bolded statement is a misunderstanding. While some foods require more digestion than others, the metabolizable energy of food is already accounted for in the Atwater method of determining caloric content, particularly when using the standard adjustements of soluble fiber to 2 calories/g and insoluble fiber to 0 calories/g.
    Why would the human body have metabolic pathways designed to net 0 energy out of food? There would be no evolutionary advantage to such, and there would be some possible disadvantages to it. It just doesn't make sense.

    Thanks for taking the time to explain, rather than mocking a newbie who was trying to be helpful, however misguided her advice.

    So much more helpful than "lol, just nope".
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.
    http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/exercise-calorie-counters-work/story?id=9966500
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    According to an experiment, ellipticals were found to over-estimate as much as 42%. Believe me, if I was just having opinions, I would have an opinion that gave me a great calorie burn on gym equipment.

    http://www.details.com/blogs/daily-details/2014/07/how-accurate-are-cardio-machines-calorie-counters.html
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    I have the same informed opinion based on lots of experience around here, as well as reading about the topic.

    If you are an experienced, skilled swimmer, then yes you could be burning 500 calories from that. I doubt you are from the elliptical in an hour, and brisk walking won't burn calories at that rate.

    That's why people recommend eating back only half until you see results and can adjust. You should eat back some, though.

    If you think the machine is right for you, totally fine to start with eating them all back, though, and just adjust down if you don't like the results.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    If you're consistent with your activity, consider using TDEE-15-20%. Way easier to think about.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    omg, apples have no calories hooray! j/k, but I input my activity level and stats in MFP and aim for half my exercise calories back. How are you tracking your calories burned? I use a polar chest strap, I noticed that MPF tends to over estimate calorie burns.

    That sounds reasonable. Last night I went to bed SUPER hungry, so I probably need to add 200 lbs when I burn that much. For me, I'm big on using different machines at the gym, and they have the amount on them of calories burned.

    gym machines don't know who you are, individually, even if you put in your information. I have a Fitbit Charge HR and an elliptical that I entered all my personal statistics into. My Fitbit is very accurate at tracking my calorie burns during my workouts, and my elliptical is consistently giving me readouts of 100 calories higher than my Fitbit for my workouts. You can't trust gym machines. MFP's estimates aren't much better. Get either a Fitbit or a heart rate monitor with a chest strap if you want to be accurate with your workout calorie burns.
  • Timelordlady85
    Timelordlady85 Posts: 797 Member
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    omg, apples have no calories hooray! j/k, but I input my activity level and stats in MFP and aim for half my exercise calories back. How are you tracking your calories burned? I use a polar chest strap, I noticed that MPF tends to over estimate calorie burns.

    That sounds reasonable. Last night I went to bed SUPER hungry, so I probably need to add 200 lbs when I burn that much. For me, I'm big on using different machines at the gym, and they have the amount on them of calories burned.

    Id highly recommend getting a heart rate monitor device such as polar or garmin with chest strap to get a better idea of how many calories and intensity your workouts are. I don't go by the machines, they over estimate calorie burns.
  • Chicasonamission
    Chicasonamission Posts: 64 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    The apples bit is my favourite...

    Mines to....lls
  • Chicasonamission
    Chicasonamission Posts: 64 Member
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    LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....I'm loving MFP *kitten* just made my day....I was bored.....TY lls
  • robe2754
    robe2754 Posts: 1 Member
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    I am 5'2 woman I have been eating 1200 calories a day. Is ir correct to lose weight?
    I need to lose 20lbs. Need help
  • steponebyone
    steponebyone Posts: 123 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    I have the same informed opinion based on lots of experience around here, as well as reading about the topic.

    If you are an experienced, skilled swimmer, then yes you could be burning 500 calories from that. I doubt you are from the elliptical in an hour, and brisk walking won't burn calories at that rate.

    That's why people recommend eating back only half until you see results and can adjust. You should eat back some, though.

    If you think the machine is right for you, totally fine to start with eating them all back, though, and just adjust down if you don't like the results.

    That
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    I have the same informed opinion based on lots of experience around here, as well as reading about the topic.

    If you are an experienced, skilled swimmer, then yes you could be burning 500 calories from that. I doubt you are from the elliptical in an hour, and brisk walking won't burn calories at that rate.

    That's why people recommend eating back only half until you see results and can adjust. You should eat back some, though.

    If you think the machine is right for you, totally fine to start with eating them all back, though, and just adjust down if you don't like the results.

    OK th
    mccindy72 wrote: »
    omg, apples have no calories hooray! j/k, but I input my activity level and stats in MFP and aim for half my exercise calories back. How are you tracking your calories burned? I use a polar chest strap, I noticed that MPF tends to over estimate calorie burns.

    That sounds reasonable. Last night I went to bed SUPER hungry, so I probably need to add 200 lbs when I burn that much. For me, I'm big on using different machines at the gym, and they have the amount on them of calories burned.

    gym machines don't know who you are, individually, even if you put in your information. I have a Fitbit Charge HR and an elliptical that I entered all my personal statistics into. My Fitbit is very accurate at tracking my calorie burns during my workouts, and my elliptical is consistently giving me readouts of 100 calories higher than my Fitbit for my workouts. You can't trust gym machines. MFP's estimates aren't much better. Get either a Fitbit or a heart rate monitor with a chest strap if you want to be accurate with your workout calorie burns.

    I might consider getting one! I heard they're great. & yeah that makes sense about the gym machines, but I do try to stick to higher intensity ellipticals. The stair machine also makes me sweat like crazy, so I know it's burning something. But thanks everyone for the input. I think I need to find a more reliable method of finding out how many calories I burn, or just stick to swimming and Zumba of course! :)

    For the most part people answered my questions. Lol. This post turned ridiculous and entertaining real fast. But also, just remember some people have grown up thinking different things about nutrition, so like me we are still learning. If you comment, "Just no", that isn't going to help at all, especially since I had a valid and perfectly reasonable question. Thanks for all who didn't butcher it though.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    robe2754 wrote: »
    I am 5'2 woman I have been eating 1200 calories a day. Is ir correct to lose weight?
    I need to lose 20lbs. Need help

    Perhaps you should start your own thread, you'll get more specific advice to your situation. But 1200 cals for a 5'2" woman is probably reasonable, depending on your current weight.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    It's not really an opinion more countless people's experience that both machines and MFP database are best taken at 50-75% of their calorie burns and then judge based on whether weight loss matches up to expectations over 6-8 weeks (assuming good logging)

    Using my HRM and steady state on an elliptical ....At 160lbs and resistance of 17 out of 25 with a HR of 145-155 it takes me 14 minutes to burn 100 calories on an elliptical ...could I keep that pace up for an hour? Doubtful ...if I did I would burn around 400 calories

    I'm pretty sure 500 is a too many
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    I have the same informed opinion based on lots of experience around here, as well as reading about the topic.

    If you are an experienced, skilled swimmer, then yes you could be burning 500 calories from that. I doubt you are from the elliptical in an hour, and brisk walking won't burn calories at that rate.

    That's why people recommend eating back only half until you see results and can adjust. You should eat back some, though.

    If you think the machine is right for you, totally fine to start with eating them all back, though, and just adjust down if you don't like the results.

    That
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I agree with comments but would like to ask what are you doing that you believe burns 500 calories?

    Exactly 1 hour of the precore elliptical burned 470 calories on level 7, and the rest was brisk walking on the treadmill to cool off. The calories are shown right on the machines.

    Gym machines are notorious for over-stating calorie burns.

    Hmm, that sounds more like an opinion than a fact to me.

    I have the same informed opinion based on lots of experience around here, as well as reading about the topic.

    If you are an experienced, skilled swimmer, then yes you could be burning 500 calories from that. I doubt you are from the elliptical in an hour, and brisk walking won't burn calories at that rate.

    That's why people recommend eating back only half until you see results and can adjust. You should eat back some, though.

    If you think the machine is right for you, totally fine to start with eating them all back, though, and just adjust down if you don't like the results.

    OK th
    mccindy72 wrote: »
    omg, apples have no calories hooray! j/k, but I input my activity level and stats in MFP and aim for half my exercise calories back. How are you tracking your calories burned? I use a polar chest strap, I noticed that MPF tends to over estimate calorie burns.

    That sounds reasonable. Last night I went to bed SUPER hungry, so I probably need to add 200 lbs when I burn that much. For me, I'm big on using different machines at the gym, and they have the amount on them of calories burned.

    gym machines don't know who you are, individually, even if you put in your information. I have a Fitbit Charge HR and an elliptical that I entered all my personal statistics into. My Fitbit is very accurate at tracking my calorie burns during my workouts, and my elliptical is consistently giving me readouts of 100 calories higher than my Fitbit for my workouts. You can't trust gym machines. MFP's estimates aren't much better. Get either a Fitbit or a heart rate monitor with a chest strap if you want to be accurate with your workout calorie burns.

    I might consider getting one! I heard they're great. & yeah that makes sense about the gym machines, but I do try to stick to higher intensity ellipticals. The stair machine also makes me sweat like crazy, so I know it's burning something. But thanks everyone for the input. I think I need to find a more reliable method of finding out how many calories I burn, or just stick to swimming and Zumba of course! :)

    For the most part people answered my questions. Lol. This post turned ridiculous and entertaining real fast. But also, just remember some people have grown up thinking different things about nutrition, so like me we are still learning. If you comment, "Just no", that isn't going to help at all, especially since I had a valid and perfectly reasonable question. Thanks for all who didn't butcher it though.

    Just as a point of information

    A fitbit is not good on ellipticals

    A HRM is only good if steady state cardio

    Sweat does not equate to calorie burn unfortunately ...I kinda wish it did
  • heatherlewisis
    heatherlewisis Posts: 118 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Okay so, 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound.

    roughly

    Exercise is a key element to losing weight, but diet is just as important.

    wrong..weight loss is 80-90% diet and exercise for overall health

    Calories are not necessarily the key to dropping pounds, but in fact what you eat is significant

    rubbish ...what you eat is significant to overall health not weight loss. Weight loss is absolutely calories

    . If you eat 1500 calories of junk food a day, or 2000 calories of healthy food a day, you're certainly more likely to loose it by eating healthier.

    holy cow ...what rot! CI<CO that's the science ...that's the maths

    Cutting back on calories can be hard as you're not used to it, so aim for 6 meals a day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and night snack.

    meal timing is completely irrelevant ...you could eat it all in one meal and have the same result


    Snacks are essential as they'll prevent craving junk food during the day.

    for some

    Try and snack on apples as they're equivalent to 0 calories as your body burns off the amount of calories in them trying to digest it.

    holy cow! You seriously believe that ...an apple is about 80 calories and is the same as eating 80 calories of chocolate...seriously how can you even think that

    Remember 3500 calories = 1 pound.

    roughly

    Therefore if you're eating 1500 calories a day, it would be ideal if you could burn off 200, which would make you lose it faster!
    I hope this helped, good luck :)

    That didn't help anyone because it was almost complete nonsense
    Okay so, 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound. Exercise is a key element to losing weight, but diet is just as important. Calories are not necessarily the key to dropping pounds, but in fact what you eat is significant. If you eat 1500 calories of junk food a day, or 2000 calories of healthy food a day, you're certainly more likely to loose it by eating healthier. Cutting back on calories can be hard as you're not used to it, so aim for 6 meals a day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and night snack. Snacks are essential as they'll prevent craving junk food during the day. Try and snack on apples as they're equivalent to 0 calories as your body burns off the amount of calories in them trying to digest it.
    Remember 3500 calories = 1 pound. Therefore if you're eating 1500 calories a day, it would be ideal if you could burn off 200, which would make you lose it faster!
    I hope this helped, good luck :)

    No. No, no, and... NO. To 100% of this idiotic comment...