Yet another one of those posts

ckfox95

The more I read the more confused I get about how many calories I should be eating! Can someone help me out? I did the guided set up through MFP and entered my info and it was suggested that I eat 1200 calories. I've been doing that and I did loose some weight but I am at my second plateau now. To be honest, I am not even sure if I am eating enough at 1200 calories. I tried figuring out the TDEE/BMI vs calories way but that's what has me so confused! I am female, 47, weigh 152 am 65" tall, want to weigh 135 and at the moment would say I am sedentary ( with the exception of occasional walking due to back issues).
The other piece is now that I have lost some weight and my goal weight is closer shouldn't my calorie level change? I am wondering if I am eating at maintaining weight now. Any suggestions would be most appreciated and thank you!!

WBB55

Are you 5'6" or 56" (4'8")?

siluridae

Under goals, MFP tells you what your daily calorie deficit is, so go there to see if it has changed. Your current deficit should be around 480 calories when I look at TDEE calculators.
Yes, you are eating enough at 1200, starvation mode is not real in case anyone tried to scare you with that.
If you are honest with your logging (use food scale for everything, check the nutrition on MFP entries), then the plateau is water weight. It'll go away some when.

ckfox95

Oops, I went back to edit my original post but I am actually 5'5" so I'm 65" (I have a tendency to reverse my numbers) and female, thank you so much!

ckfox95

Thank you, when I look at the goals section under calories burned/week it says 340. So that's not enough of a deficit then?

shadow2soul

Are you weighing your food using a food scale?
Do you ever have cheat meals/days?
Do you use entries like "homemade tuna salad" or "generic sushi" (specifically the "Homemade -" or "Generic - " at the beginning of the entry name)?
How long has it been since you lost weight?

siluridae

TDEE calculators are never perfect, but they're good enough. MFP is probably not far off. So that means you lose a pound about every 10 days, since you need to burn 3500 calories for that.
If that is not enough for you, add in some exercise. Going far under 1200 calories without medical supervision is not a great idea.

WBB55

At 5'5" you should lose on 1200 calories.

Do you use a digital food scale?
Do you eat back exercise calories?

AnnPT77

Be aware that if you are female, MFP will not set your goal below 1200, which they regard as the minimum to get adequate nutrition. This is a problem for some very petite women, but since you're 5'5", you should probably be able to lose at 1200 (as long as you're weighing/measuring carefully, and not over-estimating exercise calories while eating them all back).

I'm saying this with some confidence because I'm also 5'5" (plus age 59, hypothyroid & post-menopausal), lost 1.5-2 lbs/week at 1200 net, though that may be more than normal (there's some individual variation). I'm still losing at 1400 net. (SW 183 in mid-April 2015, joined MFP in July at mid 150s because of plateau, CW 141, GW 130ish).

How long have you been plateaued? Reportedly some people lose in a "plateau then sudden loss" mode, with plateaus up to 3 weeks or so, while others lose in more steady fashion.

Are you doing measurements as well as weighing? Some of us find these don't go in lockstep, so it can be encouraging to see some inches drop even while the scale holds steady.

Stay the course, and best wishes on it!

alt5057

Calories burned/week is for the extra activity you expect to do. My schedule can be hectic so I don't always get in real "workouts" more than just walking the dog...and those I just let my fitbit make the steps adjustment in my calories for me. SO when I have senedtary with 0 workouts, calories burned/week for me comes up to 0.

If you have a deficit, then you will lose...it just depends on how fast. Make sure you are logging accurately (use a food scale, not measuring cups...that has helped me immensely!). What do you have your weight loss set to? 0.5lb/week? 1.0lb/week? 0.5lb per week equals 250 calories per day deficit. So depending on the multiple of what you have it set to will determine your deficit. I have mine set to 1.5 lbs per week so I have a 750 cal/day deficit.

CharleneMarie_723

I have mine set at maintain weight (trying to lose) and at sedentary. I eat 500-600 less than what my FitBit Charge HR says I burn each day. Usually that means I'm eating around 14-1700 per day.

lemurcat12

ckfox95 wrote: »

The more I read the more confused I get about how many calories I should be eating! Can someone help me out? I did the guided set up through MFP and entered my info and it was suggested that I eat 1200 calories. I've been doing that and I did loose some weight but I am at my second plateau now. To be honest, I am not even sure if I am eating enough at 1200 calories. I tried figuring out the TDEE/BMI vs calories way but that's what has me so confused! I am female, 47, weigh 152 am 65" tall, want to weigh 135 and at the moment would say I am sedentary ( with the exception of occasional walking due to back issues).
The other piece is now that I have lost some weight and my goal weight is closer shouldn't my calorie level change? I am wondering if I am eating at maintaining weight now. Any suggestions would be most appreciated and thank you!!

Your maintenance is likely around 1600 if you are really sedentary (as it sounds). That means a little less than one lb/week at 1200 if you log really accurately. That seems reasonable given your stats, but it does mean that logging accurately becomes much more important than if you had more room for error.

One thread I found really helpful is: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/33991170#Comment_33991170

Also, you might find it useful to use a food scale if you are not or to have someone experienced look over your logs to pinpoint any issues (I'm not that good at it, but many others are).

queenliz99

lemurcat12 wrote: »

ckfox95 wrote: »

The more I read the more confused I get about how many calories I should be eating! Can someone help me out? I did the guided set up through MFP and entered my info and it was suggested that I eat 1200 calories. I've been doing that and I did loose some weight but I am at my second plateau now. To be honest, I am not even sure if I am eating enough at 1200 calories. I tried figuring out the TDEE/BMI vs calories way but that's what has me so confused! I am female, 47, weigh 152 am 65" tall, want to weigh 135 and at the moment would say I am sedentary ( with the exception of occasional walking due to back issues).
The other piece is now that I have lost some weight and my goal weight is closer shouldn't my calorie level change? I am wondering if I am eating at maintaining weight now. Any suggestions would be most appreciated and thank you!!

Your maintenance is likely around 1600 if you are really sedentary (as it sounds). That means a little less than one lb/week at 1200 if you log really accurately. That seems reasonable given your stats, but it does mean that logging accurately becomes much more important than if you had more room for error.

One thread I found really helpful is: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/33991170#Comment_33991170

Also, you might find it useful to use a food scale if you are not or to have someone experienced look over your logs to pinpoint any issues (I'm not that good at it, but many others are).

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

lemurcat12

Thanks!

ckfox95

Thanks so much for all the helpful info everyone. Yes, I do have a scale as well as a measuring cup that I use. My family thinks it's so funny when I measure out simple things like coffee creamer and peanut butter, etc. but I don't care. I do what I have to do, right??!

queenliz99

ckfox95 wrote: »

Thanks so much for all the helpful info everyone. Yes, I do have a scale as well as a measuring cup that I use. My family thinks it's so funny when I measure out simple things like coffee creamer and peanut butter, etc. but I don't care. I do what I have to do, right??!

You know, pretty soon you will not need to use a scale. You will get really good at eyeballing.