Do you stick with the 1200 cals/per day suggested by MFP?

samgamgee

I have to go down to 1240 for 1 lb per week but am much more comfortable eating 1490 for 0.5 lb per week! The way I see it, I'm learning portion control which I'll use for the rest of my life - I don't want to have to learn a whole new way of eating once I reach my goal and go into maintenance. If I had to adjust from 1200 diet to 1650 maintenance all of a sudden I think I'd be more prone to messing up, so if I can eat closer to the way I'll eat for the rest of my life and still lose weight then I'm happy to go slow and steady!

LivingtheLeanDream

I've been maintaining my goal for a few years but while I was losing I eat 1450 cals plus some exercise cals back from the very beginning - but that was to lose 1/2lb a week (I'm petite).
If you want more cals reduce the deficit and be happy with 1lb/ week loss - that way you'll be able to stick to the plan better.

SezxyStef

PinkPixiexox wrote: »

MFP gave me 1200 calories per day. With respect to the MFP way, I find this whole method totally over complicates things for me (having to eat back 50-75% exercise calories etc). I use the TDEE method which includes me exercise - I'm on recomp now but I ate around 1400-1500 to lose weight and was successful

but that is due to your stats, weekly weight loss goal etc.

MFP does not default to 1200 calories.

As for the eating back all exercise calories I did for the first 60 days here and lost the weight as planned. The exercise calories aren't off for all people...

I too switched to TDEE when I started weight lifting but that was only because it's hard to define calorie burns with that...and low and behold my TDEE -20% was the same as MFP + exercise calories.

Therealobi1

i tried it for the first week and i couldnt hack it. if i had to stick to it i wouldnt have lost the weight as i would have just quit. I changed it to 1 pound loss a week and ate back my exercise calories.

mrsekjpotter

Can someone confirm. I eat 1200 a day. Then enter my exercise should I eat the exercise calories back or just 50% of them or none?

DeguelloTex

mrsekjpotter wrote: »

Can someone confirm. I eat 1200 a day. Then enter my exercise should I eat the exercise calories back or just 50% of them or none?

You can start with all, none, or half and see the effect on your loss to gauge how accurate you calorie burns are and go from there. Your call.

thunder1982

I eat 1200 cal and exercise 6 days a week burning about 2500cal per week (don't eat them back). I have about 20-25kg to lose. Am losing about 1kg per week or less. Am planning on sticking to 1200 for the remaining 8 weeks of my 12 week program. Not sure after that, I don't have a prob sticking to 1200 most days but I kinda agree long term 1200 is too low long term. At my goal weight 1700 is maintenance so I guess I will slowly work my way towards that.

LivingtheLeanDream

mrsekjpotter wrote: »

Can someone confirm. I eat 1200 a day. Then enter my exercise should I eat the exercise calories back or just 50% of them or none?

eat 50% to 75% of them back to account for inaccuracies with calorie burns.

ShirleyVJ

Okay, I thank you all for the information . . . I will adjust my goal and get more calories, I think just to keep from disappointing myself as that sends me into a binge. JustMissTracy~thanks for clarifying . . . but seriously it's cool that you have a healthy relationship with food.

ShirleyVJ

christinev297, thanks for that, some days I've eating 800 calories with meals and snacks by 2pm!!! Lol.

holly_roman

I eat 1200 - been doing for about 3 weeks(3 weeks tomorrow) - i have mine set for 1500. Most days I hit 1200 or a tiny bit over and other days i am more hungry so I hit higher. But all in all I do NOT got over my 1500. I also want to add I do not excerise. At the weight I am it is hard for me but I will be starting a slow exercise program by the beginning of Nov and building up from there. As I am very obese I am shedding the lbs pretty fast(weigh in last week wed was 6lbs lost, hoping for another 2 or 3 by tomorrows weigh in). If you are closer to your goal weight ie less then 50lbs to go you should go for 1lb weight loss. if you are under 30lbs it might help to go less. GL!

tlp8rb

I have a problem eating healthy AND eating 1200 calories without resorting to high carb foods like sweets, breads and pasta. For example, a typical breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, and a tomato from my garden. Lunch might be a large salad with blue cheese, fat free dressing, raw mushrooms and cucumbers. Dinner is on the grill with a bacon wrapped chuck tender, (142 g), with sauteed mushrooms, a 5 ounce baked potato, and a whole, grilled zucchini. I factor in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon of lite sour cream. Calories for dinner, 492; lunch, 105; breakfast, 81. That is 678 total, healthy calories. I log 10,000 steps every day and typically earn an additional 168 exercise calories. MFP says I don't eat enough. I take a daily vitamin, rutin, and a potassium supplement. I am 74 years old, and down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight. I have about 15 pounds to loose to meet my goal of a healthy weight and BMI.

janejellyroll

tlp8rb wrote: »

I have a problem eating healthy AND eating 1200 calories without resorting to high carb foods like sweets, breads and pasta. For example, a typical breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, and a tomato from my garden. Lunch might be a large salad with blue cheese, fat free dressing, raw mushrooms and cucumbers. Dinner is on the grill with a bacon wrapped chuck tender, (142 g), with sauteed mushrooms, a 5 ounce baked potato, and a whole, grilled zucchini. I factor in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon of lite sour cream. Calories for dinner, 492; lunch, 105; breakfast, 81. That is 678 total, healthy calories. I logged 10,000 steps every day and typivally earn an additional 168 exercise calories. MFP says I don't eat enough. I take a daily vitamin, rutin, and a potassium supplement. I am 74 years old, and down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight.

If you want more calories, you could try swapping fat-free dressing for a dressing with fat and light sour cream for regular. Do you have a medical reason to limit carbohydrates? You could also eat a larger potato or add some grains to your salad.

SezxyStef

janejellyroll wrote: »

tlp8rb wrote: »

I have a problem eating healthy AND eating 1200 calories without resorting to high carb foods like sweets, breads and pasta. For example, a typical breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, and a tomato from my garden. Lunch might be a large salad with blue cheese, fat free dressing, raw mushrooms and cucumbers. Dinner is on the grill with a bacon wrapped chuck tender, (142 g), with sauteed mushrooms, a 5 ounce baked potato, and a whole, grilled zucchini. I factor in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon of lite sour cream. Calories for dinner, 492; lunch, 105; breakfast, 81. That is 678 total, healthy calories. I logged 10,000 steps every day and typivally earn an additional 168 exercise calories. MFP says I don't eat enough. I take a daily vitamin, rutin, and a potassium supplement. I am 74 years old, and down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight.

If you want more calories, you could try swapping fat-free dressing for a dressing with fat and light sour cream for regular. Do you have a medical reason to limit carbohydrates? You could also eat a larger potato or add some grains to your salad.

Yes this...

add toast and butter to breakfast.
Add some meat to that salad
add butter to the potato and full fat dressings and sour cream.

You may get to a "healthy" weight but at what cost to your bones and muscle esp at your age.

superhockeymom

I try to stick to the 1200 and limit Carbs. Sometimes I eat some of my exercise calories sometimes I don't. Depends on the day and how hungry I am.

mbaker566

when i didn't exercise, yes i did. now i eat about 50% of my exercise calories back. well, more lately, but ideally 50% for me

TeaBea

tlp8rb wrote: »

I have a problem eating healthy AND eating 1200 calories without resorting to high carb foods like sweets, breads and pasta. For example, a typical breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, and a tomato from my garden. Lunch might be a large salad with blue cheese, fat free dressing, raw mushrooms and cucumbers. Dinner is on the grill with a bacon wrapped chuck tender, (142 g), with sauteed mushrooms, a 5 ounce baked potato, and a whole, grilled zucchini. I factor in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon of lite sour cream. Calories for dinner, 492; lunch, 105; breakfast, 81. That is 678 total, healthy calories. I log 10,000 steps every day and typically earn an additional 168 exercise calories. MFP says I don't eat enough. I take a daily vitamin, rutin, and a potassium supplement. I am 74 years old, and down 60 pounds from my heaviest weight. I have about 15 pounds to loose to meet my goal of a healthy weight and BMI.

Vitamins (micronutrients) are good but they don't support existing lean muscle mass. Eating too little forces your body to make hard choices....fuel your heart muscle, or fuel a full head of hair? Your body can't get 100% of daily needs from fat stores. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

Your definition of "healthy" appears to be pretty narrow. Losing weight is just step 1. Maintaining the weight you lost (forever) is step 2. How will you manage step 2 with your list of "healthy" foods? Your maintenance calories will be higher, forever.

caileelouise

I freaked out at first when I first thought about only eating 1200 calories, but it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected. There's a thread on Reddit full of full day's meals for 1200 or under for inspiration.

I usually don't eat back calories, but at least with this guideline, I can figure out how much to eat back based on how much I exercised. My fitness schedule can be a little all over the place, so I like to have a consistent baseline to work off of and can tweak from there.

But tbh, I don't actually know what I'm talking about. Just what has worked/is working for me.

ShirleyVJ

I did better today even though I'm up but I believe it is because I had soy sauce on my fish last night. Tonight used pepper only. I ate a few of my exercise cals not all. Plus I should have remembered I never just jump into a diet I ease in so the 1200 isn't looking so tiny right now. Lolol...

blambo61

I eat about 1500 to 2500 all in one meal at night and have lost about 17 lbs in 4.5 weeks. Male 6'1", 233. Im supposed to eat 1500 to loose 2 lbs a week. I would die splitting up only 1500 cals over multiple meals. All at once (over a couple of hours) and I feel very satisfied. I also do cardio 4 times a week for about 35 min with goal to increase to 60 min 5 times a week.

blambo61

blambo61 wrote: »

I eat about 1500 to 2500 all in one meal at night and have lost about 17 lbs in 4.5 weeks. Male 6'1", 233. Im supposed to eat 1500 to loose 2 lbs a week. I would die splitting up only 1500 cals over multiple meals. All at once (over a couple of hours) and I feel very satisfied. I also do cardio 4 times a week for about 35 min with goal to increase to 60 min 5 times a week.

I eat as much as I want in my window at night and dont worry how many calories it is.

DanniB423

senecarr wrote: »

Yi5hedr3 wrote: »

IIFYM is horse-puckey - pay no attention to it.

In what sense? Someone already explained the difference between IIFYM's and MFP's calorie goals.

Also explain horse-puckey.

GETU1N

1200 will work if you break it up into 5 or 6 meals

qspoon86

This discussion was very helpful. I just started back and need to lose about 60lbs so as of now I'm sticking to the 1200 cals and working out without eating my calories back. I think once I get closer to my goal I will adjust my calorie intake but it's nice to know that many others have bumped up their cals for the day and still saw results.

blankiefinder

qspoon86 wrote: »

This discussion was very helpful. I just started back and need to lose about 60lbs so as of now I'm sticking to the 1200 cals and working out without eating my calories back. I think once I get closer to my goal I will adjust my calorie intake but it's nice to know that many others have bumped up their cals for the day and still saw results.

qspoon86, unless you are VERY petite, you need to eat back most of your exercise calories and net at least 1200 calories per day. Use a food scale, log accurately, and the weight will come off. No need to starve yourself.

EmBlazes

I've deliberately set my weight loss goal lower per week but I still normally lose more than the "0.25kg a week" suggested. I'm at 1600 calories a day and when I'm sticking to it (ahem) I lose weight. I also do a lot of exercise and try to eat at least half my exercise calories back depending on hunger levels. It takes a while to work out what works for you. Everyone is different

Francl27

I've never eaten less than 1650 calories (includes exercise - I use TDEE too). I was 34 when I started and 213 pounds, now 37 and 133 pounds. I'm 5'5".

ShirleyVJ

When I exercise I simply need more than 1200 cals. I love to exercise so all is well. Another thing I thought of was will MFP lower/adjust the caloric burn as I lose weight??