Which is a better calorie intake guide to follow?

curtissoph

I have been reading a lot of the message board advice and it seems quite a few people on here endorse the calorie intake that my fitness pal recommends for them. Mine is 1200 calories.

However, others say that too few calories will put your body into starvation mode and you won't lose weight as easily. I see a lot of people recommending the TDEE-20%, which for me would be more like 1600 calories.

Which is a better one to follow in your opinion and why?

Thanks!

_Zardoz_

The 1200 calories will not include exercise calories so you could end up consuming 1600 anyway.

yarwell

a deficit of 20% is likely to be a deficit of 300 - 600 cals a day for most people so I'm not sure it matters much. Setting MFP to 1 lb/week (500 cal deficit) is in the same range and given that the TDEE estimate could be out by 10% or more the best way is to pick a number, stick to it for a month, then see what weight loss that achieved. From there you can adjust accordingly.

People seem to like producing screeds of text, links and calculations that get you to the same point anyway.

MFP's baseless 1200 calorie floor and bad implementation of same doesn't help for sedentary people, and it isn't made clear enough that exercise should be logged and extra food eaten. Perhaps this latter bit needs a separate thread.

curtissoph

a deficit of 20% is likely to be a deficit of 300 - 600 cals a day for most people so I'm not sure it matters much. Setting MFP to 1 lb/week (500 cal deficit) is in the same range and given that the TDEE estimate could be out by 10% or more the best way is to pick a number, stick to it for a month, then see what weight loss that achieved. From there you can adjust accordingly.

People seem to like producing screeds of text, links and calculations that get you to the same point anyway.

MFP's baseless 1200 calorie floor and bad implementation of same doesn't help for sedentary people, and it isn't made clear enough that exercise should be logged and extra food eaten. Perhaps this latter bit needs a separate thread.

Ohhhhh! Thanks for this, it makes more sense now!