1000 Calories per day

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ro_vanou
ro_vanou Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
MFP put me at around 1200 calories a day. Will it be healthy for me to eat 1000 calories instead? I'm home everyday and I don't move a lot. My daily activities consist of cleaning, cooking and taking care of a newborn baby. I occasionally go for a run with baby when The weather is favorable. I'm currently 180lbs.
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  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    ro_vanou wrote: »
    MFP put me at around 1200 calories a day. Will it be healthy for me to eat 1000 calories instead? I'm home everyday and I don't move a lot. My daily activities consist of cleaning, cooking and taking care of a newborn baby. I occasionally go for a run with baby when The weather is favorable. I'm currently 180lbs.

    No...you should eat 1200, and probably at your age and activity level, more than that.
  • jenathp
    jenathp Posts: 92 Member
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    Don't eat less than 1200. I am at 224 lbs and 5'3". I work from home on the computer all day long. I'm losing about 1.5 pounds a week as long as I do my 30 min of exercise 3-4 times a week. Youtube is your friend for 16-30 min workouts. Log everything and be accurate in your weights.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    1200 is the minimum mfp gives women for a reason.

    Lower than that and your likely to miss out on essential macros or micro nutrients. Or at least find it difficult to meet them.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    At 26 years old you would have to be something like 4'6" tall for 1,000 to be appropriate.........

    1200 is MFP's lowest minimum default. Petite senior ladies need to eat this few calories to lose weight....not young people.

    MFP gave you 1200 NET calories. The NET means 1200 is before any exercise. So you should eat (at least 1200) + log your runs. Then MFP gives you more calories for exercise.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    No. MFP only "put you" at 1200 calories because you told it that you want to lose weight too quickly. Let me guess: you probably input a goal of 1.5 or 2 pounds per week, right? I don't know your height, but at 26 years old, 180lbs and lightly active, you should probably be targeting no more than 1lb/week for a 500-calorie daily deficit.

    Slow is better. Read the stickies in the forum.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    No. No no no.

  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Also, for the millionth time, THIS is why MFP should automatically set the weight loss pace and goals for new members instead of asking how quickly people want to lose.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    segacs wrote: »
    Also, for the millionth time, THIS is why MFP should automatically set the weight loss pace and goals for new members instead of asking how quickly people want to lose.

    This.........or give a range of calories (like a competitor).
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    If your ticker is correct and you have 36 lbs left to lose, set your goal to 1 lb per week and eat every calorie. Also you mentioned a newborn, if you just had a baby and are nursing you should be eating extra calories, not less. Please take care of yourself, and good luck!
  • jenathp
    jenathp Posts: 92 Member
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    I'm not sure that I agree that MFP should set the weight loss automatically. There are some people that know what it takes, however, I think a general education statement would be helpful. Most of the time I eat around 1200-1300 a day in calories and don't eat back all my activity calories because I want to loose 1.5-2 per week. I also understand CICO and know that if I keep those days where I don't eat back all my calories I can have a cheat day on the weekend and still be under for the week in calories. So, I do think general education should happen but I think that's why the OP is asking what she's asking right? :)
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    You could, but why the hell would anyone want to, right?

    You'll be miserable. You'll be hungry. You'll probably be lethargic, have no energy, and no motivation to do anything except sit around being a couch potato.

    What's the rush? The extra 200 calories gets you an extra pound every 3 weeks or so. After months of misery, you're only a very few pounds ahead **ONLY IF** you manage to avoid a starvation induced binge every few weeks 'cause you're so damned hungry all the time.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    what possible reason could you have for wanting to only eat 1000 calories a day OP?????????
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    jenathp wrote: »
    I'm not sure that I agree that MFP should set the weight loss automatically. There are some people that know what it takes, however, I think a general education statement would be helpful. Most of the time I eat around 1200-1300 a day in calories and don't eat back all my activity calories because I want to loose 1.5-2 per week. I also understand CICO and know that if I keep those days where I don't eat back all my calories I can have a cheat day on the weekend and still be under for the week in calories. So, I do think general education should happen but I think that's why the OP is asking what she's asking right? :)

    For new users, I'm saying, when you set up your account. Instead of saying "how fast do you want to lose?" it should make an appropriate recommendation based on your height, age and starting weight.

    You always have the option to change it through customization. But this would avoid sooooo many newbie failures because most people automatically choose 2lbs/week when they start out, because they simply don't know any better.
  • jenathp
    jenathp Posts: 92 Member
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    I am managing hunger through protein intake. Protein meal replacement in the AM, then workout, then protein meal replacement and then I eat a "normal" dinner that I make my family but just add more veggies to the plate and reduce the portion on what I eat. Lots of water inbetween. I am not hungry unless I am delayed in a meal or a workout. Then I do get hungry and I find it hard to not binge eat, so that's why I have meal replacement bars. :) I can grab it on my way to run errands or eat while I'm in a meeting at my desk before I give in the cravings. It's possible to stay at 1200 calories a day, keep up the 1.5 weight loss and not be a hangry person.
  • jenathp
    jenathp Posts: 92 Member
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    @segacs Yeah I agree it would be good to show them the formula to get to the 2 pounds a week. Meaning, your maintenance calories are about 2700 doing 2 pounds a week means 1700 a day which is cutting a LOT of food out of your system. It would be good for them to put it into terms that newbies can understand. (500 calories a day isn't hard to cut out or burn. 30 minutes of aerobics and a few changes in choices would get you to the 500 a day).
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    If your ticker is correct and you have 36 lbs left to lose, set your goal to 1 lb per week and eat every calorie. Also you mentioned a newborn, if you just had a baby and are nursing you should be eating extra calories, not less. Please take care of yourself, and good luck!

    This. If you are nursing, you really need to make sure you are not starving yourself or your baby. If you do not get the nutrients you need, you are risking the health of your child.
  • jenathp
    jenathp Posts: 92 Member
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    I would suggest that the OP ask her Pediatrician or her Lactation nurse about the diet to see what they think...
  • MollyJE19
    MollyJE19 Posts: 67 Member
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    If you're cooking and cleaning and caring for a newborn all day I guarantee you're burning a lot more calories than you think. I don't have a newborn but I do a lot of cooking and cleaning and my pedometer says I walk 1.5 miles every day just doing that. Granted my house is huge and I have some outdoor chores but still.
  • ro_vanou
    ro_vanou Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm not nursing.
    Thanks for the advice! You were all very helpful :)
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    The formula should be: Take the average number of calories you burn in a day (daily activity + exercise). Subtract 15-20%. Eat that.

    However, that's complicated for most people to figure out when they're just joining MFP and setting up their account for the first time.

    So MFP should calculate it for them, based on NEAT-25%, and round to whatever's closest (0.5, 1, 1.5 or 2lbs/week). That would be a decent standard, since it would also leave a bit of a deficit for exercise calories, which most newbies overestimate and eat back at 100% anyway.

    I suspect an awful lot of smaller women who are looking to lose those last 20-30 pounds would end up at much higher daily calorie goals than expected. And they'd probably be more successful in the long run, rather than quitting in hunger and frustration after a few days or weeks.

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