Calorie settings too low???

cmarangi

Question for you all. Is it possible to have your calories set too low? I just assumed to lose weight I should be at 1200-1300 calories so that's where I set it. I'm finding though that I'm a bit tired and moody, and I didn't used to be like this when eating on plan (although admittedly, I have been straying because of holiday treats). I went on the IIFYM site today to check my macros and it set the calories at 1495, which scares me that I'll undo what I've done, since it's been a struggle. Is the site reliable in it's calculations and is it possible to eat too little and have it affect how much and fast you lose?

allaboutthefood

Is that what MFP gave you or what you gave yourself. I used http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to figure out mine. There is no way I could eat only 1200/1300 calories. I need more food than that.

oceangirl99

I used to be on 1200 calories/day because I chose the 2lbs/week.... what we all woudl like to lose. That didn't work for me and I was constantly hungry. I changed my goal to be a 1lb/week loss and now my goal is 1520 calores/day. It is MUCH easier to eat this way and I think it will be the key to my success. Some days I am at 1200 and some days I am at 1500.... rarely I go over, but I've only been at this for the last month or so again with my new goals. I suggest it though

Dreysander

When you're using that tool, do you factor in your daily activity level AND your workouts or just workouts?

strong_curves

MFP expects you to eat some, if not all your exercise calories back

kimny72

cmarangi wrote: »

Question for you all. Is it possible to have your calories set too low? I just assumed to lose weight I should be at 1200-1300 calories so that's where I set it. I'm finding though that I'm a bit tired and moody, and I didn't used to be like this when eating on plan (although admittedly, I have been straying because of holiday treats). I went on the IIFYM site today to check my macros and it set the calories at 1495, which scares me that I'll undo what I've done, since it's been a struggle. Is the site reliable in it's calculations and is it possible to eat too little and have it affect how much and fast you lose?

Yes, you definitely can have your calories too low! But it would not make you lose slower.
How much do you have to lose, and how much have you been losing per week?

If you are losing a lb or more a week, it can't hurt to nudge your cals up and see how much your loss slows down. 1200 is not a lot of calories, I have never been able to get that low without being seriously hangry.

Just to give you an idea, I am 5'4" and your age. I am I'd say lightly active, and I'm maintaining at 130 lbs eating @ 1700 cals per day.

cmarangi

allaboutthefood wrote: »

Is that what MFP gave you or what you gave yourself. I used http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to figure out mine. There is no way I could eat only 1200/1300 calories. I need more food than that.

I set it myself. And yes, I find myself going over, even when I'm not eating the extra treats. I'll check out that site and see how it compares to the IIFYM number I was given.

Dreysander wrote: »

When you're using that tool, do you factor in your daily activity level AND your workouts or just workouts?

I factored in three workouts a week (sometimes I do more) at 60 minutes each at a difficult level. (I've been doing boot camp and cross fit at a gym in town) I labeled myself as sedentary as far as my work day. (I work at a desk mostly)

I am losing very little. I've been on MFP for about 10 weeks and losing about .5 lb a week (inconsistently) at that setting.

Thanks for the help all! It's good to see what others are doing.

kimny72

OP, are you using a food scale? If you aren't, try it and see if you really are eating that much, when I did, it was a huge eye opener.

Having said that, if you don't have much weight to lose, and if you are on the shorter side, one-half pound per week is really what you should expect. When you are already on the small size, you simply don't have that much room for a big deficit. I lost @ 15 lbs (from 145 to 130) over the course of a year and a half (yes that is less than 1 lb per month). Sure, it would have been great to lose faster, but I simply couldn't eat low enough (or exercise more enough lol) to lose faster without being miserable. So I did what I did, I kept it reasonable so I didn't burn out, and I'm really happy I did.

I hope any of that helped Good luck!

Yi5hedr3

Pretty hard to eat too little. Easy to eat too much.

cmarangi

kimny72 wrote: »

OP, are you using a food scale? If you aren't, try it and see if you really are eating that much, when I did, it was a huge eye opener.

Having said that, if you don't have much weight to lose, and if you are on the shorter side, one-half pound per week is really what you should expect. When you are already on the small size, you simply don't have that much room for a big deficit. I lost @ 15 lbs (from 145 to 130) over the course of a year and a half (yes that is less than 1 lb per month). Sure, it would have been great to lose faster, but I simply couldn't eat low enough (or exercise more enough lol) to lose faster without being miserable. So I did what I did, I kept it reasonable so I didn't burn out, and I'm really happy I did.

I hope any of that helped Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I did realize when I read back over the post that it works out to a half a pound a week so I guess i'm expecting too much.

I do have a food scale and use it. It was an eye opener for me too!