Who eats over 1500 and manages to lose ?

pinggolfer96

2600

jaynee7283

I only just started a few weeks ago. I get 1700 calories a day - plus an additional 400-700 on days I exercise. The first week I dropped a lot because I had the significant drop in calories from what I was eating previously. But weeks 2 and 3, I lost 1 pound each week. I typically eat around 2000 calories on the days I exercise, and stick to the 1700 on the days I don't.

CaffeinatedConfectionist

Yup, I average 1800-1900 per day and lose quite readily. I do eat 1500 per day on Monday - Thursday so that I can eat 2200-2400 on weekends, when I want to be able to splurge more.

girlviernes

I lost about 50 lbs eating 1800-2300 kcals per day. Started out about 100lbs overweight and was fairly active.

duddysdad

My sedentary TDEE is 2370. I am on maintenance with a 21.9 BMI. I can eat anything less and lose weight. I guess if I exercised I could eat a lot more, but I feel sick eating what I do.

CalorieCountChocula

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

StacyChrz

I am 5'2" and currently 210lbs. I have myself set with a goal of 2lbs/week at a sedentary activity level. I do have a Fitbit and am set to make negative calorie adjustments. MFP gives me a goal of 1200 calories/day but I tend to eat about 1500-1700 on average. As long as I am logging accurately, weighing and measuring my portions, I lose at a steady rate of 1.5-2lbs/week.

srecupid

I'm 5'10 and 199. I never go below 1800 and still lose. I think I'm lucky to be taller, male, and have a relatively active job

strong_curves

I eat 1500-1600 calories every day and still lose. I have MFP set up to lose .5 lbs a week and I'm right on track.

lorrpb

I eat 1600-1700 per day. Down 130 lbs in 20 months. My current average is about -1 lb per week. I walk 8-9000 steps most days and workout 4-5 days per week but I don't get huge burns like some people do. 60 yo female

WinoGelato

I've made no secret of the fact that I think many people can lose weight eating more than 1200 calories...

Here's my story.
Basic stats: I'm 5'2, 41, desk job, and started on MFP at 153 lbs with a goal of 125 lbs.
Put in that I wanted to lose 1 lb/week - got 1200 cals. Had never dieted/counted calories before, figured I would give it a go. Lost weight, but was always hungry. Started lurking forums, seeing that people were advising to eat more. Figured I would up my calories and see if I still lost, first to 1400, then 1500 (net). Started walking for exercise. Was still losing. Lost about 20 lbs very easily at this level in about 6 months. Got a FitBit. Realized I was more active than I thought.
Upped my activity level in MFP to lightly active, got a higher baseline of calories. Trusted the FitBit. Lost the rest of my weight (with a couple of stalls due to holidays, vacation) with no real struggles netting 1650, eating more like 1800-1900 calories.
Am now maintaining around 122 +/- 2 lbs following my FitBit. Says my average burn is 2200. I get about 15K steps/day and do some circuit training a few times a week.

So yes, it is absolutely possible to eat more than 1200, more than 1500 and still lose - even if you are a petite female.

janejellyroll

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

I maintain on about 2,000 calories so I can believe that there are some guys, at least, who can lose weight on 2,500-3,000. It isn't that I do that much cardio (I do 30-80 minutes a day), it's that I also try to get a fair amount of non-exercise activity (like walking to work when I can, taking the stairs when possible, and taking a stroll during lunch). My metabolism isn't mutant at all -- at every point during weight loss and maintaining, I've gone with MFP's default recommendations for calories.

Another factor: I think many of the more vocal users here are pretty accurate about measuring their calories in, better perhaps, that the average calorie counter. Until I began using a scale, I thought I was eating 200-400 calories less than I actually was. I could have sworn that I needed a lower level of calories to actually lose weight, but it turned out I didn't really know what I was eating. Once I began accurately measuring my intake, I realized that I could eat more than I thought I could.

strong_curves

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

How do you track your calories? Do you use a food scale?

trjjoy

I eat around 1200 calories on non-exercise days. Like today. I underestimate the calories I burn when I exercise by logging it as a less strenuous exercise, and then only logging half of the time I spend doing it. I only feel deprived when I don't eat something small every two or three hours.

CalorieCountChocula

strong_curves wrote: »

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

How do you track your calories? Do you use a food scale?

Yes. No I don't weigh my yogurt. At 80 calories a piece eating it twice a day there is no way any discrepancy would be statistically relevant. Even if each one contained 50% more calories than it stated that would only amount to 80 calories. This could in theory make losses slower (turning a 1lb loss into .85lbs but it wouldn't halt it all together). Chances are the value isn't 50% off though.

VintageFeline

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

Not bitter much..............I mean, feel free to look at my diary and install CCTV in my kitchen. Why would I lie about what I eat!?

janejellyroll

VintageFeline wrote: »

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

Not bitter much..............I mean, feel free to look at my diary and install CCTV in my kitchen. Why would I lie about what I eat!?

Well, people *never* lie on reddit. So we know there is lying going on here.

CaffeinatedConfectionist

janejellyroll wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

Not bitter much..............I mean, feel free to look at my diary and install CCTV in my kitchen. Why would I lie about what I eat!?

Well, people *never* lie on reddit. So we know there is lying going on here.

VintageFeline

janejellyroll wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

Not bitter much..............I mean, feel free to look at my diary and install CCTV in my kitchen. Why would I lie about what I eat!?

Well, people *never* lie on reddit. So we know there is lying going on here.

True that I suppose but I don't think we're *all* lying. Quoted poster does make a habit of bemoaning their inability to lose.

dubird

CalorieCountChocula wrote: »

MFP is the land of food braggers. Everyone is eating. I don't know how but they're doing it. I've been poking around the reddit loseit forums asking similar questions I ask here. How many calories guys my size eat, etc. The answers here seem high. Here you get guys swearing they lose weight eating 2500-3000 calories. Women eating more than me losing weight (I'm a 230lbs male and lose nothing at 1800 calories). There you get more honest answers. Guys saying they started out higher but when they hit walls they had to dip way down. Some eating 1500 calories a day. Whatever answer you hear take it with a hugggggge grain of salt. You're probably talking to people who either a) have mutant metabolisms or b) do more cardio than they really are admitting.

I started here with the calorie goal of I think 1800. Around that anyways, it's been a few years! After about 10 pounds, that number went down. Every 10 pounds or so, I'd recalculate and use a lower number. I lost 50lbs that way. I'm now at maintenance at 1600 a day. Is that high for a 5"7' mostly sedentary female at 150 pounds? Also, you're not taking into account activity level. I have a desk job and most of my hobbies revolve around the computer, so I'm defiantly sedentary. If I was still working at a restaurant, that number would be much higher! So if someone, woman or man, has an active job, the calories they need to get through their day will be higher. Just going by 'so-and-so said they use this number of calories a day', find out why they have that number. Maybe they work in construction. Maybe they're trying to get in shape for a competition of some kind.