Hard time staying within calorie goal...
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With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.
1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.
I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.
Too large a calorie deficit leads to unnecessary loss of lean body mass in addition to fat. Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily from each pound of body fat you have - if I recall correctly, it's around 30-some calories of fat per day per pound of body fat. If your deficit is greater than that, your body will find the extra energy somewhere, such as from muscle tissue.
Beyond that, too-rapid weight loss increases risk of adaptive thermogenesis, i.e., a long-term calorie burn (even after weight loss is done) that is potentially hundreds of calories less than similar-sized people who never adopted extreme calorie deficits.
Therefore, the less you have to lose, the slower you should lose it, if you want to stay strong and healthy, plus keep your metabolism robust. Your call, though.
The OP is around 140 lbs (goal weight 120, trying to lose 20). Assuming a 30% body fat percent, that gives her 42 lbs of fat or 1260 fat-calories per day that can be sustained in a deficit, using your numbers.
If she is only 25% BF, she still has 1050 fat-calories per day of sustainable deficit.
A 1000 calorie per day deficit, using the numbers you've provided, is entirely sustainable for her.0 -
With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.
1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.
I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.
Too large a calorie deficit leads to unnecessary loss of lean body mass in addition to fat. Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily from each pound of body fat you have - if I recall correctly, it's around 30-some calories of fat per day per pound of body fat. If your deficit is greater than that, your body will find the extra energy somewhere, such as from muscle tissue.
Beyond that, too-rapid weight loss increases risk of adaptive thermogenesis, i.e., a long-term calorie burn (even after weight loss is done) that is potentially hundreds of calories less than similar-sized people who never adopted extreme calorie deficits.
Therefore, the less you have to lose, the slower you should lose it, if you want to stay strong and healthy, plus keep your metabolism robust. Your call, though.
The OP is around 140 lbs (goal weight 120, trying to lose 20). Assuming a 30% body fat percent, that gives her 42 lbs of fat or 1260 fat-calories per day that can be sustained in a deficit, using your numbers.
If she is only 25% BF, she still has 1050 fat-calories per day of sustainable deficit.
A 1000 calorie per day deficit, using the numbers you've provided, is entirely sustainable for her.
Yup. Personally, I wouldn't cut it that close, but maybe that's just me.
I hit 140 for the first time last September 24, with a goal of (what turned out to be) 120, at 5'5". At the time I was eating 1500 net, striving for a 1-1.5 pound deficit at that point, which seemed aggressive enough to me.
Perhaps I'm too risk averse, but I'm a li'l ol' lady, and don't want to take any chances with muscle loss - muscles are one of the things that stand between me and assisted living, at my age (60). Muscles are darned tough (slow) to regain for women generally, especially so at my age. Adaptive thermogenesis doesn't seem to have reared its ugly head, as I've been maintaining around 2100 net for a few months now, higher than the calculators predict.
OP is roughly half my age, so her circumstances are different, and of course it's her choice. She did say she was "struggling" at 1200.
If you feel that 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks is too brutal, I fully support your right to be you & do as you wish.
Like I said, your call. I'm just laying my opinion out there, as you are.
For myself, I didn't see what the rush was, didn't find it at all brutal to eat a bit more while losing more slowly, and made it to the goal line strong and healthy, so I'm pretty happy.1 -
Hey guys,
I'm new on here, and struggling to stay within my daily calorie allowance (1,200). I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to be successful with this calorie goal. I know to some, 1200 may sound like a big allowance, but I'm having a very hard time staying at this goal.
I'm 33, no kids, and only looking to lose about 15 - 20 lbs so this should be easy, right?
I'm also pretty active (ski 5+ days a week in the winter; hike, run, yoga in the summer etc), and live at a relatively high altitude so I've typically been able to eat healthy(ish) without counting calories and stay within in the 120-125 lb range, which is a good weight for me, even though I'm only 5'2. However, over the course of the past 6 months, I've put on roughly 15 pounds due to a surgery that had me very sedentary. During this time the only exercise I was able to do besides my PT was very low impact aerobics and walking - which is an incredibly huge drop in my normal activity level. So this 15 lb gain is a loss of muscle and a gain of fat, so I'm ready to get rid of it!
Luckily, now I'm nearly fully recovered, have started working out again, but the weight keeps creeping on, which led me to this site. I've been tracking for the past two or so weeks and have only lost 1 lb, which is incredibly frustrating. I should mention that I do allow myself to eat all the calories I've "earned" by working out. Maybe this is to much?
Anyway, I was just wondering if there is anyone else who has felt these frustrations, and has found a path to success.
Thanks in advance!
Steph
I have felt these frustrations and you're smart to not "eat" your calories back earned from exercising. However, your maximum calorie intake is probably a lot higher than 1200 calories/day. Try resetting your 'Goals' from your home page. Choose 'active' or 'very active' because you are and then select a goal of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. You can double check the amount calculated by going to the Mayo Clinic Calorie Calculator where you would put in the same information; height, weight, gender, current weight and activity level.
The one pound loss could be just your body getting back into realignment and gaining muscle while losing weight. Just hang in there and give it a few months. In the meantime look for those NSVs (non-scale victories) like looser fitting clothes and compliments from friends and co-workers on "how thin you look." :-)1 -
ernestrodgers82 wrote: »Hey guys,
I'm new on here, and struggling to stay within my daily calorie allowance (1,200). I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to be successful with this calorie goal. I know to some, 1200 may sound like a big allowance, but I'm having a very hard time staying at this goal.
I'm 33, no kids, and only looking to lose about 15 - 20 lbs so this should be easy, right?
I'm also pretty active (ski 5+ days a week in the winter; hike, run, yoga in the summer etc), and live at a relatively high altitude so I've typically been able to eat healthy(ish) without counting calories and stay within in the 120-125 lb range, which is a good weight for me, even though I'm only 5'2. However, over the course of the past 6 months, I've put on roughly 15 pounds due to a surgery that had me very sedentary. During this time the only exercise I was able to do besides my PT was very low impact aerobics and walking - which is an incredibly huge drop in my normal activity level. So this 15 lb gain is a loss of muscle and a gain of fat, so I'm ready to get rid of it!
Luckily, now I'm nearly fully recovered, have started working out again, but the weight keeps creeping on, which led me to this site. I've been tracking for the past two or so weeks and have only lost 1 lb, which is incredibly frustrating. I should mention that I do allow myself to eat all the calories I've "earned" by working out. Maybe this is to much?
Anyway, I was just wondering if there is anyone else who has felt these frustrations, and has found a path to success.
Thanks in advance!
Steph
I have felt these frustrations and you're smart to not "eat" your calories back earned from exercising. However, your maximum calorie intake is probably a lot higher than 1200 calories/day. Try resetting your 'Goals' from your home page. Choose 'active' or 'very active' because you are and then select a goal of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. You can double check the amount calculated by going to the Mayo Clinic Calorie Calculator where you would put in the same information; height, weight, gender, current weight and activity level.
The one pound loss could be just your body getting back into realignment and gaining muscle while losing weight. Just hang in there and give it a few months. In the meantime look for those NSVs (non-scale victories) like looser fitting clothes and compliments from friends and co-workers on "how thin you look." :-)
Why is it "smart" to not eat back calories from logged activity when you recommend OP change her activity level to reflect the activity they're doing and . . . eat more calories?
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With only 15-20lbs to lose, you should probably set your deficit to .5lb per week.
1200 is not a lot of calories. It's the bare minimum MFP will set for women. There aren't a lot of people that can manage it for long from what I've seen, myself included.
I could never follow this advice. Calorie restricting for 40 weeks rather than 10 weeks would be brutal. I'd rather "suffer" (it's really not that bad) a few lean weeks than nearly a whole lean year.
Too large a calorie deficit leads to unnecessary loss of lean body mass in addition to fat. Your body can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily from each pound of body fat you have - if I recall correctly, it's around 30-some calories of fat per day per pound of body fat. If your deficit is greater than that, your body will find the extra energy somewhere, such as from muscle tissue.
Beyond that, too-rapid weight loss increases risk of adaptive thermogenesis, i.e., a long-term calorie burn (even after weight loss is done) that is potentially hundreds of calories less than similar-sized people who never adopted extreme calorie deficits.
Therefore, the less you have to lose, the slower you should lose it, if you want to stay strong and healthy, plus keep your metabolism robust. Your call, though.
The OP is around 140 lbs (goal weight 120, trying to lose 20). Assuming a 30% body fat percent, that gives her 42 lbs of fat or 1260 fat-calories per day that can be sustained in a deficit, using your numbers.
If she is only 25% BF, she still has 1050 fat-calories per day of sustainable deficit.
A 1000 calorie per day deficit, using the numbers you've provided, is entirely sustainable for her.
If she's 5'2 and 140, TDEE around 2k to maintain the 140 if moderately active. Reducing by 1k leaves only 1k to eat, can you even get enough nutrition (vitamins, fats, protein, carbs) in 1,000 calories?
Already she feels crappy eating 1,200 and working out (I would too!)
OP I think you should try using the TDEE instead of MFP plus exercise? Get a standard amount you can eat each day that's slightly higher than the 1,200 and stick to it. See if that is easier to maintain.
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@janejellyroll it's not smart because exercise doesn't help you lose weight. That fact was an epiphany for me and backed up by lots of studies like this one. Exercise is good for a whole lot of other reasons, but weight loss isn't one of them. I regularly 'ate back' my calories earned from exercise (still do from time to time) but I realized that since I set my profile as 'lightly active' it's double dipping to "eat back my calories" because the expenditure has already been counted. There are a lot of resources backing up this notion but my favorite is aptly entitled "Okay Don’t Freak Out But Exercising Doesn’t Make You Lose Weight" published on March 22, 2016 in the New York Magazine.
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ernestrodgers82 wrote: »@janejellyroll it's not smart because exercise doesn't help you lose weight. That fact was an epiphany for me and backed up by lots of studies like this one. Exercise is good for a whole lot of other reasons, but weight loss isn't one of them. I regularly 'ate back' my calories earned from exercise (still do from time to time) but I realized that since I set my profile as 'lightly active' it's double dipping to "eat back my calories" because the expenditure has already been counted. There are a lot of resources backing up this notion but my favorite is aptly entitled "Okay Don’t Freak Out But Exercising Doesn’t Make You Lose Weight" published on March 22, 2016 in the New York Magazine.
Exercise, by itself, won't result in weight loss. You're right about that. But if the exercise creates or contributes to a calorie deficit, then that will result in weight loss. If you're including the exercise activity as part of your activity level (which isn't how MFP is set-up), then it is double-dipping to eat the calories back. But if you set-up your activity level the way MFP was designed to be used (your activity level based on your non-exercise activity), then you are not double-dipping when you eat the calories back.
For people on a very low calorie goal or people doing a lot of exercise, it's important to fuel activity. Not eating exercise calories back can result -- for these people -- in very low net calorie consumption.
Also, your post references a study but it doesn't indicate which study you are referring to. I don't think there is a study that shows that if someone is in a calorie deficit they won't lose weight if they eat back the calories burned during exercise, but I could be wrong.1 -
ernestrodgers82 wrote: »@janejellyroll it's not smart because exercise doesn't help you lose weight. That fact was an epiphany for me and backed up by lots of studies like this one. Exercise is good for a whole lot of other reasons, but weight loss isn't one of them. I regularly 'ate back' my calories earned from exercise (still do from time to time) but I realized that since I set my profile as 'lightly active' it's double dipping to "eat back my calories" because the expenditure has already been counted. There are a lot of resources backing up this notion but my favorite is aptly entitled "Okay Don’t Freak Out But Exercising Doesn’t Make You Lose Weight" published on March 22, 2016 in the New York Magazine.
Exercise is not NECESSARY to lose weight, but it absolutely can help with weight loss, in that it helps create a calorie deficit which IS necessary in order to lose weight.
MFP was designed to set a calorie target excluding exercise, such that if you do none, you will still lose according to the rate of loss you selected during set up. If you do exercise, you are meant to eat some of those back, otherwise you may be creating too large of a deficit, creating unsustainable practices, becoming fatigued, losing lean body mass, etc.
If you set your profile to lightly active to include exercise calories in your baseline goal, but then were eating them back anyway, that doesn't mean it's not smart for anyone to eat back their calories. It means it wasn't smart for you, because you were using the system incorrectly.
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The subreddit R/1200isplenty on Reddit.com is full of tips and recipes.
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