Calorie limit the same regardless of pounds per week? Does anyone else have this?

volcanogoddessan

I have been on the two pound per week plan since around April which puts me at 1200 calories a day, I've been relatively successful so far since I've lost 20 pounds but I still have another ten to lose. I recently just started back at school, however, and am usually working or at school from 7 in the morning till 10/11 at night or later and I just can't seem to stick with my calorie goals like I had been during the summer without feeling awful. I've also been training for a dance competition but I have been forced to add in half of my calories back on the days I dance for a few hours because I literally can't get through the day. I've tried cutting back on breakfast to allow for a snack but then I just feel *kitten* by 10 am and I can't really cut my lunch. Usually for me my lunch and breakfast are about 350 calories and my dinner about 500. So because I've been feeling really down about not meeting my goals I thought maybe I'd back down to 1 pound a week, so at least then I wouldn't always be in the negative, but according to MFP it still puts me at 1200 calories. My maintenance level is 1500. Since going back to school I also haven't lost anymore weight which has just frustrated me further. I feel like if I'm not going to lose any more weight starving myself I might as well eat at maintenance and see what happens.
I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed this with their goals, it clearly isn't that way for everyone's, why mine?

cwolfman13

volcanogoddessan wrote: »

I have been on the two pound per week plan since around April which puts me at 1200 calories a day, I've been relatively successful so far since I've lost 20 pounds but I still have another ten to lose. I recently just started back at school, however, and am usually working or at school from 7 in the morning till 10/11 at night or later and I just can't seem to stick with my calorie goals like I had been during the summer without feeling awful. I've also been training for a dance competition but I have been forced to add in half of my calories back on the days I dance for a few hours because I literally can't get through the day. I've tried cutting back on breakfast to allow for a snack but then I just feel *kitten* by 10 am and I can't really cut my lunch. Usually for me my lunch and breakfast are about 350 calories and my dinner about 500. So because I've been feeling really down about not meeting my goals I thought maybe I'd back down to 1 pound a week, so at least then I wouldn't always be in the negative, but according to MFP it still puts me at 1200 calories. My maintenance level is 1500. Since going back to school I also haven't lost anymore weight which has just frustrated me further. I feel like if I'm not going to lose any more weight starving myself I might as well eat at maintenance and see what happens.
I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed this with their goals, it clearly isn't that way for everyone's, why mine?

Well, one pound per week you would need a 500 calorie deficit...if your maintenance calories are truly 1500 (which seems pretty low to me...it would make sense that you would only get 1200 calories...

GottaBurnEmAll

There was another thread going on and, after a lot of back and forth it was discovered that someone had a technical issue with their account.

OP, do this. Set your goals to maintain and see what happens. You might have the same problem. This might be an issue for technical support.

AliceDark

1200 is the floor that MFP will recommend, so you could theoretically tell it that you want to lose 10 pounds per week and it would still come back with 1200.

If your maintenance is 1500, if you're eating 1200, you're creating a deficit of 300 calories per day (or 2100 per week), which gives you a loss of 0.6 pounds per week. If you've lost 20 pounds in 6 months, that's about 0.8 pounds per week, so that's right in that same ballpark. The reality is that you were probably never going to lose 2 pounds per week if your maintenance is 1500.

kshama2001

volcanogoddessan wrote: »

I have been on the two pound per week plan since around April which puts me at 1200 calories a day, I've been relatively successful so far since I've lost 20 pounds but I still have another ten to lose. I recently just started back at school, however, and am usually working or at school from 7 in the morning till 10/11 at night or later and I just can't seem to stick with my calorie goals like I had been during the summer without feeling awful. I've also been training for a dance competition but I have been forced to add in half of my calories back on the days I dance for a few hours because I literally can't get through the day. I've tried cutting back on breakfast to allow for a snack but then I just feel *kitten* by 10 am and I can't really cut my lunch. Usually for me my lunch and breakfast are about 350 calories and my dinner about 500. So because I've been feeling really down about not meeting my goals I thought maybe I'd back down to 1 pound a week, so at least then I wouldn't always be in the negative, but according to MFP it still puts me at 1200 calories. My maintenance level is 1500. Since going back to school I also haven't lost anymore weight which has just frustrated me further. I feel like if I'm not going to lose any more weight starving myself I might as well eat at maintenance and see what happens.
I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed this with their goals, it clearly isn't that way for everyone's, why mine?

How tall are you?

With only 10 pounds left to lose, do set your weight loss goal to no more than a half pound per week. Or, as others have said, set it to maintain your current weight.

Sounds like you are considerably undereating for your activity level and total left to lose, in which case you should be losing weight regularly. Are you getting frustrated and having cheat meals or days? Or, if you've just upped your activity level, you could be retaining water from this. My scale went up 7 pounds when I started weight lifting again last fall. How are your clothes fitting?

MFP uses the NEAT method, and as such the system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

volcanogoddessan

I totally forgot I should have added my height and weight, I'm 4'11" and 117 pounds right now. I'm sure part of my not losing weight has been due to gaining muscle since I'm dancing and doing strength training more now and I naturally gain muscle pretty easily, but I don't feel like I've lost fat just gained muscle. Maybe it is because MFP won't let me go beneath 1200, I didn't think about that, I've run into that problem if I ate under 1000 calories it won't let you close out your diary. I do eat back 50% of my exercise calories, since like you said I think it's an overestimate, but I'm thinking about just not doing that anymore, I just get really hungry after dancing. I don't really have "cheat days" as in I go over my calories but I do eat more(because I added exercise) after my 3 hour dance class on Sunday's which I sometimes have pasta(which I measure)or something I can't normally eat.

middlehaitch

Eat for a .5 lbs a week loss and continue eating back your exercise calories. You will find in the long term your performance will suffer as well as immediate energy levels if you are under-fueled.

Because your routine has changed recently there is a good chance you have a few pounds extra in water weight.

Keep doing what you are doing it is just going to be a slow loss. For us shorter women with little to lose that is just the way it is. (It was about 6 month for me to lose the last 10 )

Cheers, h.