Calorie deficits?

Kwee91

Hi guys, I'm kinda new to this whole thing. I've tried losing weight in the past and haven't gotten very far. This time I'm a lot more motivated. I just had a baby about 7 weeks ago and am ready to shed some weight. I'm wanting to lose about 55-60lbs. I've been going to the gym for about 2 weeks now and I have a FitBit HR (which from me lurking on this board apparently isn't as accurate as we think?) and it's tell me I'm averaging at 2300-2500 calories burned per day. I automatically cut down on my calories after having my son, to 1200 calories. But now I'm wondering if that's too little to eat when I'm burning that many calories? I've been trying to research on my own and I'm not coming up with that much. If any of y'all could shed some light that would be great!

SezxyStef

First 1200 calories is too little regardless...esp if you just had a baby.

What you need to do is go to your settings and let MFP set your calories based on a 1lb a week weight loss goal. I expect it will give you about 1400-1500 calories a day then you get to eat more due to exercise.

Sync your fitbit and if you aren't comfortable with the calories eat half of them back and see how it goes.

I lost 50+ lbs doing just that...

As well ensure you are logging accurately and consistently and if you aren't losing weight buy a food scale to ensure you are logging accurately.

JeromeBarry1

Also, if you are nursing your son, you need to consume 500 calories each day above and beyond your needs for his needs from your milk.

MegaMooseEsq

There isn't a single right way to go about losing weight via calorie counting, but I generally think that going for a big deficit right away is not sustainable for most people. What worked and is still working for me was the slow and steady approach. I started counting every single calorie I ate and weighing myself regularly, without making any substantive changes to my diet. Using that data, I was able to determine approximately the number of calories that I could eat without gaining weight - maintenance - and so when I was ready, I started making small, manageable changes to my diet that lowered my average calories to maintenance level and then steadily lower. Those changes have to be personal, because everyone's diet is different. Some of my first changes were switching most of my soda consumption to lightly sweetened ice tea and setting a goal to only get take-out for once a week.

Because I started off slow, it took time before I started noticeably losing weight, but I'm up to 30 pounds lost now and am continuing to lose at about a pound a week. It does not feel like I'm on a diet, I'm not hungry all the time, and I am generally just really happy with how things are going. It's easy to tell someone to cut down to 1200 calories a week to lose weight - even if you're really sloppy tracking calories, that will almost certainly lead to a deficit and weight loss. But do you really want to live that way? If you white-knuckle it through that diet for however many weeks, what happens when you've hit your goal? Are you really going to only increase your intake a modest amount to maintain that lower weight, or are you going to go back to eating the way you did "off your diet"?

In any case, it is possible to lose weight without suffering, and there are many great examples of people here who've both lose and kept the weight off for years. Good luck!

cmriverside

I'm assuming you are still under the care of your OB/GYN?

Can you ask for a weight loss/nutrition calorie goal from them?

If you aren't breastfeeding, I would trust the Fitbit. So do a small cut from that and eat 1800. That would give you a one-pound per week loss.

Here's the MFP Fitbit users' group, lots of info there.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

dwilliamca

Youth is on your side and you need calories to keep up with your busy life and your exercise. What did MFP calculate as your goal? Stick to it and you will lose weight. 1200 calories is way too low for someone your age (and therefore metabolism). Unfortunately when you become my age your BMR drops below 1200 and therefore we are stuck with that number in order to loose any weight.