How do you know daily calorie intake is right?

dualvans

I’ve been told by several people that my daily 1,200 calories is way too low for me.

It does make me wonder why I’m still hungry some evenings or is this cuz it’s a new pattern of my eating habits?

Mind you, I do feel it’s working somewhat as when I restarted MFP program, I was at 198lbs and now at 188.2 as of today’s weigh check in.

Someone actually said I should see a Dietican to really ensure 1200 is correct for me. But what say you?

WhereIsPJSoles

What’s your height, weight, and activity level?

malibu927

If you’re still hungry at night, I would concur that it’s too low. If you’re set to lose 2 pounds per week, try dropping your goal to 1.5 pounds per week and see if the extra calories help.

cathipa

1200 is low for most. Did MFP give you this calorie goal or did you just choose it randomly?

amyepdx

Log your stats in MFP, set it to lose 1 lb a week and eat that amount. Add back any exercise cals and assess after a month. That will give you the best number for you.

doittoitgirl

If you set your goal for 2lbs per week and sedentary or lightly active, I've found MFP recommends 1200cals often when it isn't really necessary. MFP tells me that should be my goal as well. But I have had no problem losing 2lbs per week on 1500-1600 cals and I don't feel like I'm starving at night or midday. I weigh about the same as you as well, though I don't know your height. And I'm admittedly pretty sedentary during my day.

donharkrn

If you're at 198, 2 pounds of fat loss per week is a safe and achievable goal. If you're in a deficit, I think hunger is inevitable. Sadly, most of us have bodies that "like" the extra fluff. I'm in that category. If you are happy with you're results thus far, I say keep it up. The one thing I might recommend is ensuring you are getting enough protein in your diet. That will keep the emphasis on fat loss and may even help with those hunger pangs.

quiksylver296

WhereIsPJSoles wrote: »

What’s your height, weight, and activity level?

This ^^

vingogly

I use this calculator to determine calorie levels for losing and maintaining. It's a nice way to check what the effect of changing activity level or losing weight would be on your calorie goals.

http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

If you're hungry in the evenings, you might try what I do: go lighter on lunch and snacks during the day, and save them for the evenings.

kimny72

dualvans wrote: »

I’ve been told by several people that my daily 1,200 calories is way too low for me.

It does make me wonder why I’m still hungry some evenings or is this cuz it’s a new pattern of my eating habits?

Mind you, I do feel it’s working somewhat as when I restarted MFP program, I was at 198lbs and now at 188.2 as of today’s weigh check in.

Someone actually said I should see a Dietican to really ensure 1200 is correct for me. But what say you?

You don't need a dietician to determine your calories.

1200 is the absolute lowest MFP will give you, and is not enough for most people Did you set your goal to lose 2 lbs per week? If you have less than 75 lbs to lose, 2 lbs per week is fairly aggressive and could definitely leave you unnecessarily hungry. Losing weight fast can be satisfying in the beginning, but iver time can be stressful on the body and the mind, which leads to hitting the proverbial wall, and often to quitting.

Are you exercising? If so, you should be logging your exercise and eating back at least some of your calories. The calorie goal MFP gives you would have you losing at the pace you chose with no exercise, so not eating back exercise cals will cause you to lose too fast.

How do you really know if your calories are correct? You stick to your plan for 6-8 weeks. If you lose weight on average at your expected rate at that point, your calories are correct. If you are losing too fast or slow, you adjust accordingly and continue judging your plan by the weight loss it leads to over time.

kimny72

donharkrn wrote: »

If you're at 198, 2 pounds of fat loss per week is a safe and achievable goal. If you're in a deficit, I think hunger is inevitable. Sadly, most of us have bodies that "like" the extra fluff. I'm in that category. If you are happy with you're results thus far, I say keep it up. The one thing I might recommend is ensuring you are getting enough protein in your diet. That will keep the emphasis on fat loss and may even help with those hunger pangs.

Depending on her height and activity level, 2 lbs per week could be incredibly difficult. If she is 5'5 and sedentary, her TDEE at 198 is only around 2000 cals. To lose 2 lbs per week, she would have to eat 1000 cals, which is not safe or realistic. Even 1200 is a struggle for many women.

Nottaway1

My scales guide me. I aim for 2lbs/wk and adjust to meet that goal.

theledger5

1200 is very low. It can mess your metabolism up long term if you eat too much in deficit and also makes it less likely that you will stick to it if you're hungry. I am about 10lb off my goal weight now. I've lost over 35lb eating approx 1500 cals a day and 50% of my exercise cals. To get rid of those last few
Lbs I need to drop to about 1300 a day but this is only short term. Depending on your stats I would suggest for most women 1400 is lowest to go. Make those cals go as far as possible, lots of protein and veg will fill you up for longer and I find cycling carbs helps too. Best of luck. It took me a good 6-8 weeks to get my head around logging and seeing actually results on the scales.

LivingtheLeanDream

1200 is too low for most people. Having your height would help and also how active you are in general.
While its true that we can expect to feel hunger when we cut calories intially, if we know we are giving our body enough fuel then we know we can ignore some feelings of hunger.

Jingsi84

It irks me when people say 1200 is too low without knowing age and height. I am old, short and sedentary with a 1200 goal to lose only .8lbs per week at 145lbs. It’s not too low for many people.

LivingtheLeanDream

Jingsi84 wrote: »

It irks me when people say 1200 is too low without knowing age and height. I am old, short and sedentary with a 1200 goal to lose only .8lbs per week at 145lbs. It’s not too low for many people.

But I also am short and quite old? (5ft 2 - 48 and if I wanted to lose I'd eat 1700-1800 cals to lose 0.5lb a week, I'm only lightly active)..you're losing almost 1lb a week so that means you could eat more if you wanted and lose a bit slower. I did say 1200 is too low for MOST people.

Jingsi84

Wasn’t trying to slight you @RunRutheeRun. “1200 is too low” is a common refrain on MFP and it is annoying because I could be safely losing 1 lb/week but keep at .8 as not to go below the 1200 minimum. So for us sedentary shorties 1200 is even higher than we’d like to eat to lose at the rate of our taller brethren.

dualvans

OP here, thanks all. I tried to respond to multi quote some of you, but it wouldn’t let me.

My full stats when I restarted as myself as 40 year old, 5’3”, 198lbs pretty sedate lifestyle to lightly active, 2lbs a week. Exercise 2-3 a week with 1 mile jogging on my off gym days.

Current stats is; 5’3”, 188lbs, lightly active to active, 2lbs a week. Would changing from 2lbs to 1.5lb help more? I also increased my gym days to 3x a week consistently.

cmriverside

I had to find a calorie level that worked for me.

OP, set your Goals to "Lose 1 pound per week" like the Goal Wizard suggests when yo set your goals. Use a realistic Activity Level. Just look at the choices it gives and be honest.

THEN: log your food and exercise every day for 4-6 weeks. Use the same exercise calculations every time; I always ate all the exercise calories and it has worked for me, some people use half that - just pick one and stick to it for this next 4-6 weeks.

At the end of the 4-6 weeks, take a look back and see what your weight trend was. Adjust as needed. No one here can give you a set number, it's your experiment to run. It's what we all have to do.

estherdragonbat

dualvans wrote: »

OP here, thanks all. I tried to respond to multi quote some of you, but it wouldn’t let me.

My full stats when I restarted as myself as 40 year old, 5’3”, 198lbs pretty sedate lifestyle to lightly active, 2lbs a week. Exercise 2-3 a week with 1 mile jogging on my off gym days.

Current stats is; 5’3”, 188lbs, lightly active to active, 2lbs a week. Would changing from 2lbs to 1.5lb help more? I also increased my gym days to 3x a week consistently.

We're the same height and I'm turning 46 next month. When I weighed what you do, I was on a base 1380 to lose a pound a week. I also exercise(d) 2-3 hours daily—long walks at a moderate pace, light dumbbells 3 days a week and eat back 50% of calories burned. So, in practice, I was eating more like 1700-1900 and losing 1-1.5/week on average.

I'm now on 1450 base and trying to lose 1/2-lb a week as I close in on goal.

cathipa

dualvans wrote: »

OP here, thanks all. I tried to respond to multi quote some of you, but it wouldn’t let me.

My full stats when I restarted as myself as 40 year old, 5’3”, 198lbs pretty sedate lifestyle to lightly active, 2lbs a week. Exercise 2-3 a week with 1 mile jogging on my off gym days.

Current stats is; 5’3”, 188lbs, lightly active to active, 2lbs a week. Would changing from 2lbs to 1.5lb help more? I also increased my gym days to 3x a week consistently.

You could change it, but also remember that MFP sets your calories based on the information you provide. If you said you were sedentary and received 1200 calories they are assuming if you exercise you will also be eating back some of those calories as well. Since you are currently exercising this is probably why you are more hungry on just 1200 calories a day.