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People are eating too few calories
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I am just a hair under six foot. I hit my goal of 165 pounds about two months ago.
I do mild weight lifting three days a week, cardio three other days and one day off. I started adding calories back about every three weeks until I stopped losing.
It looks like at about 1550 calories a day is maintenance for me, which to me seems a bit low but I have been the same weight for three consecutive weeks, yes with some daily fluctuations but generally right between 160 and 165. If I hit below 160 for three straight weeks I will add another 50 calories a day and keep tracking. Of course if I go the other way for three weeks I will cut 50 calories a day.4 -
Another one-post wonder with misguided opinions.
What a surprise...
What's interesting is that they've been here since Oct. 2017, and have obviously been reading the forums by the way the post is worded, so they must have read thread after thread where sweeping generalizations are shot down in the first response.1 -
Well...
I think there's a really indirect noncausal correlation between undereating and poor physical health. There is not a chance I could eat 1500 calories every day for the rest of my life unless I was extremely sedentary. And if I was extremely sedentary, then I should eat 1500 calories. But also I should not be that sedentary, because that's not good for your body in other ways. You should exercise more than that.
However, none of that adds up to actual weight gain, if that's what you mean. I probably wouldn't gain weight eating 1500/day forever, but I'd probably have other physical issues from the sedentary lifestyle.
And yeah I mean if you're at a healthy weight and you're still undereating long term, it's probably not the best for you, same as overeating. Eat what your body needs to be healthy.4 -
But how do you know exactly what your body needs to be healthy? It this not where you are eating the right amount to not gain or lose any weight over a measured period of time at you then current general activity level?Well...
I think there's a really indirect noncausal correlation between undereating and poor physical health. There is not a chance I could eat 1500 calories every day for the rest of my life unless I was extremely sedentary. And if I was extremely sedentary, then I should eat 1500 calories. But also I should not be that sedentary, because that's not good for your body in other ways. You should exercise more than that.
However, none of that adds up to actual weight gain, if that's what you mean. I probably wouldn't gain weight eating 1500/day forever, but I'd probably have other physical issues from the sedentary lifestyle.
And yeah I mean if you're at a healthy weight and you're still undereating long term, it's probably not the best for you, same as overeating. Eat what your body needs to be healthy.
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Um, my BMR is round about 1300, and I have a desk job that has me working long hours. Eating 1800 calories is pretty much how I wound up morbidly obese in the first place.
So, no.10 -
I'm 58 and just under 5' tall, with arthritis. I'm losing nicely on 1200 healthy food calories per day, with lots of water daily, and exercise several times a week. I had LOTS of weight to lose, and have received input both from a doctor and dietitian. I'll increase my calories when I'm ready to maintain.1
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I think OP is full of bull . I am 59 and over 1500 cal I gain even working out . not all of us are burning off 1800 a day . OP has an opinion but it is wrong .
I have been staying between 1300 and 1600 and weight loss has been very slow . I am ok with slow as 1200 cal was faster but left me hungry .1 -
I know for me it’s important that I eat 1200-1500 calories mainly because I do weights and cardio every day. To some it may seem to little but I’m not very big in size and I don’t need as much as say a man needs. But I mostly eat a lot of calories now because I always used to fail years ago. I used to eat under 1000 calories while doing exercise and I didn’t realise that my body was actually hungry, so all that led to was binge eating.3
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Gosh I am struggling to lose on 1200/day or less, if I ate 1800-2000 I would just gain and gain!7
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Um, my BMR is round about 1300, and I have a desk job that has me working long hours. Eating 1800 calories is pretty much how I wound up morbidly obese in the first place.
So, no.
Your BMR is the amount of calories you’d need to sustain your body if you are in a coma, essentially. You don’t need to eat below your BMR to lose, and having a desk job with long hours doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be more active. I have a desk job and work probably 50+ hours a week yet still manage to get in 10-12k steps a day, by doing so my TDEE (which is what your calorie deficit should come from) is around 2100.5 -
Most people who claim they can’t lose on 1200 calories aren’t eating anywhere near 1200 calories. Incorrect logging (not weighing foods, underestimating portions, failing to log calorie dense ingredients, etc.) is much more frequently the culprit.penguin_1234 wrote: »Gosh I am struggling to lose on 1200/day or less, if I ate 1800-2000 I would just gain and gain!
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While I think the OP is wrong, I do have some understanding of how he or she came to that conclusion. The people posting on this thread, are let's face it not typical MFP users - most are long term MFP members who have learned to understand their own needs and the process for losing weight. For every user like that, there are probably a dozen who jump in, set themselves to sedentary and set their weight loss goal to 2 lbs/wk and end up on 1200 calories, struggle for a few weeks, then give up.
This is why I always suggest that new members log for a week without attempting to change their diet, just to get an idea of how many calories they are currently eating and what their needs are. If someone eats three giant meals and dessert every day plus snacks and drinks, cutting to 1200 overnight is probably going to lead to failure. It's better to learn how to eat satisfying meals within a modest calorie limit more gradually. A very obese person rarely needs to cut to 1200 to lose weight - MFP's guidelines are a little whacky about this, they recommended 1200 for me when I joined and according to most calculators my TDEE before intentional exercise would have been over 2800! I was losing three and a half pounds a week. It was great. But it's not a coincidence that about six months later I lost most of my hair.16 -
I recently learned that my A1C level is 6.1, and I am overweight. My doctor put me on a 3-month "change your lifestyle or else" regime, including a 1200 calorie diet/ reduce carbs. I am not starving myself, but I am losing the weight I need to lose, and am in the process of lowering my A1C (I hope). Not everyone that has a lower calorie diet is "under-eating". As others have said, "each person is different" and there are a myriad of reasons for how each handles health issues.0
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Most people who claim they can’t lose on 1200 calories aren’t eating anywhere near 1200 calories. Incorrect logging (not weighing foods, underestimating portions, failing to log calorie dense ingredients, etc.) is much more frequently the culprit.penguin_1234 wrote: »Gosh I am struggling to lose on 1200/day or less, if I ate 1800-2000 I would just gain and gain!
I just had some English muffins and didn't count the butter.7 -
Good example. ~100 calories per tablespoon. Doesn’t take many of those omissions to really skew the accuracy of daily intake.NorthCascades wrote: »
Most people who claim they can’t lose on 1200 calories aren’t eating anywhere near 1200 calories. Incorrect logging (not weighing foods, underestimating portions, failing to log calorie dense ingredients, etc.) is much more frequently the culprit.penguin_1234 wrote: »Gosh I am struggling to lose on 1200/day or less, if I ate 1800-2000 I would just gain and gain!
I just had some English muffins and didn't count the butter.
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Most people who claim they can’t lose on 1200 calories aren’t eating anywhere near 1200 calories. Incorrect logging (not weighing foods, underestimating portions, failing to log calorie dense ingredients, etc.) is much more frequently the culprit.penguin_1234 wrote: »Gosh I am struggling to lose on 1200/day or less, if I ate 1800-2000 I would just gain and gain!
I'm here to gain weight rather than lose and this has definitely been true for me. It wasn't until I bought an accurate food scale and a steps tracker that I started to gain. I'd been overestimating my calories and underestimating my activity levels. Also many entries on the database are way out and I've had better results since I started creating my own food entries and logging those instead6 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Um, my BMR is round about 1300, and I have a desk job that has me working long hours. Eating 1800 calories is pretty much how I wound up morbidly obese in the first place.
So, no.
Your BMR is the amount of calories you’d need to sustain your body if you are in a coma, essentially. You don’t need to eat below your BMR to lose, and having a desk job with long hours doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be more active. I have a desk job and work probably 50+ hours a week yet still manage to get in 10-12k steps a day, by doing so my TDEE (which is what your calorie deficit should come from) is around 2100.
"Doesn't necessarily" are the key words here. Yes, you can "still manage" to get in 10-12k steps a day, and in the last several months I have been doing so. However, left to my own sedentary devices I was not doing so, and my TDEE was pathetically low. So, yeah, gaining weight on 1800 calories a day, over lots of years of my life. It's only with specific effort to do so that my steps per day are anything over a couple hundred.
I never said you need to eat below your BMR to lose. I meant that my TDEE and BMR are pretty damn close to one another unless I am deliberately trying to do otherwise, which only has happened recently.5 -
Being someone who is short (5'2"), and who has a very slow metabolism due to hypothyroidism, and sedentary, I would not lose weight on 1800 calories. Everyone's body is different, and everyone body needs different calorie amounts. I've been on 1200-1300 calories the past several weeks, and some weeks I barely lose at all. I would increase my calories if I was exercising too.3
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WinoGelato wrote: »Um, my BMR is round about 1300, and I have a desk job that has me working long hours. Eating 1800 calories is pretty much how I wound up morbidly obese in the first place.
So, no.
Your BMR is the amount of calories you’d need to sustain your body if you are in a coma, essentially. You don’t need to eat below your BMR to lose, and having a desk job with long hours doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be more active. I have a desk job and work probably 50+ hours a week yet still manage to get in 10-12k steps a day, by doing so my TDEE (which is what your calorie deficit should come from) is around 2100.
Again, this is just another opinion. None of us know what another one is struggling with and should not make judgements. What is good for me may not be good for another person. I weight train 3 times a week and do strenuous cardio 3-4 times a week for 40-60 minutes, and walk my dog every day for 60 minutes/3 miles (averaging over 16,000 steps a day) and maintain at 1700. I really don't know why 1700 is the magic number for me, but it is. Maybe my age (50), maybe my natural metabolism, maybe just being wacked by an unlucky stick, but whatever the case it works for ME.2 -
I gained 30 pounds eating much less than 1800 a day. Must be nice.6
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Different people will require different calories to maintain, lose weight, or gain weight. There are a lot of factors we should know. The person’s age, height, weight, activity level, and what type of workouts this person do. I’m 5’1 and weigh around 119 lbs and my maintenance is 2000 cals. It’s pretty high because my activity level is way up there. I move a lot (walking my dog 3-4 miles twice per day), lift heavy, and do cardio from time. People who shares the same stats like I do will probably have different calorie intake. Why? Our bodies respond differently to things.1
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I'm at 600 calories a day max, but I just had gastric bypass surgery 10 weeks ago. I'm living on mostly protein shakes and cheese and sometimes chicken or hamburger meat. you are probably going to say I eat too few calories, but I am just following my doctor's plan. Eventually, if I'm lucky, I will get up to 1200 calories, but my stomach is only the size of 3 baby fingers put in a fist.2
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lcoulter23 wrote: »I'm at 600 calories a day max, but I just had gastric bypass surgery 10 weeks ago. I'm living on mostly protein shakes and cheese and sometimes chicken or hamburger meat. you are probably going to say I eat too few calories, but I am just following my doctor's plan. Eventually, if I'm lucky, I will get up to 1200 calories, but my stomach is only the size of 3 baby fingers put in a fist.
Obviously, any guidelines about a healthy amount of calories for an adult assumes no medical conditions or medical reasons to eat less while being monitored by a doctor. I would assume you are taking medically suggested/prescribed supplements and your health is being monitored by a doctor. Even so, choosing weight loss surgery does come with risks.
No one who is not specifically in your unique situation should assume that eating 600 cals is generally okay. The truth lies somewhere between "everyone's different, eat as little as you think you have to" and "everyone should eat over 1800 cals".5 -
Oh definitely. I take a ton of vitamins every day because i don't absorb enough from the food I eat. I know the risks, I had to have a second surgery two weeks out because my remnant stomach almost exploded due to an obstruction and my small intestine not being attached in the right place. I'm still actually on lift restrictions. It has been really hard at times but seeing as I had gastroparesis and my stomach didn't digest food properly, it was medically necessary. I was living on liquid before surgery so being able to eat some solid food now and it actually digests is a huge thing for me. Is it for everyone? Nope. I just made the choice that was right for me.7
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I eat 1,400 calories a day and I feel fine. But that's because I grew up eating 1,300 to 1,400 calories a day. I've always been slender and I've only recently put on weight. So when I go back to eating 1,400 a day I don't feel like I'm starving myself, I actually feel a lot better than when I eat 1,900 calories a day (the amount I need to maintain). When I eat 1,900 calories a day I don't typically eat healthy foods because it would be very difficult for me to eat that much healthy foods (think vegetables, lean meats, etc.). I would just be stuffed and miserable. I don't like feeling stuffed so I wouldn't want to eat that way. So for me, in order to get to 1,900 calories without feeling stuffed all day long, I'd have to eat unhealthier or at least calorically dense foods. Either way, I'm miserable.
I personally don't like feeling full; I like feeling satisfied, feeling like there's still some room in my stomach for more, I just choose not to eat anymore because I've had enough.0 -
FitAndLean_5738 wrote: »I eat 1,400 calories a day and I feel fine. But that's because I grew up eating 1,300 to 1,400 calories a day. I've always been slender and I've only recently put on weight. So when I go back to eating 1,400 a day I don't feel like I'm starving myself, I actually feel a lot better than when I eat 1,900 calories a day (the amount I need to maintain). When I eat 1,900 calories a day I don't typically eat healthy foods because it would be very difficult for me to eat that much healthy foods (think vegetables, lean meats, etc.). I would just be stuffed and miserable. I don't like feeling stuffed so I wouldn't want to eat that way. So for me, in order to get to 1,900 calories without feeling stuffed all day long, I'd have to eat unhealthier or at least calorically dense foods. Either way, I'm miserable.
I personally don't like feeling full; I like feeling satisfied, feeling like there's still some room in my stomach for more, I just choose not to eat anymore because I've had enough.
There's nothing inherently unhealthy about calorically dense foods. If all calorically dense foods make you miserable, there may be something deeper going on.
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Having gone through both periods binging and periods of starving as well as working with many health professionals in recovery I've learnt a lot about how the body functions. Personally i think part of the problem with people diets and physiques today is a result of both overeating AND undereating. Hearing so many people eating 1200-1500 calories a day sickens me. And that's because i used to eat like that and i was miserable. my body was unwell and everything inside was messed up. I now eat twice that amount and my weight has decreased, my muscle mass has increased noticeably, my mood has improved, and my energy levels are through the roof.
I want to hear what other people think about this because honestly i believe eating any less ( as an average woman) than 1800 calories, yes even to lose weight, is too little. I want to hear others peoples opinions on this
My opinion is that it doesnt apply to everyone.
Didnt apply to me.
I lost steadily on 1460 and have maintained for 5 years on 1710
So, less than 1800 is not too little for me and at no time have I been miserable nor my body unwell because of this.
and given that my stats are by no means unusual, I suspect there are many other people losing/maintaining on similar amounts to me.6 -
I eat 1550-1800 a day on average.... but im not miserable. I actually function at endurance sports better than most people. I think it comes down to what you're eating and volume not so much calories but im no expert everyones different.3
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makkimakki2018 wrote: »I eat 1550-1800 a day on average.... but im not miserable. I actually function at endurance sports better than most people. I think it comes down to what you're eating and volume not so much calories but im no expert everyones different.
Given that most people don't do well at endurance sports at all, I'm not sure this is much of a recommendation. The real test would be, how do you do in endurance sports against people with training that is similar to yours but are eating enough to nourish themselves properly (assuming that 1,550-1,800 is lower than you need).5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »makkimakki2018 wrote: »I eat 1550-1800 a day on average.... but im not miserable. I actually function at endurance sports better than most people. I think it comes down to what you're eating and volume not so much calories but im no expert everyones different.
Given that most people don't do well at endurance sports at all, I'm not sure this is much of a recommendation. The real test would be, how do you do in endurance sports against people with training that is similar to yours but are eating enough to nourish themselves properly (assuming that 1,550-1,800 is lower than you need).
Or, how do you do when dieting vs. not dieting.
I ran a PB 5K a few weeks back. Not fast but fast for me. Time was 27:33. That was a full 45 seconds faster than 2 weeks prior when I put in (what I think) was similar effort. Difference was it was the end of a 2 week diet break so I had been eating at maintenance and not at a deficit. Now that I'm back to trying to lose, I'm putting in ~28:30 - 29:00.2
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