Calories maximum a day?

huggit

Hi I joined mfp 6 days ago I have slightly gone up in weight since then. I have been to 4 exercise classes a week, my job is mostly sitting. So I read a post about changing to sedentary lifestyle, so I did and my calories are down from 1700 to 1200. Is this correct? I have trouble eating fruit and veg and anything wholemeal due to IBS, what tips can you give me to not get hangry on 1200 Cal's ? Thank you

TavistockToad

6 days isn't long enough to decide that a certain calorie goal isn't working.

sijomial

Your activity setting is your entire lifestyle (excluding exercise) not just your job - it matters what you do outside of working hours too. My last job was a desk job but I built a lot of movement into my day so I was at least lightly active.

Six days isn't anywhere enough time to judge the effectiveness of your calorie limit - a month will give you a good idea.

You haven't given any information to judge if 1200 (+ exercise calories) is suitable or not. Selecting a truly suitable calorie goal and avoiding an excessive deficit is the main way to avoid being hangry
The rate of weight loss per week has a huge impact on the goal given.

huggit

sijomial wrote: »

Your activity setting is your entire lifestyle (excluding exercise) not just your job - it matters what you do outside of working hours too. My last job was a desk job but I built a lot of movement into my day so I was at least lightly active.

Six days isn't anywhere enough time to judge the effectiveness of your calorie limit - a month will give you a good idea.

You haven't given any information to judge if 1200 (+ exercise calories) is suitable or not. Selecting a truly suitable calorie goal and avoiding an excessive deficit is the main way to avoid being hangry
The rate of weight loss per week has a huge impact on the goal given.

Hi

I only put 1.5 pounds a week, I do a fair amount of sitting outside of work, but am trying to be more active with fitness classes, I don't understand 😯

cmriverside

Unless you have over 50 pounds to lose, set it at "Lose 1 pound per week."

I would start with "Lightly Active" - only because I've learned over the years that Myfitnesspal underestimates hugely for me and many other people. If you have any kind of job, care for children at home or go to school you probably aren't Sedentary.

Regardless, pick one and stick with it for a couple months. Log food as accurately as you can. Log purposeful exercise and eat back either all or a fixed percentage of those calories. Again, I used this site's exercise calculation, ate ALL the exercise calories and still lost at almost exactly my chosen rate.

Only way to know if you've made the right decision is to gather data and stick with a setting for more than a month. Weight loss takes consistency over time. You don't start eating at 1200 and lose two pounds in three days, necessarily.

Oh, 1200 is really hard, I did it for a while. There's almost no way I would be able to do it without daily additional exercise calories.

huggit

cmriverside wrote: »

Unless you have over 50 pounds to lose, set it at "Lose 1 pound per week."

I would start with "Lightly Active" - only because I've learned over the years that Myfitnesspal underestimates hugely for me and many other people. If you have any kind of job, care for children at home or go to school you probably aren't Sedentary.

Regardless, pick one and stick with it for a couple months. Log food as accurately as you can. Log purposeful exercise and eat back either all or a fixed percentage of those calories. Again, I used this site's exercise calculation, ate ALL the exercise calories and still lost at almost exactly my chosen rate.

Only way to know if you've made the right decision is to gather data and stick with a setting for more than a month. Weight loss takes consistency over time. You don't start eating at 1200 and lose two pounds in three days, necessarily.

Oh, 1200 is really hard, I did it for a while. There's almost no way I would be able to do it without daily additional exercise calories.

Thank you that makes sense to me, I have put lightly active and gone up to 1400 calories, that feels much more manageable 😁

sijomial

huggit wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Your activity setting is your entire lifestyle (excluding exercise) not just your job - it matters what you do outside of working hours too. My last job was a desk job but I built a lot of movement into my day so I was at least lightly active.

Six days isn't anywhere enough time to judge the effectiveness of your calorie limit - a month will give you a good idea.

You haven't given any information to judge if 1200 (+ exercise calories) is suitable or not. Selecting a truly suitable calorie goal and avoiding an excessive deficit is the main way to avoid being hangry
The rate of weight loss per week has a huge impact on the goal given.

Hi

I only put 1.5 pounds a week, I do a fair amount of sitting outside of work, but am trying to be more active with fitness classes, I don't understand 😯

"Only" 1.5lbs takes 750 calories off your estimated daily allowance. That's a lot don't you think?
Your fitness classes are nothing to do with activity - you should log them and then you get extra calories on workout days.

More active would be things like walking not driving, stairs not lifts/elevators, gardening/moving rather than sitting on the sofa etc. etc.. It can make a significant difference.

longkathleenann9291

I have 1320 calories/day but usually eat 1200. I’ve been with MFP since July and have lost 25lbs. My diary is open to friends so that might help you get some ideas. Sending you a friends request.

Danp

Focus on what matters.

In your original post you're go-to point was 'I've been to exercise classes'. Exercise is great for health and fitness but generally has a minimal impact on weight loss.

Weight loss primarily comes about via managing your calorie intake so focus there to get the biggest pay off for your efforts. Managing your calorie intake accurately comes down to two basic rules

1. Log everything and log it accurately. This means that you should be using a kitchen scale to weight everything you eat and log it in your MFP diary consistently.
2. Use rule 1 to keep your average calorie consumption in a deficit. Remember that the MFP calculation already includes a deficit built in depending on the rate of loss you've chosen. So eat on average the number of calories the app has given you and then experiment with the extra 'activity' calories the app gives you to see what percentage of them you can eat and still continue to lose weight.

Keep up the classes for fitness and health but don't rely on them for weight loss.

G'luck