Getting Different Calorie Numbers?

vickygalo

Hi there!

I joined MFP a week ago and was 243 lbs. I calculated 2 lbs a week loss, and it gave me 1650 calories a week. I lost 3.6 lbs this week, yay! So when I went to update my weight, the app told me I need to consume 1350 calories moving forward. That seems quite low. I went online to do calorie calculations and they all say I should be eating around1800 calories. I’m just a little confused. I’m 178 Cm if that helps. Just don’t know what to believe, but also don’t want to starve (is 1350 doable?)?

Thank you MFP Gods!!!

kimny72

There's no reason that small change should've made such a big calorie difference. Double check that something in your profile or settings didn't reset.

cmriverside

Did you change your Goals? Like did you change from "Lose 1 pound per week" to something more aggressive? That amount (250 cal) is the amount you would have had deducted if you changed your goals by 1/2 pound per week.

Also, about the online calculators...read this, Myfitnesspal uses different calculations than most TDEE calculators.

From Help at the top of every page comes this: How does MyFitnessPal calculate my initial goals?

vickygalo

I'm sorry, I forgot to add one thing! When I originally set it, I wrote that I am lightly active. But I have a newborn, so some days I am active, some days we hibernate inside. I do walk on the treadmill daily though. So now I changed it to sedentary, and it went from 1640 calories to 1350 calories.

vickygalo

cmriverside wrote: »

Did you change your Goals? Like did you change from "Lose 1 pound per week" to something more aggressive? That amount (250 cal) is the amount you would have had deducted if you changed your goals by 1/2 pound per week.

Also, about the online calculators...read this, Myfitnesspal uses different calculations than most TDEE calculators.

From Help at the top of every page comes this: How does MyFitnessPal calculate my initial goals?

ohhhhh I didn't know!!! thank you!

kimny72

vickygalo wrote: »

I'm sorry, I forgot to add one thing! When I originally set it, I wrote that I am lightly active. But I have a newborn, so some days I am active, some days we hibernate inside. I do walk on the treadmill daily though. So now I changed it to sedentary, and it went from 1640 calories to 1350 calories.

So that 1350 would only be on days you literally sit around and do nothing all day. 1350 is tough though, if it were me, I would leave it set to lightly active, continue to eat 1640, and know that on weeks where you have a lot of hibernate days, you might only lose 1.5 lbs instead of 2.

Honestly, if you have a newborn, I'm not sure shooting for the most aggressive deficit is a good idea, but I have no personal experience to base that on, so I'll leave it at that.

vickygalo

kimny72 wrote: »

vickygalo wrote: »

I'm sorry, I forgot to add one thing! When I originally set it, I wrote that I am lightly active. But I have a newborn, so some days I am active, some days we hibernate inside. I do walk on the treadmill daily though. So now I changed it to sedentary, and it went from 1640 calories to 1350 calories.

So that 1350 would only be on days you literally sit around and do nothing all day. 1350 is tough though, if it were me, I would leave it set to lightly active, continue to eat 1640, and know that on weeks where you have a lot of hibernate days, you might only lose 1.5 lbs instead of 2.

Honestly, if you have a newborn, I'm not sure shooting for the most aggressive deficit is a good idea, but I have no personal experience to base that on, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm happy at 1650, I get a good amount of food in and im not a raging monster LOL LOL I don't know about 1350... it just seems quite low. But I do have 100 lbs to lose! So maybe that's why the number is set like that. I walk on the treadmill daily, but thats in the evening and I do it to get my 10,000 steps in. but some days, I will have like 2,000 steps all day, and then come night time I will walk to get my 10,000 in. so technically I am sedentary all day, until an hour or two at night.

kimny72

vickygalo wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

vickygalo wrote: »

I'm sorry, I forgot to add one thing! When I originally set it, I wrote that I am lightly active. But I have a newborn, so some days I am active, some days we hibernate inside. I do walk on the treadmill daily though. So now I changed it to sedentary, and it went from 1640 calories to 1350 calories.

So that 1350 would only be on days you literally sit around and do nothing all day. 1350 is tough though, if it were me, I would leave it set to lightly active, continue to eat 1640, and know that on weeks where you have a lot of hibernate days, you might only lose 1.5 lbs instead of 2.

Honestly, if you have a newborn, I'm not sure shooting for the most aggressive deficit is a good idea, but I have no personal experience to base that on, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm happy at 1650, I get a good amount of food in and im not a raging monster LOL LOL I don't know about 1350... it just seems quite low. But I do have 100 lbs to lose! So maybe that's why the number is set like that. I walk on the treadmill daily, but thats in the evening and I do it to get my 10,000 steps in. but some days, I will have like 2,000 steps all day, and then come night time I will walk to get my 10,000 in. so technically I am sedentary all day, until an hour or two at night.

If you are getting 10,000 steps a day, no matter what time of day you get them, you are nowhere near sedentary. I would not set yourself any lower than lightly active.

Rocknut53

Listen to @kimny72, she gives the best, most thoughtful advice!

vickygalo

Thank you!!!!!

collectingblues

Agree with Kimmy. Keep it at lightly active -- *especially* since you've got a newborn, and I'm betting you're still healing and recovering from delivery. Plus, you're still being active, even if it doesn't seem like it during the day.