Calorie amount

shaylenehaggerty

Hi everyone I have been off track for months and steadily gaining I really need to get it together.I was previously following weight watchers and wanted to switch to counting calories, I am shooting for 1400 calories a day does anyone think this is too high?

Lietchi

Well, you've given us absolutely no information to determine than
Age, weight, height, activity level (outside of intentional exercise),...? What are your goals?

But even without knowing that, it hardly seems high, it's quite low actually.

How did you arrive at this number of 1400? Did you enter your goals in MFP?

shaylenehaggerty

My activity level isn’t very high I have a desk job although I try to workout 3-4 times weekly I am 32 and 5’3 I am about 80 pounds overweight. I did enter into MFP and it gave me 1200 calories daily for 2 pounds a week, and it just seems so low I’m not sure I could stick to it so I edited it to 1400 calories to give a little more leeway.

hipari

1400 sounds like it's on the low end of reasonable. Here's a quick guide to do it "properly":
1. Get a food scale and measure everything you eat and drink
2. Log everything you measured for eating and drinking
3. Continue this for 4-6 weeks (at least one full menstrual cycle)
4. Evaluate how the time period went: did you lose weight as predicted? Are you happy with the results? How are you feeling in general?
5. Adjust plan accordingly.

Since 1400 is quite low and 2lbs per week is on the upper end of healthy loss speed for most people, pay close attention to how you're feeling. If you end up having "cheat days" or binges and/or are feeling overly tired, cranky or sluggish, it's a sign that your calories might be too low.

Comparison: I'm 28 years old, 5'8, have about 40-50lbs to lose, and have similar activity levels. I lose weight at 2000 calories per day.

Lietchi

shaylenehaggerty wrote: »

My activity level isn’t very high I have a desk job although I try to workout 3-4 times weekly I am 32 and 5’3 I am about 80 pounds overweight. I did enter into MFP and it gave me 1200 calories daily for 2 pounds a week, and it just seems so low I’m not sure I could stick to it so I edited it to 1400 calories to give a little more leeway.

On top of what hipari said, I would like to add that MFP gives you a calorie goal based on your activity level outside of intentional exercise. So on those days when you exercise, you are supposed to eat back those calories you burned through exercise.

I'm 5ft4 and I started my weight loss journey at 208lbs. I intentionally chose a weight loss rate of 0.5lbs per week, which gave me a much more realistic calorie goal of 1750 calories per day (plus exercise calories). I'm not saying you should necessarily choose a weight loss rate that slow, but 2lbs per week is quite agressive. 2 lbs of weight loss per week is equivalent to a daily calorie deficit of 1000 calories!

As you've already realised yourself, a low calorie goal isn't necessarily sustainable, so if you have trouble, don't hesitate to choose a slower weight loss rate! (Which you've already done indirectly, by chossing 1400 instead of 1200 calories).

shaylenehaggerty

Thank you so much! I definitely want to pay attention to how I am feeling in my body and try not to over-restrict I will see how this week goes and maybe if I need to raise my calories I will. I am nervous to eat back exercise calories since I’ve heard that activity trackers are not 100 percent accurate. My Apple Watch says I burn 2700 calories daily just living but I can’t imagine that I actually burn that much with my job and activity level.

Lietchi

Well, don't forget household tasks and (if you have children) taking care of children also burn calories. 2700 does sound like a lot (on days you don't exercise).

Aside from not over-restricting, another key element of sucessful weight loss is adapting your strategy based on how your weight loss is progressing.
My activity tracker is synced with MFP and I've always eaten back all the calories. That's because I weigh daily and monitor my weight loss and over several months of tracking, I've found that my tracker is pretty accurate for me. Other people find that their tracker overestimates or underestimates their calorie burn, so they've adapted their strategy and are eating back less calories (because their weight loss is slower than intended) or they have increased their calorie goal (because they are losing weight too fast).
So if you get it wrong a bit in the beginning, it's no big deal, you just adapt your strategy

sijomial

shaylenehaggerty wrote: »

Thank you so much! I definitely want to pay attention to how I am feeling in my body and try not to over-restrict I will see how this week goes and maybe if I need to raise my calories I will. I am nervous to eat back exercise calories since I’ve heard that activity trackers are not 100 percent accurate. My Apple Watch says I burn 2700 calories daily just living but I can’t imagine that I actually burn that much with my job and activity level.

They don't have to be 100% accurate to be usable for purpose and something to remember is that estimating zero calories for exercise is 100% guaranteed to be wrong!

Beware if you sync (optional) your Apple Watch to here they don't work well together unless you link via an intermediary app (Pacer is used by many I believe).

A week isn't really enough time to judge as often there's a honeymoon period of enthusiasm and determination that carries people through the first couple of weeks - keep reassessing and cultivate a long term view.

shaylenehaggerty

Thank you that makes sense about the honey moon period....I guess I always thought you shouldn’t eat back your calories I thought that was defeating the purpose of working out?

janejellyroll

shaylenehaggerty wrote: »

Thank you that makes sense about the honey moon period....I guess I always thought you shouldn’t eat back your calories I thought that was defeating the purpose of working out?

The purpose of working out is to increase your fitness. Eating enough to support your daily activity doesn't "defeat" the purpose of working out. You'll still get all the benefits of exercise and if you're still at a deficit, you'll also lose weight.

Lietchi

janejellyroll wrote: »

shaylenehaggerty wrote: »

Thank you that makes sense about the honey moon period....I guess I always thought you shouldn’t eat back your calories I thought that was defeating the purpose of working out?

The purpose of working out is to increase your fitness. Eating enough to support your daily activity doesn't "defeat" the purpose of working out. You'll still get all the benefits of exercise and if you're still at a deficit, you'll also lose weight.

And exercising also has the benefit of giving you more calories to consume to arrive at the same deficit/weight loss rate, making your weight loss journey more sustainable.
I'm currently at a base calorie goal of 1540 calories per day, and yet I'm eating around 1750 to 2000 calories a day because I'm active and exercising, and I'm still losing weight at the intended rate.

sijomial

shaylenehaggerty wrote: »

Thank you that makes sense about the honey moon period....I guess I always thought you shouldn’t eat back your calories I thought that was defeating the purpose of working out?

Long term view......
Exercise is something that's great for you to do for the rest of your life - it would be a real shame to view it only for weight loss.

Boosting your daily allowance while keeping to the deficit you picked is a big benefit though in not feeling so deprived and can help with sustainability.

bmeadows380

I get anywhere from 400 to 500+ calories added in a day from exercise, and that's only counting half of my time, and I'm still losing at a decent clip for the amount of weight I have to lose still (and I've been at it for 3 years now). Those extra calories make a huge difference in my day! So I get extra calories to eat and my health is getting better; I consider that a win win!