Help! So confused about amount of calories!

princesskel30

Hello! I have been reading the posts and am now very confused if I am eating enough calories. I have been set 1200 a day which I have been following but I have seen so many people saying this is too little? If it helps my stats are..
5ft 2 in
186 lb
Female 29 yrs old
To be honest I don't currently do any additional exercise to day to day life!
Really would appreciate any help! Thanks.

dynamitegalxo

The simplest thing to do to start is to eat what MFP tells you. If you're trying to lose 2lb/week, which I can bet you are given those numbers, dial it back to 1.5lb or 1lb to give yourself some more calories to eat so you won't be starving, grumpy, and prone to freaking out over pancakes or cookies and feeling miserable.

Once you've been doing this for a bit, you'll have a better idea of what works for you, and for sure check out some of the other methods on the boards! Lots of people have success with things other than the basic MFP method, but my opinion is that it's simplest to start with the basics from the site, and adjust things to fit you more specifically once you have a little bit of experience.

Also, learn to love exercise. You'll earn more calories to eat that way. Even if it's just a 20 minute walk outside, that's another snack.

Good luck!

Mommybug2

It depends on if you are feeling satisfied I would say. Don't take too much stock in the "starvation mode" stuff on here it gets a bit blown out of proportion. I started at 1200 and have since gone up to 1260. I do cardio 4-5 times a week and eat anywhere from 1260-1500 calories on a given day. I whole heartedly buy into Jillian Michaels theory that you need to keep your body guessing. If your body realizes that you eat 1200 calories everyday then it will adjust to burn 1200 calories everyday. Remember as long as you are eating at a deficit you will lose.

Find stuff that keeps you full longer, for me that often comes in the form of Protein and Oatmeal. I find at dinner when I am portioning out my food I am thinking "This isn't nearly enough food - I'm going to starve". I tell myself I can always have seconds on veggies but when I am done I am always FULL so no seconds are even thought of.

Long story short - I started January 3rd. I took two separate week long vacations where I didn't count calories, I eat "bad" foods but I stay within my calorie range,I even throw in a maintenance calorie day most weeks. Yet I am down almost 60lbs and still losing.

mazmataz

Yeah I thought that I knew the weight loss world inside out until I joined MFP, and then I was sooo confused for a good few months. There were people saying the 1200 was the way to go, others talking about BMR, TDEE and macros..some of whom seemed to be be on over 2000 cals a day, and now there is loads of hype about calorie restriction and fasting...I didn't have a clue where I was at!

So now, this is my method. After dieting for pretty much my whole life, I'm certain that my metobilsm has suffered in the process. Eating too few calories has worked for me in the past, but it's unsustainable and my body plateaus far too quickly these days. This is how I do it:

- Start on 1850 (based on my BMR of 1695ish) - you can check yours here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. Your BMR is basically the calories your body needs to stay alive and function, it doesn't include ANY excercise and assumes that you are laying in bed all day!

-With my daily walk to work and evening run, this usually goes up to 2200-2500.

-I will sometimes eat some of my excercise calories, sometimes eat all of them and sometimes eat none. I see them as a kind of safety net - just in case!

-Somedays I'll be under my calories, somedays I'll be over, only by a 1-200 margin though.

-When I plateau, I can drop my calories.

-Like Mommybug2 said, it's all about keeping your body guessing!

I hope that was in some way helpful