MFP is suggesting 1200 calories now?

Schlackity

Looking for a little advice here. I started my healthy eating/weight loss in April of this year. My starting weight was 288 lbs and I'm 5;5" and 46 years old. I set my starting calories at 1600 a day because my family doctor said 1600-1800 would be a good goal for now (and it's worked well for me in the past as far as losing weight goes). I've been losing steadily, about 2 lbs a week since I started this. I weighed in on Monday at 234 and MFP suggested that I recalculate my daily goals. I clicked OK and let the program come up with some new numbers for me, and now MFP is telling me to eat 1200 a day.

I'm a little confused by the goal of 1200 calories. If I'm steadily losing 2 lbs a week on 1600 calories a day, why would MFP suggest that I go even lower on the calories? And if MFP tells me to eat 1200 calories a day now, will it drop me to less than that after I lose another 30-40 lbs?

I adjusted my daily calories back to 1600 a day for now, because as much as I'd like to see all this weight go away, I don't want it to come off THAT fast. I've been dieting off and on for most of my life, and I know better than to take the fastest route. According to the TDEE calculator on IIFYM.com my TDEE at my goal weight of around 170 would be around 1900, so it seems to me that if I stayed at 1600 calories a day, I'd be eating at a deficit to some degree until I'm ready to go on maintenance.

Has anyone else had MFP suggest a calorie goal that didn't seem to make a lot of sense? I know the less I weigh, the less calories I will need but even at 170 lbs, the calculator is telling me I need more than I'm eating now. I'm sure I'll get bashed by at least a few people for not understanding all of this as thoroughly as they do, but if I don't ask, then I won't learn. :-)

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FP4HSharon

I agree that you could probably stay at your current level, as long as you're losing. However, as we lose weight, our body burns fewer calories, because it's not having to burn them to move the extra weight. So it is normal for people to have to drop their calories, if they want to continue to lose. So when you reach a plateau, then you may want to take MFP's advice.

gracielynn1011

Do you have Mfp set at sedentary activity? When I had mine set there, it always gave me 1200 also. When I adjusted it to accurately reflect my lifestyle, it gave me a number much closer to my Tdee. With that in mind, if you are still losing at 1600, and feel satisfied and healthy at that number, then stick with it until it no longer works.

You've done great so far. :flowerforyou:

lauren3101

What did you select as your activity level? MFP often doesn't include exercise calories.

If 1600 a day is working for you, stick to that.

4legsRbetterthan2

I say if you are happy where you are then stay there, there are not rules that you have to do what MFP says. I personallly just think of MFP as a great tool for giving you the knowledge you need to control your diet. How you choose to diet is up to you. Most people found that their calculations on other sites were a little higher. If you are getting the results you want then you got yourself figured out so stick with it!

Hildy_J

If it's working well than carry on as you are, on 1600! I tried the 1,200 set by MFP and it left me too hungry on non-exercise days.

If the weight loss slows off you can then look at reducing it a hundred or so.

Good luck!

massage_gal

If the weight loss slows off you can then look at reducing it a hundred or so.

I agree, don't let MFP tell you 1200, I've seen that before and it might be that you have it set to lose at 2 lbs/week. That's not a realistic goal when you are at the end of your journey. It may work fine in the beginning, but not after a while. Also, go with a DOCTOR'S advice over MFP, always! MFP goals are known to be inaccurate. Plus, you can always eat just over 1200 while having a 1600 limit. No harm there! Just don't follow through with a 1200 goal. That's crazy talk!

harleygroomer

ME!!! But I don't let MFP dictate everything..I myself have problems actually eating 1200 a day. But as long as I lose my 2 to 4 pounds a week then do good exercising I don't really take it to heart. The exercise counts are really wayyyyy over as well. I only count a third of what they say and always keep a daily deficit. If you are doing good and are happy--stick to what you know.

Kitty7814

Mine reduced to 1,200 and has stopped there, it won't go lower than 1,200. However, at 224 and a sedentary activity level this would be 1.9 lbs/week for me (5'6"). At 214 it drops to 1.8, 206 1.7, etc. It's also important to note that I've lost more than that though. 6 weeks with an average of 2.5/week. I've logged everything, so obviously something's off, more than likely the calories burned. I've been taping to monitor my body fat % and it continues to shrink without much muscle loss.

I wear a body media band practically 24/7 and always eat back my exercise calories. For me sedentary means sedentary. If I do so much as go to the store or clean the house I will get extra calories on top of the 1,200. Only on days where I do absolutely nothing (which is very rare) does my body media not add exercise calories for me. I've also stopped counting daily as a measurement of success. I use the weekly report on my phone to see the net for the week and log big meals I know I'm going to have in advance, so many days I actually end up less than 1,200, but at about an average of 1,200 - 1,300/day at the end of the week.

I haven't been doing this very long though and so I may still be dropping water weight? Seems like 6 weeks is a bit long for that though. I know that there a lot of people who say the 1,200 is way too low, eat more to weigh less, etc. etc. But at this point I'm not starving and I'm losing weight, my measurements suggest that I'm losing body fat and not too much muscle so I'm not changing until I need to. I also wonder for those who are eating more than the calculations would suggest are accurately measuring their activity level. I was shocked when I got my arm band and realized that sedentary meant doing practically nothing. I don't consider myself to be a necessarily active person but If I didn't use the arm band and had myself at sedentary the walking around stores and cleaning would put me at another 1,000 - 2,000 deficit every week. When you throw in that I try and volunteer at the goodwill nearby weekly that adds another 700 on those days.

From my personal experience - I am obviously no expert, just someone who has wondered the same things and heard a lot of conflicting information - and having read a lot about this (mostly because I was worried that I might be losing too fast) I would think that you may want to go a little lower than the 1,600 in the future, the less you weigh the less you're going to burn. But also there's obviously a lot of variables as well that can't all be accounted for. Why not keep at 1,600 and revisit whether or not you need to drop after a month? And if you do need to drop it, why not look at a way to eat the same but just add a bit more burn?

*Edited because I realized I said weight when I meant muscle

Mischievous_Rascal

MFP is an awesome tool, but it gives everyone the 1200 as a pretty generic place to start - you and your doctor were doing it right!!! (I lose at 2000/day.) Check out this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974889-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Best of luck!

Schlackity

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am glad I decided to stay with the 1600 calories a day. As long as it's working, there's no reason to change it.

To answer the exercise question someone asked, my exercise of choice is walking, and I usually do that 5-6 days a week, even if it's just for a quick 30 minute walk. When I signed up with MFP, I think I listed myself as sedentary/exercising 3 times a week, mostly because I wasn't sure how much time I'd be able to commit to and keep it up (I have two kids, a husband, a house, and full-time job that keeps me pretty busy). But since I can put in more time than I originally thought I would have, I probably should have set my calories a little above 1600. I try to eat back my calories, but I will admit that some days I don't, usually because I run out over one of my macros and I don't like going over on them.

But all in all, the response were great, and gave me some information to work with. Thanks and have a great night/day!

Francl27

1) you probably have 'lose 2 lb a week' selected... switch to 1 lb a week.
2) you're supposed to eat back exercise calories.