Am I eating enough?

CindaWhite
CindaWhite Posts: 104 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
While I am not at all discouraged by the success of my journey thus far, I am concerned that I may be hurting myself if I am going about this in the wrong way. I went to Scooby's and ran the body fat calculator. According to those results my BMR is 1375. My TDEE is 1891 and my NET goal should be 1418.

When I started MFP on July 1st of this year I was set by recommendation to 1450 calories net. After 1 month and 11lbs lost I was recalculated to 1200 NET. This is where I have been since August 1st. With an average weekly loss of about 1 lb. But I was "bad" this last two weeks and I gained 1 lb and lost it again. Eating "too many" calories.... any suggestions?

Replies

  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    While I am not at all discouraged by the success of my journey thus far, I am concerned that I may be hurting myself if I am going about this in the wrong way. I went to Scooby's and ran the body fat calculator. According to those results my BMR is 1375. My TDEE is 1891 and my NET goal should be 1418.

    When I started MFP on July 1st of this year I was set by recommendation to 1450 calories net. After 1 month and 11lbs lost I was recalculated to 1200 NET. This is where I have been since August 1st. With an average weekly loss of about 1 lb. But I was "bad" this last two weeks and I gained 1 lb and lost it again. Eating "too many" calories.... any suggestions?

    Sounds like you know what you're doing wrong. Don't eat as much as you did when you regained weight, although "gaining" ONE pound isn't a real gain, that's a fluctuation. If your TDEE is 1891, as long as you're under 1500, you should lose steadily. Go by your weekly trends, not day-to-day gains and losses. Sometimes an extra pound may just mean you need to poop. :bigsmile:
  • CindaWhite
    CindaWhite Posts: 104 Member
    Guess I need to clarify. I was not worried about the weight "gain" but thank you for the quick response. My question is whether or not I need to eat closer to 1400 Net calories instead of the 1200 I have been sticking to.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    It is possible that MFP has it set at 2lbs a week still?

    You can change that to 1lb a week and you will have probably close to 1400 calories a day.

    As for the 1200 as long as you are eating back some of your exercise calories you are probably close to 1400 anyway...

    ETA you are not tracking everyday either and from what I can see not using a food scale...that is very important part of the weight loss journey...being accurate and tracking everything.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    Guess I need to clarify. I was not worried about the weight "gain" but thank you for the quick response. My question is whether or not I need to eat closer to 1400 Net calories instead of the 1200 I have been sticking to.

    I don't think it's crucial one way or the other. We're only talking about a difference of 200 calories here. It all depends on how quickly you want to lose weight, and how you feel. If you stay closer to 1200, you'll lose weight faster than if you stay closer to 1400, but it may not be worth it to you if it makes you feel tired or hungry. If I were you, I would give myself a range, from 1200 to 1400, and just try to stay within that range. On days when you feel you need more oomph, eat at 1400. On days when you're feeling a little more frisky, stick closer to 1200. And watch that word "net"—if you are the least bit inaccurate in your exercise calorie estimates, you could be eating at 1400 when you think you're at 1200.

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