Who is not doing the 1200 calorie a day recommended by MFP?

MaryJane_8810002

1200 calories is unrealistic and leaves me cranky. I do try to net 1200 on a good day.

jeralank

If I'm anywhere below 2200, I'm likely to bite someone's head off, lol...

NIKIATWORK

MFP has recommended the 1200 for me and I'm sticking with it on the days that I don't get a workout in, (And sometimes even on the days I do) it took about 2 weeks to get over the mood swings, hunger cravings, etc. but then I got used to it and now its been fine for months. (With the exception that I allow myself one splurge day on Sundays and go over around 400 calories) How long have you been trying it and are you allowing yourself to go over when you add in your exercise calories????

Docpremie

I've been using the TDEE method for 8-9 months. I've found the easiest way to figure calories & macros is using Heybale's Excel spreadsheet. It will do all the calculations for you. Once you open the spreadsheet, there are several tabs along the bottom. The 1st tab is for entering your measurements & goals. It will calculate your %BF & then calculate your activity level. The 2nd tab is for entering & trending your measurement. The 3rd or 4th (?) tab figures your macro goals.

For protein, ensure you are getting AT LEAST 1 gram/pound lean body mass--for most women that's 100-125 grams/day. Your fat should be set at 0.4 grams/pound of lean body mass. Carbs are whatever is left. ... meet your calorie goal most every day!!! If after 3-4 weeks, you're not losing then adjust your daily calorie goal by 100 calories & watch for another 3-4 weeks. You may need more calories or less calories, it can be a little trial & error from the TDEE-deficit calculation. If you need to lose >20 pounds, set your deficit at TDEE-20%. If your need to lose 10-20 pounds, then TDEE-10 to 15%, and once you're down to <10 pounds to lose, set your goal to TDEE-5-10%.

Meeting your macros, especially protein, is very important! You want to lose fat not muscle (lean body mass), so protein intake is very important. The more lean body mass you lose, the lower your BMR will be. That's where folks get lost in the "starvation mode" idea. It's not so much borderline/low calories cause "starvation," as it robs you of your lean body mass, and as the lean body mass drops, so does your BMR (i.e. daily basal calorie burn). Resistance training/heavy lifting is also essential for maintaining lean body mass/muscle as well."

Here's a link to Heybales TDEE calculator: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/heybales

Go to heybales profile page & look for the link to his Excel spreadsheet. It's a few lines down from "About Me." The spreadsheet is great! I've been using it for 8-9 months now & have lost tons of weight, as has my family. The instructions are at the top of the document. You change the values in "yellow" & the others will adjust to give you your %BF, BMR, TDEE & macro goals. It also allows you to enter your activity in "hours." I redo my numbers monthly or after I've lost 5 pounds. The second tab also allows you to track your values over time, so everything is in one simple spreadsheet!

Akimajuktuq

MFP had me under-eating from the start. 240 pounds and only 1600 calories and then wanted me to eat even less whenever I lost 10 pounds! Needless to say, after some initial quick weight loss (probably muscle too!) I slowed right down to a crawl and didn't feel as great as I should have. Bad MFP and bad me for not using my brain. So now MFP wants me to eat 1200 calories (I'm 164, 5'6) to lose 0.5 pounds per week. WRONG.

I went to an online calculator (there are many) that I could enter in all of my daily exercise and figure it out. I consider myself "sedentary" according to the MFP word descriptions but actually burn the calories associated with "active". I could eat 2000 calories per day and lose that half pound per week (not linear of course!). I choose to eat around 1700, but I'm fairly comfortable with that since I eat a lot of healthy fat, but on days that I need to eat more, I do. Eating less doesn't really make me lose weight faster (I'm not losing more than 0.5 per week on 1400-1800 unless I avoid dairy), and I am VERY accurate with my logging. What I eat does affect my weight loss, very much.

AbbyRoad_

I normally eat between 600-1000 a day but I never go over 1400
Even 1200 is quite high for me

You're eating under 1200 kcals, your goal weights are under a healthy BMI and you're 14... come on...

Ahh yes isn't societal pressure and crippling self-consciousness a wonderful thing u.u

lsorci919

I normally eat between 600-1000 a day but I never go over 1400
Even 1200 is quite high for me

You're eating under 1200 kcals, your goal weights are under a healthy BMI and you're 14... come on...

LOL when I read her comment I was like QFT! Then I looked at her profile and realized why.

Buksh12

Wait so is 1500 too low for me? now i am confused lol :indifferent:

BeverlyJeanBoyd

I think there is a significant difference between men and women and of course how active you are. Years ago it was recommended that I go on a 1000 calorie per day plan and although I lost weight I was starving all the time. I picked 1200 per day, not because it was recommended by anyone but because it seems doable. Sometimes I eat a little bit over and sometimes I eat a little bit less. If I do manage to get some exercise in I consider that a bonus. If I can manage to lose about 1 pound a week I will be very happy and even happier if I can do this without feeling hungry all the time. So far so good!

TX_Rhon

I do not use the 2lb/week option. I only use the .5lb since I am close to goal. I am set to light activity since no one is really sedentary - are they??? Crossed that with the numbers from Scooby.com and found something that worked - 1550 and still losing.

mandi_spicer

It helped for me to know my TDEE. When I started, my TDEE was around 1900. I did 1400 cals a day (plus Jillian Michaels DVDs 4x a week) and lost a little over a pound a week. I ate back my work out calories. I tried 1200 for about 2 weeks and decided it just didn't seem healthy. I didn't want to starve myself to lose weight...and I didn't have to!

Sabine_Stroehm

I'm not. Not by a long shot. And I don't follow the whole "eat back" thing either.

Cortneyrenee04

Not me. I tried it my first 6 weeks and was very successful, weight loss wise, but I was not happy! I'm at around 1400 now and I used to think that didn't seem like much more, but it really is. Plus I usually eat about half of my exercise calories. Good luck finding a balance. It's tricky, but just keep trying!

Smashley1947

I find in impossible to eat around 1200 calories a day. I try and eat a healthy balanced diet, I am not sure I can do that on 1200/day.

I find I am averaging around 1500/day. Which is full of balanced meals. A guy at work cannot believe how much I eat.
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the calories, eat a healthy balanced diet, full of whole foods and drink lots and lots of water. No juice or alcohol, unless you have really earned it. :-)

Plus I have found a lot of the foods on here are meals from restaurants or processed foods from the grocery store. It is hard to find out the correct calories for homemade items. When I have time I plan on adding up the calories for my homemade meals and adding the meals so I get correct results.
For example - my oatmeal in the morning is oatmeal, fruit, seeds, nuts, almond butter for protein, coconut, and whatever else I have to put in there. The MFP is not going to have the correct calorie count for my breakfast. But my breakfast is healthy and will fuel me through the morning.

I am just starting out but I am down half and inch in the waistline after 1-2 weeks of really working.

Also another guy at work has lost 10 lbs just by cutting out sugar and processed wheat.

tbullucks06

Thank you all for your wonderful feedback! Year two and it's time for a change! I really hope it works! :sad:

Docpremie

I normally eat between 600-1000 a day but I never go over 1400
Even 1200 is quite high for me

Please DO NOT do this!!! You are only 14 y.o. per your profile page. You shouldn't even be on this site. Spark Teens is the site made for you! You are waaaayyyyy under eating & setting yourself up for an eating disorder & very poor body composition. In the long run, you will have very little lean body mass (i.e. muscle). Plus at 14 y.o. you are still growing. This is VERY dangerous!!! Please listen to me, as I am a physician trained in both pediatrics & neonatology!!!! Ask your mother to take you to your pediatrician, so he/she can give appropriate advice & refer you to a pediatric dietitian!

RUN NOT walk to your physician!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bekahmardis

I tend to not eat my workout calories back.

And there's the issue. Eat your workout calories back and then you can keep the 1200 calories as recommended because it would be 1200 PLUS your workout calories. I'm at 5'3", 42 years old, 110 pounds and I average 1600 calories a day TO MAINTAIN my weight - with a desk job. When I work out, I add in those calories as well.

When I was losing my weight, I typically ate at around 1350 plus my workout calories.

monicapeterson54

Use these..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

^^^
Agreed.

I was using 1200/day plus eating back my exercise calories/day, and it wasn't nearly enough, I wasn't losing, and I was tired and crabby. I used these, they suggested 1700-1800, I'm using that, losing, and am satisfied throughout the day (Plus my workouts are now much better fueled!)

wendybird5

I had my RMR (resting metabolic rate) measured at a health center. Now I know that my body naturally burns about 1656 calories a day if I just sit and watch TV all day so I try to eat between 1400-1600 calories a day if I don't exercise and when I do work, I try not to eat more than half my exercise calories though after heavy weight days I do notice I need a few more calories.

hnsaunde

Thanks for the looks at different sites recommending how many calories we should eat.

Is there a way to manually change my daily calorie goal here on MFP based on what I calculated on Scooby?

To change the MFP settings go to My Home -> Goals-> Change Goals-> click Customize and update the macros.