Struggling to reach a net of 1200
ScifiGirl1986
Posts: 104 Member
Every night I find myself looking for something to eat to get to 1200 net calories. Tonight, I spent an hour trying to figure out what I could eat that would get me above 1200 and still have a 500 deficit, which is what MFP says I should have to lose 1lb a week. Everything had either too few or too many calories. Should I be exorcising less? Eating more during the day?
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I have that problem often. Especially now that I am eating better, the volume is crazy. I just live with it now, I eat as much as I do, and feel no guilt for falling under. I used to beat myself up about it, but I am not tired, or lagging at all, I just listen to my body, if i need more fuel I eat more. This may be totally off, but it has worked for me so far.0
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Hello,
My calorie intake is 1200 set by MFP to loose 2 pounds a week. If I exercise I rarely net 1200 calories. I don't always eat my exercise calories if I am not hungry. Listen to your body!0 -
You record some seriously high calorie burns for a very short amount of exercise times, so I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. Eat back a portion and call it good.0
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You have some big exercise burns. For health benefits you should workout a half hour 5 days a week. Anything more then that of cardio depends on how much you want to eat back to net at least 1200 calories. You could try pre-logging your food for the day (don't forget snacks) to see how much you want to workout. You can try working out after dinner. Sometimes I workout twice a day, if I go over calories and have the time.0
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Thanks for all the replies.
Most of the time, I pre-log my meals, although I leave the snacks off until I have them, and when I workout it tends to be late at night (around 10 or 11) because I don't want to be interrupted.0 -
Where are you getting those calorie burn figures from? I am doubtful that even a high intensity kickboxing is burning 555 calories in just 30 min. Most aerobic classes are about 400-500 for an hour.0
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Where are you getting those calorie burn figures from? I am doubtful that even a high intensity kickboxing is burning 555 calories in just 30 min. Most aerobic classes are about 400-500 for an hour.
Kickboxing for 36 minutes to burn 658 calories doesn't seem like an accurate number.. unless you're wearing a HRM and *constantly* moving, I would average at most 10 calories a minute...
Also - I know you've probably changed your diet some, so not to be cynical, but how are you having trouble netting 1200 calories if you're here to lose weight? That being said, seems like your diary is pretty good to me when you account for the possible over-estimation of calorie burn.0 -
A spoon full of peanut butter is a pretty easy gap closer...0
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I get the total calorie burn off of MFP's search engine. I input what I did and for how long and that's what it gives me.0
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I get the total calorie burn off of MFP's search engine. I input what I did and for how long and that's what it gives me.
Only eat back about 50%-60% of those calories. Do that for about two weeks and see if the math works out to your actual loss.
If you still need extra calories at the end of a night, an enjoyable way to get them is peanut butter, beer, or whiskey.0 -
If you told MFP you want to lose 1 pound a week then 1700 calories a day already has the 500 calorie deficit in it, you don't have to go 500 below that again (my observation from looking at your diary)0
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Don't worry so much about eating back your exercise calories. Just listen to your body. If you feel fine, you're eating enough. I've been doing good this for 5 months now and hardly ever got to 1200 calories eaten. I average about 600 calories net. I feel great and my running gets stronger and stronger.
For the record, I'm a 5' 11" male and I weigh 236 now.
(I know I'll get blasted for this)0 -
I am hitting the 1700 before working out, but then it drops a lot, so I'm under 1200. Also, apparently, the amount of calories burned is determined by weight + duration (I googled to see if maybe MFP was over-estimating the amount I've burned and every calculator I've found takes my weight into account and gives me an amount similar to what MFP gives me).0
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MFP way over estimates calorie burns, I found this out by comparing with my heart rate monitor. Be on the safe side and eat half if that of the calories burned. Good Luck!0
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Nuts, especially almonds are a good nutritious food with a lot of calories too !0
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Nuts, olive oil, coconut oil and cheese are high calorie good foods that you can add to up your calories, but I would go with what others have said and only eat back half of your exercise calories, I have found the MFP burns to be way off, so much so that I usually try not to eat any exercise calories back, espescially not ones from walking, riding my horse etc.0
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k folks eating under 1200 calories is not healthy...hunger is not a good indicator of what the body needs to fuel workouts.
2nd yes you can reach 1200 or you wouldn't be here...sorry to be blunt but thems the facts.
I sometimes struggle to stay in my 1600-1700 range ...because I want my ice cream or chips or whatever..
don't look at this as a diet...don't cut out foods...eat the foods you will be eating when you have lost your weight just in smaller portions..
Stop eating "diet" food...eat real food...fuel your workouts
And yes MFP over estimates calorie burns as do machines or any forumla you find on google.
When I do a workout from fitness blender it gives me a range of calories burned...lets say for my 23min workout it gives 164-254 calories...MFP gives me 274...
Calories burned is dependent on too many things for anything to be accurate.0 -
k folks eating under 1200 calories is not healthy...hunger is not a good indicator of what the body needs to fuel workouts.
2nd yes you can reach 1200 or you wouldn't be here...sorry to be blunt but thems the facts.
I sometimes struggle to stay in my 1600-1700 range ...because I want my ice cream or chips or whatever..
don't look at this as a diet...don't cut out foods...eat the foods you will be eating when you have lost your weight just in smaller portions..
Stop eating "diet" food...eat real food...fuel your workouts
And yes MFP over estimates calorie burns as do machines or any forumla you find on google.
When I do a workout from fitness blender it gives me a range of calories burned...lets say for my 23min workout it gives 164-254 calories...MFP gives me 274...
Calories burned is dependent on too many things for anything to be accurate.
All of this! Get a quality heart rate monitor if you want to be more accurate with you calorie burn from steady state cardio. Otherwise just experiment with eating back a percentage of your exercise calories and make adjustments based on your actual weight loss numbers.0 -
Or you could just do TDEE-% & not have to worry about logging exercise at all (within reason)... ????
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
Hello,
My calorie intake is 1200 set by MFP to loose 2 pounds a week. If I exercise I rarely net 1200 calories. I don't always eat my exercise calories if I am not hungry. Listen to your body!
OP - Do you want a lower body fat %?..............then DON'T follow this advice.
Too few calories for too long.........your body will burn fat+muscle....not just fat. If you are working out to preserve muscle.....then you've got to FUEL your workouts. Don't let existing muscle be the fuel.
Plan ahead....a cardio day (especially) is going to mean extra calories. Eat a bigger breakfast. Add some nut butter here, a handful of nuts there. Avocado is high calorie....small portion. Make sure you hit protein numbers everyday.
Some people use the TDEE method (which includes exercise) .....then take a % of calories off. This gives you an "average" number of calories to eat everyday.....this gets rid of the up / down.....approach.0 -
Or you could just do TDEE-% & not have to worry about logging exercise at all (within reason)... ????
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Yes TDEE is a good method but you don't eat back exercise calories at all...not within reason...ie big workout doesn't give you permission to eat those back..
TDEE should already have taken that into account.
that is why TDEE is useful for those with a set workout schedule and why MFP neat is good for those starting out.0 -
I am hitting the 1700 before working out, but then it drops a lot, so I'm under 1200. Also, apparently, the amount of calories burned is determined by weight + duration (I googled to see if maybe MFP was over-estimating the amount I've burned and every calculator I've found takes my weight into account and gives me an amount similar to what MFP gives me).
Calorie burns depend upon height, weight, age, gender, EXERTION level, and more. MFP and google can't know your exertion level. Most people here think that MFP values are too high.....many people who use a HRM for the first time are shocked by how low calorie burns truely are.
What an HRM does.....you wear a chest strap the measure electric implules (your heart rate) constantly.....that number is compared against your resting heart rate. That is used for the exertion part of the formula. You also plug in height, weight, age & gender.....all factors. Even then.....HRMs are good for steady state cardio.....not other workouts. This is how difficult it is to come up with an accurate calorie burn.0 -
Invest in a heart rate monitor. Seriously. It's very important to make sure you don't overestimate your calorie burn, which is most likely happening. That leads to overeating and another thread asking why you're not losing weight.
If you still have trouble netting the correct amount after confirming your burns are correct, that's an easy fix. Skip the "diet" food and eat calorie dense foods such as regular dressings (a lot of people switch to low-cal versions of dressings, which isn't always necessary), peanut butter, nuts, etc.0 -
It seems that the calorie burn is frequently exaggerated by MFP. Invest in a HRM I prefer the Polar FT7 that way you have an accurate burn and can adjust your intake accordingly. As for the 1200, you don't need to eat back your exercise calories. Also if you are way under a glass of no sugar added juice normally does the trick, or an avocado, banana, etc.0
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Kickboxing for 36 minutes to burn 658 calories doesn't seem like an accurate number.. unless you're wearing a HRM and *constantly* moving, I would average at most 10 calories a minute...
^^^agreed^^^0 -
Eat some peanut butter? High calorie, low volume.0
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How about some fruits and veggies?0
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2nd yes you can reach 1200 or you wouldn't be here...sorry to be blunt but thems the facts.
I think that's probably the truest thing I've read on here.0 -
If you're saying that you lack the appetite to eat enough food to get to 1200 calories a day net, but you are nonetheless overweight, I wonder if you have a health problem that you haven't identified - something to do with your thyroid perhaps? It might be good to see your doctor.
On the other hand, if you have the appetite, but the difficulty is finding a diet that hits 1200 calories on the nose rather than being above or below, perhaps you need to look at what you eat - perhaps increase the fruit, vegetables, lean protein and good fats, replacing some of the more carb-heavy stuff and "diet" snacks. With only 1200 calories allowance, it's important to make sure you are getting all your essential nutrients as well as the right amount of calories - food is about more than just energy and an unbalanced diet can have a great impact on your overall health and mood.0 -
Thanks again everyone. I can't afford a heart rate monitor right now, so i'll have to do the percentage thing people have been saying. I haven't really cut any food out of my diet, although I am eating less than I was before starting and I am seeing weight loss. I was starting to think that I was going insane when I saw those numbers in my MFP diary because I thought I was eating a lot more now than I was before (I have to snack more during the day and the night to get anywhere near where I have to be at the end of the day when I exorcise). Now, that I know MFP really overestimates calories burnt, I'm not as scared of seeing numbers below 1200 because I more than likely haven't burned as many calories as it says I did.
@2shedz, I wasn't having problems reaching 1200 before staring because I ate a lot of the wrong stuff, like an entire digorno pizza, which apparently has a serving size of 1 slice, which makes absolutely no sense if you've seen those pizzas. That's like eating one slice of Pizza Hut pizza (not the pan pizzas). Who gets full on one slice? Now that I know, I won't be buying them because it makes no sense to eat them if it means less calories for other meals, unless of course I want to exorcise long enough to actually burn 600+ calories.0
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