Calorie amount

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intrinseca
intrinseca Posts: 5
in Getting Started
Hello, I've just started a calorie controlled diet - today is day 3. Until recently, I have been going to Slimming World. I have been successful on this and found it easy to follow, losing almost 3 stone, but my weight loss then stagnated. I think this is due to my poor portion control. On SW, you can supposedly eat unlimited amounts of 'free' food, so I took full advantage of that! Calorie-wise, pasta (for instance) can really mount up quickly.

I was paying a fiver a week to be told that I'd stayed the same or put on weight, so thought I'd try something different. I find the MFP app very easy to use, but the goal it set for me was 1,200 calories per day. This seems very low to me. Is it possible for me to up that slightly and still lose weight steadily, do you think?

For info: I'm 5ft3, 14 stone 6 and moderately active. I don't work out at the gym, but I do go for a couple of 3 mile walks per week.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Replies

  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
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    Welcome and yes, you probably can eat quite a bit more than 1200 and still lose.

    More info here
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1187899-in-place-of-a-roadmap-short-n-sweet-reposted
    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    And a great group to check out
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
    (read all the stickies first)
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
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    Meet Scooby:

    scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    The low calore goal is likely due to the goals you set. With 41 pounds to lose, you should be set to 1 pound per week. More than that is unrealistic.

    Make sure your activity level is correct. This should only include your day-to-day activities, not exercise. Even if you work a desk job and think you should be sedentary, maybe you've got kids in sports or do volunteer work or other things that keep you busier than the normal person. Sedentary does include some minor cleaning, cooking, etc that all of us do on a daily basis but not much more than that.

    Also, on MFP, when you exercise, you need to log it and you will see extra calories added to your food diary for this activity. While the program encourages you to eat those earned calories, be careful with eating all of them because the estimates tend to be on the high side. Aim to eat back at least 1/2 but up to 2/3rds or so.

    Hope that helps!
  • intrinseca
    intrinseca Posts: 5
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    That's really helpful, thanks everyone.

    Re. exercise - I went for a fairly fast-paced walk this morning, of somewhere around 3 miles. The Nike app on my iPod estimated a calorie loss of 297, but the MFP app reckoned it was around 420. Not sure which to believe, but I'm tempted to go with the lower one.
  • glowgirl14
    glowgirl14 Posts: 200 Member
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    Does your app have your height/weight/sex/age entered? If so, it's going to be closer to what you actually burned. Not sure if you have them, but things that are invaluable to me are a digital food scale, and my fitbit. After 8 months of daily weigh ins and comparing to fitbit, I'm completely comfortable letting fitbit estimate my calories burned...really helps me know how much to eat.

    Also, read the threads someone suggested above. Lots of good advice there! :)

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