1200 cals is just fine. 1100 is just fine too. If....

Sunbrooke

I think people are confusing a VLCD diet with an LCD diet. A VLCD diet is 800 calories or less a day. A LCD diet is between 1000-1200 for women and between 1200 and 1600 for men. Granted, for a larger person, those numbers might qualify as VLCD, but for a sedentary mature petite adult (I'm not talking 20 year olds), eating between 1000-1200 calories does not create a huge deficit. For instance, if I were sedentary, my BMR requires only around 1380. So, for a person of that size, like OP, 1100 is not VLCD. Anyway, if the principle is that you are overweight and need to be burning extra fat, you are getting rid of fat reserves by eating at a deficit. Isn't that what the whole weight loss process is about? Of course, at some point, she will have to eat at maintenance, but that's only maybe 300 or 400 more calories.

If the OP's diary wasn't full of inaccurate logging etc she wouldn't have made this post. She thinks she is eating under 1200..I call bull on that...

What items do you thinks she is underestimating? Many of the items are European products, so it's hard for me to tell. The things I recognize seem to be fairly accurate. BTW, she is eating more than 1200 some days, but seems to have some activity level.

2 tomatoes.
0.5 cups rice
1 cup of melon
1 avocado

These are inaccurate, to say the least. Avocados and rice are calorie dense and these are clearly rough guesstimates.

Nothing whatsoever in her diary appears to be an exact measurement. Everything is half this, a third that, one of these.

How else do you measure rice? I eat .5 cup rice, which MFP says is 121 calories, which I put in a 1/2 cup measuring cup. How do you know she's not doing that? Are you in her kitchen watching her?

The only estimate that's under in this list is the avocado, which she has as 240, and comes out at 322 when I input it. A tomato has 22 calories, not a huge deal. We're not talking about ice cream and chips here.

The way to measure rice is to measure the dry rice by weight before cooking. Same with melon - weigh the flesh that you are eating. And, indeed, same with avocado.

These are just examples. She appears to be accurately measuring nothing at all.

I measure/weigh the dry rice before cooking, then weigh the total end result (drained) and then do math to figure out the weight of the cooked servings...which gets me close except for the realization that rice evaporates at a not insignificant rate even when stored in a seemingly airtight container in the fridge...but it's closer than guessing, I suppose.

Why? It looks like you eat out almost daily. I doubt that a few grains of dry rice will do much to make up for the inaccuracies of estimating restaurant food. The OP seems to rarely eat out. The things she is estimating are relatively low calorie, and it doesn't look like the selections she is choosing are grossly incorrect for the food. Saying that her calories are actually much higher seems to be grasping at straws, just becomes you disagree with her eating under 1200 calories.

Why is my diary even being talked about here? What does my diary have to do with hers?

I was actually looking for dry rice in someone else's diary. I want to see what that looked like, but I didn't find it. I'm just trying to point out that everyone uses estimates of some sort. Usually, people can relate to themselves better than they can other people. The op's diary is not any less accurate than normal. In fact, it may be more accurate than those of some of the people criticizing her for estimating an apple and rice.

vermillionlove

maybe someone on here can help me. here are my stats:
SW: 220.
CW: 165
F, 23, 5'2"

I exercise every day, at least a 30ish minute walk. it burns about 100 calories. lately I play DDR which is like HIIT and I can burn anywhere from 100-300+ calories from that. But I am not working, and do a lot of sitting around. My calorie goal set by MFP is currently 1400. it was 1350 but I was kind of intimidated by the low number so I set it back up.

I have no idea what my real goal should be. I think my TDEE is around the 1700 area so if I wanted to lose a lb a week, I should eat 1200 if I don't exercise at all that day. correct? but that's almost impossible for me lately. My diet is not the greatest, I eat a lot of junk.

Help?

jofjltncb6

I think people are confusing a VLCD diet with an LCD diet. A VLCD diet is 800 calories or less a day. A LCD diet is between 1000-1200 for women and between 1200 and 1600 for men. Granted, for a larger person, those numbers might qualify as VLCD, but for a sedentary mature petite adult (I'm not talking 20 year olds), eating between 1000-1200 calories does not create a huge deficit. For instance, if I were sedentary, my BMR requires only around 1380. So, for a person of that size, like OP, 1100 is not VLCD. Anyway, if the principle is that you are overweight and need to be burning extra fat, you are getting rid of fat reserves by eating at a deficit. Isn't that what the whole weight loss process is about? Of course, at some point, she will have to eat at maintenance, but that's only maybe 300 or 400 more calories.

If the OP's diary wasn't full of inaccurate logging etc she wouldn't have made this post. She thinks she is eating under 1200..I call bull on that...

What items do you thinks she is underestimating? Many of the items are European products, so it's hard for me to tell. The things I recognize seem to be fairly accurate. BTW, she is eating more than 1200 some days, but seems to have some activity level.

2 tomatoes.
0.5 cups rice
1 cup of melon
1 avocado

These are inaccurate, to say the least. Avocados and rice are calorie dense and these are clearly rough guesstimates.

Nothing whatsoever in her diary appears to be an exact measurement. Everything is half this, a third that, one of these.

How else do you measure rice? I eat .5 cup rice, which MFP says is 121 calories, which I put in a 1/2 cup measuring cup. How do you know she's not doing that? Are you in her kitchen watching her?

The only estimate that's under in this list is the avocado, which she has as 240, and comes out at 322 when I input it. A tomato has 22 calories, not a huge deal. We're not talking about ice cream and chips here.

The way to measure rice is to measure the dry rice by weight before cooking. Same with melon - weigh the flesh that you are eating. And, indeed, same with avocado.

These are just examples. She appears to be accurately measuring nothing at all.

I measure/weigh the dry rice before cooking, then weigh the total end result (drained) and then do math to figure out the weight of the cooked servings...which gets me close except for the realization that rice evaporates at a not insignificant rate even when stored in a seemingly airtight container in the fridge...but it's closer than guessing, I suppose.

Why? It looks like you eat out almost daily. I doubt that a few grains of dry rice will do much to make up for the inaccuracies of estimating restaurant food. The OP seems to rarely eat out. The things she is estimating are relatively low calorie, and it doesn't look like the selections she is choosing are grossly incorrect for the food. Saying that her calories are actually much higher seems to be grasping at straws, just becomes you disagree with her eating under 1200 calories.

Why is my diary even being talked about here? What does my diary have to do with hers?

(This is the reasoning that so many MFP food evangelists use for keeping their diaries closed...when it's usually the other side of the argument who I see called out for their diaries instead. Fascinating, it is.)

jonnythan

I was actually looking for dry rice in someone else's diary. I want to see what that looked like, but I didn't find it. I'm just trying to point out that everyone uses estimates of some sort. Usually, people can relate to themselves better than they can other people. The op's diary is not any less accurate than normal. In fact, it may be more accurate than those of some of the people criticizing her for estimating an apple and rice.

Looks like this:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6395

360 calories per 100g dry white medium-grain rice.

Yes, everyone uses estimates. It's impossible not to use estimates unless you always prepare all your own food from scratch.

OP, however, doesn't weigh a thing. She simply has no idea how much she's eating and that's a fact. In contrast, I weigh most things I eat at home. I've weighed food for years. Through this extensive use of weighing, which I continue to this day, I have gotten pretty good at estimating. OP, by contrast, has no idea how much rice she's eating. She has no idea just how big that avocado is.

The OP's diary is horrendously inaccurate. Failure to accurately measure and estimate food is probably the single most common reason for failure seen on MFP.

Sunbrooke

It takes a lot of half apples, slices of avocado, and rice, to make up for regularly eating out though. I'm sorry, but her margin of error doesn't seem to be all that great. Certainly not great enough to say that she is any more inaccurate than typical.

rosebette

It takes a lot of half apples, slices of avocado, and rice, to make up for regularly eating out though. I'm sorry, but her margin of error doesn't seem to be all that great. Certainly not great enough to say that she is any more inaccurate than typical.

This.

jonnythan

It takes a lot of half apples, slices of avocado, and rice, to make up for regularly eating out though. I'm sorry, but her margin of error doesn't seem to be all that great. Certainly not great enough to say that she is any more inaccurate than typical.

Well in my experience with food logging, which is probably considerably larger than yours, you are very very wrong.

MFP is filled with people who purchased a food scale after logging for a while without one. They pretty much invariably say some variation of "holy crap, I was estimating everything totally wrong."

tashatashae

you can lead a horse but you cant make them drink. how many threads people seen saying 1200 is not good and they still doing it.lol waste a time people going do them regardless smh im done.

KnM0107

you can lead a horse but you cant make them drink. how many threads people seen saying 1200 is not good and they still doing it.lol waste a time people going do them regardless smh im done.

There are many people who lurk on the treads and don't post... there have been people come out and say thank you to those who do challenge posts like the original. It is not a waste of time.

Onederchic

you can lead a horse but you cant make them drink. how many threads people seen saying 1200 is not good and they still doing it.lol waste a time people going do them regardless smh im done.

There are many people who lurk on the treads and don't post... there have been people come out and say thank you to those who do challenge posts like the original. It is not a waste of time.

I am a lurker and read the forums frequently. I am always thankful when people give good, solid advice. And definitely not a waste of time.

dgbrown13

I was wondering the same thing. I work out 45-60 min. 5 -6 days a week but otherwise I am sedentary. If I stay at 1200 or a little below will it make me lose weight faster or should I bump it up to 1500? When I eat more than 1200 it seems like a lot of food to me.

SezxyStef

It takes a lot of half apples, slices of avocado, and rice, to make up for regularly eating out though. I'm sorry, but her margin of error doesn't seem to be all that great. Certainly not great enough to say that she is any more inaccurate than typical.

Well in my experience with food logging, which is probably considerably larger than yours, you are very very wrong.

MFP is filled with people who purchased a food scale after logging for a while without one. They pretty much invariably say some variation of "holy crap, I was estimating everything totally wrong."

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1270280-food-weighing-scale-miracles?page=1#posts-19769726
here is the latest one just doing that...

and we aren't talking about just rice, apples and avocadoes...

we are talking about not logging for days(3 in middle of april, 5 late april, 4 at the end of apri actually you go back far enough and there is more days that aren't logged or partial than are loggedl)

, nutella, bread, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, french fries, fish, pasta like noodles and lasanga, ice cream

and can't forget the days that are over 1500...saw at least 8 of those choosing random days...:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

sure the OP lost her weight eating 1100-1200 a day...:noway:

SezxyStef

I was wondering the same thing. I work out 45-60 min. 5 -6 days a week but otherwise I am sedentary. If I stay at 1200 or a little below will it make me lose weight faster or should I bump it up to 1500? When I eat more than 1200 it seems like a lot of food to me.

Yes you will lose weight faster..but it will be muscle and fat...depending on your stats 1500 could very well be appropriate...I eat 1800 and still lose 1/2lb a week.

SezxyStef

maybe someone on here can help me. here are my stats:
SW: 220.
CW: 165
F, 23, 5'2"

I exercise every day, at least a 30ish minute walk. it burns about 100 calories. lately I play DDR which is like HIIT and I can burn anywhere from 100-300+ calories from that. But I am not working, and do a lot of sitting around. My calorie goal set by MFP is currently 1400. it was 1350 but I was kind of intimidated by the low number so I set it back up.

I have no idea what my real goal should be. I think my TDEE is around the 1700 area so if I wanted to lose a lb a week, I should eat 1200 if I don't exercise at all that day. correct? but that's almost impossible for me lately. My diet is not the greatest, I eat a lot of junk.

Help?

I checked scooby TDEE and it said with current stats with 1-3hours of light-moderate exercise a week sets your TDEE at 2100..not 1700...to lose a lb a week it give 1705...I personlly find scooby a bit high and would recommend 1600...

OkamiLavande

Food is yummy, that's all I have to say beyond eat whatever you want as long as weigh/measure it~

Weighing ice-cream is a sad process though. So, so tiny.

DamianaKitten

Food is yummy, that's all I have to say beyond eat whatever you want as long as weigh/measure it~

Weighing ice-cream is a sad process though. So, so tiny.

Indeed it is. I get all the sadness out of the way at one time, though. I portion many jars of it in the fridge. Previously, we'd just eat out of the tub and "just a little" turned into a pint.... I have a problem. lol

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

It takes a lot of half apples, slices of avocado, and rice, to make up for regularly eating out though. I'm sorry, but her margin of error doesn't seem to be all that great. Certainly not great enough to say that she is any more inaccurate than typical.

Well in my experience with food logging, which is probably considerably larger than yours, you are very very wrong.

MFP is filled with people who purchased a food scale after logging for a while without one. They pretty much invariably say some variation of "holy crap, I was estimating everything totally wrong."

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1270280-food-weighing-scale-miracles?page=1#posts-19769726
here is the latest one just doing that...

and we aren't talking about just rice, apples and avocadoes...

we are talking about not logging for days(3 in middle of april, 5 late april, 4 at the end of apri actually you go back far enough and there is more days that aren't logged or partial than are loggedl)

, nutella, bread, cheese, peanut butter, chocolate, french fries, fish, pasta like noodles and lasanga, ice cream

and can't forget the days that are over 1500...saw at least 8 of those choosing random days...:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

sure the OP lost her weight eating 1100-1200 a day...:noway:

I don't remember by exactly how much I was underestimating when I bought my scale, but it was enough that I'd been stalled for 3 months. And along the way since then I gradually started weighing more and more things so even once I had a scale it wasn't 100%.

Annie_01

Food is yummy, that's all I have to say beyond eat whatever you want as long as weigh/measure it~

Weighing ice-cream is a sad process though. So, so tiny.

I bought little tiny bowls to put it in...now my serving of ice cream looks HUGE!

muggzie399

Ahhhhh! Ice cream. My subject. Just can't quit it. Narrowed down to 1/2 cup, check calories before I eat it.

RGv2

Not to mention posters saying I am same height and I can lose at 1600 or whatever, totally ignoring fact they are 40 years younger than other posters.

Yep, that drives me crazy.

I just went on scooby's and found my tdee-20% at my age (30) and activity level (3-5 hours a week) and got 1920 to lose, which is what I currently eat. I then calculated for age 65 with the same activity level and got 1690 to lose.

*shrug*

People can eat 1100-1200 if they want to, but no one needs to.

And what if it was 0hrs of exercise per week at age 65?

1180 for no exercise.

I don't really think age is an excuse to be completely sedentary. Maybe I just have active older people in my life, i don't know. My mom is 52 and does hot yoga and her best friend is in her 60's and walks miles and miles in the park every day after work. I see quite a few senior citizens in my gym at 5:45 every MWF. While I admit that there are some medical conditions that may prevent older people from exercising as vigorously as I do, a lot of it is just excuses, excuses, excuses.

Also, not everyone in this thread who claims to "have to" eat 1200 calories is an older person, they are just claiming that they have to eat this way because they are short and female. I am 5'4" and maintain on 2600.

And the poster we were talking about along with age, struggled to be active due to multiple physical issues. I'm not one to defend " the 1200 calorie diet" but for some it is the correct intake level. There is usually a physical/ age issue with it, so there are so outliers that do need to.

Either way, that poster completely missed the point of the op they were arguing.