lose 2lbs a week?

running_mom

When I'm filling out the section in the goals category I want to lose 2 lbs a week. But no matter how I change things It won't let me. It just keeps saying that I'll lose 4.3 lbs by Jan 3rd. I want to lose that much by the middle of December. I eat 1200 cals and exercise.

Plus I'm still confused about eating the exercise cals back. I thought there has to be a deficit of so many cals before a pound is lost. But if I eat 1200 cals then exercise and burn 500 cals why would I have to eat the cals back. There wouldn't be any loss. If I wanted that I would just eat 1200 cals and not exercise.

lilRicki

Read the FAQ's...it explains calorie deficit...and YES you should be eating them back...1200 calories is your absolutel minimum at the end of the day...

lilRicki

whoops i meant read the FAQ's section of this website lol...your question has definitely been answered

Pandemonium

To be honest, I do not know much about the whole "exercise calorie" and how it works.

But simply put, diet is nothing without exercise and exercise is nothing without diet. They go hand in hand.

To loose a pound of fat, you have to create a deficit of 3500 calories with a combination of exercise and diet.

WildFlower7

Evryone's opinion varies on wether or not you should or shouldn't eat your excersice calories so that sorta depends on you and what you think. If your eating 1200 cal and your "lightly" on your feet at home all day your roughly burning 1600 cal a day so a defecit is already being created even without working out. Then the working out is a bonus even if you eat half of your workout cal. there's still a fairly large daily defecit. of course that also depends on how active you are at work and at home too. Like a previous poster put though Diet without excersice is nothing...just as excersice without diet is nothing!

Stewie316

Just as Pande said, it's best to create a deficit by lowering calories and increasing exercise/activity.

Eating back all your exercise calories doesn't work for everyone, especially someone who has such a small deficit. My deficit is only 280/day and I'm exercising to create a bigger deficit to lose a reasonable amount of weight each week. Also, don't buy into starvation mode; as long as you're eating enough for your body (and only you can determine that through trial and error), your body won't starve.

6Janelle13

your food diary is pricate but it might be related to the types of food you are eating. just being under 1200 calories only helps so much. Are your foods high in carbs, fats and or sugars? often these will reflect in the predicted weight loss. i can be under 1200 calories but if it isn't the best nutrition it doesn't reflect the same way that the exact same amount of calories consumed predict if they are all healthy and whole grain low fat. As far as exercise calories- this is much debated. I mix it up but in the end feed your body if it is hungry. if you burn 400 calories try getting at least 200 back. a glass of skim milk does that easily.

glynissharpe

Hi, I agree with all the posts but is it realisitc to loose 2 lbs a week? How come I always go back up at some point? For example, I reach 136 and suddenly am back at 138 (without binging or increasing calories etc) Is my body in starvation mode? It's almost as if my body is determined to not loose weight!!! This is proving to be a battle I was not expecting...

Stewie316

Hi, I agree with all the posts but is it realisitc to loose 2 lbs a week? How come I always go back up at some point? For example, I reach 136 and suddenly am back at 138 (without binging or increasing calories etc) Is my body in starvation mode? It's almost as if my body is determined to not loose weight!!! This is proving to be a battle I was not expecting...

I go back and forth on this. Most will probably say it's not realistic to loose 2 pounds a week if you're at a healthy BMI and have a little amount of weight to lose. I remember when I was 20, I could easily lose 2 pounds a week, but I was really active back then. Now, I lose about a pound a week and that's ok with me.

tolygal

You will get all kinds of different viewpoints on this topic. Here's mine

I do not eat back the calories I burn during excercise. I use them for my deficit. I've been using a bodybugg since I started this journey back in January, and that philosophy is to hit a deficit of 1000 calories a day in order to lose 2lbs a week. Obviously, it's not heatlhy to eat too little. You do need to give your body enough fuel, but for me, that doesn't mean I eat what I burn. Personally, I get hungry when I eat 1200 calories a day, so I eat 1400 and try to burn 2400 a day (or at least have my weekly deficit at 7000). This "burn" includes the calories I'd burn sitting on my butt all day along with anything extra I do like cleaning, walking to the bathroom, taking the stairs instead of the elevator etc, and my workouts. Some weeks I lose a little, some weeks I lose a lot, some weeks I gain. But I've averaged about 2 lbs a week when I'm working on this faithfully (I slacked off for about 4 months this spring/summer).

When I put in my goals on mfp, it won't let me go more than 1lb a week since I am relatively inactive (my job keeps me in front of a computer all day) so my normal burn without adding back some activity is pretty low (like 1700 according to my bodybugg). So I just eat my 1200 - 1400 calories and try to move more during the day and work out a lot. I don't worry about eating back my excercise calories, but I do listen to my body and I will eat more if I'm really hungry.

If it was me, I'd just make sure you eat no less than 1200 calories a day, but if you are really hungry - eat a little more (but not late at night). Then just excercise more and just move more to get the burn you want.

ginnyroxx

But if I eat 1200 cals then exercise and burn 500 cals why would I have to eat the cals back. There wouldn't be any loss. If I wanted that I would just eat 1200 cals and not exercise.

MFP calculates a deficit for you
go to your home page
goals
look to the right where it says your diet profile
you'll find the deficit numbers there

SHBoss1673

The problem with 2 lbs a week is that it's not what everyone should shoot for, the less weight you need to lose, the smaller your deficit should be.

Someone who wants to lose 15 lbs cannot go about losing the same amount per week as someone who needs to lose 115 lbs.

Everyone would like to lose 2 lbs a week, but it's just not realistic for everyone. Many people on this site like to use their own experiences as proof that something works. But that doesn't work, because everyone is at a different point, has different requirements, and needs different amounts of calories. So just because Jane says it works for her, doesn't mean it will work for Sue.

As to 1200 calories. The idea is based upon essential nutrients, not calories. It was determined a long time ago that 1200 calories is the average MINIMUM a woman needs long term to sustain healthy nutrient levels. Does that mean you can't go under and still be healthy? No, as very few women are at the average (please note, this was a world wide average taken by the World Health Organization), small women (height wise and body style) can get away a little under, and large women need a little more. And no, you won't "notice" any changes if you eat under, as the changes are gradual and usually internal for a long time before they become pronounced, but the further under 1200 you are, the faster those changes occur. What changes? You may ask. Things like loss of bone mass, loss of muscle mass, increase in body fat, decrease in overall energy levels, lower immune system function, increased hair loss, decreased skin health, decreased liver and kidney function. Again, these are all gradual changes.

Please note, the 1200 calories is NET, that means that the calories you eat - exercise calories should be at least at 1200 (on average). That's why people say eat your exercise calories. You may not notice the changes right away, but slowly, gradually, over the course of weeks and months, they will occur. This has nothing to do with starvation mode by the way. One can eat more than 1200 calories and be in starvation mode, vice versa someone can be under 1200 and NOT be in starvation mode (theoretically, although that's pretty rare). Starvation mode depends on many more factors than just calorie deficit.