Caloric intake?

sh3lby03

How do I know what my minimum calories should be? I don't want my body going into starvation mode but whether I want to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week the site listed for me to have 1200 calories, any suggestions?


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

Edestiny7

1200 net calories is the minimum you should consume. I find it odd that it has you set at 1200 calories when you have 25 pounds to lose. It didn't drop me down to 1200 until I only had 10 pounds to go.

MercuryBlue

How do I know what my minimum calories should be? I don't want my body going into starvation mode but whether I want to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week the site listed for me to have 1200 calories, any suggestions?


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

MFP is the same with me- whether I want to lose 2 pounds a week or 1, it says 1200. This is because I work at a desk job and don't burn that many calories through lifestyle. I'd have to burn 7000 calories per week to lose 2 pounds (1000 calories a day below maintenance). Since I only NEED about 1800-2000 calories per day to maintain my weight, I'd have to eat about 1000 calories or less per day to lose that two pounds.

The thing is, MFP will NEVER recommend that you eat less than 1200 calories. So even if you wanted to lose, say, ten pounds a week, you will be told to eat 1200 calories per day.

Unless you're really overweight, it's not healthy to lose two pounds per week. I easily lost two pounds per week in the beginning, but as I've gotten smaller I've had to set more realistic goals for myself (I aimed for one pound a week, now I'm just aiming for a half pound per week). Of course it would be nice if I could get to my target as quickly as possible- but I want to make sure I'm doing so in a way that won't be harmful to my health.

Good luck with your goals!

MercuryBlue

1200 net calories is the minimum you should consume. I find it odd that it has you set at 1200 calories when you have 25 pounds to lose. It didn't drop me down to 1200 until I only had 10 pounds to go.

To clarify- the calories MFP recommends you consume is based on your lifestyle. Sh3lby03 isn't very heavy- and we don't know what her lifestyle is like. If she spends a lot of time at a desk, she might burn only about 2000 kcal per day (or less) like I do. If that's the case, MFP will automatically suggest a 1200kcal per day target.

If you work in a physically demanding job, and are quite heavy MFP might start you off with a higher target of calories per day, and then change it as your weight drops. It depends on the individual person and the stats that they enter.

hummzz

I'm obese! I hate saying it, but I am and I thought that my suggested caloric intake was too high. 2010 calories a day for 1 lb a week. I sit at a desk for most of the day. I am doing well at keeping my calories significantly lower than their suggestion, but I would think since I have much more weight to lose that my suggested calorie intake would have been lower. Hmm...Can't wait until I'm y'alls size! LOL Well I don't really wanna be skinny...just healthy. I like my thickness without the fatness!

sh3lby03

Mercuryblue I have a sedentary job too. Sitting at a desk ALL DAY! So that probably had a lot to do with it. I was going to try to get away with less calories and getting to my desired weight faster but slow and steady is the healthy way:happy:

sh3lby03

@hummzz I always wanted to be tiny like my twig friends that are taller than me and 40 pounds less than me but everyone has their own specific healthy weight and thats what we all should be looking toward. I wouldn't compare yourself to other people, it's all about what works best for you!

katbass

This is from several posts yesterday, and I just copied and pasted it for convenience sake, so ignore the parts about exercise that dont pertain to your situation. But the BMR stuff is important MFP sets your calories based on what you tell it. If you told it you want to lose 2lbs per week, its gonna go as low as 1200 calories. But thats not necessarily healthy or the right thing to do. Really...check out your BMR and stick to it:


Short answer: Try Searching this topic, as it has been discussed ad nausea here on the site.

Longer (but not nearly long enough) answer:
Your body requires a certain number of calories in order for you to simply exist. In order for you eyes to blink, your heart to keep beating, your hair to keep growing, your organs to keep functioning, you have to feed it a certain number of calories. This number is called your BMR. (Use the tool on this site to check your BMR...I bet its close to what your nutritionist siggested) For example, my BMR is about 1490 calories. So say I lay in bed allllll day, motionless. I would require 1490 calories just to keep my body alive in a coma-like state.
The second I get out of bed, walk across the room, open the door to the bathroom, brush my teeth, pee, weigh myself, turn on the hot water,and hop in the shower...I have burned calories. Minimal...but still enough to start cutting into the 1490 my body needs in order to fuel its most basic functions.

So if I eat my BMR of 1490 a day, I am only giving my body enough to do its basic functions.

MFP gave me 1200 calories based on my desire to lose 2 lbs a week. At my height and current weight, losing 2 lbs per week is not reasonable, but I wanted to lose FAST. And the lowest MFP will set someone's calories is 1200 (For many good reasons). 1200 is sort of an arbitrary number at this point but no one should really eat LESS than 1200, and there are likely very few people who could eat 1200 calories for the rest of their lives and maintain weight or stay satisfied. (opinion...sorry) I lost 20+ lbs eating 1200 cals a day. Wahoo! Yeah me!! Right? WRONG. The second I started eating "normal" again, I gained all 20+ lbs back, PLUS MORE. It might "work" in the short term, but for many here, 1200 calories isnt the lifestyle change needed to STAY healthy and thin.

OK, back to the exercise thing. If I eat my 1500 (1490) cals today, my body will already be at a deficit for weight loss since I got out of bed, functioned, walked, lifted my toddler countless times, etc. So if I were to workout and burn 500 calories this afternoon, my body would be at an even greater deficit, and risk pushing my body to panic. Once your body panics and your metabolism worries that you are not feeding it enough, you will start to store fat at a faster rate. Your body and metabolism will try to hang onto any extra store of fat in preparation for an upcoming "famine".

Another way to look at it: If you eat 1200 calories and then exercise 500 calories away, you are only holding onto 700 calories for your body to draw from for energy, organ function, eye blinking, etc etc. Its just not enough for your body to exist on without causing longterm troubles.

It took me a looooong time to "get" this. I still have to consciously remind myself to eat my calories in order to lose weight. It seems counter-intuitive...but it WORKS. When I eat my BMR and at LEAST half my exercise calories, I lose weight. When I only eat 1200 calories, I am miserable, hungry, and i might lose some weight initially...but i gain it alllll back with a few extra for fluffiness.

Bottom line: eat more, keep moving, lose more, keep it off
BMR + exercise calories = longterm success



Hope that helped!

Also, if yuo put your goal as "lose 2 lbs per week" then MFP will set your calorie goal accordingly. That is why it gave you 1200 cals rather than your BMR.

MercuryBlue

One thing I wanted to mention...

I think it's important to know the difference between BMR and TDEE, when you're trying to lose weight. I bring this up because I hear people use them interchangeably, but they're really different things.

As was mentioned previously, your BMR is "number of calories in order for you to simply exist. In order for you eyes to blink, your heart to keep beating, your hair to keep growing, your organs to keep functioning, you have to feed it a certain number of calories." There are a LOT of BMR calculators out there (MFP has one, for example), but here’s the formula used to figure it out:

For Men to calculate BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)
For Women to calculate BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)
...For your weight, 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
...For your height, 1 inch = 2.54 cm

So in my case, I’m 5’6.5” (66.5 inches) and 135 pounds and I’m 28. My ‘formula’ looks like this:

655 + (9.6 x {135/2.2}) + (1.8 x {66.5*2.54}) – (4.7 x 28)
= 655 + (9.6*61.36) + (1.8*168.91) – 131.6
= 655 + 589.056 + 304.038 – 131.6
= 1416.494

That’s my BMR. Now, different calculators may give me different results (some don’t let you enter half inches or half pounds, for example) but they’ll all be pretty much around that number.

TDEE is your 'Total Daily Energy Expended'. This is the amount of calories (on average) you will burn in a day through lifestyle. So, it's going to vary from person to person depending on if they work at a desk all day long (like I do!) or if they're lifting heavy objects all day. This is calculated as follows:
Sedentary................BMR x 1.2 (little exercise)
Lightly active...........BMR x 1.375 (light exercise)
Moderately active.....BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise)
Very active.............BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise)
Extremely active......BMR x 1.9 (hard exercise daily)

I’m pretty sedentary, so my calculation is 1416.494*1.2= 1699.7928
(By the way, I’m glad I calculated this. It’s been about fifteen pounds since I last did this math, and it’s changed a bit! I used to work a part-time job on weekends and weighed more back then... Lol.)

The reason I brought this up is because there can be a 200+ calorie per day difference between your BMR and your TDEE. So it’s important not to mix the two up!

Your TDEE is also your ‘maintenance’ calories. So, that’s how many calories you’d need to eat every day to keep your weight where it is now.

In order to lose weight, you have to eat below your maintenance calories. Since it’s not recommended you eat less than 1200 calories a day (of course, that’s an average. Some people can eat less than 1200 and be just fine… and some people eat more), how much you can lose in a week is really going to depend on your BMR and TDEE. Does that make sense?

So, according to my calculations, my TDEE is 1700 (rounded up). If I eat 1200 calories per day, that’s a 500 per day deficit, right? 500 calories, multiplied by 7 days in a week = 3500 calories. Coincidentally, that is exactly how many calories are in a pound. That means that, with my BMR and TDEE, I can only safely lose 1 pound per week.

Because your BMR is calculated based in part on your weight, it’s going to CHANGE as you lose weight. Like, when I was at my heaviest (184 pounds)- all other factors being the same- my TDEE was

655 + (9.6 x {184/2.2}) + (1.8 x {66.5*2.54}) – (4.7 x 28)
= 655 + (9.6*83.64) + (1.8*168.91) – 131.6
= 655 + 802.944 + 304.038 – 131.6
= 1630.382 * 1.2
= 1956.4584

This means that at 1200 calories per day consumed, I had a daily deficit of about 750 calories per day. Multiplied by seven days a week, and that’s 5250 calories per week- or 1.5 pounds. So at 184 pounds, I was safely able to lose about a pound and a half per week- something I can’t do now.

A lot of math involved here! But this is exactly why you can see extreme weight loss on a more obese person (like the contestants of TBL) of several pounds per week…. But why it’s just not possible/healthy for a smaller person.

MercuryBlue

To add:

This is also one of the reasons why it can be SO. DARNED. DIFFICULT. to lose those last ten or fifteen pounds!

As you can see from my numbers, there's very little room for error. I have to be VERY careful about keeping track of my calories eaten in order to see a weight loss... whereas before, I could have a slip-up every so often and still see a loss.

sh3lby03

This is so helpful, I'm definitely copying and pasting this formula for future reference. Figured out my TDEE is around 1800 so by eating 1200 a day I will have 600 calorie deficit a day...4200 a week so I can only safely lose 1.2 pounds while eating an appropriate amount of calories!!!

samrockrocks

I did the calculations and my TDEE is about 2350!! Seems to me like 1200 calories a day is WAY too low when I only want to lose a total of 20 pounds.