Confused on caloric intake to lose 2lbs/wk - please help

TXHunny84

Ok...here's my story... I'm about to be 27 and I'm 149lbs and 5'5". I am trying to be 135 pounds so I need to lose 14 pounds. All my life I have Yo-yo dieted to lose weight. Way over exercised to lose weight and I have even starved my self for 3-4 days at a time to lose. My weight always goes up and down because obviously I'm losing weight the wrong way and probably a lot is just water. I want to lose my excess fat once and for all with out yo-yoing and really learn to eat and exercise right to keep it off for good!! I also have two little girls that I don't want to have the same problems with weight like I do. I want to lead by example on how to eat correctly to not gain and how to lose weight the right way. I did my BMR and it came out like this:
655+(4.35 x 149) +(4.7 x 65") - (4.7 x 27) = 1481.75.... I have a sedintary life style I guess because I sit at a desk all day a work(mostly) so my caloric intake I'm assuming is 1481.75 x 1.2 = 1778.1.

Ok so here is my question(dilemma)......

How many calories am I supposed to eat out to lose 2 pounds a week?... The internet says to decrease calories by 500 and increase my work outs by 500 calories a day. So ....do I subtract 500 calories from the 1778?....Because then I'm only consuming 1278 calories and that is below my BMR?... And if I burn 500 calories on my treadmill then my Net calories would be 778 for the day... I don't want to put my body in starvation mode. Plus I walk an hour on my treadmill everyday for an hour already. So since my body is probably used to this does it still count as calories burned...or is this now just part of my daily routine and I would have to do even more to lose weight? On livestrong.com it even says to count the "office work" I do as calories burned too, but wouldn't my body be used to doing that daily also?...

I'm just really confused as to what my actual Net calories per day should be so I can lose 2 pounds(or more) a week.

staciekins

When you only have 14 to lose, 2 lbs a week is very unrealistic. Only those who are obese will lose that quickly. You should probably shoot for .5-1 lb/week.

mlemonroe2

When you made your profile on myfitnesspal did you put you want to lose 2 pounds a week? It should have told you what your calorie intake should be to lose that much weight. If you exercise, you are suposed to eat those calories back so your body dosn't go into starvation mode. That is how this website is set up.

JMJohnson1005

With such little weight you have to lose you should not try to lose 2 lbs a week. I think 1/2 lbs a week is more resonalbe.

NoAdditives

Just posted this in your other post.

Since you're so close to your goal you probably won't be able to lose 2 pounds per week. When you have less to lose it comes off slower. That's because your body uses both fat and muscle for energy and your body will use whichever one is closest to the area that needs the energy. So if you're working your legs but don't have enough extra fat to burn your body will burn a little leg muscle. That's why strength training is so important, it helps keep your muscles from losing mass. This also means that you can spot reduce a little. So if your belly has more fat than you'd like you can do lots of ab work to burn that fat. You also need to eat a little more, the amount you'd eat if you were trying to lose half a pound per week, so that your body continues to burn fat and not muscle.

bethvandenberg

I'd eat 1500 cals a day and eat back some of your exercise cals per time. You can eat them all if your body is telling you you're hungry. I think they set things too low on here. I'm guessing you aren't really sedentary and you have kids and probably do a lot more than you're thinking of. Try the 1500 for a couple of weeks and let your body get used to it. The way you've yo yo'd you're going to have to let your body know you're serious.

I went way to low before and paid for it. I think that you'll be fine. It may take a little longer to lose the 14 lbs than you'd like but hey, it'll go away and you'll lose some inches from exercise and you'll be much happier.

Hang in there. Good luck.

Tree72

You are probably going to hear this a lot, but since you are in a healthy BMI range it will be very difficult to attain or maintain a 2-pound-a-week loss. It would be much more realistic to aim for half a pound a week. Please take a look at this topic for a much more detailed explanation:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/12250-1000-calorie-deficit-not-for-people-with-healthy-bmi

Good luck on your journey and figuring out how to reach your healthy goals. It can definitely be confusing, but you can do it.

Mrs_TrimWaistFatWallet

2 lbs/wk = -1000 kcal per day, which is a net surplus of 778 calories. That's obviously not good.
-That means you eat 1780 - 500 = 1280 kcal per day
-You workout 500 kcal worth per day (things BEYOND the activities described in your BMR calculation)

"So since my body is probably used to this does it still count as calories burned...or is this now just part of my daily routine and I would have to do even more to lose weight? "
-Anything beyond what's calculated for your BMR (including office work) is counted as exercise. Don't count 'walking around the office doing paperwork' as anything more, since you do it every day. However, if you keep your BMR the same, but add on taking the stairs, that can count towards your daily burn.

Be careful when aiming for weight loss beyond 1lb/week because your body needs 1200 kcal+/day to function and do it's thing...

moebruin

The beauty of this program is it does the calculations for you. So if you just set up this website for loose two pounds a week (which by the way is considered by TOO FAST as 1 pound a week is considered optimal for a healthy lifestyle) you will have all the work done for you.

The way it works is you get your base calories that will help you loose the two pounds a week. For each exercise calorie you do, you will get to eat an extra calorie of food and still stay on the program. The optimal stuff is telling you how much is a good exercise program but if you do the exercise you get extra calories to eat you don't loose double.

For example if you have to reduce by 500 calories to loose your desired weight and you then exercise 500 calories. You end up not having to reduce your caloric intake at all because the exercise will be doing its job.

Being initial calories are based on life style, I wouldn't count everyday life style things you do as exercise to get more calories.

RoniDoll

When you only have 14 to lose, 2 lbs a week is very unrealistic. Only those who are obese will lose that quickly. You should probably shoot for .5-1 lb/week.

What she said. exactly

momma3sweetgirls

Try eating your BMR and see what happens. In my experience, the 1200 calories MFP allots is way too little even for sedentary people. I bumped mine up to just over 1500 recently and had two big losses two weeks in a row (2.5 and 2 lbs). It's OK to change your calorie allowance to suit your own activity level. Not every person fits the mathematical formula!

chach918

I did not read the other posts. I would suggest a total of 1200 calories a day. If you are exercising , eat 2/3 of the calories burned. Just do not over do it. burning 300 a day is more than enough. Good luck.

dlaplume2

When you only have 14 to lose, 2 lbs a week is very unrealistic. Only those who are obese will lose that quickly. You should probably shoot for .5-1 lb/week.

I agree. I think if you are trying to make lifestyle changes that are going to be permanent, you need to make changes that you can stick to and live with. I would set your goal to lose .5 lbs a week and if it takes you 28 weeks you will be much better off, espcially if you are adding execise to that mix. It may come off faster some weeks and slower others, but in the end you will be better off.
Best wishes.

willimh

I had some confusion with this matter as well. I will suggest you up your calorie intake as well and that way when you exercise you will end with a deficit of hopefully 1100-1200 for your net. I am trying it out as well to see how I will do. I have 80lbs to lose and it has been hard to do because I don't think I was eating enough to fuel the body. It's funny because I just went to the same sight you did which is livestrong because I had the same question you had. I am taking the advice from it and I want to see if I get results that are positive. Good luck

pebs120

I dont see 2lbs a week an issue. then again i weight more than you (185 when i started-176now.) and that was the goal i entered in on mfp. and to be honest i've been doing it. a friend of mine on here has lost 21lbs already(in 5weeks), but again she weight about the same as me, or at least she did when we started.

When i entered in that information on here it told me that my calorie intake was 1200, i thought that strange. so when i went online i got the same asnwer you did. I cant remember the site though. Anyhow, subtract the 500. that's my point.

You'll be where you need to be in no time. I just advise you do it the right way as apposed to the way you've done it in the past. no yoyo diets, dont starve yourself. It's not that much to lose. So just do it right.


Good Luck ♥

jeffrodgers1

Live a healthy lifestyle. That is the first and foremost thing!

Drinking water will allow you to flush out your system, and will allow you to lose some of the water weight. Your body won't hold onto what it thinks it has in abundance. Drink your 8-10 cups of water a day.

Secondly, Use this site as a guide to determine what your should be eating per day and stick to it.
Yoyo dieting, fad diets, pills, starvation etc lead to metabolic suicide. You are killing your metabolism and that makes it even harder to lose the weight. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to diet. Additionally when you sacrifice to much and deny yourself to much... you are really just setting yourself up for failure.

I would recommend you settle in with a nice healthy goal of one pound per week (which is the recommended). Eat your calories in a well balanced meal plan, eat back your exercise calories and drink your water.

Good Luck!

SHBoss1673

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

try the above link, it may help you understand a little. That's why I wrote it anyway. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

michelegrayson

This is the great thing about MFP. The system does all this calculation for you!! The system calculates this based on the goals you have set in your profile. If you put in your profile how much you weigh, that you want to lose 2 lbs and that you are sedentary and how many days you expect to workout, it will give you a daily goal to lose 2 lbs. Then as you do the actual workouts and you put in how many calories your burned that day, the system adjusts UP the number of calories you can eat based on the amount you burned (that people mean when they say eat back your exercise calories)

For example my starting calories a day are 1280 calories as I want to lose a pound a week. Then, when I workout my daily total (FOR THAT DAY ONLY) increases by 500 based on my workout so now I can eat 1780 a day and still meet my goal of a lb a week.

And I agree with everyone else...2 lbs a week is not really doable for someone who needs to lose so little weight. When I first started the first week or 2 I lost 1.5 to 2 lbs. Then it started averaging .5 to 1 lb a week and I am working out HARD (2 hours/800 calories a day average). Some of this is because I am gaining lean muscle as I am doing P90X but some of it is my body holding on and letting go of the fat one ounce at a time :>)

ladyhawk00

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

try the above link, it may help you understand a little. That's why I wrote it anyway. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

READ THIS! :happy:

But yes, everyone saying 2 lbs is too much is correct; stick with 1/2 lb per week. With 14 lbs to lose, you won't lose 2 lbs per week, and if you did it would be mostly muscle and your metabolism would be a train wreck.

robin52077

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

try the above link, it may help you understand a little. That's why I wrote it anyway. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

READ THIS! :happy:

But yes, everyone saying 2 lbs is too much is correct; stick with 1/2 lb per week. With 14 lbs to lose, you won't lose 2 lbs per week, and if you did it would be mostly muscle and your metabolism would be a train wreck.

THIS exactly, including reading that link!

jonikeffer

You are so close to ideal weight you absolutely should not even try to lose 2 lbs a week. You are in that range of being so close to your ideal weight you would be hard pressed to lose 1/2 lb per week consistently. For every 500 cal you are under what you need in a day, you will lose 1 lb a week. But you can't just multiply that to lose 2 lbs a week, it won't work, you'll go into starvation mode and lose nothing. MFP keeps this in mind and won't set your calories below a certain amt in a day, usually 1200 for women.

Even for myself, at 5'0" and 150 lbs, it would only let me do 1200 cals which it said would be 0.9 lbs a week (when I told it I wanted to lose 2 lbs per week)....and for my height I am considerably overweight, borderline obese. So I highly recommend you lose it slowly and correctly by following MFP's recommendations and not going below the calories it sets for you. Keep in mind that if you exercise, you want to NET the calories it tells you. You should not be doing 500 cals less food AND 500 cals of exercise for a deficit of 1000 cals per day...that is WAY too much for you.