Is my calorie goal too low?

chedeco

I'm a 26 (well, 2 months away from 27) year old female who weighs in at 185 lbs. I'm 5'3" on a tall day, 5'2" on a short day. I'm aiming for an ultimate goal weight of 110 lbs. Right now, I'm allotting myself 1200 calories and 30 fat grams per day, while keeping an eye on my sodium, sugar, and carb intakes. Is 1200 calories not enough? What about the 30 fat grams? Any constructive, friendly feedback is welcomed. I'm new to this, so go easy on me. That's not to say I can't take criticism but make sure it's helpful criticism. Thanks in advance!

sugarbone

Hi, I'm aiming for 110 too! My highest weight was 140 and I'm 122 now. What is the calorie intake MFP suggested for you? Apparently your BMR is about 1600, if you measure as 5'2" - from my experience you should definitely eat close to your BMR, because that is the calories your body needs just to function. I often cut 100-200 cals under unintentionally because I have a terrible appetite. If you eat your BMR then ANY movement you do throughout the day will count as a loss, and you will lose weight in a sustainable way.

Since you are overweight (sorry!) you can probably afford to lose weight faster than that, though. See what 1400-1600 cals a day does for you, because if you eat too little it will actually slow down your weight loss. It's all about finding that sweet spot that works for your body :-) Good luck!

chedeco

Okay, I checked and MFP recommends 1,200 calories and 40 fat grams for me.
Also, I don't know what BMR stands for. :blushing:

sugarbone

Basal Metabolic Rate! It's the number of calories you burn by just existing: how many calories you'd burn a day if you laid in bed and didn't move a muscle.

If MFP says 1200 then you should be fine You'll be shedding the pounds if you stick to it with mostly healthy foods!

1goodymom67

Well, I am 5'4" tall and short day LOL I had to up my b/c I go about 6 days a week and burned anywhere between 3000-3500 cals a week. It all depends on how much you work out. You can also check out your BMR on the TOOLS tab. If I don't eat enough I get crabby, start to gain, and feel run down. I feel much better since I upped my cal intake. On the TOOLS tab it will give you a better idea of whether or not it needs to be upped. For instance, if your body burns 1300 cals a day doing nothing and eating 1200 your body is screaming for more food and you will be more apt to binge. I hope that helps.

chedeco

WAIT, you mean I have to do this by eating HEALTHY foods?

Seriously, though, thanks for the support, advice, and explanation of what BMR means. While I have your attention, what is a "bump"?

sugarbone

Normally, on forums, someone posting a bump is just making a post to "bump" the thread back onto the first page and keep it alive, usually done by the creator (as threads with new posts show up first). On MFP though, most people "bump" so that they can come back to the thread later as it'll show up in their post history - for example, bumping in a thread with interesting discussion you want to keep track of or a recipe you want to save :-)

chedeco

My BMR is 1,548, according to the tool calculator. If I only eat MFP's recommended 1,200 calories a day, I'm still burning 348 calories just by merely existing. Is that how it's supposed to be?

However, my "diet profile" lists my BMR as 1,940. Why are these numbers different? :explode:

Cam_

I find it easier to just click my "favorites" in my browser if I want to keep track of a post for later.

sugarbone

My BMR is 1,548. If I only eat MFP's recommended 1,200 calories a day, I'm still burning 348 calories just by merely existing. Is that how it's supposed to be?

Yep, weight loss is pretty much just math, calories in calories out. A 500 calorie deficit a day = 1lb lost per week. What MFP does is it takes your BMR, and adds your average activity cals (remember when it asked how active you are day to day? It estimates how many calories you'd burn just doing your day to day stuff) and subtracts how many cals you need to be in deficit to lose the weight. That is the number MFP gives you to eat each day, so if you eat what it says, you will hypothetically lose what you selected (1lb per week, 2 lb, whatever).

The number on the scale may change a little based on how much you ACTUALLY move a day. You can actually use this to figure out about how you burn living! If you lost 2 lbs you made a 7000 calorie deficit over the week. (3500 cals = 1 lb)

However, if your TDEE (your BMR + daily activity cals, basically what you burn in your average day) minus the cals to lose the weight you want = LESS than 1200, MFP will NOT recommend you eat less than 1200. I'd need to eat 700 cals a day to lose 2 lbs a week, but that is not healthy at all so at my weight I can't lose so quickly.

Sorry for huge text wall!

chedeco

sugarbone - I edited the post I made right before you replied. If you don't mind, check out the new info and help me figure it out. Thanks for being so helpful!

sugarbone

Not a problem! I can't see your diet profile so I have to assume it's your TDEE - the number of calories you burn a day including moving around and day to day activies, since multiple websites I've tried have confirmed your BMR to be around 1550-1600. What is your weight loss goal per week, if you don't mind me asking?

chedeco

I'd love to lose 2lbs/wk. I know that as I lose more weight, the expectation of 2 lbs. a week might get to be a bit high but I think it's reasonable for right now. I didn't hide my diet profile...do you have to manually un-hide it or something if you want it to show?

sugarbone

Yup, those numbers seem right then. You can definitely aim for 2 lbs a week, it probably won't start slowing down until you are 150-160, it depends on the person and how active you are. Eat your MFP recommended cals, and adjust from there - whether you discover it to be too high or too low.

I'm also not sure about the diet profile thing, as I don't know if there's an option to even see other people's! I only really look at food diaries.