How many of you went with the calorie goal MFP set for you,

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  • mmstgr
    mmstgr Posts: 578 Member
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    I use what MFP set for me. I find it's good for me. Just remember nothing is set in stone. You can always adjust something if it's just not working out for you. :)
  • potluck965
    potluck965 Posts: 529 Member
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    I went with the MFP settings with great success. If there was a situation where I couldn't weigh my food and count exact calories I did tend to overestimate calories so a to be on the safe side. With exercise I did the opposite and underestimated calories burned if necessary.

    Worked for me. I pretty much went on totals, though and didn't bother with the nutrient breakdown.

    I wish maintenance were as easy to calculate.
  • alyson820
    alyson820 Posts: 448 Member
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    Mine's set for 1330, but i aim for 1200 a day and then allow myself a spike day every two weeks. Since I'm saving 130 cals/day, it adds up and I can splurge once in a while without gaining!
  • SmallerBecky
    SmallerBecky Posts: 177
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    The whole "eating 1200 calories a day to lose weight" is not accurate, and that came right from the mouth of a certified trainer. If you are losing weight doing that, then, and this is what diet and fitness trained people explained to me, you are not losing fat. First you lose water weight, then you lose muscle mass. your muscles cannot build when you don't give them enough fuel.

    The most accurate way to calculate what you should be eating is to find you BMR, then subtract 500 calories from that. Then keep recalculating as you lose weight.

    I did this, because after losing 8 pounds in two weeks, I stopped. I upped my calories and within a week, I was down 2.5 pounds, and I'm still losing.

    The whole I can only eat this many calories and I need to spend two hours on the treadmill every day is really not the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off.

    And these aren't my opinions, they are things that I adopted because professionals told me. Eat whole grains, protein, and fat, lift weights, do a little cardio(use a HRM to make sure your heart rate isn't too high) and you will lose steadily each week and you will learn habits that will keep the weight off long term.

    Then I should be eating around 756 calories, or even less if I go by mfp bmr for me.

    I was thinking something like this too. I think she meant to find your total daily expenditure and subtract 500 from that, because my BMR is only 1460. Honest mistake! :)
  • Psufilmgirl
    Psufilmgirl Posts: 93 Member
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    The whole "eating 1200 calories a day to lose weight" is not accurate, and that came right from the mouth of a certified trainer. If you are losing weight doing that, then, and this is what diet and fitness trained people explained to me, you are not losing fat. First you lose water weight, then you lose muscle mass. your muscles cannot build when you don't give them enough fuel.

    The most accurate way to calculate what you should be eating is to find you BMR, then subtract 500 calories from that. Then keep recalculating as you lose weight.

    I did this, because after losing 8 pounds in two weeks, I stopped. I upped my calories and within a week, I was down 2.5 pounds, and I'm still losing.

    The whole I can only eat this many calories and I need to spend two hours on the treadmill every day is really not the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off.

    And these aren't my opinions, they are things that I adopted because professionals told me. Eat whole grains, protein, and fat, lift weights, do a little cardio(use a HRM to make sure your heart rate isn't too high) and you will lose steadily each week and you will learn habits that will keep the weight off long term.

    Then I should be eating around 756 calories, or even less if I go by mfp bmr for me.

    I was thinking something like this too. I think she meant to find your total daily expenditure and subtract 500 from that, because my BMR is only 1460. Honest mistake! :)

    Yes, if you go to a BMR calculator website, it should be accurate. The one on MFP isn't what I use. My trainer told me to eat 2300 last night calories a day and that is way too much for me!

    But yes, everyone has their own way that works for them. But especially if you are lifting, eat more. I just started reading this book called The New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women. It's pretty interesting and it was recommended by some ladies on this site!
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    1200 is too low for most people and not sustainable anyway... I'm not sure why people think that's some magic number. Even if I choose to lose 1lb a week my daily is 1400 - I'm only 5'4".

    Unless ou are 75+ lbs overweight, you should never choose to lose 2lbs a week anyway -- and people do that even when they only have 10 lbs to go.

    You should reset your numbers every time you go down 10 lbs.... and adjust your amt to lose weekly as well. The less you have to lose, the less you should aim to drop per week.

    Currently I have my daily at 1400 -- my protein is 40%, carbs 30%, fat 30% and lowered my sodium to 2000 instead of 2500. Want to get sodium under 1500 eventually.

    I exercise with an HRM with a chest strap and becasue I know the number is pretty accurate (I;'m not using some random website "guess" for me) I eat at least half if not most of those back.

    Remember: you're not trying to torture yourself, you need to come up with a plan that you can actually live with once you hit your goal --- and I doubt that will ever be 1200! I think my maintain number is about 1700-1800/day..
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,400 MFP Moderator
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    I deviated from MFP completely. I use Katch McArdle to calculate my caloric needs. MFP under estimates my needs by 300 calories as my BMR is higher due to more muscle mass than the average person my size. If you have a muscular frame, then MFP will be light.
  • lmarshel
    lmarshel Posts: 674 Member
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    I started with MFP in June of last year. I had been counting calories for some time and using another site to track everything, but the phone app with barcode scanner was too good to pass up! So I switched to using MFP last year. I knew I had another 30 or so pounds to lose and was not in a hurry, so I set my goal for .5 pounds per week. I try to eat exactly the number of calories MFP recommends, and I update my goal every month or so. I do not, however, lose .5 pounds every single week. My body tends to hold on to the weight and then drop a couple pounds all at once. I do eat my exercise calories back, and have recently started using a HRM to be more accurate with those calorie calculations. Turns out I actually burn MORE than MFP allows, on average.

    And I am now only 4 pounds away from my goal. That new wardrobe is callling to me!! It's worked just fine for me. :love:
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,360 Member
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    Yes, I kept the 1200 calorie goal. Wear a HRM to be sure my calories from exercise are as accurate as they can be. I eat just about ever exercise calorie back. I've been on MFP since Memorial day 2011, have gone from 230 pounds to 175 so far. My weight loss has been very steady. I only weigh myself once a week on Sunday morning.
    I'm 61. I do Jazzercise 6 days a week, weight training three days a week, Tai Chi three days a week and usually walk around the local park with my husband either Sunday or Saturday, depending on the weather.
    Today was Jazzercise in the morning. Weight training, Tai Chi and swimming after lunch. Now I'm going to take a NAP!
  • SmallerBecky
    SmallerBecky Posts: 177
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    I deviated from MFP completely. I use Katch McArdle to calculate my caloric needs. MFP under estimates my needs by 300 calories as my BMR is higher due to more muscle mass than the average person my size. If you have a muscular frame, then MFP will be light.

    Yes, I have a more muscular frame as well. I think this is why I strayed from MFP calculations. I always felt like what they set for me was way too low. I do P90X using heavy free weights and then I do the occasional extra 3-mile run on top of the program.
  • SmallerBecky
    SmallerBecky Posts: 177
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    Yes, I kept the 1200 calorie goal. Wear a HRM to be sure my calories from exercise are as accurate as they can be. I eat just about ever exercise calorie back. I've been on MFP since Memorial day 2011, have gone from 230 pounds to 175 so far. My weight loss has been very steady. I only weigh myself once a week on Sunday morning.
    I'm 61. I do Jazzercise 6 days a week, weight training three days a week, Tai Chi three days a week and usually walk around the local park with my husband either Sunday or Saturday, depending on the weather.
    Today was Jazzercise in the morning. Weight training, Tai Chi and swimming after lunch. Now I'm going to take a NAP!

    Wow! With all that activity, I'd HOPE you were eating back every exercise calorie you could! Nice work!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    I started set to lose 1lb, at 1230.
    It wasn't enough for me and I was feeling lightheaded by the end of the day,

    So I took advice, had my number ran by Helloitsdan, and I'm now set at 1750, which is between my BMR and TDEE.

    After a week at the higher limit I had my largest loss - 2.4lbs.
  • SmallerBecky
    SmallerBecky Posts: 177
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    I started with MFP in June of last year. I had been counting calories for some time and using another site to track everything, but the phone app with barcode scanner was too good to pass up! So I switched to using MFP last year. I knew I had another 30 or so pounds to lose and was not in a hurry, so I set my goal for .5 pounds per week. I try to eat exactly the number of calories MFP recommends, and I update my goal every month or so. I do not, however, lose .5 pounds every single week. My body tends to hold on to the weight and then drop a couple pounds all at once. I do eat my exercise calories back, and have recently started using a HRM to be more accurate with those calorie calculations. Turns out I actually burn MORE than MFP allows, on average.

    And I am now only 4 pounds away from my goal. That new wardrobe is callling to me!! It's worked just fine for me. :love:

    Way to go!! One of my problems is that I think my HRM overestimates my calorie burn. It says I burn WAY more than the MFP estimates and quite a bit more than what my friends say they burn doing the same exercises, being about the same size as I am. So I'm thinking about ditching the HRM and calculating exercise burn altogether and just calling myself "active" when trying to set my calorie goal. Hmmmmm...
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    I took the original caloric goal of about 1450. I set it for -2 lbs per week, but I do eat the exercise calories back. I try to underestimate just in case, but I eat most of what I record back.

    Now I'm not recalculating whenever my weight drops, so I expect the loss will slow in a bit. Right now it says -1.9 lbs/week and that's about what I'm losing. Also, since I don't want any unpleasant surprises at maintenance, I'm going to be gradually raising as I get nearer my goal. I know this means the last 10 lbs will take forever, but that's okay by me ... I need something I can live with long-term.
  • Balice57
    Balice57 Posts: 125
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    I take their recommendation, but try to keep to the lower number and don't necessarily try
    to eat back my exercise calories that I burned. I'll adjust as I go along, as I'm new to this. I have a FitBit on its way so look forward to having more accurate exercise information than my guesstimates.

    Before I found MFP I was trying to lose weight, but having no success. I figured out I was actually not eating enough! Since I'm not currently working, and at home on the computer, I would forget to eat and wasn't eating often enough. My body must have felt it was starving. Sometimes it feels like I am eating too much, but I'm losing weight, finally!

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,400 MFP Moderator
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    I deviated from MFP completely. I use Katch McArdle to calculate my caloric needs. MFP under estimates my needs by 300 calories as my BMR is higher due to more muscle mass than the average person my size. If you have a muscular frame, then MFP will be light.

    Yes, I have a more muscular frame as well. I think this is why I strayed from MFP calculations. I always felt like what they set for me was way too low. I do P90X using heavy free weights and then I do the occasional extra 3-mile run on top of the program.

    I do X2, just make sure you follow their nutrition guidelines. i didn't my first 2 rounds and bare lost on P90X.
  • look1angel
    look1angel Posts: 13
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    Mine was set at 1200 & I upped it 100 more, 1300 calories a day I felt was fair enough for me.
  • Sarahmeridith
    Sarahmeridith Posts: 298 Member
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    I have been doing exactly what the site says with my calories and eating back most of my exercise calories, unless im too full then I dont force it. and so far have loset 15lbs and last year I used this site and lost 30lbs!
  • cynhip
    cynhip Posts: 33
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    I've stuck to the 1200 recommended for me but have only lost 20 lbs. in 3 months. I was thinking about fasting for a couple days. Has anyone done this? If so, did you lose any wieght only to gain it back after eating again?
  • Tangerine16
    Tangerine16 Posts: 44 Member
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    I've been on here nearly 7 weeks. I have stuck to the MFP-recommended 1200 calories.

    The calculator said weekly loss would be around 0.57lb. Instead I've lost 14lbs in that time.

    I don't do enough exercise (more needed!) but do eat the calories back.

    I want to lose a further 7-10lbs, ideally.


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