What are your thoughts on this?

jtintx

MFP works, don’t get me wrong, but if I don’t exercise every day then some days it is extremely hard to limit myself to the allotted calories, which is now 1200. I am so hungry at that level!! I have looked at some online calorie calculators and found that if I weighed 135 pounds and wanted to maintain that weight I should eat about 1500 calories a day if I live a sedentary lifestyle (some say 1700 or more).

So, if I just limit myself to 1500-1600 calories a day, plus exercise calories, wouldn’t I eventually weigh 135? Is there some error in my thinking that I haven’t thought of? It would be a lot easier to do this with fewer pounds to go to reach my goal.

jtintx

MFP works, don’t get me wrong, but if I don’t exercise every day then some days it is extremely hard to limit myself to the allotted calories, which is now 1200. I am so hungry at that level!! I have looked at some online calorie calculators and found that if I weighed 135 pounds and wanted to maintain that weight I should eat about 1500 calories a day if I live a sedentary lifestyle (some say 1700 or more).

So, if I just limit myself to 1500-1600 calories a day, plus exercise calories, wouldn’t I eventually weigh 135? Is there some error in my thinking that I haven’t thought of? It would be a lot easier to do this with fewer pounds to go to reach my goal.

bethaudrey

Well, I would look at what you're eating, not just calories... because if you're eating low cal, nutrient dense foods, 1200 can be plenty.

tig3rang3l

Hey jtintx...

From what I understand you are 100% right, it would just take you longer to get there. You can change your goals in MFP to maintain your current weight or change it to lose one pound a week instead of two. Good luck

jtintx

Currently I don't weigh 135....so I really can't use MFP to set my goal to maintain since I'm still about 10 pounds away from my initial goal weight.

katemadrigal

Your body requires more calories to maintain your weight, than to lose it. So, I tend to think if you upped your caloric intake from 1200 to 1500 you may see a weight gain. I agree with bethaudrey that your hunger could be caused by the foods you're choosing to eat (or not eat).

jtintx

Your body requires more calories to maintain your weight, than to lose it. So, I tend to think if you upped your caloric intake from 1200 to 1500 you may see a weight gain. I agree with bethaudrey that your hunger could be caused by the foods you're choosing to eat (or not eat).

I don't think so...at 1200 MFP is already subtracting 500 calories in order for me to lose one pound a week....so that tells me MFP thinks that it takes about 1700 for me to maintain. So at 1500-1600 I should still lose weight....SLOWLY.

smithiekat

why don't you just change your settings to lose 1/2 pound per week.

SHBoss1673

jtintx,

you are essentially correct in your original thinking. Couple of caviats though.

1st this is assuming your maintenance calories conforms to the norm. I.E. the calculators out there assume normal biochemical function, and metabolic rates.

2nd assuming you eat half way decent and don't overindulge on empty calories (saturated or hydrogenated fats, lots of simple carbs...etc.)

As long as 1 and 2 are true, then yeah, you can eat your maintenance calories, exercise to create a deficit, and lose weight.

ivykivy

I started this about two weeks ago. I upped my cals to about 200 below what is said my maintenance was (I am hypothyroid).

Initially I saw a weight increase of about 5 pounds which I know could not have happened (even with the birthday cake incident :laugh: ) But the scale went back down. Just be sure to not let a slight increase in weight alarm you if it happens to you.

jtintx

jtintx,

you are essentially correct in your original thinking. Couple of caviats though.

1st this is assuming your maintenance calories conforms to the norm. I.E. the calculators out there assume normal biochemical function, and metabolic rates.

2nd assuming you eat half way decent and don't overindulge on empty calories (saturated or hydrogenated fats, lots of simple carbs...etc.)

As long as 1 and 2 are true, then yeah, you can eat your maintenance calories, exercise to create a deficit, and lose weight.

I'm talking about eating my goal weight maintenance calories though. Same principle right?

SHBoss1673

jtintx,

you are essentially correct in your original thinking. Couple of caviats though.

1st this is assuming your maintenance calories conforms to the norm. I.E. the calculators out there assume normal biochemical function, and metabolic rates.

2nd assuming you eat half way decent and don't overindulge on empty calories (saturated or hydrogenated fats, lots of simple carbs...etc.)

As long as 1 and 2 are true, then yeah, you can eat your maintenance calories, exercise to create a deficit, and lose weight.

I'm talking about eating my goal weight maintenance calories though. Same principle right?

Oh, GOAL maintenance. Ahh, slightly different, same concept, but maybe just make sure you're still in a reasonable deficit area. I.E. if your goal maintenance is 800 calories/day below your current (that's probably a little extreme but...) and you tack on 500 calories of exercise, that might be a bit much. I usually go by the BMI until people get into the 27 or 26 range, where the BMI flaws start to really become pronounced for normal people.
By that I mean, 32 BMI and over most people can handle a 1000 to 1200 calorie deficit
29 to 32 most people can handle an 800 to 1000 calorie deficit
27 to 29 most people can handle a 400 to 800 calorie deficit
below 27 I start going by body fat percentage but wouldn't go above 400 calories a day
deficit.
when someone hits the "normal" bmi range (25) for women I start telling them "I would shoot for 20 to 24% body fat and go from there" That way they still have a goal to reach for, but they're not focusing on weight any more, more on the fat that is in their body. For men I say 11 to 15% is a decent range to shoot for. Not to say women can't go lower then 20% and men can't go lower then 11% but if you get to that point, you're really considered an athlete, and should probably be doing more focused nutrtion and workouts (plus for 99% of people at that level, they already know what they need to be doing by then).

jtintx

jtintx,

you are essentially correct in your original thinking. Couple of caviats though.

1st this is assuming your maintenance calories conforms to the norm. I.E. the calculators out there assume normal biochemical function, and metabolic rates.

2nd assuming you eat half way decent and don't overindulge on empty calories (saturated or hydrogenated fats, lots of simple carbs...etc.)

As long as 1 and 2 are true, then yeah, you can eat your maintenance calories, exercise to create a deficit, and lose weight.

I'm talking about eating my goal weight maintenance calories though. Same principle right?

Oh, GOAL maintenance. Ahh, slightly different, same concept, but maybe just make sure you're still in a reasonable deficit area. I.E. if your goal maintenance is 800 calories/day below your current (that's probably a little extreme but...) and you tack on 500 calories of exercise, that might be a bit much. I usually go by the BMI until people get into the 27 or 26 range, where the BMI flaws start to really become pronounced for normal people.
By that I mean, 32 BMI and over most people can handle a 1000 to 1200 calorie deficit
29 to 32 most people can handle an 800 to 1000 calorie deficit
27 to 29 most people can handle a 400 to 800 calorie deficit
below 27 I start going by body fat percentage but wouldn't go above 400 calories a day
deficit.
when someone hits the "normal" bmi range (25) for women I start telling them "I would shoot for 20 to 24% body fat and go from there" That way they still have a goal to reach for, but they're not focusing on weight any more, more on the fat that is in their body. For men I say 11 to 15% is a decent range to shoot for. Not to say women can't go lower then 20% and men can't go lower then 11% but if you get to that point, you're really considered an athlete, and should probably be doing more focused nutrtion and workouts (plus for 99% of people at that level, they already know what they need to be doing by then).

Actually, my GOAL maintenance would be 1500-1600 cal./day. And right now at 25.5 BMI my 1 lb. a week weight loss puts me at 1200 cal/day. If I just ate 1500 cal/day my deficit would only be 300 cals. instead of 500. But this way I don't have to keep adjusting for weight loss and on days when I take a rest day I can still eat enough that I don't feel like I'm starving. I can eat 1500 and EVENTUALLY I should get to 135 pounds. It makes sense to me...but like I said...I didn't know if I was missing something. Thanks for your input.

Edited for spelling.

slimkitty

This discussion is getting very complicated. Keep it simple on yourself.
You can eat your goal weight calories and you will loose weight. That is what I am doing and I am steadily loosing weight.

SHBoss1673

Actually, my GOAL maintenance would be 1500-1600 cal./day. And right now at 25.5 BMI my 1 lb. a week weight loss puts me at 1200 cal/day. If I just ate 1500 cal/day my deficit would only be 300 cals. instead of 500. But this way I don't have to keep adjusting for weight loss and on days when I take a rest day I can still eat enough that I don't feel like I'm starving. I can eat 1500 and EVENTUALLY I should get to 135 pounds. It makes sense to me...but like I said...I didn't know if I was missing something. Thanks for your input.

Edited for spelling.

tell ya the truth, with where you are, there should be very little adjusting you need to do ever again, besides going from where you are now to maintenance. Less then 10 lbs left to lose right? I don't think 1lb a week is right for that anyway, that's a little aggressive for someone so close. I don't know your body like you do, so that's just speculation, but in general, when you're so close, it's generally accepted to have about 1/2 a lb per week as a goal.