Calories allowed

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sjeagle30
sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How do I cange the amount of calories I am allowed per day? I just read someone else saying no way is 1200 enough for a person to eat and to reduce the maintenance amount by 20% to lose

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  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    What is your weekly weight loss goals set at? Changing that is one way.
  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
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    At the top of this page: My Home > Goals > Change Goals (bottom-ish of the page) > Custom or Guided
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    How do you know what your maintenance level is? Who said that 1200 was too low for you - was it your doctor or nutritionist?

    It is pretty much as low as you should go, and you might want to eat back some of your exercise calories if you work out. But I wouldn't dismiss the 1200 figure withotu doing a bit more research.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    How do I cange the amount of calories I am allowed per day? I just read someone else saying no way is 1200 enough for a person to eat and to reduce the maintenance amount by 20% to lose

    If you look at your GOALS page, your maintenance calories, excluding exercise is shown there.

    Other sites take exercising into the equation, which is why MFP may seem lower.

    laos have a look at these
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    Good Luck :)
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    How do you know what your maintenance level is? Who said that 1200 was too low for you - was it your doctor or nutritionist?

    It is pretty much as low as you should go, and you might want to eat back some of your exercise calories if you work out. But I wouldn't dismiss the 1200 figure withotu doing a bit more research.

    Personally I'd start at the higher amount. If it isn't working, you've got more leeway to play with.

    If you can lose weight on 1600, why would you want to deprive yourself and eat 1200?
  • sjeagle30
    sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
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    I just seen a post on here that said 1200 is way too low and have heard too many times that under eating is no way to lose either. it put my weekly weight loss goal at 1.7 lbs and i am hoping to lsoe 40 at least.
  • sjeagle30
    sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
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    Thank you everyone!! Im very excited and determined this time!!!
  • minadeathclutch
    minadeathclutch Posts: 375 Member
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    I just seen a post on here that said 1200 is way too low and have heard too many times that under eating is no way to lose either. it put my weekly weight loss goal at 1.7 lbs and i am hoping to lsoe 40 at least.

    it is too low. especially if you're active.. it's way too freakin low!
  • sjeagle30
    sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
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    I agree. I think if I can lose weight at a higher amount why starve myself :) thanks for you input and good luck to you!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    It's too low for some people, not for others.

    I thought it would be impossible when I started out, but actually I found it was very do-able. My BMR is about 1298 currently though, so given the estimation involved in food logging it's pretty close to that.

    Everyone's different, and I'm all for experimenting and finding what suits your body best! But just cos one person says so on a website doesn't mean you HAVE to do anything :tongue:
  • Runningirl7284
    Runningirl7284 Posts: 274 Member
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    I eat 1200 and am not starving myself. I do workout 5-6 days a week however so I will have more calories to eat on those days. I save my calories for foods and not beverages drinking 90% only water. It is working for me.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    With just under 40 pounds to lose, your best bet is to set your weight loss goal to 1 pound per week. Here's the guideline that's used by many folks on MFP:

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    Personally I believe it is set there because of your goal. What is your BMR? To lose 1.7 lbs per week you need to have a calorie deficit of 5950. Which is 850 per day. For a 5'6" female weighing 170 @ 35 years old ( I don't know your stats so I am just plugging something in to give an example) has a BMR of 1540.2. For most of us who are generally sedentary and sit at a desk for work you multiply that by 1.2 to get your average burn (aside from exercise specific workouts). This would give you 1848.24. If you really are trying to lose 1.7 pounds per week that would be 1848.24 - 850 = 998 and some change. As you can see this is very low.....lower than your 1200. Your best bets are either to adjust the amount you want to lose per week (.5 - 1lb)? or to add in additional exercise so that you have more freedom in food choices.
  • sjeagle30
    sjeagle30 Posts: 292 Member
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    Thank you. What is BMR? Im sorry, Im very new to this site....just today :)
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    You can calculate your BMR by going to the Tools tab at the top. BMR is the # of calories (estimated) that your body burns just with normal function - as if you were in a coma.

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