Don't know what to believe about calorie amount

metzlerjn

Just read a post about how MFP calorie goals are most likely wrong and tells you to under eat which stalls weight loss. I've done the 1200 calorie for a month with working out and lost 1-2 lbs a week, seemed fine. Now I'm reading I should eat more and I did the REE calculator (or whatever that thing is) and it said about 1500 calories. This just seems like a lot to me, I guess what I want to know is if I'm not hungry and I've worked out and ate the minimum 1200 calories, do I need to worry about my body "starving itself" and not losing any weight? Or is it really necessary to stuff my face and I should try to eat a bigger breakfast or something?

oliviagetsdown

I'm having exactly the same problem. I find that I'm easily able to eat under 1200 NET calories when I work out, but I also know that that is very low. Also, my BMR according to every site other than MFP is at least 1500 which just seems so high.
Today I tried raising it to 1650 and I found it so much harder to eat below that because it was giving me too much leeway.
I am a MASSIVE food lover, and I am definitely not starving on 1200, and everything I eat is very healthy and high in nutrients.
I think as long as your daily NET calorie consumption is at about 1200-1300 you'll lose weight healthily, but it's important that you're doing exercise so that your total calorie consumption is higher. (eg. you eat 1500 cals a day and burn 300 cals with exercise: 1200 NET, 1500 TOTAL)

See?

metzlerjn

That makes sense thanks

Nataliaho

I am completely confused about this too. I workout alot, however because of the type of training I do I have no idea how many calories I burn. MFP tells me to eat 1200 so I've adjusted that to 1400 to account for my exercise but I don't know if its enough or too much. This is my workout schedule:

Monday am - PT usually a crossfit style metcon
Monday pm - powerlifting - squats or deadlifts
Tuesday pm - Olympic Lifting
Wednesday pm - powerlifting - bench
Thursday am - group crossfit
Friday am - group crossfit
Saturday am - powerlifting session (speed and technique)
Saturday am (straight after) - group crossfit session

I weigh about 185lb and would like to be around 155lb... can someone help??

Crystalchaos72

I am completely confused about this too. I workout alot, however because of the type of training I do I have no idea how many calories I burn. MFP tells me to eat 1200 so I've adjusted that to 1400 to account for my exercise but I don't know if its enough or too much. This is my workout schedule:

Monday am - PT usually a crossfit style metcon
Monday pm - powerlifting - squats or deadlifts
Tuesday pm - Olympic Lifting
Wednesday pm - powerlifting - bench
Thursday am - group crossfit
Friday am - group crossfit
Saturday am - powerlifting session (speed and technique)
Saturday am (straight after) - group crossfit session

I weigh about 185lb and would like to be around 155lb... can someone help??

Can you get a heart rate monitor? That would be your best bet to count your exercises. Mfp is on the high side for some estimates and on the low for others......if you use the sites tools

palmerig88

I set mine to lose one pound per week and I started at 1680 but now 1480. It goes down as you weigh less. I eat my exercise back and the weight loss has been steady the whole time. Where did you get 1200 from for your goal?

Nataliaho

I am completely confused about this too. I workout alot, however because of the type of training I do I have no idea how many calories I burn. MFP tells me to eat 1200 so I've adjusted that to 1400 to account for my exercise but I don't know if its enough or too much. This is my workout schedule:

Monday am - PT usually a crossfit style metcon
Monday pm - powerlifting - squats or deadlifts
Tuesday pm - Olympic Lifting
Wednesday pm - powerlifting - bench
Thursday am - group crossfit
Friday am - group crossfit
Saturday am - powerlifting session (speed and technique)
Saturday am (straight after) - group crossfit session

I weigh about 185lb and would like to be around 155lb... can someone help??

Can you get a heart rate monitor? That would be your best bet to count your exercises. Mfp is on the high side for some estimates and on the low for others......if you use the sites tools

As far as I understand a heart-rate monitor isn't accurate for measuring weight training (of which I do alot). Can anyone confirm/deny?

JessLLoser

How do you find the time to work out so much? It`s amazing! How long have you been doing this schedule? I would think you need to be eating way, way more to lose weight. If your over 5 feet tall usually 1200 is too little to eat. MFP is just a computer and doesn`t take into account your body fat percentage. Try the fat2fit military body fat calculator to find it. Maybe then the BMR calculator will give you a more accurate number.

These sites including MFP are all just estimates. If your losing, continue, if your not then think about eating more to weigh less. There is a great group on here. Join it for more info.

Only looking at your exercise schedule 1200 and 1400 sounds way too low. Unless you are less than 5 feet tall.

Mads1997

Hi, There is lots of info about not eating below your BMR. Just use the search function.

I lost 20kgs then it stalled and couldn't lose anymore. I have just upped my cals by 300 a day to meet my BMR

CaseRat

I don't see how anyone can struggle to eat 1,500 calories. I eat around 2,500 while losing weight, 3,000 a day while maintaining and I'm currently at 3,500 a day to bulk up.

Nataliaho

How do you find the time to work out so much? It`s amazing! How long have you been doing this schedule? I would think you need to be eating way, way more to lose weight. If your over 5 feet tall usually 1200 is too little to eat. MFP is just a computer and doesn`t take into account your body fat percentage. Try the fat2fit military body fat calculator to find it. Maybe then the BMR calculator will give you a more accurate number.

These sites including MFP are all just estimates. If your losing, continue, if your not then think about eating more to weigh less. There is a great group on here. Join it for more info.

Only looking at your exercise schedule 1200 and 1400 sounds way too low. Unless you are less than 5 feet tall.

It's a huge part of my life to be honest and I've been training like this for maybe 2-3 years. I do my morning workouts at 6am and my night-time workouts at 6-6:30 pm. I have a training group who are all cloe friends by now, so its very enjoyable. I am actually pretty lazy and never train alone... luckily I do't have to... I lost my inital 20kgs fairly easily just from the shcok of exercise and cleaning up my diet. But that isn't enough anymore, I need to really count my calories. I'm fine with that, but I wish I knew how many

em9371

Depends how much weight you have to lose, follow this.


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."


if you're losing more, than you're not eating enough.

Good post.
With less than 25lbs to lose you shouldn't be losing 2lbs a week it's not healthy.
Also the 1200 goal mfp gives you is NET so you need to eat back your exercise cals.

You don't need to stuff yourself if you aren't hungry, just choose higher calorie foods like nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, cheese etc.

em9371

I set mine to lose one pound per week and I started at 1680 but now 1480. It goes down as you weigh less. I eat my exercise back and the weight loss has been steady the whole time. Where did you get 1200 from for your goal?

It should stay pretty much the same as you get smaller as you need to create less of a deficit (see pu's post) and as your body fat % reduces your bmr will increase as it takes more calories to maintain lean muscle.
I eat the same at 202lbs as when I started 6 months ago at 245 :-).

yarwell

I set mine to lose one pound per week and I started at 1680 but now 1480. It goes down as you weigh less. I eat my exercise back and the weight loss has been steady the whole time. Where did you get 1200 from for your goal?

MFP "bottoms out" at 1200 - so if your calculated goal was 1180 it would say 1200.

People with 1200 goals are either small and light (lower BMR) and/or inputting a bigger weight loss goal and using the "sedentary" setting.

yarwell

There is lots of info about not eating below your BMR

Haven't seen any "information". Plenty of speculation and opinion though.

Weight loss does not stop, not do kittens die, if you eat below your BMR. Your BMR will drop on a calorie restriction even if eating above your BMR.

These folks ate 800 cals, lost weight and had a BMR well above 1000 :-

"The 24-hour RMR (Table 2) decreased significantly (p<0.05) in the C+D group (1569.2±202.4 to 1358.5±297.1 kcal/day, mean±SD).

All participants were given the same diet for the entire 12-week study period. The VLCD consisted of a liquid formula (40% protein, 49% carbohydrate, 11% fat) ingested five times a day yielding a total of 800 kcals daily. "

Their mates doing resistance training rather than cardio held off the BMR reduction.
http://www.jacn.org/content/18/2/115.long

osualex

I usually eat my BMR at minimum, which is 1500 calories, and I've been losing pretty well. I don't eat back my exercise calories, but I rarely burn over 200, so I'm not too worried. It does take some figuring out - for a month I was at 1500 and didn't lose, then I dropped to 1200 and lost, but was starving, so I upped it again and I'm still losing pretty steadily. Also, MFP has 1500 for 1/2 lb a week for me and I've usually been losing at least 1 - 1.5 with exercise. So don't worry about their calculations - try to eat BMR at minimum and if you're very active, you will need more.

Crystalchaos72

How can a heart rate monitor not work for strength training?! I use it for cardio and strength training and I am not giving any opinions about 'to eat back or not eat back' calories.......I simply asked if you have a hRM! Why do things get misconstrued?!
Ok I will let my ticker do the talking

palmerig88

I think they are just saying they've heard that before and wanted to know if it was true

Nataliaho

How can a heart rate monitor not work for strength training?! I use it for cardio and strength training and I am not giving any opinions about 'to eat back or not eat back' calories.......I simply asked if you have a hRM! Why do things get misconstrued?!
Ok I will let my ticker do the talking

Hey chillout, I wasn't being critical, until a couple of days ago I thought the same and was considering buying one. However there was another thread on here recently where quite a few people were saying that HRMs are not accurate for Strength Training. As it is the predominant type of trianing I do, I don't want to purchase one if its not going to be accurate for me the majority of the time. So I was wondering if anyone had more information on that to inform my desicion.