What am I doing wrong, please help :)

_HeyMommy_

Wonder if this still works if you are just tracking calories with minimal exercise?

sleepytexan

Wonder if this still works if you are just tracking calories with minimal exercise?

I works for everyone -- eat no fewer calories than your BMR. If you exercise, eat the exercise calories too.

Your body gets used to how much you eat. This is not necessarily a good thing when you are eating too little.

WHY 1200 CALORIES (or fewer) MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA:

You lose weight for a while and maybe you will make it to goal (the bigger you are, the longer this will work, however most people can't get those last 10-20 lbs off at 1200 calories).

The longer you do this, the longer your metabolism has to adjust downward and get used to 1200 calories. Assuming you make it to goal, you want to maintain, right? What do you think is going to happen when/if you get there and it's time to maintain, when you start trying to eat "maintenance" calories? You'll gain. Welcome back to the yo-yo.


WHY EATING AT THE TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) OF YOUR GOAL WEIGHT MIGHT BE A BETTER IDEA:

Eat now, like the thin you at maintenance. Fat2Ftiradio.com can help you find the TDEE of your ideal weight: Choose ALL CALCULATORS, MILITARY BODY FAT%, then get your bodyfat estimate. Now calculate your BMR, and look in the chart below to see the TDEE of your goal weight -- that is how much the thin you will eat at maintenance.

Eating at maintenance for your ideal weight is a great idea because you will eat THIS SAME AMOUNT of calories for life. Your metabolism will not slow down to match too little fuel (1200 calories), and consequently stall on the way to goal, or cause you to gain when you try to increase calories later to maintain.

BTW, if you have been eating below your BMR for an extended period of time, and especially if you have been stalled/plateaued for an extended period of time, you may experience a slight gain for some weeks after you increase to the proper amount of calories. However, at the point where your body adjusts to the proper amount of fuel based on your dally activities, you will begin to lose again and break through the plateau.

Blessings.

bbshell0219

Thanks so much for all of your help. So if I'm 5'8 and weigh 146 my BMI is 22.2. How many calories must I eat based on that? (Hope that makes sense, it really can be overwhelming trying to figure out all these numbers).

sleepytexan

Thanks so much for all of your help. So if I'm 5'8 and weigh 146 my BMI is 22.2. How many calories must I eat based on that? (Hope that makes sense, it really can be overwhelming trying to figure out all these numbers).

BMR - basal metabolic rate (not BMI - body mass index). MFP has a formula in TOOLS above, or you can try fat2fitradio.com, as I described above.

Then customize your MFP goals with your daily calorie allowance.

blessings.

Shayztar

Thanks so much for all of your help. So if I'm 5'8 and weigh 146 my BMI is 22.2. How many calories must I eat based on that? (Hope that makes sense, it really can be overwhelming trying to figure out all these numbers).

Your age matters too. Go here:

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

Click the Calories and Basal Metabolic Rate link and plug in your numbers. If you don't have a lot of weight to lose then you can cut that calorie number by another 100 calories or so and lose *a little* faster until goal weight.

Savannah80

I'm struggling to shift the weight too. I started off fine. For the first two weeks I lost 3lb a week, however for the last 9 days I've not lost anything I've just stayed the same weight and it's so frustrating. I'm eating between 1100 and 1400 kcal a day, then I take the dogs for a 45 minute walk every day. Tuesdays I do an hour of Pilates. I've started doing 35 minutes one a week on my Wii Zumba game, and I've bought myself a weighted hula hoop to try out.
Last Saturday I did a 10 mile walk with my dog, but I just don't seem to been burning the weight off now
I'm feeling very dejected.

bbshell0219

Ok so it says my BMR is 1459. Then at the bottom it says how many calories should I eat and gives you a couple of different numbers depending on your activity level. So I should be eating 1459 or one of those numbers at the bottom?

Symonep

This all makes sense once you think about it...I have been living on 1200 calories for the last two months and have been getting nowhere fast. Sure I have lost weight, but nowhere near what the math was telling me I should lose. I went and looked at the eat more to weigh less group, and you know what, it all makes sense. My BMR is around 1600, and I have been trying to live on 1200, which is less calories than I need to exist in a comatose state. I wasn't hungry, but I wasn't happy, I didn't have enough energy and had a bit of a temper LOL.

The thing that did it for me was when I thought, what happens when I am at my goal weight?? What happens when I want to eat more than 1200cal? My body will go into fat storing mode, that's what!! It will jump for joy and store all of those extra calories I have been denying it for however long.

According to the calculations my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is around 2500 if I stick a 15% deficit on there I need to be eating approx 2100 calories a day. That's a hell of a lot more than 1200!! What I have seen on the boards that people who follow this method are happy, and seem to be building muscle as well as losing weight. Which is something we all want to do.

So my advice is to pop on over to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less and see what it is all about. It does make perfect sense when you think about it in a logical way

StarvingDiva

Okay so I have been on the 1200 calorie diet on MyFitnessPal for 8 weeks. Everyday when I finish my diary, it says I'll be a certain weight in 5 weeks, and I'm nowhere near it. I don't go over on calories and work out 5-6 days a week. Can anyone give me any advice on what to do? I'm not giving up at all, I just wish I was seeing numbers closer to what my diary says. Thanks so much

That feature annoys me.

Symonep

Ok so it says my BMR is 1459. Then at the bottom it says how many calories should I eat and gives you a couple of different numbers depending on your activity level. So I should be eating 1459 or one of those numbers at the bottom?

You should be eating one of the ones on the bottom. The higher one is your maintenance calories and the lower one is the weight loss calories. It takes into account your activity levels so you don't need to eat back exercise calories (except if you have a super work out and go below your BMR, then you just need to eat back the difference to get you above your BMR of 1459)

Savannah80

Hmm, interesting reading ... so I'm not eating enough?!
I've been trying to stick to 1200 kcal a day, so I've been eating between 1100 and 1400 kcal a day.
The website you've linked to says my BMR is 1529 and I should be eating 1922 to loose the weight?!
Yikes! I've been under eating by up to 822kcal a day!

xenofon

hi i understand what your going though i am having the same problem... I joined herbalife where i have two shakes a day its helping me alot... Are u eating under the twelve hunder cal

Symonep

By eating so less you are shutting down your metabolism and making it even harder to lose weight. You NEED to eat that many calories to function. By eating only 1200 cal you are just setting yourself up for the cycle, there is going to be a binge because you body simply can't handle living on so little food.

Give the 1922 calories a good go, for at least 6 weeks, what have you got to lose really Savannah?? I think to really get it you need a light bulb moment. Anyone who is wondering about this should go and look at the http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less group on here.

ironanimal

Hmm, interesting reading ... so I'm not eating enough?!
I've been trying to stick to 1200 kcal a day, so I've been eating between 1100 and 1400 kcal a day.
The website you've linked to says my BMR is 1529 and I should be eating 1922 to loose the weight?!
Yikes! I've been under eating by up to 822kcal a day!

That sounds entirely reasonable. Remember the average recommended intake for the average woman at a healthy weight is about 2000 a day.

wiggie39

i did the same thing for a few weeks and then talked to my friend and she told me i wasn't eating enough protein and i had to eat half of my exercise cals because my body was storing what i ate because after exercise days it was hungry but i wasn't giving it enough with my increased metabolism and the body stored what i did rather then burn it off.... so i changed it, ate much much more protein and half exercise cals and lost weight every week, 1 - 1.5 lbs....

Aquaduckie

Eat more food. 2000 calories is the average for the average woman, so I'm sure you can eat more than 1200 in nutritious whole foods and lose weight. Go to www.fat2fitradio.com/tools, plug your numbers into BMR/Calorie calculator and pull the appropriate number according to your activity level from the bottom of the page.

What he said! That's where I got my numbers for increasing my calories.

I used this tool, and it told me to eat 2703 calories a day! My current calorie intake is set for 1430. My weight loss progress has been slow, and 2703 scares me.

I don't know what your current stats are, but if 2703 scares you, that's alright. The point is that you can eat significantly more than 1430 calories and still lose weight. Your BMR is much higher than MFP's settings of 1200-1400. If you want to try this method, I would recommend adding 300-400 calories a day and see if it helps. Give it some time to really see if it has an effect. I'm 5'2" and it told me to eat 1800+ calories a day. I usually eat about 1500-1600 a day. Let me tell you, I'm way more satisfied, I don't feel deprived (I'm eating healthily, not junk!) and I'm steadily losing 1-1.5 pounds a week. It works.

2BeHealthy4Life

1.Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) quantifies the number of calories your body burns in its idle state such as sleeping.


2.TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) quantifies the number of calories you burn in a day. This measure is best estimated by scaling your Basal Metabolic Rate to your level of activity. TDEE is critical in tailoring your nutrition plan to desired fitness goals.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS GO TO THE GROUP "" EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS '''

MFP pal Anewlucia started the group EAT MORE TO WEIGH LESS ....I copied and pasted this information below from one of her threads that may helpful.

What is BMR?
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed all day!

What is TDEE?
TDEE is the common abbreviation for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is a metric to calculate the amount of calories your body needs to function in a day. This is quite similar to BMR; in fact, you need your BMR to calculate your TDEE; but your TDEE accounts for your average daily activity as well to give a figure truer to your specific situation. Basically, the TDEE calculation relies on categorizing your daily activity into one of the metrics' predetermined groupings:

Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk (****SIDE NOTE - even if you have a desk job most people fit right here when you workout 3-5 days a week)
Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training
Once you have determined where you fit in on the TDEE activity rate scale, this activity rate is used to weight your BMR giving you a more accurate assessment of how many calories you really need throughout the course of the day.

Here is a link to a site that you plug in your information and it will provide your BMR and TDEE along with your Cut value (again, if you workout 3-5 times a week select "Moderate" and the "Select Your Goal" option you will select is "Lose Fat - 15% caloric reduction.

You can get your bmr and tdee number from here :http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators

So now, you should have your BMR, TDEE, and Cut Value (TDEE - 15%)

Here is a video that talks about this in great detail that hopefully will clear up any questions you may have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYi9xjIRvbY&feature=g-all-u

If TDEE is figured out correctly, then exercise cals don't *have* to be eaten back because, technically, TDEE figures them in. The underlying factor here, is that most people underestimate their activity levels, (for fear of being told to eat "too much") and then proceed to under eat. If a person is burning 1000 cals/day in exercise, then that should be figured into their TDEE, meaning their TDEE should be AT LEAST 1000 cals more than their BMR. If this is not the case then they are undercutting themselves on the cals. So a person w/a BMR of 1300, that puts up 1000 cal burns should have come up w/a TDEE calculation of 2400 or more. So any situation where a person is not getting those calculations, they should be eating back some of those exercise cals.

So if you come up w/BMR=1300, TDEE=1800, you need to either A)eat back some cals, or recalculate your TDEE to include the *actual* burns that you're getting.

So to cut using *true* TDEE figures, you'd just eat a flat TDEE (-15%), as long as TDEE is correct. It should be fine. But if you are using MFP's calculations, or are not getting a TDEE that includes the amount you burn each day *plus* BMR, you need to eat back some exercise cals.

auntiebabs

Thanks so much for all of your help. So if I'm 5'8 and weigh 146 my BMI is 22.2. How many calories must I eat based on that? (Hope that makes sense, it really can be overwhelming trying to figure out all these numbers).

You are already smack dab in the middle of the healthy weight range for your height.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I'm guessing you get about 1600 cal a day to maintain and 1350 to lose 1/2 lb a week)

Anything you want to lose now comes down to a few vanity pounds and that's okay. Just be smart and don't jeopardize you health over it. Realize that the closer you get to your goal the slower you will lose, but the slower you lose the more likely you are to keep it off. Keep your goals sustainable. Losing too much and gaining back starts an unhealthy cycle.

I'm 5' 7" and did lose 1 lb a week for the first 15 lb (175 -160) when my MFP target got to 1200 cal per day...
I switched to lose 1/2 lb per week. (160-150)
When I got to 5 lbs away from my goal everytime I lost a pound I added 100 calories to my MFP target

So that by the time I reached my goal weight I would be eating just below maintenance. and I'd have a little wiggle room to tweak things if I needed. I'd start to learn what "normal" feels like I expect to keep track for a year or so. I still haven't internalized what the correct amount of food feels like yet.

Good luck and eat healthy!

EDIT: Just went back and saw that you've lost 6 lbs in 8 weeks. That's more than 1/2 lb a week. So you are ahead of the game. Considering that you don't have much to lose I wouldn't go for more than 1/2 lb a week.

michellekicks

Yep. Eat more.

xxxemaxxx

What you have written sounds EXACTLY like me so i'm interested in the comments too :-)

Ragel27

Ive just totally confused myself by looking up my bmr & tdee & now dont have a clue how many calories to eat.

Mfp has me set to eat 1330 calories a day-i want to lose 1lb a week & have my activity level set to sedentary,just incase i dont get round to exercising.

Im 35yrs old,5'8 & currently weight 158lbs,aiming for 150lbs.

Although ive lost 9lbs since joining,there are weeks i havent lost & sometimes it takes more than week to lose 1lb,even though ive stuck to my calories all week.

According to fat 2 fit radio,my bmr is 1497 & at sedentary,i should be eating 1756 or 2012 if i exercise 1-3 times a week.

According to fitnessfrog,my tdee is 1789 with no exercise & 2050 if i exercise 2-3 times a week.

So,sorry if i sound dumb,but exactly how many calories should i eat a day,to lose 1lb a week-as my brain has turned to mush haha.

Any help greatly appreciated-thank you

Oh,i do tend to exercise at least twice a week,using Exerbeat on the wii-usually burning over 400 calories a time,which i do sometimes eat back half,but it does scare me as dont know how accurate the calorie burn is.

stickybass

i have had the same problem! im always worried that i put all the effort in to exercising that i waste it by eating more. only lost 1.5kg so far so i will give it a try to.

Savannah80

So I've changed my calorie intake because of this thread and instead of eating 1100kcal - 1300kcal, I've been eating 1500kcal - 1800kcal. With exercise I'm averaging about 1550kcal for the last three days. I'll weight myself later and see if it's helped my weight loss. I may cry if I get onthe scales and find I've put weight on.

ironanimal

So I've changed my calorie intake because of this thread and instead of eating 1100kcal - 1300kcal, I've been eating 1500kcal - 1800kcal. With exercise I'm averaging about 1550kcal for the last three days. I'll weight myself later and see if it's helped my weight loss. I may cry if I get onthe scales and find I've put weight on.

Well, you haven't done your research then. You will gain some initial weight in water and glycogen.

Givemewings

Hi, this is a very common problem. Look up previous posts, you will see this question has come up ALOT and ppl have provided very detailed answers. In basic, 1200 calories is generally way too low, you need to eat more. And you MUST eat back your exercise calories.

This....you need to eat back the exercise calories or at least some of them. Good luck with it!

Warley_x

I have been on the 1200 cals a day for over 8 months and I exercise and eat back my exercise cals most days.

No matter what people tell you 1200 cals can give you a lot of food.

I don`t miss out on any of my `treats`

Before anyone jumps on my post MFP still gives me 1200 cals a day 5ft 4" 140lbs to maintain.

I too am on 1200kcals a day, often I come in below it ( av 1000kcals) and i'm loosing weight. I agree with what the quoted lady has put, I never miss out on treats (small ones!) and I too am 5'4.

However, i'm not exercising much - if you are i'd advise you to up your kcal intake slightly (not massively). If I exercised more i'd need to increase my kcal intake to make up for what energy i'm lacking by eating too few kcals.

BerryH

My saving grace was giving myself a range...

ROCK BOTTOM: 1200 Calories Net
TARGET: MFP lose 1 lb a week until that got to 1200 cal then switch to lose 1/2 lb a week
TOP of RANGE: Goal Weight Maintenance Calories

As long as I keep in that range I'll continue to lose weight....

^^^ This is great advice. No need to get complex and plug in your own numbers and determine your TDEE then not record your exercise calories as they're already included etc. etc.

Just use MFP as designed. Record your exercise calories and eat back most of them. It's worked for me and dozens of my friends. There is no "1200 calorie diet".

basillowe66

HI, Did you eat a lot before going on the diet? If you are on 1200 cal a day, it depends on how much you are cutting your intake. It does take a few weeks to start losing and then it is fairly consistant . Are you doing any kind of excersize? Cutting your calories and increasing your pysical activity will cause a weight loss. But how fast depends on how drastic of a decrease in your calorie intake!!

Best of luck!!!

Basil

annams76

I was in the same situation and I had to up my calorie intake and chnage up my workout routine. Good luck