Need to go lower than MFP calorie recommendation?

sed1217

Hi, I'm pretty new and I'm still getting used to counting calories and balancing my diet, though I've been doing pretty well overall. MFP has told me that for my height and weight I should be eating 1900 cal/day to achieve 1 pound of weight loss per week. In practice, I tend to eat in the 1600 - 1700 cal/day range and try for on average 200 - 300 cal in exercise each day (I know the estimates are rough on here, but I try for at least 30 min of intense exercise or 45 min of less intense exercise per day). Generally, at the end of the day, I have somewhere between 450 - 600 cal extra built up.

My question is whether this will yield productive results. I read the success stories and it seems like the amount of calories I'm eating is high. A lot of individuals eat between 1200 - 1400 cal/day and exercise way more than I do (I'm working on building up my stamina to hour-long workouts). I would like to see noticeable results but I'm concerned that I'm doing to little. I'd love some insight from more experienced members!

A bit about me - I'm 5'9", 252.5 pounds, goal is to lose 100. My bmr is around 2400 calories per day now.

steph1278

I am 5'11" and currently weigh 235 pounds. I have a body media fit and generally average a burn of 3000 calories per day including exercise. I tend to eat around 2000 calories, give or take a few hundred. It has worked for me so far. There is no way I would stick to a 1200 calorie per day plan. I like food too much. But everyone is different. That bmr seems awful high. Mine is 1890 something according to the calculator here. Are you confusing that with tdee?

SanyamKaushik

Good that you picked up this topic...
First, a lot of people are eating like 1200-1400 cals because a) they want to loose more, like 2 lbs / weeks b), their weigh is already slightly lower. As you will reduce the weight, you will see that MFP will continuously keep on decreasing your calories quota :explode:

Second, I have seen for myself too that If I eat what MFP tells me, my weight loss is less than what MFP predicts. I have to create a larger deficit to achieve the results on a weekly basis. Its hard to live on what MFP recommends as in calories intake for me, so I have to exercise to gain some calories.

Hope this helps.

TChester_05

That bmr seems awful high. Mine is 1890 something according to the calculator here. Are you confusing that with tdee?

I'm thankful for this post as I'm confused a little too. Speaking of confusion what is ^^^^^ this??

freckled_lady

Your BMR is your Basic Metabolic Rate: how many calories your body burns just being alive.

cupotea

I'm intrigued by this as well, my husband thought my calorie goal sounded too low at approx. 1500 per day and I was just maintaining, so I decided to review it and upped my activity levels and I'm now on just over 1700 cals a day. I'm exercising more now and walk everywhere anyway (can't drive) so my activity level is definitely quite high. I'm going to give it a couple of weeks and see how it works for me.

secretgirl4611

That bmr seems awful high. Mine is 1890 something according to the calculator here. Are you confusing that with tdee?

I'm thankful for this post as I'm confused a little too. Speaking of confusion what is ^^^^^ this??

^ TDEE= TOTAL DAILY EXPENDITURE the amount of calories your body burns thru exercise.. google it
Best thing to do is find your BMR and NEVER EAT BELOW THAT AND OR ALWAYS "NET" IT.
THEN FIND YOU TDEE AND ONCE YOU HAVE THAT # MINUS 500 TO CREATE A DEFICIT TO LOSE A POUND PER WK
LIKE FOR EXAMPLE: MY BMR: 1,428 I never eat under that
My TDEE: between 2199-2447 DEPENDING ON IF I WORKOUT HEAVY OR MODERATE WHICH I DO BOTH.
WOULD THEN WANT ME TO EAT AROUND 1600-1900 CALORIES PER DAY EXERCISE OR NOT TO LOSE WEIGHT..

HERES A GOOD LINK:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

sed1217

Oh yes, thank you for the correction! I was thinking of TDEE rather than BMR. My BMR is 1919.6.