Calories per day question

nitaot

Hello everyone, my first post here! So if this is somewhere else and I missed it, I apologize!

Reading an awesome weight-loss book by Bob Harper, but he recommends at least 1500 calories per day on his program, and lots more protein than the guidelines here on the food tracker.

What thoughts/experience does everyone have with this?

Anita

trish407

I have to have more protein than mfp suggests. I try for at least 60g.

tweakz20

1500 is the standard diet with approximate 1 lb/week loss. A lot of people do go lower, but you need to be careful of proper nutrition. Protein limits on here are set very low, don't worry about going over it. If you're exercising, you should be eating like 0.8-1.8 grams per kg to prevent muscle breakin down post workout.

Twiztedbeing

agree. Protein here is off, they are not worried about you gaining muscle, they just look at you losing weight, and I believe those standards are set up that way.

wonderkitten711

I eat well over 1500 calories a day and shoot for 25-30% of my calories each day from protein, which is well over 100g/day. I've found I do poorly both for energy levels and weight/fat loss if I don't get a lot of protein in my diet. I'm sure the default settings on MFP for protein work for some people, but they definitely don't for me. Weight loss is trial and error in my opinion anyway, you have to find what works for you.

Twiztedbeing

The one thing I hear about protein is that it is slow to digest, and that high protein can help weight loss as well. Every pound of muscle burns extra calories every hour. So keeping your muscles is also important for that reason. One reason why weight training is very important.

Twiztedbeing

I eat well over 1500 calories a day and shoot for 25-30% of my calories each day from protein, which is well over 100g/day. I've found I do poorly both for energy levels and weight/fat loss if I don't get a lot of protein in my diet. I'm sure the default settings on MFP for protein work for some people, but they definitely don't for me. Weight loss is trial and error in my opinion anyway, you have to find what works for you.

How does that whole protein thing work. You say you shoot for 25-30% of calories from protein. My calories is 2k, so that would mean 25-30% would be about 500g or more? I have seen lots of people saying what you stated but I guess I do not comprehend the understanding.

bigbrownbear123

How does that whole protein thing work. You say you shoot for 25-30% of calories from protein. My calories is 2k, so that would mean 25-30% would be about 500g or more? I have seen lots of people saying what you stated but I guess I do not comprehend the understanding.

1g of protein is 4kcal, not 1. So 25% of a 2000kcal diet would be 500/4 or 125g of protein.

Twiztedbeing

ok, that makes sense.