Adjusting your own calorie goal?

RitaSantoss
RitaSantoss Posts: 986 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Since I always seem to eat over the calorie goal that MFP sets for me, even with exercise, I've been thinking about setting my own goal. Is that something I shouldn't do, because of the fact that the calories I ingest might not be the adequate amount in concern with my weight and height? My set goal is 1340 calories while I'm at 69 kg and 5'5'' in height, but I want to go up to 1600.
Thoughts about this?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,449 Member
    Do it. If you are having trouble staying in the guidelines, you may have set your weight loss goal too aggressively. 1340 is really really low - and unless you are very overweight or extremely short and sitting all day, that's not enough.
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
    i set mine up to net my BMR (1430) and i eat back my exercise calories as well, i lose weight on this. try it for a few weeks :-)
  • MeeshKB
    MeeshKB Posts: 120 Member
    What weight loss goal did you set when you joined? 2 lbs a week? 1.5 lbs? 1? I would recommend just changing that to a slightly lower number (just slowing down the process a bit). That will bring your cals per day up.
  • RitaSantoss
    RitaSantoss Posts: 986 Member
    What weight loss goal did you set when you joined? 2 lbs a week? 1.5 lbs? 1? I would recommend just changing that to a slightly lower number (just slowing down the process a bit). That will bring your cals per day up.

    I chose the advised one that is 0.5 lbs a week.
  • StarvingDiva
    StarvingDiva Posts: 1,107 Member
    My initial goals set by MFP was 1200 calories, the days that I ate over that I lost, the days that I ate just 1200 I always maintained, it was so frustrating to me, so I worked out my information with another website and upped my calories, currently I'm eating 1744 on exercise days and 1348 on my rest days and I'm consistently losing every week.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    What weight loss goal did you set when you joined? 2 lbs a week? 1.5 lbs? 1? I would recommend just changing that to a slightly lower number (just slowing down the process a bit). That will bring your cals per day up.

    I chose the advised one that is 0.5 lbs a week.

    Hmm, if you are set at 0.5 lbs/week, raising your calories to 1600 would have you maintaining or slightly over. If you want to lose weight, you're going to need to figure out how to eat at at least a small deficit.

    If you chose 1lb/week (which is the advised one), setting yourself to half a pound/week would give you very close to 1600.
  • ChappyEight
    ChappyEight Posts: 163 Member
    Absolutely. Move to 1600 per day and don't look back. You'll feel fuller, but more importantly, you'll be eating above your BMR but with a 15% cut, so you'll still lose weight.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • alexis831
    alexis831 Posts: 469 Member
    I am guessing at your age but to maintain your current weight you should be eating 1811 calories a day. So eat 500 less then that which is 1311 and you should be set. So if you choose to exercise, eat those calories back. That will put you at a 1lb loss a week. You can do the .5 loss a week however you might get discourage at how slow it is coming off. But that is totally up to you!

    http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-women
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Give it a try. If you find you can't lose, you can always lower it again. I have changed the calorie goal and have found that although MFP estimates that I will lose about 0.3 lb a week, I'm still losing at least 0.5. The estimations for BMR and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) are just that - estimations, so it doesn't hurt to experiment a bit and find the level that suits you.
  • curvyvegan
    curvyvegan Posts: 80 Member
    I think 1600 calories is a reasonable number for weight loss for just about any woman. You should still be able to lose weight at that rate. What is your activity level set at? You could always bump that up a level or two in the system.

    But yes, it's totally okay to set your own custom calorie goal, then adjust as needed after a couple of weeks once you see how it works out toward your weight goals.
  • BarbACona
    BarbACona Posts: 76
    My calorie goal is the same as yours,1,340. I am 5' 7 1/2" however. I started out in April at 182.5 lbs. I am now at 159 lbs. and still working toward my goal. I am constantly asked by MFP after each weigh-in, if I want to recalculate my calorie mark since I have lost more than 10 lbs. When I click yes it doesn't do anything as far as reclaculating so I have no idea what I might be doing wrong or if I even am. Is it MFP's issue? So I have stuck with the original caloric setting throughout. I almost always end my day with extra calories that I have earned left over, and I am not eating them back. I wish you good luck.

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