1500 vs 1200

fitnwhole

Some calorie counting sites say that I need 1500 some say 1200. Now I'm putting in the same info and have to wonder which is more accurate. Of course I'm hoping for the 1500 calorie recommendation

I'm not in any rush to lose the weight (that has been my mistake over the years). My goal is to lose 40lbs slowly about 1 lb a week. I'm 5'3 and 174lbs (yikes!!). I'm more comfortable or should I say sated when I eat 1500 calories. I just don't want to be at a standstill.

Anyone out in MFPville experience the same thing? Have you found success eating 1500 calories?

harebearva

The idea is that ALL calorie counting calculators are designed to give you a starting point to which you will adjust after a few weeks to acheive your goals. If 1500 doesn't yield weight loss for example, then drop your calories 10% and see how that goes for a couple weeks. Just have to get dialed in on your personal macros through trial and error. Hope this helps

DanaDark

I'd go with 1500. Seems like a very safe bet.

As a guy of similar height, and sadly probably much less muscle (poor dieting and exercise habits over the years have really messed up my lean body mass), I plan to go 1600 a day when I start losing weight again.

1985ldm

hi, im 5' 2.5" and weigh 174 pounds too! (down from 189 so far...) i tend to aim to net 1200 or lower, always eat at least 1200 that way if i slip up its ok and i dont feel too bad; also i usually have a couple days a week where i eat nearer maintenance cals. if you eat the same everyday i would say 1400, thats probably what mine balances out to over the week. you could try 1500, then reduce to 1400 for a couple weeks, see how it goes. also depends how much exercise you do.

i have found that when ive been completely honest with logging on mfp, mfp has always got it right for me, so i would go with what mfp says. also, once i had lost about 10 pounds it reduced the calories i could eat each day to lose a pound a week, which made sense and is accurate. saying that, if you eat lots of fatty foods, you will probably lose less weight than by eating the same calories healthily.

my first week trying towards 1200 was hard, but ive found that exercising and keeping busy helps! also having healthy snacks makes a difference in terms of calories - swapping biscuits for carrot sticks at lunch/during the day helped. had more energy/less sugar crashing!

hope this helps!

3dogsrunning

One thing that is important to note - MFP is set up differently than most sites in that it does not account for exercise unless you log it in. Then it tells you to eat those calories back. Most other sites include exercise in the calorie equation so you don't eat them back.
So if you are following MFP and doing, say a 300 calories workout per day, you would be eating 1500 calories a day.

Or if you were doing 1200 calories per day, exercising 4 times a week burning 400 calories, and eating them back, you would roughy average just under 1500 calories per day.

It's basically two different formulas that get you to pretty much the same place.

PikaKnight

Give this a read. Depending on your lifestyle, weight loss goals, etc - 1500 might not be enough.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

This will help you figure out your TDEE

fitnwhole

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'm going to work with1200-1300 calories and whatever workouts I do I will add the calories and use them IF I'm hungry.

oggydude

Definitely try the 1200, but do a 300 calorie workout to allow you to eat 1500, I weighed 210 and am 6ft and ate 1800 calories but also carried out a 300 calorie workout and am now 175lb, so it does work but you need to make sure you're honest with the portion sizes you eat, its very easy to believe that 1 portion on mfp is the same amount as your portion (which definitely wasn't for me) especially when you cannot be bothered to exercise a particular day.

lambchoplewis

I am also 5'2" and cannot believe how fast 1200 calories adds up even on veggies and protein. Example - 6 oz salmon is 350 - 400 calories!!! WOW!!! I also have been looking at veggies - carrots are high in calories even if they are "good" calories.

I use the food and exercise diary to keep track of things I put in my mouth!!! I started to weigh myself in morning at same time everyday - never did this before but... find it an interesting motivation technique as I question things I eat because I will face the scale in morning.

BUT... you will swing 4-5 lbs depending on water weight etc so don't get discourages when you gain 3 lbs overnight!!!

98118

I aim for 1200 and have been lazy on the exercise. I've been averaging about 2.25 lbs per week.

fitnwhole

Wow! That just shows that it's 80% diet because I use to go to the gym and burn like 500-700 calories just to go home and not track what I ate. Guess what? I didn't lose a pound!!!

psuLemon

You are better off starting higher.. Because if you can lose on 1500 why would you want to eat less. Just because your calorie deficit is higher, doesn't mean more weight loss. BTW, as a reference point, every women I have helped is losing at 1700-2000 calories. The bigger difference is, they are minimize or eliminate muscle loss which will be more prevalent at 1200 calories. Muscle is what makes a body tight and lean. You would need to lose less weight if you have more muscle as demonstrated by the thread below. Also, if you aren't weight training (and I mean heavy weights) then you should start. It preserves muscle and cuts fat faster.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo?hl=skinny+fat

rubyjune27

I started with 1500, I was just to hungry on 1200. I didn't bother with trying to adjust for exercise calories as that was just to confusing. I lost over 30lbs at 1lb a week. For health reasons in August I started 5:2 which means on 2 days I only eat 500 cals but I also upped my cals on 2 days to 1700. That averages out at 1250.

lizziebeth1028

1200 is generally too low for most people. You want to pick a number above your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and below your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). 1500 is an awesome place to start. Slow and steady wins the race!

pianolover2012

So for the first four weeks I did 1700 a day because I was starving. This week, I started exercising and also lowered my calorie intake to 1500. I usually end up with about 300 calories left over in the day. I guess that I could lower the calories to 1200, but there is something psychologically that helps me get through knowing that I have some room to play with the calories. Some days I feel that I need those extra, some days I don't. I have lost about 4.5 in four weeks. Steady but slow (which I think is best).

cwolfman13

20% of TDEE works. I don't know what your TDEE is so I'm not sure if that number is closer to 1,200 or 1,500...my guess is closer to 1,500. I find that, for most, a 1,200 calory diet is unsastainable...I've seen a lot of miserable MFPers doing the 1,200 calorie thing, and I just think it's completely unnecessary in most cases.

secretlobster

You are very unlikely to do anything but lose weight if you eat either 1200 or 1500. So why not go with 1500?

taso42

fair chance the 1500 is based on TDEE alone, and the 1200 is from MFP which expects you to add back in exercise. if you do roughly 300 cals worth of exercise a day, then they're equivalent.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

twinketta

I went with the eat 1200 a day + exercise and lost 42lbs. eta for 1 year

I have maintained at the MFP goal of 1570 and exercise for over 6 months.

lyndabyh

I started on 1200 and was hungry or over , very rarely hit 1200 without being hungry still. I upped it to 1300 but was still having problems Now I'm at 1400 and eat back exercise calories but not all of them ( well not every time). I've been.steadily losing since I upped my calories. It hasn't been a fast loss but 5 lb in 3 weeks ( so just over 1.5 lbs a week) which is more than enough for me. I'd go with the higher number for a few weeks and see how it goes then slowly adjust doww. Good luck

themedalist

For my first month or so on MFP I ate 1200 cals a day and lost about a pound a week. After reading a lot on MFP, I upped my calories to 1600/day. I then lost 1.5 pounds a week consistently for about 6 months. It's worth taking the time to find the optimal calories that works best for you.