Calorie Calculator says to eat 1100 calories a day. OK??

kpkeri

I am really good about putting what I eat into MFP. I eat roughly 1200-1500 calories a day as is suggested and exercise 3-4 days a week and have lost no weight! I have been using MFP religiously for over 2 months now. Every once and awhile I will get on the scale and it will be down, but the next day its back up to 125-126. I recently started using http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ since a lot of members suggest it and, after calibrating, the site is suggesting I eat 1100 calories (while doing light exercise basing it off a BMR of 1070). People always freak out when anyone eats under 1200, warning of "starvation mode" and a stalled metabolism. Is 1100 healthy for me? Considering I am small in general and that 1200-1500 calories doesn't seem to be resulting in any weight loss. PLEASE HELP!

SweetCheekszx0

Eat until your full & then stop ... Screw the daily count... You can eat less one day then more the next.. Listen to your body n you'll b fine.. Go by your weekly goal instead n see how that works for you

Weebs628

1,100 seems kind of low. How tall are you? Your profile says that you're "skinny fat". Have you tried lifting weights?

katy_trail

It sounds like you need to be exercising more, and possibly being more careful. about your carbs.
It sounds like you are already close to goal weight, but eating and w.o like you are trying to maintain.
Are you doing strength training? That will also help with fat loss.

i agree with the above post, although, not everyone can do that.

mockchoc

What is your TDEE? Find that number out and eat 10% less than that since you don't really need to lose much if at all. You'd probably be best off doing weights since you say you are skinny fat and so mostly need to tighten up not get skinner.

chervil6

dont listen to other people , if you feel fine eating 1100 cals , go for it ..... were all made the same but we dont lose weight the same ... do whats right for you and take less notice of people on here , most aren't experts !!!

GypsySoul_74

before you reduce your intake by that much, i would probably try two things:

first, if you're not using a food scale, get one. use it religiously. it makes a HUGE difference in portions versus measuring cups/spoons or guesstimating. as awful as it sounds, you could just be underestimating the calories you're eating on a typical day. and i know it sounds silly, but make sure you're logging EVERYTHING. little bites while cooking or serving food, anything you eat off of someone else's plate, hard candies or anything you eat in passing. it still counts, even when it's small.

second, pick a calorie level (say, 1350) and stick with it consistently. although some people have luck with zigzagging calorie levels throughout the week, a lot of my female friends who are small like us have the best luck losing and maintaining by sticking to a set calorie level day after day.

if you're doing this super-consistently for 4-6 weeks and still not seeing changes, then i'd say either consider reducing calories by 50/day and reducing again once per week (or every other week) until you start seeing losses, or consider eating substantially more. there are good arguments out there for both camps.

for reference, most of my friends list is made up of petite girls with healthy eating and exercise habits, and the general calorie range for healthy, active petite girls runs from 1100/day to 1500/day. less than that is pushing starvation. more than that is quite frankly usually too much for women 100-120 pounds, unless their metabolism is insane.

best of luck! feel free to add me.

kdeaux1959

At 5'3" you are at the mid point of your IBW range (BMI=22)... If you were to get to 110, you would be at the lower end of your range (BMI-19 +/-)... My guess is that you have some body areas that are of concern to you. Might I suggest using weight training to become more fit within your weight class and not be that concerned about losing a few pounds. I bet that if were to implement weight training and build lean muscle mass then you would begin to find the build that you are looking for. 110 really may not be practical for you. That being said, I think people who are shorter (but 5'3" is not real short for a lady), may need to consume fewer than 1200 calories in a day on average but I would not do that EVERY day. However, as I said, I think if you can build muscle mass and reduce your body fat percentage a little bit you would better find what you are looking for... forget the scale. Best wishes on achieving your goal.

3dogsrunning

You didn't give us the information we need to answer the question. For some (not many) 1100 is just fine.
How tall are you?
How much do you weight? (ETA, sorry, I see that answer)
What is your goal weight?
How active are you? What kind of exercise are you doing?
What is your target loss per week?

I see you have pretty much already been eating that or less.

Like someone else above posted, how are you measuring? Are you honestly logging everything?

I am in the "eat" camp. I prefer to fuel my body and eat as much I as I can, and still lose or maintain (depending on what is going on). Aside from feeding your body, and being healthy, my other objection to cutting calories to rock bottom is you have no room left to go down. If I am at 1500 calories and losing, if I hit a plateau, I can drop another 100-200 calories and still be eating enough. When you start out at 1200 or lower, there isn't much room to move without sacraficing what is healthy.

3dogsrunning

I can't figure how you are getting a BMR so low. I've played with the numbers and still am not getting such a low BMR for your weight of 126.

b1rdbones

you want to be careful about it, but if you switch up your calorie intake a lot (every day ish) it will keep your metabolism from stalling. just focus on eating really healthy for like a week to try it out. seriously kind of go overboard on the healthy. lots of fruits veggies water, go all out. some peoples bodies just dont respond unless its more extreme like that. (just make sure you're still getting a healthy amount of calories every day) oh, and also drinking green tea will boost your metabolism

Sarauk2sf

Where are you getting those numbers - I put your stats in and get higher. Did you pick the highest % at 25% as that is the only way I can see you getting to 1,100? You should only be on about a 10% off TDEE cut with the amount you have to lose which would put you at about 1,400 with light exercise to lose.

kpkeri

Thanks everyone for all the feedback! I used the scoobyworkshop.com accurate calorie calculator . I first used to calorie calculator to determine how many calories I should be eating a day for a weight loss of 3.4 pounds a month. It gave me 1500. I then calibrated it by eating the suggested amount for 30 days and, noticing no weight loss, it then gave me a calibration factor of -373. I then used the "World's most accurate calorie calculator" and, using the calibration factor (-373) and a 15% calorie reduction based on 3-5 week of moderate exercise and it gave me 1179 calories per day. Just to clarify:

Weight: 126
Height: 62.5"
Age: 26
GW: 110 (toned up really)
Target loss per week is 2 pounds.

I work out 3-5 times per week, usually running or doing the Insanity workouts. I appreciate the feedback about adding weight training. it seems like that is the consensus. As far as the calories go, I recognize I am short and don't weigh a lot. Any more feedback is appreciated! I don't want to starve myself and slow my metabolism, but I am really frustrated! I really do log everything!! As you can see, I recognize I certainly have some bad days (mostly on the weekends). Could this alone be causing me to not lose??

kpkeri

you want to be careful about it, but if you switch up your calorie intake a lot (every day ish) it will keep your metabolism from stalling. just focus on eating really healthy for like a week to try it out. seriously kind of go overboard on the healthy. lots of fruits veggies water, go all out. some peoples bodies just dont respond unless its more extreme like that. (just make sure you're still getting a healthy amount of calories every day) oh, and also drinking green tea will boost your metabolism

Thanks! Maybe its no so much the caloric number, rather the things I'm eating.

now_or_never13

Thanks everyone for all the feedback! I used the scoobyworkshop.com accurate calorie calculator . I first used to calorie calculator to determine how many calories I should be eating a day for a weight loss of 3.4 pounds a month. It gave me 1500. I then calibrated it by eating the suggested amount for 30 days and, noticing no weight loss, it then gave me a calibration factor of -373. I then used the "World's most accurate calorie calculator" and, using the calibration factor (-373) and a 15% calorie reduction based on 3-5 week of moderate exercise and it gave me 1179 calories per day. Just to clarify:

Weight: 126
Height: 62.5"
Age: 26
GW: 110 (toned up really)
Target loss per week is 2 pounds.

I work out 3-5 times per week, usually running or doing the Insanity workouts. I appreciate the feedback about adding weight training. it seems like that is the consensus. As far as the calories go, I recognize I am short and don't weigh a lot. Any more feedback is appreciated! I don't want to starve myself and slow my metabolism, but I am really frustrated! I really do log everything!! As you can see, I recognize I certainly have some bad days (mostly on the weekends). Could this alone be causing me to not lose??

2lbs per week of a goal is too high when you only want to lose 16 more pounds. Your weekly goal should be down to 0.5lbs per week.

If you want to tone up you need to not worry about what the scale says, eat more and lift heavy weights. That's the only way to do it.

Eating too little won't help you lose. The smaller you are the less you should lose per week to ensure it's coming from fat and not lean muscle. If you think you are skinny fat losing more weight won't tone you up... you need to lift heavy weights to do that.

Greenrun99

Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

kpkeri

Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

If that is the case then why do I gain when I eat more than 1600/day and maintain on 1300-1500/day? It seems like if I do what MFP tells me to do, I don't lose. I've been using MFP for months now and haven't lost a pound! There are just so many conflicting suggestions.

now_or_never13

Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

If that is the case then why do I gain when I eat more than 1600/day and maintain on 1300-1500/day? It seems like if I do what MFP tells me to do, I don't lose. I've been using MFP for months now and haven't lost a pound! There are just so many conflicting suggestions.

How long do you give it when you eat more? If you aren't giving it a few weeks you won't know if you will truly lose on higher calories. You need to give changes time to work and show results.

You need to eat more calories and lift heavy weights and stop looking at the scale. If you want to tone up you need to build muscle which will not show losses on the scale.

kpkeri

Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

If that is the case then why do I gain when I eat more than 1600/day and maintain on 1300-1500/day? It seems like if I do what MFP tells me to do, I don't lose. I've been using MFP for months now and haven't lost a pound! There are just so many conflicting suggestions.

How long do you give it when you eat more? If you aren't giving it a few weeks you won't know if you will truly lose on higher calories. You need to give changes time to work and show results.

You need to eat more calories and lift heavy weights and stop looking at the scale. If you want to tone up you need to build muscle which will not show losses on the scale.

I've been eating around 1300-1500 for about 3 months now and no change :-/ and have been working out 3-5 days a week for over a year now.

weird_me2

Looking over your diary, I saw some quick add calories and a couple of days of not logging at all. I also saw a lot of processed foods and food entries that can vary widely between brands, etc. Cookies jumped out at me. I don't have a problem with eating cookies or other sweets, but you have to make sure you are being accurate in what you are logging. One day you logged 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies as 300 calories and the next you logged a nestle toll house homemade chocolate chip cookie as 110. Did you make them yourself? If so, use the recipe builder. If not, weigh the ones you buy and use an appropriate entry. A cookie with only 110 calories is quite small! Even a 150 calorie cookie is pretty small by most bakery standards. My first suggestion, instead of cutting calories, is to make sure that you are weighing and measuring everything and logging it properly.

Maybe you are under reporting your calories and you are really eating closer to 2000 a day. Maybe you aren't. If you aren't weighing everything though, it can be hard to tell. I had 4 oz of cooked chicken breast on my salad today and it was a weighed portion. I've been weighing and measuring stuff for forever, but chicken I'd just been lax at guesstimating. It was less chicken than I thought it would be. Yeah, not a big deal because I was probably only off by about 35 calories, but still, a little here and a little there add up. I saw you had peanut butter a few times. Peanut butter is SO easy to understimate on. I've heard that most dieters can understimate their food intake by up to 30% per day, so weighing and measuring for a while may just help you start losing again. Doing that and eliminating most of your generic entries and tracking every single day may help you. One day of not tracking and being over by just 1000 calories can undo 2 or 3 days worth of work. When you don't have much to lose, it can really stall you.

geekpryncess

I am really good about putting what I eat into MFP. I eat roughly 1200-1500 calories a day as is suggested and exercise 3-4 days a week and have lost no weight! I have been using MFP religiously for over 2 months now. Every once and awhile I will get on the scale and it will be down, but the next day its back up to 125-126. I recently started using http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ since a lot of members suggest it and, after calibrating, the site is suggesting I eat 1100 calories (while doing light exercise basing it off a BMR of 1070). People always freak out when anyone eats under 1200, warning of "starvation mode" and a stalled metabolism. Is 1100 healthy for me? Considering I am small in general and that 1200-1500 calories doesn't seem to be resulting in any weight loss. PLEASE HELP!

I'm having the same issue. I know I have been fairly good at staying near my calorie goal, but not having much luck in losing, so I just manually adjusted my calories down. It's either one of two things - eat less calories, or do more exercise. I'm going to try to do a little of both.

deksgrl

Your undereating.. If your doing Insanity workouts and eating 1100 some odd calories.. and at your height thats just too small for your workouts..
Putting your numbers in you should be eating 1600-1800(if not a bit more) calories.. and if you want the lean look I would suggest starting a weight lifting program and moving away from the cardio.. its the best way your going to see that lean tone look, without added weights Insanity isn't going to get you there.

If that is the case then why do I gain when I eat more than 1600/day and maintain on 1300-1500/day? It seems like if I do what MFP tells me to do, I don't lose. I've been using MFP for months now and haven't lost a pound! There are just so many conflicting suggestions.

How many calories does MFP have you eating, and are you eating back exercise calories?

now_or_never13

Do you weigh and measure all your foods??? Select the proper entry in the database? Do you eat your exercise calories back? Do you get your burn amounts based on MFP numbers, HRM or the machines? Do you drink enough water? Limit your sodium? Get enough healthy fats in your diet? Get enough fibre? Etc?

KristyHumphrey

Looking over your diary, I saw some quick add calories and a couple of days of not logging at all. I also saw a lot of processed foods and food entries that can vary widely between brands, etc. Cookies jumped out at me. I don't have a problem with eating cookies or other sweets, but you have to make sure you are being accurate in what you are logging. One day you logged 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies as 300 calories and the next you logged a nestle toll house homemade chocolate chip cookie as 110. Did you make them yourself? If so, use the recipe builder. If not, weigh the ones you buy and use an appropriate entry. A cookie with only 110 calories is quite small! Even a 150 calorie cookie is pretty small by most bakery standards. My first suggestion, instead of cutting calories, is to make sure that you are weighing and measuring everything and logging it properly.

Maybe you are under reporting your calories and you are really eating closer to 2000 a day. Maybe you aren't. If you aren't weighing everything though, it can be hard to tell. I had 4 oz of cooked chicken breast on my salad today and it was a weighed portion. I've been weighing and measuring stuff for forever, but chicken I'd just been lax at guesstimating. It was less chicken than I thought it would be. Yeah, not a big deal because I was probably only off by about 35 calories, but still, a little here and a little there add up. I saw you had peanut butter a few times. Peanut butter is SO easy to understimate on. I've heard that most dieters can understimate their food intake by up to 30% per day, so weighing and measuring for a while may just help you start losing again. Doing that and eliminating most of your generic entries and tracking every single day may help you. One day of not tracking and being over by just 1000 calories can undo 2 or 3 days worth of work. When you don't have much to lose, it can really stall you.

Great Advice!

havingitall

I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight

kpkeri

Looking over your diary, I saw some quick add calories and a couple of days of not logging at all. I also saw a lot of processed foods and food entries that can vary widely between brands, etc. Cookies jumped out at me. I don't have a problem with eating cookies or other sweets, but you have to make sure you are being accurate in what you are logging. One day you logged 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies as 300 calories and the next you logged a nestle toll house homemade chocolate chip cookie as 110. Did you make them yourself? If so, use the recipe builder. If not, weigh the ones you buy and use an appropriate entry. A cookie with only 110 calories is quite small! Even a 150 calorie cookie is pretty small by most bakery standards. My first suggestion, instead of cutting calories, is to make sure that you are weighing and measuring everything and logging it properly.

Maybe you are under reporting your calories and you are really eating closer to 2000 a day. Maybe you aren't. If you aren't weighing everything though, it can be hard to tell. I had 4 oz of cooked chicken breast on my salad today and it was a weighed portion. I've been weighing and measuring stuff for forever, but chicken I'd just been lax at guesstimating. It was less chicken than I thought it would be. Yeah, not a big deal because I was probably only off by about 35 calories, but still, a little here and a little there add up. I saw you had peanut butter a few times. Peanut butter is SO easy to understimate on. I've heard that most dieters can understimate their food intake by up to 30% per day, so weighing and measuring for a while may just help you start losing again. Doing that and eliminating most of your generic entries and tracking every single day may help you. One day of not tracking and being over by just 1000 calories can undo 2 or 3 days worth of work. When you don't have much to lose, it can really stall you.

I have a food scale at home and weigh most everything I make while at home (most of my lunches and dinners). Some days I unexpectedly eat a cookie or cupcake at work and that is when I try to estimate the best I can, but obviously I can't weigh a cookie at work. I try to quick add when I don't know what I ate, especially with the holidays I haven't been as careful. But, as I said, I have been using MFP for 3 months and, with the exception of the holidays, I do log everything I eat. Thanks for the feedback! You're right, if I have a splurge meal on say, Friday or Saturday, then I might be eating an additional 1000-2000 calories. Even though its only one bad meal I guess it really does undo all the hard work from the week.

kpkeri

I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight

Yes, you're right. I eat out on the weekends and do enjoy wine on Fridays and Saturdays. Its helpful to have others look over my diary and point out issues. Is there any way to enjoy social drinking with friends and still lose weight?

havingitall

I looked at your food diary and see quite a few days of eating out and drinking wine...both are killers for losing weight.

Restauarnat and processed foods are generally higher in sodium. Wine plays havoc with my weight

Yes, you're right. I eat out on the weekends and do enjoy wine on Fridays and Saturdays. Its helpful to have others look over my diary and point out issues. Is there any way to enjoy social drinking with friends and still lose weight?

I struggle with this too as my friends and I all enjoy a glass or few of wine. You can try by alternating a large glass of water with each glass of wine. ( or so I have been told)

auddii

You can go out with friends if it fits in your calories for the day. Some people feel a splurge day is fine; it's kind of personal and depends on what works for you. What you are doing now is not working. That said, not going out with friends I think would suck (yes, I know you can hang out with friends and not eat, but a lot of times they do want to meet for dinner or drinks).

However, your goal weight seems an approximate and you say you want to tone up. I'd stop looking at the scale, start using a measuring tape, and start lifting heavy. Here's Staci's story, and if you notice she hit skinny fat then wanted to tone. She ended up weighing MORE than when she was skinny fat but was a smaller size and looks more toned.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

ETA: She also eats 3000-4000 calories a day to sustain her workouts.

newhabit

1200 would probably be the lowest i'd go unless i was under 5 feet tall. most people don't have that slow a metabolism.

jennbarrette

There is a chance you will actually stay the weight you are as you tone up, but look better and go down in clothing sizes. Maybe lose the scale for a few months and focus on toning exercises and follow MFP calories and see if you see any results?