advice, should I change my calorie settings?

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Erikalynne18
Erikalynne18 Posts: 555 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'6 and currently at 148 lbs, started at 165 lb (sept 2013) and joined MFP beginning of Nov, my goal weight is 130-135 lbs. MFP has worked awesome so far! However... I do find somedays the 1200 calorie suggestion just isn't enough. I work in fast food (one issue! lol) but although the food is fattening, the cardio from running around is high (I don't sit still). I now bring my lunch everyday, but on busy days I feel that 1200 is barely enough. The past week I have been waking up early extremely hungry :( I drink my water, I eat my apples, but still there are those days that I think "maybe I AM burning more than I think..." So I checked my settings and found that my goal was set to 2 lbs a week, which is pretty dead on since I lost almost 7lbs in December....

So my question is: should I mess with a good thing? I was thinking of changing it to a goal of 1 or 1.5 lb/wk. My ideal goal really is to loose weight in a healthy way so that I can maintain it in the long run.

Advice? :)

Replies

  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    I am 5'6 and currently at 148 lbs, started at 165 lb (sept 2013) and joined MFP beginning of Nov, my goal weight is 130-135 lbs. MFP has worked awesome so far! However... I do find somedays the 1200 calorie suggestion just isn't enough. I work in fast food (one issue! lol) but although the food is fattening, the cardio from running around is high (I don't sit still). I now bring my lunch everyday, but on busy days I feel that 1200 is barely enough. The past week I have been waking up early extremely hungry :( I drink my water, I eat my apples, but still there are those days that I think "maybe I AM burning more than I think..." So I checked my settings and found that my goal was set to 2 lbs a week, which is pretty dead on since I lost almost 7lbs in December....

    So my question is: should I mess with a good thing? I was thinking of changing it to a goal of 1 or 1.5 lb/wk. My ideal goal really is to loose weight in a healthy way so that I can maintain it in the long run.

    Advice? :)

    What do you have as your goal for bottom line number weight? We are about the same height weight so it may be prudent to change your goal to a half pound per week. As you get closer to your goal the steps should be smaller IYSWIM. Also, have you calculated your BMR and TDEE? Because that should tell you quite a bit about where you should be. For me BMR is around 1450 so I try never to eat below that.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    You should at the very least be netting 1200.

    So on days you work add x hours of walking to your exercise diary and then eat those extra calories so your net is 1200.
  • Nanook8
    Nanook8 Posts: 33 Member
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    There is absolutely nothing wrong with tweaking your numbers as long as you are comfortable with losing .5 -1 lbs a week rather than 2 lbs a week. Plus I have learned it helps to shake up your body as well. Adjust them up to around 1330-1400 for a couple of weeks and maybe add another 30 minutes of exercise.. Then go back down to maybe 1250 for a couple of weeks and see how it is working for you. As long as you are committed to losing weight, small adjustments are not a problem.
  • 9xuzts
    9xuzts Posts: 40
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    I know that personally I have to eat at least 1500 calories a day to feel okay... I have very similar starting weight/goals as you so I'm assuming we'd be pretty similar. Since I just can't seem to manage eating less than that I have mine set to lose 1lb per week...this works pretty well for me and I get to eat even more calories when I log exercise. I know for a fact that I would just give up if I were eating 1200 calories and feeling hungry. This isn't about losing weight fast for me, but about being healthier and doing something manageable that I can keep up in the long run.
  • Erikalynne18
    Erikalynne18 Posts: 555 Member
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    Well my goal is to be @ 130 lbs (which I was at once before after an intense summer cadet course), so I know my body can do it! I'm thinking of adjusting the goal on MFP to 1.5 lb/wk and see how that works out for a few weeks :) And then I can reasses as I progress.

    I checked other sites and just calculated my BMR as well as my daily calorie needs based on the Harris Benedict equation... and as I suspected 1200 is definately too low lol. It's working for weight loss, but at this stage I only have 18 lbs left till my goal so I can slow down a bit I think :) Not stop, just slow it.

    Thanks for the advice guys, truley appreciate it! :) Feel free to send me a friend invite

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