1200 Net Calories?

ParanSkies

Hello,

After using the BMR calculator on MPF, it determined that I need 1255 calories a day so even if I eat the minimum of 1200 with no exercise, it pretty much amounts to a minuscule weight loss.

With that said, is it really that bad for me not to reach 1200 net calories then? For example, I burned 925 calories (I would guess a lower number would be more accurate since a lot of machines and websites tend to exaggerate) and then ate 1,589 calories with around a 500 caloric deficit. Is this acceptable? I ate when I was hungry and I felt fine the whole day.

I just don't understand how I can lose weight if my maintenance calories and the minimum amount are almost the same

phildawson75

The 1200 isnt a limit of everyones body and should be seen as an arbitrary number.

The real focus is basing your deficit as a percentage of your TDEE. The less someone weighs the less deficit is required to have the same impact ie 10% of a 2000 cal TDEE is 200 cals whilst on 1255 cals its a deficit of 125 cals.

If someone's goal is 1200 and they do 500 cals of additional exercise to their normal day then they should aim for 1700 cals that day to take it into consideration.

I guess without height and weight its hard to say but that said 1255 seems very small indeed for a TDEE. Is that based on a sedentary activity level and I guess a BMR of around 1004?

Edit:
I just read it again if MFP is saying 1255 is your BMR then your daily cals needed is probably ~1600 cals which is more realistic. So if you eat 1200 you'll be in a deficit of ~400 cals. You could eat 1400-1500 and still lose each week, if the amount your trying to lose is small its best to go down gradually.

The BMR is how much to just function your vital organs if you slept for 24 hours. You need to be adding on a multiplier to get the amount including your daily activity like moving about etc this is your TDEE.

jesz124

Your BMR is the minimum amount of cals you need to exist, what would keep you alive if you just lay around all day not doing anything. You need more than that on a daily basis. The figure you are looking for is your TDEE. This takes into account your daily activity and will give you a better idea of what to eat daily to maintain. To lose, minus around 20% from your TDEE.

joemafia

Don't concentrate on your calories only, avoid sugar is most important and dairies you will see the difference in one or two weeks.
Sometimes low calories food have high amount of sugar or the vise versus .

ParanSkies

The 1200 isnt a limit of everyones body and should be seen as an arbitrary number.

The real focus is basing your deficit as a percentage of your TDEE. The less someone weighs the less deficit is required to have the same impact ie 10% of a 2000 cal TDEE is 200 cals whilst on 1255 cals its a deficit of 125 cals.

If someone's goal is 1200 and they do 500 cals of additional exercise to their normal day then they should aim for 1700 cals that day to take it into consideration.

I guess without height and weight its hard to say but that said 1255 seems very small indeed for a TDEE. Is that based on a sedentary activity level and I guess a BMR of around 1004?

Edit:
I just read it again if MFP is saying 1255 is your BMR then your daily cals needed is probably ~1600 cals which is more realistic. So if you eat 1200 you'll be in a deficit of ~400 cals. You could eat 1400-1500 and still lose each week, if the amount your trying to lose is small its best to go down gradually.

The BMR is how much to just function your vital organs if you slept for 24 hours. You need to be adding on a multiplier to get the amount including your daily activity like moving about etc this is your TDEE.

Oh, I forgot to mention my height and weight! I am 4'10 and 129 pounds which is why my BMR is so small. Besides exercising (I'm actually upping my cardio starting this week because I have more tennis lessons as well as my usual gym time), I am extremely sedentary. I pretty much go to school, come home, and sit for the rest of the day if I'm not exercising. Would I still need 1600 to maintain my weight (assuming I'm not working out)? It just seems like such a large number to me considering how short I am.
I guess I'm pretty paranoid about the actual calories I burn, too. How off do you think MFP's calculations are? I think the elliptical should be fairly accurate because I put my weight in as 125 lbs on the machine instead of 129 but I'm not sure about things such as tennis lessons or swimming.

ParanSkies

Don't concentrate on your calories only, avoid sugar is most important and dairies you will see the difference in one or two weeks.
Sometimes low calories food have high amount of sugar or the vise versus .

The only added sugar I really get is from yogurt and kefir. Other than that, I get all my sugar from fruits!
I don't//can't drink plain milk because I'm lactose intolerant

ParanSkies

Your BMR is the minimum amount of cals you need to exist, what would keep you alive if you just lay around all day not doing anything. You need more than that on a daily basis. The figure you are looking for is your TDEE. This takes into account your daily activity and will give you a better idea of what to eat daily to maintain. To lose, minus around 20% from your TDEE.

I think i'm just so used to having the 1200 calories minimum mentality that eating my TDEE - 20% seems like so many calories x.x

susies1955

I am 5' 1/2" and weigh 129.5 right now. Anytime I want to lose weight I have to eat around 1,000 to 1,100 calories and walk/aerobic at least 15 minutes 5 days a week to lose.
MyFitnessPal says the same 1,200 for me and I just can't eat that much and lose. I watch the salt intake as that makes me gain if I have too much. Water is important too.
Susie in northern NY

phildawson75

The 1200 isnt a limit of everyones body and should be seen as an arbitrary number.

The real focus is basing your deficit as a percentage of your TDEE. The less someone weighs the less deficit is required to have the same impact ie 10% of a 2000 cal TDEE is 200 cals whilst on 1255 cals its a deficit of 125 cals.

If someone's goal is 1200 and they do 500 cals of additional exercise to their normal day then they should aim for 1700 cals that day to take it into consideration.

I guess without height and weight its hard to say but that said 1255 seems very small indeed for a TDEE. Is that based on a sedentary activity level and I guess a BMR of around 1004?

Edit:
I just read it again if MFP is saying 1255 is your BMR then your daily cals needed is probably ~1600 cals which is more realistic. So if you eat 1200 you'll be in a deficit of ~400 cals. You could eat 1400-1500 and still lose each week, if the amount your trying to lose is small its best to go down gradually.

The BMR is how much to just function your vital organs if you slept for 24 hours. You need to be adding on a multiplier to get the amount including your daily activity like moving about etc this is your TDEE.

Oh, I forgot to mention my height and weight! I am 4'10 and 129 pounds which is why my BMR is so small. Besides exercising (I'm actually upping my cardio starting this week because I have more tennis lessons as well as my usual gym time), I am extremely sedentary. I pretty much go to school, come home, and sit for the rest of the day if I'm not exercising. Would I still need 1600 to maintain my weight (assuming I'm not working out)? It just seems like such a large number to me considering how short I am.
I guess I'm pretty paranoid about the actual calories I burn, too. How off do you think MFP's calculations are? I think the elliptical should be fairly accurate because I put my weight in as 125 lbs on the machine instead of 129 but I'm not sure about things such as tennis lessons or swimming.

Taking your measurements into account and using the Fitness Frog calculator (http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html) it would seem to suggest that 1678 cals is roughly the amount you should eat if you wanted to maintain your current weight. This is based on little or no exercise. If you have a BMR of 1255 then its saying it estimates you'll be burning around 423 cals just by moving about each day. This seems about right, if you wanted to be really sure you could always invest in a monitor and wear it for a week and take an avg.

If we use that 1678 TDEE and take away 20% of it then that comes to a goal of (1678/100)*80 = 1342. A deficit of 336 cals.

I would suggest 1342 seems like a realistic goal. As long as you're tracking every cal you should be losing weight.

Regarding exercise I personally find MFP is overestimating, the only real way again is to wear a monitor to get a good idea.

On the days you do exercise like tennis you should be looking to eat a bit more. If you find it's ~500 cals are being used to play tennis you'll want to give your body them. So 1342+500 means you should be eating closer to 1800 that day. Try not to think you've earned an extra glass of wine etc if you don't eat them back. Your body will thank you if you use it before to give you energy or after to replace the lost energy from the activity.

Without a monitor take any recommend cals burnt online with a pinch of salt, although it may give a good indication its just obviously based on a constant pace whilst with most sports you have more intense bits where your body's working full pace and other bits like warming up wont be burning anywhere near the same.

A lot of people think they need to be exercising to lose weight whilst its really just sticking to a deficit, so there's no need to go crazy or get worried if you don't, the exercise just helps to look good naked.

If you try a month or so at 1342 cals and find you're not losing then it can either be some food is being under counted or your exercise is being over counted. A good target would be losing 1-1.5 lbs a week on avg if you're committed, but its never a constant amount so roughly 24-18 weeks to lose 24lbs.

Anyways hope that helps! Good luck

ParanSkies

Taking your measurements into account and using the Fitness Frog calculator (http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html) it would seem to suggest that 1678 cals is roughly the amount you should eat if you wanted to maintain your current weight. This is based on little or no exercise. If you have a BMR of 1255 then its saying it estimates you'll be burning around 423 cals just by moving about each day. This seems about right, if you wanted to be really sure you could always invest in a monitor and wear it for a week and take an avg.

If we use that 1678 TDEE and take away 20% of it then that comes to a goal of (1678/100)*80 = 1342. A deficit of 336 cals.

I would suggest 1342 seems like a realistic goal. As long as you're tracking every cal you should be losing weight.

Regarding exercise I personally find MFP is overestimating, the only real way again is to wear a monitor to get a good idea.

On the days you do exercise like tennis you should be looking to eat a bit more. If you find it's ~500 cals are being used to play tennis you'll want to give your body them. So 1342+500 means you should be eating closer to 1800 that day. Try not to think you've earned an extra glass of wine etc if you don't eat them back. Your body will thank you if you use it before to give you energy or after to replace the lost energy from the activity.

Without a monitor take any recommend cals burnt online with a pinch of salt, although it may give a good indication its just obviously based on a constant pace whilst with most sports you have more intense bits where your body's working full pace and other bits like warming up wont be burning anywhere near the same.

A lot of people think they need to be exercising to lose weight whilst its really just sticking to a deficit, so there's no need to go crazy or get worried if you don't, the exercise just helps to look good naked.

If you try a month or so at 1342 cals and find you're not losing then it can either be some food is being under counted or your exercise is being over counted. A good target would be losing 1-1.5 lbs a week on avg if you're committed, but its never a constant amount so roughly 24-18 weeks to lose 24lbs.

Anyways hope that helps! Good luck

Thank you so much for your help! I've decided to use this TDEE method instead of keeping track of exercise separately (although I will still count the calories burned because of what you said about eating more on certain days). I think I was looking to lose weight too quickly, but I'm definitely up to losing 24 pounds in 18-24 weeks!

phildawson75

No probs, I think the longer period of time the better. I found it really hard not to want it all gone instantly MFP may suggest a lower amount as you reach your goal as the less you weigh the less cals are needed. If you keep with exercising occasionally it'll help reduce any muscle loss and you'll feel and look awesome when you hit your target. Based on your deficit that's around 2352 less calories a week. It's always a rough amount because of so many variables. 3600 is very roughly 1 lb so (2352/3600)*100 = 65% so it should be over half a pound loss/week min. The key thing is remember its not a race and not to feel unhappy if you only find one week its the same or up. I'd recommend weighing on the same day each week at the same time, what you eat the day before can change the reading so as long as its a downward trend over the month it'll be cool. Also try not to think you need to cut any "bad" food completely, and a treat now and then is fine. It's all about moderation really and logging everything to meet your goal cals each day and get remaining close to zero. The more accurate the logging the easier it'll be to stay on track. If you stick with it and don't give up I'd say June-July is a good time to focus towards hitting your goal, just in time for summer!