success stories from 1200 calorie dieters wanted

SteveJWatson

I think it's awesome that it's working for you... but you don't have 100lbs to lose like the person in the post you're quoting. According to your ticker, your goal was less than 20. Some of us are facing 5x that goal or more. I've been directed to the eatmore2weighless site whose logo is in your ticker more times than I can count and it honestly disturbs me that people take this site as fact. The "facts" are that the 2 women that run that site aren't medical or fitness professionals, they have zero credentials.

Women athletes burn more calories because they have more muscle mass and burn more throughout the day, so they can maintain their weight with much higher calorie intakes. Obese people that need to lose large amounts of weight have different needs than someone who just needs to lose 20lbs, and they shouldn't be constantly attacked for "eating too little" because of it. Not attacking you personally, just sick of seeing this EM2WL propaganda and its formula promoted as gospel all over the forums when it's truly not a formula that is one size fits all.

1. Those two women ARE fitness professionals.

2. Just because my ticker says that doesn't mean that I started at a much higher weight before I joined MFP. You don't know what my journey has been.

3. People with lots of weight to lose actually need to eat much more to start. A 5'7" female at 250lb actually has a caloric need of 3300 calories per day. Three times what most of you are eating.


The point is that you all are pulling 1200 out of thin air without calculating how much you need to maintain muscle mass and your activity level and your goals.

The point is NOT how much an athlete eats or how much the people on EM2WL eat..... the point is that they're informed and you're not. They take time to read the information and make well-informed decisions. They're calculating their needs for their activity and their goals. And voila, they're being successful.

At my highest weight of 237, and 5'6", I NEVER ate anywhere near 3300 cals per day. I think this is one of the biggest myths for some people that assume that obese people eat tons of calories. At 237, I was maintaining around 1800 a day. At my fittest and most active time of life, when I was 30, working an extremely physical job and lifting weights 3 days a week, I maintained around 2500. What a lot of people don't realize is that BF% makes a huge difference in your metabolism. A 250 pound weight lifter needs considerably more calories than a 250 pound sedentary middle aged woman with a BF% of 60%.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

TDEE is for maintaining weight. My TDEE is around 2300 calories....if I did that I would actually gain weight at my normal activity level. I am a stay-at-home-mom so the only strenuous activity for me is laundry and mopping (before working out).

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my body. I eat when I need to instead of when I want to and I eat whole real food (processed food makes me hungry and weak). I find I only eat back 200-400 of those calories back. I feel fine now. Will my need for calories increase as my muscle to fat ratio increases? Well of course it will! IT TAKES MORE TO FUEL MUSCLES THAN FAT! Right now I have more muscles than fat and need less.

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

You can choose to include your exercise calories in your TDEE or eat them back. For example - I chose the 'active' setting in MFP, because I work outdoors, and this gives me a calorie allowance based on that and DOES NOT include any exercise I do - I verified this using scoobies, it is almost the same as the TDEE of someone who is sedentary and does a few hours of gentle exercise a week. Although, I understand this setting doesn't suit most because most seem to have sedentary jobs in here.

If you were sedentary (desk job etc), you can choose this setting on MFP or on scoobies use 'lose weight - no excercise' to verify it is correct. MFP then calculates a 20% under your TDEE, so that you lose weight BEFORE you take exercise, therefore when you exercise, if you eat the calories back you are still maintaining a 20% reduction in the number of cals your body uses in any given day.

sccobies is here, by the way:http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

MstngSammy

I am 69 years old.

You really can't compare your caloric needs to the 25 year olds on here. They need to eat more than you do.

Women over 40 (and especially over 50) -- Please come join this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/9239-the-ladies-who-lunch

No skinny teenagers or bulky body-builders... just real women "of an age" who know ourselves and our bodies, have been through childbirth and/or menopause, enjoy real food, and will never, ever spend 1 or 2, let alone 5 or 6 hours a day in the gym. We have real lives, real jobs, real families, we know who we are, we have a sense of humor about that (by the way), and we're willing to share what we're learning (without judgment) with each other.

And wine. There's always room for wine.

So maybe you didn't mean it to come out that way, but i find your comment incredibly offensive, because you appear to have the idea that anyone who doesn't fit your definition isn't a "real" woman. That's such an oppositional view of things. I like the gym, and I have to eat more than 1200 calories or I get sick. That does not make me, or anyone like me, not "real". So it's a bit ironic you talk about "no judgement" in your closing.

She means the average woman. Average women over 40.

But, the average woman over 40 has bone loss and too much fat. The "real woman" label was a tad offensive but easily ignored. But I believe that as we women age - I am a perimenopausal woman fast approaching 52 yo - exercise becomes even more important than it was at a younger age. Gym or no gym doesn't matter, but a regular exercise routine that includes aerobic, strength and flexibilty training is the best way to keep your bone and muscle, without keeping too much fat.

I am a real woman - full time desk job, husband, daughters, grandkids, aging parents, etc., I make time for my workout because I love my life and want to continue to enjoy it for as long as possible.

Yes Ma'am that was the point I was trying to make

MstngSammy

I think it's awesome that it's working for you... but you don't have 100lbs to lose like the person in the post you're quoting. According to your ticker, your goal was less than 20. Some of us are facing 5x that goal or more. I've been directed to the eatmore2weighless site whose logo is in your ticker more times than I can count and it honestly disturbs me that people take this site as fact. The "facts" are that the 2 women that run that site aren't medical or fitness professionals, they have zero credentials.

Women athletes burn more calories because they have more muscle mass and burn more throughout the day, so they can maintain their weight with much higher calorie intakes. Obese people that need to lose large amounts of weight have different needs than someone who just needs to lose 20lbs, and they shouldn't be constantly attacked for "eating too little" because of it. Not attacking you personally, just sick of seeing this EM2WL propaganda and its formula promoted as gospel all over the forums when it's truly not a formula that is one size fits all.

1. Those two women ARE fitness professionals.

2. Just because my ticker says that doesn't mean that I started at a much higher weight before I joined MFP. You don't know what my journey has been.

3. People with lots of weight to lose actually need to eat much more to start. A 5'7" female at 250lb actually has a caloric need of 3300 calories per day. Three times what most of you are eating.


The point is that you all are pulling 1200 out of thin air without calculating how much you need to maintain muscle mass and your activity level and your goals.

The point is NOT how much an athlete eats or how much the people on EM2WL eat..... the point is that they're informed and you're not. They take time to read the information and make well-informed decisions. They're calculating their needs for their activity and their goals. And voila, they're being successful.

At my highest weight of 237, and 5'6", I NEVER ate anywhere near 3300 cals per day. I think this is one of the biggest myths for some people that assume that obese people eat tons of calories. At 237, I was maintaining around 1800 a day. At my fittest and most active time of life, when I was 30, working an extremely physical job and lifting weights 3 days a week, I maintained around 2500. What a lot of people don't realize is that BF% makes a huge difference in your metabolism. A 250 pound weight lifter needs considerably more calories than a 250 pound sedentary middle aged woman with a BF% of 60%.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

TDEE is for maintaining weight. My TDEE is around 2300 calories....if I did that I would actually gain weight at my normal activity level. I am a stay-at-home-mom so the only strenuous activity for me is laundry and mopping (before working out).

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my body. I eat when I need to instead of when I want to and I eat whole real food (processed food makes me hungry and weak). I find I only eat back 200-400 of those calories back. I feel fine now. Will my need for calories increase as my muscle to fat ratio increases? Well of course it will! IT TAKES MORE TO FUEL MUSCLES THAN FAT! Right now I have more muscles than fat and need less.

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

You can choose to include your exercise calories in your TDEE or eat them back. For example - I chose the 'active' setting in MFP, because I work outdoors, and this gives me a calorie allowance based on that and DOES NOT include any exercise I do - I verified this using scoobies, it is almost the same as the TDEE of someone who is sedentary and does a few hours of gentle exercise a week. Although, I understand this setting doesn't suit most because most seem to have sedentary jobs in here.

If you were sedentary (desk job etc), you can choose this setting on MFP or on scoobies use 'lose weight - no excercise' to verify it is correct. MFP then calculates a 20% under your TDEE, so that you lose weight BEFORE you take exercise, therefore when you exercise, if you eat the calories back you are still maintaining a 20% reduction in the number of cals your body uses in any given day.

sccobies is here, by the way:http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I did use Scooby's and their interpretation of MY TDEE was the calories I need to MAINTAIN my weight.....it even said so in the little box. :yawn:

If I knew how to upload a screenshot I would show you.

EDIT:

Quoted from Scooby's Workshop

I am 41 yrs old......170 lbs....28.3 % bodyfat......I set it at 3-5 hours of moderate exercise (housework, yardwork and kids)

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) 1501

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) 2327

Daily calories based on goal in step 6 1745


*This is scale weight. You might be losing fat at a rate faster than is indicated if you are adding muscle mass at the same time by doing a weight lifting program in conjunction with your fat loss program. For example, if you have set your goal to be "gain muscle, lose fat" then although your scale weight remains the same you can be gaining muscle and losing fat at the same rate. The only way to know your true progress is to use a skin fold caliper to measure your bodyfat percentage accurately.

Note: When your weight drops by more than 5lbs (2kg) you must recalculate your numbers!

SteveJWatson

Well then - change step six, it has a drop down box for how much less than TDEE you want to eat, it is automatically set to 20% when I look at the page, but that might just be my browser.


The purpose of my post was to clear up the biology really.

Edited to add: EVERYONES TDEE is what they need to maintain, thats what TDEE means - please read my post. That is why MFP and scooby's calculate TDEE -20% as a default.

jennalee1312

Ok well...the poster asked it not to turn into a argument over which is better lol and I see that worked out well.

Umm After I had my daughter in 2010 I lost 20lbs eating only 1200 a day (some days I went over a 100 calories or so) and I kept it off for almost 2 years... then I just last September started on 1200 again and have lost 31 pounds thus far...no saggy looking skin yet or anything like that. I was also blessed with not bad stretch marks from my pregnancy sooo maybe my skin elasticity is abnormally good I dont know...im 30 years old... I was successful at keeping it off for 2 years before deciding to lose even more...and my body doesnt look deformed in anyway. HOWEVER that being said I have a friend who tried this same method and ate basically identical to me and she couldnt keep the loss off and did have some saggyish looking skin and looked a bit skinny fat... I guess its just different for everyone...I am now dating a personal trainer and nutritionist and even he is amazed that my body reacts so well to it...guess im just a weirdo...but I have food allergies that prevent me from eating any junk food pretty much...I never really eat fast foods...I stick to meat veggies and fruit to avoid reactions to extra ingredients.

Everyone is different. ..who knows maybe I have some defect that allows me to eat this way...keep it off...and not look deformed lol but either way it works for me but I wouldnt recommend it to everyone. I also know how to separate reallll hunger from emotional or boredom hunger so if on a particular day I feel hungry...then I eat a little more bc I know its my body telling me its been a bit more active and needs it. I always say maybe im like our ancestors who hunted and gathered were...I find it hard to believe that ate very many calories and they ate very basic like I am forced to with my allergies. ..maybe I just havent evolved as much lmbo.

Lt_Starbuck

i lost weight on 1200 calories. I lost SEVENTY POUNDS!!!!

My skin sagged off my bones. I was too weak to do cardio most days. I lost 70 pounds or so. My body was nothing like I thought it would be when I was that close to goal weight. I looked absolutely freaking terrible terrible terrible. My skin was loose and saggy. I had no definition in my body except weird fat deposits here and there that I couldnt spot reduce. I just kept running my butt off and sticking to my calorie goal like a CHAMPION. I hit a 26 month plateau and almost gave up. Was running 4 half marathons a month by that point. cardio like it WAS my job!!!!

So 1200 calorie diet helped me lose 70 pounds and all hope of ever having a beautiful body.

Then I found out I was too tall for that number lolol, added 4-500 calories, started paying attention to the other two equally important kinds of exercise (weights and flexibility) and lost another 20-30 pounds and now you couldnt pay me to put clothes on if I dont have to.

MstngSammy

Well then - change step six, it has a drop down box for how much less than TDEE you want to eat, it is automatically set to 20% when I look at the page, but that might just be my browser.


The purpose of my post was to clear up the biology really.

Edited to add: EVERYONES TDEE is what they need to maintain, thats what TDEE means - please read my post. That is why MFP and scooby's calculate TDEE -20% as a default.

Honey....I set it to lose 25%......the stats are edited up there to show my results


As far as the poster above me and what was posted before......sorry I have not waded through all 11 pages of this post.

rozojc

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables...

Any tips/ideas for her?

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs, but she does not see it that way)...

I appreciate any feedback!

bcattoes

i lost weight on 1200 calories. I lost SEVENTY POUNDS!!!!

My skin sagged off my bones. I was too weak to do cardio most days. I lost 70 pounds or so. My body was nothing like I thought it would be when I was that close to goal weight. I looked absolutely freaking terrible terrible terrible. My skin was loose and saggy. I had no definition in my body except weird fat deposits here and there that I couldnt spot reduce. I just kept running my butt off and sticking to my calorie goal like a CHAMPION. I hit a 26 month plateau and almost gave up. Was running 4 half marathons a month by that point. cardio like it WAS my job!!!!

So 1200 calorie diet helped me lose 70 pounds and all hope of ever having a beautiful body.

Then I found out I was too tall for that number lolol, added 4-500 calories, started paying attention to the other two equally important kinds of exercise (weights and flexibility) and lost another 20-30 pounds and now you couldnt pay me to put clothes on if I dont have to.

I'm glad you finally found a good plan for you, but your post seems full of contradiction. You were too weak to do cardio most days, but you were running 4 half marathons a month?? 1200 calories a month helped you lose all hope of "ever having a beautiful body", but now you don't want to put clothes on??

MstngSammy

I think it's awesome that it's working for you... but you don't have 100lbs to lose like the person in the post you're quoting. According to your ticker, your goal was less than 20. Some of us are facing 5x that goal or more. I've been directed to the eatmore2weighless site whose logo is in your ticker more times than I can count and it honestly disturbs me that people take this site as fact. The "facts" are that the 2 women that run that site aren't medical or fitness professionals, they have zero credentials.

Women athletes burn more calories because they have more muscle mass and burn more throughout the day, so they can maintain their weight with much higher calorie intakes. Obese people that need to lose large amounts of weight have different needs than someone who just needs to lose 20lbs, and they shouldn't be constantly attacked for "eating too little" because of it. Not attacking you personally, just sick of seeing this EM2WL propaganda and its formula promoted as gospel all over the forums when it's truly not a formula that is one size fits all.

1. Those two women ARE fitness professionals.

2. Just because my ticker says that doesn't mean that I started at a much higher weight before I joined MFP. You don't know what my journey has been.

3. People with lots of weight to lose actually need to eat much more to start. A 5'7" female at 250lb actually has a caloric need of 3300 calories per day. Three times what most of you are eating.


The point is that you all are pulling 1200 out of thin air without calculating how much you need to maintain muscle mass and your activity level and your goals.

The point is NOT how much an athlete eats or how much the people on EM2WL eat..... the point is that they're informed and you're not. They take time to read the information and make well-informed decisions. They're calculating their needs for their activity and their goals. And voila, they're being successful.

At my highest weight of 237, and 5'6", I NEVER ate anywhere near 3300 cals per day. I think this is one of the biggest myths for some people that assume that obese people eat tons of calories. At 237, I was maintaining around 1800 a day. At my fittest and most active time of life, when I was 30, working an extremely physical job and lifting weights 3 days a week, I maintained around 2500. What a lot of people don't realize is that BF% makes a huge difference in your metabolism. A 250 pound weight lifter needs considerably more calories than a 250 pound sedentary middle aged woman with a BF% of 60%.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

TDEE is for maintaining weight. My TDEE is around 2300 calories....if I did that I would actually gain weight at my normal activity level. I am a stay-at-home-mom so the only strenuous activity for me is laundry and mopping (before working out).

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my body. I eat when I need to instead of when I want to and I eat whole real food (processed food makes me hungry and weak). I find I only eat back 200-400 of those calories back. I feel fine now. Will my need for calories increase as my muscle to fat ratio increases? Well of course it will! IT TAKES MORE TO FUEL MUSCLES THAN FAT! Right now I have more muscles than fat and need less.

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

You can choose to include your exercise calories in your TDEE or eat them back. For example - I chose the 'active' setting in MFP, because I work outdoors, and this gives me a calorie allowance based on that and DOES NOT include any exercise I do - I verified this using scoobies, it is almost the same as the TDEE of someone who is sedentary and does a few hours of gentle exercise a week. Although, I understand this setting doesn't suit most because most seem to have sedentary jobs in here.

If you were sedentary (desk job etc), you can choose this setting on MFP or on scoobies use 'lose weight - no excercise' to verify it is correct. MFP then calculates a 20% under your TDEE, so that you lose weight BEFORE you take exercise, therefore when you exercise, if you eat the calories back you are still maintaining a 20% reduction in the number of cals your body uses in any given day.

sccobies is here, by the way:http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

I know this. My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. That is what I wrote.

SteveJWatson

I think it's awesome that it's working for you... but you don't have 100lbs to lose like the person in the post you're quoting. According to your ticker, your goal was less than 20. Some of us are facing 5x that goal or more. I've been directed to the eatmore2weighless site whose logo is in your ticker more times than I can count and it honestly disturbs me that people take this site as fact. The "facts" are that the 2 women that run that site aren't medical or fitness professionals, they have zero credentials.

Women athletes burn more calories because they have more muscle mass and burn more throughout the day, so they can maintain their weight with much higher calorie intakes. Obese people that need to lose large amounts of weight have different needs than someone who just needs to lose 20lbs, and they shouldn't be constantly attacked for "eating too little" because of it. Not attacking you personally, just sick of seeing this EM2WL propaganda and its formula promoted as gospel all over the forums when it's truly not a formula that is one size fits all.

1. Those two women ARE fitness professionals.

2. Just because my ticker says that doesn't mean that I started at a much higher weight before I joined MFP. You don't know what my journey has been.

3. People with lots of weight to lose actually need to eat much more to start. A 5'7" female at 250lb actually has a caloric need of 3300 calories per day. Three times what most of you are eating.


The point is that you all are pulling 1200 out of thin air without calculating how much you need to maintain muscle mass and your activity level and your goals.

The point is NOT how much an athlete eats or how much the people on EM2WL eat..... the point is that they're informed and you're not. They take time to read the information and make well-informed decisions. They're calculating their needs for their activity and their goals. And voila, they're being successful.

At my highest weight of 237, and 5'6", I NEVER ate anywhere near 3300 cals per day. I think this is one of the biggest myths for some people that assume that obese people eat tons of calories. At 237, I was maintaining around 1800 a day. At my fittest and most active time of life, when I was 30, working an extremely physical job and lifting weights 3 days a week, I maintained around 2500. What a lot of people don't realize is that BF% makes a huge difference in your metabolism. A 250 pound weight lifter needs considerably more calories than a 250 pound sedentary middle aged woman with a BF% of 60%.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

TDEE is for maintaining weight. My TDEE is around 2300 calories....if I did that I would actually gain weight at my normal activity level. I am a stay-at-home-mom so the only strenuous activity for me is laundry and mopping (before working out).

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my body. I eat when I need to instead of when I want to and I eat whole real food (processed food makes me hungry and weak). I find I only eat back 200-400 of those calories back. I feel fine now. Will my need for calories increase as my muscle to fat ratio increases? Well of course it will! IT TAKES MORE TO FUEL MUSCLES THAN FAT! Right now I have more muscles than fat and need less.

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

You can choose to include your exercise calories in your TDEE or eat them back. For example - I chose the 'active' setting in MFP, because I work outdoors, and this gives me a calorie allowance based on that and DOES NOT include any exercise I do - I verified this using scoobies, it is almost the same as the TDEE of someone who is sedentary and does a few hours of gentle exercise a week. Although, I understand this setting doesn't suit most because most seem to have sedentary jobs in here.

If you were sedentary (desk job etc), you can choose this setting on MFP or on scoobies use 'lose weight - no excercise' to verify it is correct. MFP then calculates a 20% under your TDEE, so that you lose weight BEFORE you take exercise, therefore when you exercise, if you eat the calories back you are still maintaining a 20% reduction in the number of cals your body uses in any given day.

sccobies is here, by the way:http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

I know this. My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. That is what I wrote.

I would suggest your BMR is less than that - working out has nothing to do with it. That was my point BMR is the energy your metabolic processes use, ie - if you were in a coma. so; not sitting on your butt all day, not doing a desk job, remaining in bed and not moving.

I'm not suggesting online calculators are correct - they use a set of arbitary parameters to calculate an approximation of BMR and TDEE. I just want you to understand what the terms mean. In fact, were I writing a calculator, I would make it overestimate both of these to be on the safe side.

SteveJWatson

I did use Scooby's and their interpretation of MY TDEE was the calories I need to MAINTAIN my weight.....it even said so in the little box. :yawn:

If I knew how to upload a screenshot I would show you.

EDIT:

Quoted from Scooby's Workshop

I am 41 yrs old......170 lbs....28.3 % bodyfat......I set it at 3-5 hours of moderate exercise (housework, yardwork and kids)

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) 1501

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE) 2327

Daily calories based on goal in step 6 1745


*This is scale weight. You might be losing fat at a rate faster than is indicated if you are adding muscle mass at the same time by doing a weight lifting program in conjunction with your fat loss program. For example, if you have set your goal to be "gain muscle, lose fat" then although your scale weight remains the same you can be gaining muscle and losing fat at the same rate. The only way to know your true progress is to use a skin fold caliper to measure your bodyfat percentage accurately.

Note: When your weight drops by more than 5lbs (2kg) you must recalculate your numbers!

YES, just like I said - your TDEE is your daily energy expenditure - so if you ate it, you would remain the same weight, more or less.

So, MFP and scoobys then calculate 20% LESS than your TDEE and reccomend you eat that - in this case 1745 cals/day (although you selected 25%, not 20%)

MstngSammy

I think it's awesome that it's working for you... but you don't have 100lbs to lose like the person in the post you're quoting. According to your ticker, your goal was less than 20. Some of us are facing 5x that goal or more. I've been directed to the eatmore2weighless site whose logo is in your ticker more times than I can count and it honestly disturbs me that people take this site as fact. The "facts" are that the 2 women that run that site aren't medical or fitness professionals, they have zero credentials.

Women athletes burn more calories because they have more muscle mass and burn more throughout the day, so they can maintain their weight with much higher calorie intakes. Obese people that need to lose large amounts of weight have different needs than someone who just needs to lose 20lbs, and they shouldn't be constantly attacked for "eating too little" because of it. Not attacking you personally, just sick of seeing this EM2WL propaganda and its formula promoted as gospel all over the forums when it's truly not a formula that is one size fits all.

1. Those two women ARE fitness professionals.

2. Just because my ticker says that doesn't mean that I started at a much higher weight before I joined MFP. You don't know what my journey has been.

3. People with lots of weight to lose actually need to eat much more to start. A 5'7" female at 250lb actually has a caloric need of 3300 calories per day. Three times what most of you are eating.


The point is that you all are pulling 1200 out of thin air without calculating how much you need to maintain muscle mass and your activity level and your goals.

The point is NOT how much an athlete eats or how much the people on EM2WL eat..... the point is that they're informed and you're not. They take time to read the information and make well-informed decisions. They're calculating their needs for their activity and their goals. And voila, they're being successful.

At my highest weight of 237, and 5'6", I NEVER ate anywhere near 3300 cals per day. I think this is one of the biggest myths for some people that assume that obese people eat tons of calories. At 237, I was maintaining around 1800 a day. At my fittest and most active time of life, when I was 30, working an extremely physical job and lifting weights 3 days a week, I maintained around 2500. What a lot of people don't realize is that BF% makes a huge difference in your metabolism. A 250 pound weight lifter needs considerably more calories than a 250 pound sedentary middle aged woman with a BF% of 60%.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

TDEE is for maintaining weight. My TDEE is around 2300 calories....if I did that I would actually gain weight at my normal activity level. I am a stay-at-home-mom so the only strenuous activity for me is laundry and mopping (before working out).

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my body. I eat when I need to instead of when I want to and I eat whole real food (processed food makes me hungry and weak). I find I only eat back 200-400 of those calories back. I feel fine now. Will my need for calories increase as my muscle to fat ratio increases? Well of course it will! IT TAKES MORE TO FUEL MUSCLES THAN FAT! Right now I have more muscles than fat and need less.

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

You can choose to include your exercise calories in your TDEE or eat them back. For example - I chose the 'active' setting in MFP, because I work outdoors, and this gives me a calorie allowance based on that and DOES NOT include any exercise I do - I verified this using scoobies, it is almost the same as the TDEE of someone who is sedentary and does a few hours of gentle exercise a week. Although, I understand this setting doesn't suit most because most seem to have sedentary jobs in here.

If you were sedentary (desk job etc), you can choose this setting on MFP or on scoobies use 'lose weight - no excercise' to verify it is correct. MFP then calculates a 20% under your TDEE, so that you lose weight BEFORE you take exercise, therefore when you exercise, if you eat the calories back you are still maintaining a 20% reduction in the number of cals your body uses in any given day.

sccobies is here, by the way:http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

No - BMR (Basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs to power its metabolic processes. It is the ammount that you would be drip-fed to stay alive if you were in a coma. TDEE stands for your total daily energy expenditure, this is your BMR plus the calories you burn moving about during the day.

I know this. My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. That is what I wrote.

I would suggest your BMR is less than that - working out has nothing to do with it. That was my point BMR is the energy your metabolic processes use, ie - if you were in a coma. so; not sitting on your butt all day, not doing a desk job, remaining in bed and not moving.

I'm not suggesting online calculators are correct - they use a set of arbitary parameters to calculate an approximation of BMR and TDEE. I just want you to understand what the terms mean. In fact, were I writing a calculator, I would make it overestimate both of these to be on the safe side.

GAWWD Dude you are saying exactly the same as what I did...grrrr

If I set it to "sitting on butt" it would still show BMR=1500....TDEE=1800

I'm not daft lol....and this ain't my first go 'round :drinker: :flowerforyou:

SteveJWatson

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

NewMnky1

I eat 1200 a day and it obviously has worked.

BflSaberfan

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

bcattoes

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

Over time you can increase your BMR through exercise, but the change is not quick enough that BMR would ever need to be described by a range.

Most definitions I've seen of BMR are "at rest", not in a coma. When it's medically measured it's typically done in the morning after one wakes and fasts. People in a coma don't fast, nor are they awake.

ChgingMe

175lbs


150lbs

Have lost another 15lbs since on 1200 cals a day plus exercise cals am now working on weights to tone up and do not want to get to a lower weight

if anyone can work out the photo links lol!

Good job and you look great, but I would prefer more muscle definition. Not sure you can get that at 1200 calories.
Thoughts?

SteveJWatson

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

Probably, I wouldn't have thought that the online calculators would have no error margin - thats still not my point. An individuals BMR would not be changing by 300 cals/day depending on if they sat on their butt that day or walked around a bit.

jazzcat55

Since I began fueling my body properly (eating avg 2000 cals/day), I lost weight, stopped meds, and no longer have any sign of Hashimoto's. No symptoms, nada. Cleared by ultrasound and bloodwork for over 2 years now.

Hypothyroidism is often caused and/or aggravated by VLCDs.

I don't know about that. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease, like type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. etc. I have Hashimoto's. I have never heard of treating it with diet, other than avoiding too many soy products.

That's great that you have gotten rid of your symptoms, but I think we should be careful about claiming that diet can "cure" certain diseases/conditions.

I know what it is; I was the 5th of 5 females on my dad's side of the family diagnosed. Western Medicine is sorely lacking in treating most things; you will rarely find an MD recommend treating anything with diet. Now, drugs and surgery . . . that, they like.

(I know this is off-topic to the OP. ) Oh, I agree with you about traditional medicine preferring drugs and surgery to diet. My point is that a good diet of whole, fresh foods is always a good thing, diet itself doesn't "cure" or help as many conditions as people would like to think.

So are you saying that your thyroid antibody levels (indicator of Hashimoto's, for those who aren't familiar) actually dropped, or only your TSH?

ChgingMe

I'll go:

I lost 21 pounds between end of November - January 3rd eating only 1200 -1400 calories and NOT eating exercise calories back. Yes, that is a lot of weight lost in a few weeks and this is why: I was doing Insanity, so in reality I was netting ~800-1000 calories a day. I thought I ate my exercise calories back, but I looked at the food journal I had before MFP, and nope, I wasn't. My TDEE at lightly active is ~2400. Insanity is definitely not lightly active.

I also ate "clean" 90/10. Tons of fruits, vegetables, chicken breasts, fish. My "cheat" meal was once a week (meal not day), and even then I rearranged my food so I could fit in a burger and fries and still remain within 1400 the most.

I've repeated this process many times over the course of 3 years. Each time I did, I reached a range of weight where I just stalled. And of course got frustrated and gave up then put all the weight back on. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I couldn't keep losing weight. I'm a perfectionist so I weighed everything and tracked every calorie. So from January 3rd - last week I did the same thing every week (plus I added lifting weights along with Insanity, then switched to TurboFire + lifting) and lost nothing, there were some weeks I gained. And no, I didn't "gain muscle". Not even in my wildest dreams. I wasn't even losing inches.

Then I joined MFP, read the forums, figured out my TDEE, subtracted 20% and I feel so much better.

I'm eating 1900 now and I feel great. I jumped on the scale last week and lost 2 pounds. I'm not going to step on the scale again until April 1st and I'll report back how it has been. Hopefully I won't be made out to be a fool :laugh:

If 1200 works for you, great. Seriously, it worked for me for a while. But I really want to have an active lifestyle and I want to not just lose weight, but also change my body and put on muscle, keep some of my curves, etc. I know loose skin may be a problem but by filling it in with muscle, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Eventually I'll be eating more than 1900, but that's okay. It's what I want. Plus I like going out with my friends and stuff, and do you know how hard it is to stick to 1200 that way? Studying already keeps me indoors a lot, I didn't want my dieting to cause me to lose the friends I had left.

Oh and I'm 23, 5'7 and my highest recorded weight is 218.

:drinker:

bcattoes

i lost weight on 1200 calories. I lost SEVENTY POUNDS!!!!

My skin sagged off my bones. I was too weak to do cardio most days. I lost 70 pounds or so. My body was nothing like I thought it would be when I was that close to goal weight. I looked absolutely freaking terrible terrible terrible. My skin was loose and saggy. I had no definition in my body except weird fat deposits here and there that I couldnt spot reduce. I just kept running my butt off and sticking to my calorie goal like a CHAMPION. I hit a 26 month plateau and almost gave up. Was running 4 half marathons a month by that point. cardio like it WAS my job!!!!

So 1200 calorie diet helped me lose 70 pounds and all hope of ever having a beautiful body.

Then I found out I was too tall for that number lolol, added 4-500 calories, started paying attention to the other two equally important kinds of exercise (weights and flexibility) and lost another 20-30 pounds and now you couldnt pay me to put clothes on if I dont have to.

I'm glad you finally found a good plan for you, but your post seems full of contradiction. You were too weak to do cardio most days, but you were running 4 half marathons a month?? 1200 calories a month helped you lose all hope of "ever having a beautiful body", but now you don't want to put clothes on??

I think you missed a middle paragraph somewhere?

I was too weak to do cardio most days. (4 days a month is not usually considered most days).

Right after the part where I said that I gave up hope, I wrote this

Then I found out I was too tall for that number lolol, added 4-500 calories, started paying attention to the other two equally important kinds of exercise (weights and flexibility) and lost another 20-30 pounds and now you couldnt pay me to put clothes on if I dont have to.

hope this helps :flowerforyou:

No, I read the whole post. But I think I see now what you meant. You weren't saying 1200 ruined your chances of having a beautiful body, just that you thought it did far a while. And that you had energy to run 4 half marathons a month while being too tired to train most days, That second part is actually pretty impressive, IMO.

bcattoes

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

Over time you can increase your BMR through exercise, but the change is not quick enough that BMR would ever need to be described by a range.

Most definitions I've seen of BMR are "at rest", not in a coma. When it's medically measured it's typically done in the morning after one wakes and fasts. People in a coma don't fast, nor are they awake.

I would like to disagree here please, if that is ok? in order to agree with the comment about the athlete.

I have a BMR range. My BMR is based on my activity level which is Active. I work out 7-10 hours a week, am a pedestrian who walks AT LEAST 5 miles a day commuting everywhere and all my hobbies and fun distractions are all action based. My BMR is set to Lightly active, I am also almost 6 feet tall and have a very very healthy BMI, so my BMR is not all of this stuff - no - of course not - most of that is TDEE.

however, I have like 22%bf (maybe less now), and of my 160 pounds frame, 125-127 of that is lean body mass. I have a ridiculous amount of muscle, big heavy constantly recovering muscle that I work out consistently 4 times a week doing very strenuous weight routines. plus I run 10+ miles each weekend.

My BMR is higher because of my body comp I think. I may be wrong. But I know that I do not have an identical BMR as every other almost 6 ft tall 160 pound girl. I just dont. It doesnt work like that.

I think you are not wrong, except in thinking that your post disagrees with mine.

My post said nothing about BMR varying from person to person. It said a person's BMR does not vary from day to day.

SteveJWatson

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

Over time you can increase your BMR through exercise, but the change is not quick enough that BMR would ever need to be described by a range.

Most definitions I've seen of BMR are "at rest", not in a coma. When it's medically measured it's typically done in the morning after one wakes and fasts. People in a coma don't fast, nor are they awake.

I would like to disagree here please, if that is ok? in order to agree with the comment about the athlete.

I have a BMR range. My BMR is based on my activity level which is Active. I work out 7-10 hours a week, am a pedestrian who walks AT LEAST 5 miles a day commuting everywhere and all my hobbies and fun distractions are all action based. My BMR is set to Lightly active, I am also almost 6 feet tall and have a very very healthy BMI, so my BMR is not all of this stuff - no - of course not - most of that is TDEE.

however, I have like 22%bf (maybe less now), and of my 160 pounds frame, 125-127 of that is lean body mass. I have a ridiculous amount of muscle, big heavy constantly recovering muscle that I work out consistently 4 times a week doing very strenuous weight routines. plus I run 10+ miles each weekend.

My BMR is higher because of my body comp I think. I may be wrong. But I know that I do not have an identical BMR as every other almost 6 ft tall 160 pound girl. I just dont. It doesnt work like that.

You still missed the point. Of course your BMR is different to everyone elses and online calcs will only give you a general idea of what it is.

Your BMR is still, however the number of cals you burn in a rested state, and your TDEE incorporates that and the cals you burn through daily activity, whatever that is.

MstngSammy

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

I disagree, an athletic person would burn more calories doing nothing than someone with a sedentary lifestyle.

We aren't disputing that. BMR is diff for everyone.

succubaeangel

Not much of a succes for me. I tried 1400cal a day and I thought I was going to die for food. I was so hungry and unhappy but I kept on for about 3 months. I lost nothing, not one pound. Then I became anemic too. My doctor wanted to treat me for anorexia-which is funny considering how much I wanted to eat more!
I think if you don't feel crazy hungry, any number is fine. Mine is around 1800. Yours can be 1200, Anyway, people, just don't starve yourselves. It's stupid.

MstngSammy

My BMR is between 1500-1800 without working out. If I sit on my butt all day and do nothing (same as sitting at a desk all day) it would be around 1200-1300. When I do workout....usually my burn can range anywhere from 600-1100 calories....I follow my

This is the bit that lead me to believe otherwise - your BMR would not change no matter what exercise or otherwise you do.

BMR is the calories you burn in a coma - you burn slightly more sleeping at night.

Basal Metabolic Rate.

@ Steve
Ok I get it. You thought I was saying my BMR changed with what I do. No no no.....I was speaking of the activity setting of the calculator! LOL!

cook6609

I am doing very well on 1200 calories... I've been on MFP (an therefore 1200 cal) for two months. I've lost 30 pounds. I never felt better in my life. People say that "oh, you are starving yourself. Or your eating away your muscle..." I say that those comments are bogus. You need to eat smart. You need 1200 nutritious calories, not empty calories. An example of some meals that I eat are egg white omelets with some type of lean meat in it (usually turkey), high fiber whole wheat bread, A LOT of veggies, A lot of lean meats like fish and chicken (love my chicken :-D). I average around 75 grams of protein a day (according to the CDC I should typically eat around 60 grams of protein). I average around 25 grams of fiber per day as well. My calories are not empty. They do not lack nutrition. I feel that you can do very well on a 1200 calorie diet if you eat nutritious filled calories. Most days I only hit 1100 calories, and I am by far from feeling starved... I am usually stuffed... You can think I'm crazy or I'm lying, but If you would look at my diary you would agree that I most definitely eat (and eat A LOT).

P.S. I food :-)

cook6609

oh... I always forget this... My lifestyle is mostly sedentary. However, I do eat back my exercise calories, because my body needs the extra energy that I exerted. I have been loosing at least 2 lbs per week, but sometimes up to 4 pounds per week (if I put in more exercise time). I'm planning on toning and strengthening when I get closer to my end weight. Right now I'm working on the weight, then I will deal with the toning.

Trilby16

[raises hand]