1200 cals/working out/not eating back calories. Wrong?!

KenzNDieselsMama

Hey all. I consider myself pretty educated as far as what the "right" foods to eat are. I also know that there's a TON of
controversy out there about the best and most healthy way to lose weight. I went to my doctor just to be sure, and sure enough, he said to cut my calories to less than 1200 every day, work out, and don't eat back the calories I burned. So, I've been doing this and successfully losing weight, fairly quicker than I'm
uses. Obviously. I'm like staaaarving! Here's some details:

I'm 29
5'3"
175 lb

I'm not cutting carbs, or eating clean. I'm drinking only water, no juice/soda etc. I chose healthier foods the majority of the time, but don't limit myself to only whole or fresh. I heat up the occasional Smart One or Lean Cuisine for convenience. I workout every day but Sunday. Lately I've been running, 2.5-4 miles a day. Slower pace, around 3.5/4.0. I also have 3 beach body programs I do from time to time; Insanity, Turbo Fire, and Chalene extreme. I've only completed the insanity program. The other two I recently purchased.

So, how should I figure out what my optimal calorie intake should be? I don't wanna starve my body, or have it eat muscle, etc. I wanna be healthy, and I have about 50 lb to lose. Help!!!!!

Confuzzled4ever

I used this to figure it out..

http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

People are going to direct you to that TDEE site/thread.. while that might work for you as well, I found it overwhelming, confusing and once I got a number completely unrealistic of a number for me to be able to eat to.

This worked much better for me and gave me an amount to eat on a workout day versus a non-work out day

Just mess with it a bit and you'll figure out how to do it.

I eat fairly clean and have a tough time reaching my goals, cause I'm always full. TDEE might work for you if you eat differently and need to eat more to stay full.. But i don't know the link to that site anymore.

KarenJanine

I am going to be one of those to direct you to TDEE. You are working out a lot so you need to fuel those workouts.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

Sure, you will lose weight on 1200 or less cals but its not healthy. It is likely you will be losing LBM along with fat, and it is unlikely to be a sustainable way to lose. Sooner or later hunger will catch up with your body, the fat will go back on but the LBM won't so much so you may end up feeling/looking worse than when you started.

Take a small deficit from your TDEE to lose fat at a slow and steady rate that will stay off for good.


Edited for typos, it's too early...

KenzNDieselsMama

What's lbm?

Confuzzled4ever

lean body mass. (where the muscles reside) you don't want to burn that.

sammycat1

I too prefer the road map, but a great site to work out what you should be eating is:

scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I eat a little less than what it says to but having great success with it.

Good luck

FattieBabs

The roadmap, scooby and MFP got it roughly the same for a one pound a week weightloss so I am around 1600 a day which I find I can cope with. You need to tweak this to see what is right for you. Your doctor is not going to moan if he/she sees it is working.

MeeshyBW

There are a million threads about this but my view is you must eat back your calories, especially if you are aiming for 1200 calories.

I was 170lbs and am now 134lb and ALWAYS eat them back. You still loose weight and don;t end up binging as your body isn;t starving. I have a triathlete or a personal trainer and he says you MUST eat back your calories, not doing so is not sustainable.

To loose weight you only need to be 500 calories under your BMR including activity. MY BMR is about 2000 calories so minus 500 = 1500. My calories for the day are 1370.

I hope this helps x

EmmaKarney

The roadmap, scooby and MFP got it roughly the same for a one pound a week weightloss so I am around 1600 a day which I find I can cope with. You need to tweak this to see what is right for you. Your doctor is not going to moan if he/she sees it is working.

I used scooby to calculate my net calorie goal of 1400 a day and its been been bang on accurate for me losing 0.5lb a week.

Since I don't have much to lose I'm happy to eat 1400 net, feel full and satisfied and lose slowly and steadily. A long as I reach my goal body by summer I'll be happy.

MeeshyBW

The roadmap, scooby and MFP got it roughly the same for a one pound a week weightloss so I am around 1600 a day which I find I can cope with. You need to tweak this to see what is right for you. Your doctor is not going to moan if he/she sees it is working.

I used scooby to calculate my net calorie goal of 1400 a day and its been been bang on accurate for me losing 0.5lb a week.

Since I don't have much to lose I'm happy to eat 1400 net, feel full and satisfied and lose slowly and steadily. A long as I reach my goal body by summer I'll be happy.

That's really interesting as it has me eating 1700 calories. I guess this is taking into account working out calories i eat back too right?

redraider08

I feel that if you're eating back ALL of the calories then it could be a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of thing, depending on your beginning weight. To me, it seems logical that the more bodyfat one has to lose, the more of a calorie deficit he or she can sustain, meaning that those with >25% bodyfat probably shouldn't eat back ANY exercise calories. As that person gets leaner, then I'd begin by adding a small % of those calories back in.

There's also the issue of how accurate the "exercise calories" number actually is. These numbers are just estimates so if you're going to add back the calories, I'd personally hedge and only add back 50-75%. Add that to the fact that nutrition labels on foods can be up to 10-15% off (lower than the calories actually in the food) and you could be adding back in more calories than you actually burned through exercise, a number which people tend to overestimate anyway.

At the end of the day though, if you're adding back calories and getting the results YOU WANT, then do it.

Francl27

Does the doctor know what kind of exercise you are doing etc? There's a difference between a 2 miles brisk walk and programs that can burn 500 calories in one hour.

The main thing is that if you're starving, it's not something that's manageable long term. I would eat back at least some of the calories. I'm eating 1500 calories and don't eat my calories back but I'm not doing high intensity workouts.

EmmaKarney

The roadmap, scooby and MFP got it roughly the same for a one pound a week weightloss so I am around 1600 a day which I find I can cope with. You need to tweak this to see what is right for you. Your doctor is not going to moan if he/she sees it is working.

I used scooby to calculate my net calorie goal of 1400 a day and its been been bang on accurate for me losing 0.5lb a week.

Since I don't have much to lose I'm happy to eat 1400 net, feel full and satisfied and lose slowly and steadily. A long as I reach my goal body by summer I'll be happy.

That's really interesting as it has me eating 1700 calories. I guess this is taking into account working out calories i eat back too right?

Yeah it sounds like it - I work my numbers out using sedentary activity level and then eat back - so the 1400 is net.

Due to work, sometimes I can go a whole week without working out so I don't want to bake presumed exercise into my calorie goals in case I can't meet them.

I only have 250 calories between losing and maintaining - I don't have much of a margin for error!

MB_Positif

Doctors actually know very little about nutrition. See a nutritionist or dietician to get better answers in regards to how many calories you should eat to lose weight. Or use the above mentioned information to determine your TDEE.

tryinghard71

Everyone can figure out what works best for them. But for me I am set at 1200. But I eat 1200 net. If I am hungry I eat back my exercise calories. If I am not then I don't. If I am under on one day it lets me be over on another day. I go by the week not the day.

MB_Positif

Everyone can figure out what works best for them. But for me I am set at 1200. But I eat 1200 net. If I am hungry I eat back my exercise calories. If I am not then I don't. If I am under on one day it lets me be over on another day. I go by the week not the day.

This is valid advice as well, no matter what your calorie goal ends up being. There is no need to freak out if you are under or over occasionally. It all evens out. Your body isn't going to be like "I am TOTALLY gaining weight this week for that ONE day you were over, even though you were under every other day!"

AmyRhubarb

There are different ways to go about it, but I have had my best success over the past year by eating according to this topic: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

Been working on losing weight for....over 3 years I guess? Started with various other tracking sites, lost some, gained some back, stopped and started workouts from time to time. Finally arrived at MFP, got on the 1200 train like everyone else, and lost a little, but was also hungry all the time, not to mention the anxiety or guilt of trying to stay under or on goal while dealing with life - birthdays, dinner out, holidays without wrecking my daily intake.

I played around with upping my calories here and there, tweaking settings on MFP, reading about others who were eating more and still losing....but when I finally found the Road Map thread about a year ago and set my cals to 1800 (which was my TDEE minus 20%), the whole process just got easier and the fat, inches and pounds have steadily come off.

It takes some patience, some don't see results right away, some do. Some people gain a little at first as the body adjusts to the new intake, especially if they've been eating low cals for awhile. Progress can also be slow as you lose the pounds and get closer to goal weight.

But for me it's been the best thing - I know my boundaries and eat between them - heck even when I go over my TDEE (which seems to happen at least once or twice a week lately!) I don't gain, and I don't stress, and I love not being hungry. This is a way I can eat for the rest of my life, and keep the fat and pound OFF.

Why eat 1200 calories and be hungry when you can eat more and still lose? That was what pushed me to up my cals. So glad I did. My diary is open, feel free to have a look.

SweetestLibby

Everyone can figure out what works best for them. But for me I am set at 1200. But I eat 1200 net. If I am hungry I eat back my exercise calories. If I am not then I don't. If I am under on one day it lets me be over on another day. I go by the week not the day.

This has worked well for me. I'm set at 1200 but if I'm still hungry I'll eat back the exercise calories - sometimes all of them, sometimes half, sometimes less.

CoachReddy

Hey all. I consider myself pretty educated as far as what the "right" foods to eat are. I also know that there's a TON of
controversy out there about the best and most healthy way to lose weight. I went to my doctor just to be sure, and sure enough, he said to cut my calories to less than 1200 every day, work out, and don't eat back the calories I burned. So, I've been doing this and successfully losing weight, fairly quicker than I'm
uses. Obviously. I'm like staaaarving! Here's some details:

I'm 29
5'3"
175 lb

I'm not cutting carbs, or eating clean. I'm drinking only water, no juice/soda etc. I chose healthier foods the majority of the time, but don't limit myself to only whole or fresh. I heat up the occasional Smart One or Lean Cuisine for convenience. I workout every day but Sunday. Lately I've been running, 2.5-4 miles a day. Slower pace, around 3.5/4.0. I also have 3 beach body programs I do from time to time; Insanity, Turbo Fire, and Chalene extreme. I've only completed the insanity program. The other two I recently purchased.

So, how should I figure out what my optimal calorie intake should be? I don't wanna starve my body, or have it eat muscle, etc. I wanna be healthy, and I have about 50 lb to lose. Help!!!!!

Doctor's know nothing about nutrition. If you're starving your weightloss will plateau, in which case you'll need to raise your calories.

Eatkansasbeef

Bump

loriepaulin

Thank you SO much for the link to the site ...I too got confused with the TDEE thread. Someone did help me with the # a while back but things have changed for me since then and it was nice to see the #'s visually. Thank you again!!!