The number of calories I can eat a day seems a bit low

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greenthickies
greenthickies Posts: 33
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there

This is the first time I've used My Fitness Pal and I'm a bit confused. I'm currently maintaining my weight fine by I fancied losing an extra 7 pounds to get the body I really want. However the number of calories I've been given a day to eat is 1200 and I've inputted my usual breakfast and half of my lunch (I'm still hungry) and it's telling me I've already eaten 2214 calories already. I don't understand how I can be so far out when this is the food I normally eat everyday and I'm not gaining weight. I'm still breastfeeding. Will this make a difference to the number of calories I need to take in?

Many thanks

Katherine
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Replies

  • LittleMissDover
    LittleMissDover Posts: 820 Member
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    Wow, what have you eaten so far? lol

    Breastfeeding does give you extra calories. Type it into the food database and it will give you options for EBF (around 500 extra), twins, older baby, toddler etc.
  • leanne9876
    leanne9876 Posts: 301 Member
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    Wow, what have you eaten so far? lol


    I was going to ask that as well.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    With seven pounds to lose, you should have your goal set to a half pound a week. That alone will give you more calories. Once you add in extra calories from breast feeding, and extra for exercise, you'll be eating a good amount.
  • chezileigh
    chezileigh Posts: 255
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    seems like a lot of calories for breakfast and half of lunch! are you sure you're logging your food correctly?
  • ebony__
    ebony__ Posts: 519 Member
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    Breast feeding made a huge different to the amount I could eat and my weight and just everything. I lost a lt of weight after my pregnancy while I was breastfeeding and when I stopped I put on about 40lbs quite rapidly
  • ebony__
    ebony__ Posts: 519 Member
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    Also I'm no expert but I would think 1200 while your breastfeeding is a fair bit too low ...???
  • 92_sweetheart
    92_sweetheart Posts: 131 Member
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    Did you put in that you wanted to lose 2lbs a week? Change it to 1lb a week.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
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    With only 7 pounds to lose, I agree that you need to set things to a .5 pound loss per week. A 1200 calorie suggestion is usually even considered low for very overweight people with a lot to lose, and usually only results from telling MFP that you want to lose 2 pounds a week.
  • ArtemisMoon
    ArtemisMoon Posts: 144
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    There are a lot of people who don't go by the recommendations of MFP. I suggest going to a place like fitnessfrog.com and calculating your tdee(the estimate of how many calories you use in an average day) and eating around twenty percent (or a little less to take breastfeeding into account maybe ten or fifteen) under that number to put you in a light deficit. Then adjust a bit as needed if you don't see any weight loss after a few weeks.

    As you have so little weight to lose it may be a struggle just cutting calories alone. If you aren't already exercising, strength training would be a good one. A lot of people might not lose weight doing that, but your shape almost always improves drastically. If you browse around the forums you'll see the kinds of things people have had success with and it might give you some ideas.
  • Yes2HealthyAriel
    Yes2HealthyAriel Posts: 453 Member
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    only breakfast and half of lunch and already over 2000 calories? DANG!!! Eating healthy and around 1200 is not hard. MFP has my goal at 1280 and some days I have trouble even getting in 1000
  • woodsygirl
    woodsygirl Posts: 354 Member
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    Yes, definately increase them. If you have been eating the same amount of calories and not losing weight, see how many you have been eating then make a small reduction. If you eat 2,500 calories a day with no gain, try setting your calories to just 2,000 or 2,250. Every week weigh yourself until you are where you want to be weightloss wise and then adjust your calories to reflect that. :)
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
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    It also might be best if you are maintaining to track your calories for a week then cut out 250 calories per day.
  • deborahlhall
    deborahlhall Posts: 1
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    Maybe you're overestimating your portions (my friend would always put in that she ate 1oz of cheese until she finally weighed it and found she was only eating 1/4oz of cheese). Otherwise, while 1200 calories is probably too low for a breastfeeding mother (though I have no idea of your height or current weight), 2000 calories by midday is also probably way too much.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Less calorie dense foods like fruit and veg may stave off the hunger for fewer calories from your allowance if you're struggling. If you open your diary to be viewable we may be able to point you in the right direction.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    I wouldbt go as low as 1200. Figure out your tdee and eat below that. Log exercise and breast feeding (usually adds 500 cals from what I have seen
  • heddy90
    heddy90 Posts: 144 Member
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    I'm really curious about what you have for breakfast and lunch, since you're already so high on calories :|
    Are you sure added the right amount? Often the default amount of something I want to add is, say 100 g, and I only ate 45, so remember to change that if you don't already.

    If you want users here to give some more helpful advice, you should open your diary :)

    Edit: oh, and I'm sure you don't need to be as low as 1200 calories, unless you want to lose weight reeeeally fast, which I do not recommend. Better going slow, but steady. Especially since you're breastfeeding.
  • dawndw
    dawndw Posts: 203
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    Open your diary so you can be given a more accurate answer or advice.....that is just alot of cals for only breakfast and lunch....
  • theNurseNancy
    theNurseNancy Posts: 149
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    I dont think she's far off, considering the smoothies she drinks are way higher in calories than she advertises on her website.
  • greenthickies
    greenthickies Posts: 33
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    Hi, thank you so much for all your replies. Wow I've overwhelmed by your support! It's lovely there is such a sense of community on here as it's my first time on Myfitnesspal.

    I have made my diary public but didn't update it since yesterday as I was too scared to see my total calories for the day. I'm going to start again today and see how it goes.

    Yes you're right I did set the number of pounds I wanted to lose to 2lbs as my husband has gone away for a week so I thought it's a good opportunity to try and lose some extra weight.

    Yes I wonder if i did make a mistake with the amounts I inputted. I'll check more rigorously today. I have changed the amount I want to lose to half a pound a week plus the 500 for breastfeeding has given me a lot more calories.

    I was just drinking my usual green smoothies (green thickies). I have a website where I share my recipes for green thickies to encourage people to be improve their health.

    I usually use chronometer to calculate the calories of my green smoothies. The calories on my website are accurate and one serving would usually fill me up but I know I eat more calories than most people as I'm still breastfeeding.

    This week I am trying to only drink my green thickies all day long. They include fruit, leafy greens, oats and some nuts or seeds. I am always trying out new recipes so the ones I drank yesterday aren't on my website but perhaps they were higher in calories than usual. I would have to input them into chronometer to check this properly. I measure everything with US cups so sometimes it's hard to convert everything to weight but today I'll input my smoothies on here an chronometer and see if there is a massive difference.

    I do a daily strength training workout along with some walking or a very short run but I do need to do more exercise and eat slightly less to get the body I want.

    Thank you so much for all your help so far. I really appreciate it.

    Katherine
  • greenthickies
    greenthickies Posts: 33
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    40lbs! Ahh scary, I'll have to bear this in mind when I stop I'll have to bring my calories right down.

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