Raise calories to lose weight??

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AnnaLeigh35
AnnaLeigh35 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been using MFP since the end of January 2012, and I have had great success. I have lost 42 lbs so far, and only have 8 lbs left to go. The last few months though, weight loss has been very slow. I am still counting my calories and working out the same amount that I have been since the beginning. I am sticking to the 1200 calories a day that MFP recommends, and I work out 40 -50 minutes 5 times a week. However, I keep seeing things that other users are posting and it sounds like they are taking in more calories to lose weight. I was just wondering if anyone had had any results doing this. I was thinking about going up to 1400 or 1500 calories a day.

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  • cristeberga
    cristeberga Posts: 251 Member
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    If you do not eat your exercise calories back, I would try to. By the time you add "most" of them back to your 1200 calories, it will probably be close to 1400/1500 a day. That's what I have been doing.

    When I do not exercise, I stick to 1200/1300.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    What is your "I want to lose x pounds per week" thing set at? Does MFP give you 1200 calories if you are set to half a pound? This is the problem when you get down to the last bit of pounds to lose, you have been eating low, and you cannot cut any further. It is hard to recommend a calorie level without knowing your stats but you could try figuring out your TDEE and then set your goal as 20% less than that (and do not eat back exercise cals because TDEE number includes that).
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    What MFP actually recommends is that you eat 1200 cals PLUS the cals you burn exercising.
    If you aren't currently doing that, perhaps that's a good place to start.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    More info here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/7965-in-place-of-a-road-map
  • AnnaLeigh35
    AnnaLeigh35 Posts: 9 Member
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    No, I do not eat back my "exercise calories". I will have to give that a try. Thanks!
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    This close to your ideal weight, your expectations of weight loss should be very low. Go back through the setup process and you'll probably see that it wants to limit you to a half or one pound per week of weight loss, and as a result it'll probably throw some calories back at you.

    It did help a little but I'm stuck about 3-4 pounds from a normal BMI. However, I'm also bicycling to work and back right now and if I try dropping my calories my bicycling performance starts dropping off.

    On the other hand, I'm maintaining weight at about 500 calories a day more than I was also maintaining weight, but I feel a whole lot better. More vigorous, more energetic, etc.

    It may be time to experiment with a few hundred extra calories a day, and just see what happens. Get your carbs, proteins, and fats in reasonable balance if you haven't already.

    And as the previous poster mentioned, your diary is closed so I can't tell but if you are working out more than a half hour a day and eating a total of 1200 calories, you really do want to experiment with eating more.

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