don't understand this 1200 calorie thing

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queensturg
queensturg Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, this is the first time I've posted on the message boards here. I've been using this site for three weeks, and I find it helpful, but I'm still trying to understand the whole calorie intake vs. calories burned thing. When I first signed up and entered all of my info, it told me that for someone at my weight and activity level (I put lightly active... I don't exercise, but I do work on my feet 8-9 hours a day for 5 days a week) that I should be eating 1270 calories per day. But I'm still not sure if that's including the calories that I'm burning in a day... I've estimated that I burn around 1000 calories on a work day, so does that mean I can include those as calories burned through exercise and "allow" myself up to another 1000 calories per day? I've found it just about impossible to stick to 1270 calories per day, I think I usually end up somewhere in the 1400-1800 range. After three weeks, I've only lost a pound so far, even though I feel less bloated and sluggish than I did before, when I was probably well over 2000 calories per day on many days, eating portions too big and not making the healthier food choices (i.e. more fruits and vegetables, fewer fatty foods) that I've been doing these past three weeks. I'm currently at 147 lbs, and want to be more around 125 lbs, which I think is about right for my height (5"1) I think I could just use a bit of advice though, if anyone might have any to offer me.

Replies

  • DeathKitty23
    DeathKitty23 Posts: 64 Member
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    When working out the number of calories you should be consuming did you put yourself down as having a very active lifestyle as this would affect the amount of calories calculated by quite a bit plus if thats the case it could be that your eating too less for you to really loose.
    x
  • moomaq
    moomaq Posts: 24 Member
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    I have seen this debated online before. One girl was dieting for months and was not loosing any weight because she was eating her burned calories. she got a personal trainer and he told her because she had so much fat stored in her body she had enough reserve energy to feed off and didnt need to use her burned calories. She started to see results immediatly when she stopped using her burned calories.

    I would advise that if you are just starting out, and finding it hard to stick to your 1270 calories, initally use half your burned calories, and maybe set a goal that every week you will reduce the amount.

    its all about breakign habbits, but if your starving your not going to stick with it.

    I hope this helps
  • MistyAnneK
    MistyAnneK Posts: 68 Member
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    HI! The caloric intake that the site gives you is what you need to eat to lose the weight you have entered. The information you gave the site is what determined this...

    This system includes your daily caloric burn of "light activity". If you are on your feet all day 5 days a week, you could probably up your activity level, which would in turn give you more calories to eat.

    Also, any calories you burn working out are then added back into you daily caloric intake to help you maintain the 1270 per day.

    Did that make any sense? :smile:
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
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    Putting your details into a TDEE calculator (F / 33 / 5.1 / 147 / Lightly active) shows on average day you'll need 1953 cals to maintain your current weight.

    If your netting less than this you should be losing weight.

    At 1270 you are in a deficit of 683 cals which could lose you roughly 2lbs a week.

    If you feel it's hard to meet that net you could set it at 1600 instead and you'll still lose weight but it'll just take a little longer to reach your goal but you'll still be losing!

    If you do say 400 cals of additional exercise you wouldn't normally do as part of a normal day then you should be eating that on top of the 1270 for that particular day ie 1670.

    Edit: on a side note be aware MFP over/underestimates the cardio cals! In my experience it's usually more which although sounds nice it isn't accurate.

    I personally have a net of 1200 which I'm doing for 12 weeks.

    I usually eat between 1400-1800 each day and burn off cals by going for walks to reduce it back to 1200 each day. My diarys open if you want to peak, I always pre-log so I can get the most out of the 1200 :)
  • queensturg
    queensturg Posts: 60
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    I suppose that anything other than an actual exercise routine wouldn't be counting towards the calories burned then, so I guess I should stop counting work as exercise and calories burned. I might just increase my activity level then so it "allows" me more calories. Good to be able to understand this a bit better! I admit that I'm still a complete novice at this calorie-counting thing.
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
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    Rather than saying your more active than you are to be given more calories I would suggest instead resetting your goal to lose 0.5-1lb a week and seeing what it suggests, or setting it manually to 1600 if you want that as your target that you feel comfortable with.
    My home > goals > change goals
  • kachochan
    kachochan Posts: 73
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    I am not sure about the 1,000 cal/day estimate. Are you certain that that's what you burn? Did you ask a trainer to help you count the burnt calories?

    I'm not trying to be suspicious, it's just a little bit questionable. I was taught you burn around 250 cals doing a very fast run for 45-60 mins. You burn around 300-400 doing weight lifting and such.
    It sounds unlikely that you burn 1,000 unless you are a builder or a hiking guide or something like that.

    Maybe ask someone for a second opinion?

    Good luck!!!
  • queensturg
    queensturg Posts: 60
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    I got the 1000 calorie estimate from looking around on the internet. I know you won't always get the most reliable info., but a few sites did estimate that if you're on your feet and moving around, you'll burn around 125 calories per hour. Times that by 8 or 9 for a full shift, and you'll get around 1000 or just over. I wasn't looking to be exact, I just wanted a guess about how much I might be burning in a day, hoping that would make me feel "better" about my calorie intake. As I said, I still don't completely understand how it works, but I'm not going to include my work day as exercise anymore and just assume that normal calories burned throughout the day are included in my new calorie goal, which is 1400 per day. I still think it's going to be tough to stick to. Most days, I eat just under 200 calories at breakfast, between 400- over 600 at lunch (averaging around 450 most days) and dinner can be anywhere from 500- over 1000, unless I work late and just have a small meal when I get home. And that doesn't even include if I have any snacks or drink anything that isn't water (I don't drink sugary drinks anymore, but I might have a latte or a glass of wine in the evening) Even when I think I'm eating pretty healthy and well-balanced meals, the calories still do add up.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    I suppose that anything other than an actual exercise routine wouldn't be counting towards the calories burned then, so I guess I should stop counting work as exercise and calories burned. I might just increase my activity level then so it "allows" me more calories. Good to be able to understand this a bit better! I admit that I'm still a complete novice at this calorie-counting thing.

    That's what I do, I have two jobs, one of them is a dinner lady at my sons school that involves getting heavy tables out which really gets me puffing if I really go for it and chairs then putting them away. I used my HRM once and it said I burnt 126 cals but I don't log that. I see it as a bonus. I do that 3 days a week :smile:

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