Calories - too low?

kai47
kai47 Posts: 39
in Food and Nutrition
I feel like I've been getting mixed messages about how many calories I should be ingesting in order to reach my goal. I am currently 206lbs with a goal weight of 125lb. I am 25 yr old female, 5 ft 3in. I'm in my first cycle of Power 90 (about 30 days in) which does 30-50 min workouts 6 days of the week. My BMR is 1729.

According to MFP, I should be eating 1200 cals to reach my goal weight and lose 2lbs per week. After looking on the beachbody website and using their calculations, it was recommended I eat 1078 cals to reach my goal weight.

After reading other forum posts last week, I upped my cals to 1300 as I was worried my 1200 was too low. Now I'm all sorts of confused after referring to beachbody.

Whats the deal here? What's the best way to lose weight fast (obviously not in a month, but with steady progress)? I really want to reach my goal without going into "starvation mode" and prolonging this process any longer.

HELP!

Replies

  • ErinRibbens
    ErinRibbens Posts: 370 Member
    Less than 1200 isn't sustainable IMO. you want something you can stick to. Are you at least eating back your exercise calories? Sounds like a pretty intense workout and your body needs fuel to do that kind of work. You should get quite a few extra calories for that much exercise.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    You should be eating at or over your BMR. MFP only does math based on what you tell it, it doesn't make logical decisions. Neither 1200 or 1000 is going to be enough to keep you healthy and you'll probably lose interest in trying in a short time because you're going to be hungry. You shouldn't be using the 2 lb/week plan unless you have over 100 lbs to lose. Put your budget to a reasonable amount of calories and lose your weight in a healthy way.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    Do you mean BMR or TDEE? BMR is the calories you would need in a coma; TDEE is the number of calories you use daily. Think of BMR as the minimum number of calories you need to eat daily to be healthy, and TDEE as the "calories out" side of the calories in vs. calories out equation.

    You want to eat between BMR and TDEE in order to lose weight. Your 2 lb a week goal is only sustainable if your TDEE is at least 1,000 calories higher than your BMR.

    It should be noted that MFP set your allowable minimum to your BMR, but to 1200. I guess they want a standard number to avoid confusion and/or lawsuits, but that's also the US government recommended minimum to ensure adequate nutrition.
  • Wendy__D
    Wendy__D Posts: 51 Member
    A lot that I've read says not to go under 1200, and I tend to agree with that minimum. For one: Listen to your body. If you feel unwell at a certain Calorie number you may be eating too few. If your BMR is 1700 and you eat 1200 and don't work out you should lose 1 lb a week. If you're doing P90 on top of that you'll be burning more. Do you know how much you're burning with P90? My guess is beach body is trying to figure out how much you're burning and adding that back to 1700, and subtracting 1000 Calories to lose 2lbs per week. Or else on one you selected active and on another you selected sedentary or something like that.

    Regardless of why the numbers are different, I think you're wise to stick to 1300 or higher, though, especially if you're exercising. You may need even more if your exercise is very intense or long.

    (Common disclaimer, I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, so take my opinion as just that and not advice. :-) )
  • squirtgunsablzn
    squirtgunsablzn Posts: 55
    you should take 750-1000 calories from your TDEE. and if that's below 1300ish i would still eat around 1300ish.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Do you mean BMR or TDEE? BMR is the calories you would need in a coma; TDEE is the number of calories you use daily. Think of BMR as the minimum number of calories you need to eat daily to be healthy, and TDEE as the "calories out" side of the calories in vs. calories out equation.

    You want to eat between BMR and TDEE in order to lose weight. Your 2 lb a week goal is only sustainable if your TDEE is at least 1,000 calories higher than your BMR.

    It should be noted that MFP set your allowable minimum to your BMR, but to 1200. I guess they want a standard number to avoid confusion and/or lawsuits, but that's also the US government recommended minimum to ensure adequate nutrition.

    Yup-- pick a point halfway between your BMR and TDEE and start there. Try that for a month, then reevaluate if needed.

    ETA: you actually could go down a bit more since you have a lot to lose, but I'd still stay at or above your BMR.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    If you want, check out this link by MFPer Heliotsdan - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    It'll give you a detailed walkthrough (with pictures even) on finding your TDEE and calculating what you should be eating.

    Also, if you are worried about the calorie intake, I also suggest you read this thread that has numerous people who met their goals and are maintaining. Some for years and they also provide their calorie intake and how often they work out.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/816542-let-s-hear-it-for-maintainenance

    For more information about fitness and nutrition, I highly suggest checking out and joining this group:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

    Read everything. It's great information to know.
  • ncruso24
    ncruso24 Posts: 37 Member
    Less than 1200 isn't sustainable IMO. you want something you can stick to. Are you at least eating back your exercise calories? Sounds like a pretty intense workout and your body needs fuel to do that kind of work. You should get quite a few extra calories for that much exercise.

    I'm sorry, but I disagree! Don't eat back your calories! You've done all the work to burn them, why would you want to put them back on? 1200 is a good target. If you hit a stall though don't lower from that because you're more likely to overeat and you'll be hungry all the time. Keep doing what you're doing. Good luck!
  • brittknight828
    brittknight828 Posts: 29
    Hi! If you want to lose weight steadily, you don't want to do anything drastic. Basically 1200 calories is the absolute lowest amount of calories MOST reputable health sites, gurus, etc. will advise you to have. Because of your current weight and the fact that you work out 6 days a week (go you!), you can actually afford to eat more than someone who is smaller & doesn't work out. Do you know how many calories you were eating BEFORE your program? If so, I would recommend reducing your calories by 200 or so. If you don't know, to be honest, you are still going to lose weight even if you continue to eat the same way you did prior to your program. It might not be as quick or as much as you'd like, but you will lose weight because you are burning calories you weren't before. I'd say start small! Maybe do 1400 calories for 3-4 weeks, and just see how it goes. I'm certain you will lose weight. Then after those few weeks, you might have to adjust/lower your intake gradually. Hope this all makes sense. Good luck!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Less than 1200 isn't sustainable IMO. you want something you can stick to. Are you at least eating back your exercise calories? Sounds like a pretty intense workout and your body needs fuel to do that kind of work. You should get quite a few extra calories for that much exercise.

    I'm sorry, but I disagree! Don't eat back your calories! You've done all the work to burn them, why would you want to put them back on? 1200 is a good target. If you hit a stall though don't lower from that because you're more likely to overeat and you'll be hungry all the time. Keep doing what you're doing. Good luck!

    You're meant to eat them back because MFP calculates your deficit without exercise. If you exercise your deficit gets bigger. If you don't eat at least some of those calories back your deficit will be too big, which can cause loss of muscle mass and plateaus.
  • ashumeow
    ashumeow Posts: 151 Member
    Less than 1200 isn't sustainable IMO. you want something you can stick to. Are you at least eating back your exercise calories? Sounds like a pretty intense workout and your body needs fuel to do that kind of work. You should get quite a few extra calories for that much exercise.

    I'm sorry, but I disagree! Don't eat back your calories! You've done all the work to burn them, why would you want to put them back on? 1200 is a good target. If you hit a stall though don't lower from that because you're more likely to overeat and you'll be hungry all the time. Keep doing what you're doing. Good luck!

    You're meant to eat them back because MFP calculates your deficit without exercise. If you exercise your deficit gets bigger. If you don't eat at least some of those calories back your deficit will be too big, which can cause loss of muscle mass and plateaus.

    ^ This
  • lveh8lve
    lveh8lve Posts: 162 Member
    I've played around with MFP and it's setting's to see what worked well for me and it's taken a few months. I'm much taller then you (5'11"). I've done the super low cal and not eat back exercise calls (I basically wanted to kill everyone and thats not a good thing), I upped it and didn't really lose. I've found that I use 1560 and eat back my exercise calories. BUT days like today I have 272 calories left after the gym that I wont eat. I wont eat them because I know i will eat crap :) I already had my hot cocoa for the day and Im set.

    Also my body will lose, lose, lose, then I gain, gain, then lose, lose. It's really annoying and can be quite discouraging. So I've changed my focus to instead of the number, focusing on the progress graph trending down. I've already lost all the Holiday weight and an extra pound.

    I've also tried to focus more on my macros too. Alot of people don't look at those too closely and focus on the calories only. I've become a big protein junkie and it really helps to keep me going throughout the day.

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