Goal calories seem high...

KiloTango · January 2013

Hi guys

I'm 5'4, 226lb girl, trying to get down to the overweight bracket (I'll reassess my goals once I get there, I do want to lose more but a step at a time. The most important bit is getting out of obesity first!)

Sedentary lifestyle, I'm doing the fitness ladder from the hacker diet (but rolling my own diet), get an hour or two of walking each week, usually carrying a heavy load of shopping for half of it (no car so all the food shopping gets carried), and have a 20 minute workout with pedals or a rowing machine a few times a week.

I'm not fussed on the exact rate I lose at, and am generally trying to drill better eating habits as a whole. I'm making sure to get at least 1200 (after exercise) as that seems to be the minimum people can handle sensibly and I'm fine with it, but should I actually be trying to get the 1600 'goal'? I'm a big girl and I read that that might mean my minimum calories not to go into 'store everything!' mode might be higher. A lot of the time getting over 1200 ends up with me scrambling for some kind of healthy snack when I'm not super hungry.

Should I be aiming for my net calories to be closer to 1200 or to 1600? I've only been doing this since the new year so I want to make sure I don't scupper my progress by going too far if that's what I've been doing.

PrincessGlitterTush · January 2013

Hi,

You should take some time out and read the info from the below link:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I think a lot of people will refer you to this as it all makes sense. Get all your measurements and customise your goals on MFP.. but 1200 sounds extremely low, so if you're not going to read the above - then I'd say stick with 1600!

Good Luck

tryclyn · January 2013

You may just need to read more about it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833500-what-do-i-do-common-sense-cliff-notes
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

DreamOfSunshine · January 2013

Hi,

You should take some time out and read the info from the below link:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I think a lot of people will refer you to this as it all makes sense. Get all your measurements and customise your goals on MFP.. but 1200 sounds extremely low, so if you're not going to read the above - then I'd say stick with 1600!

Good Luck

That

)) Welcome and good luck!

ashlinmarie · January 2013

I would aim for the 1600 calories. I am 185 and I have my calories set to 1750 which is low compared to my TDEE and what I should be eating. I think my BMR is 1650.

However, I also feel I should eat what my body tells me to eat (calorie wise, not the junk!) Some days I eat 1300 calories and some days I eat 1800 plus. If you feel good at 1200 and not overly tired or anything, you should be fine, but eat more if your body is hungry! And make sure it is real hunger and not boredom hunger (which is my problem).

You will get a lot of differing opinions though but that is my two cents and what seems to work for me. Once I get to a lower weight I will reassess and may have to raise or lower my calories.

witchy_wife · January 2013

Hi, I am also 5ft 4 and weight 213lbs. I eat between 1400 (seems to be the lowest) and 1900, my calories goal on here is 1791. I'd say I average about 1650. At the moment I do eat too much rubbish, for example I know I will have chocolate and pizza today, but still stay within my calorie goals. That is what I am working on, cutting down the rubbish and working on better choices. And I can eat plenty of food on those calories even with rubbish, so eating good quality healthy food would be PLENTY of food to keep you full up.

I'm losing weight steadily, anywhere between half a pound a week to 3lb a week depending on what exercise I do. I walk most days and sometimes do 30 mins of walking / jogging on the treadmill. I also try and get in some strength training 3 x a week, doing squats, press ups (from knees) lunges, planks and some weights work (only have dumbells at the moment).

I would from my own experience say aim for closer to the 1600 rather than 1200. You will definitely lose weight eating at 1600 and it will be a healthy steady loss and more sustainable than 1200.

My diary is open to friends so feel free to add me for support.

Dovekat · January 2013

I agree with everyone up above those are extremely useful links and answer a lot of questions. To help give you an idea I am also 5ft 4 and I weigh 168lbs (down from 198lbs). My current TDEE -20% is 1480 my TDEE -10% is 1664 this is based on sedentary so I can log my exercise and eat back 50-75% of it. I *try* to net no lower then 1400 and have set my cal goal to the higher of those two numbers because I find it easier to manage my macros that way. Good luck to you!

:flowerforyou:

WalkingFlower · January 2013

Hi,

I think 1200 is too few. I'm 5'4, 162 lbs and I'm losing weight with 1300-1400 net daily income. Since I'm still losing weight quite quickly, I plan to go with net income a little bit higher.

WendyTerry420 · January 2013

You may just need to read more about it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833500-what-do-i-do-common-sense-cliff-notes
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

Great links!

OP, 1600 is *not* high calories. That's quite a bit less than what I eat to lose.

masfe · January 2013

1200 seem a bit too low. It's always though to know exactly at the beginning how much your maintenance calories are, but if you go too much below that it will give you good results in the short term, but in the long term you'll lack energy and it might hurt your metabolism.

The ideal is to go like only 500 below the calorie spent, which should give you around -1lb/week. If you're extremely overweight then you can go to like 1000 below the calories spent and aim for 2lb/week.

As you probably don't know the exact number of calories you spend, i would start with the higher estimate, so 1600. If you do that for a couple weeks and you don't see any results, then lower it a bit, and you should start seeing some results. But i would be surprised if you don't lose weight at 1600/day. And if you don't, the best you can do is to add some exercise. If your maintenance is 1600/day and you burn extra 400 calories on your workout you won't need to go below 1500, because i would avoid going below 1500 if possible.

KiloTango · January 2013

Thanks for the advice guys! I'd read some of them but was a bit in denial I think. I feel like I don't get a lot of exercise, but I'm also concious of damaging myself so I'm building up (when I'm further along, fitness ladder will be 15 mins intensive exercise first thing in the morning every single day, and I want to build the rowing/cycling to longer spells too) so I keep thinking I surely can't need that many 'just because I'm heavy'.

(Which is of course, silly and wrong of me.)

It feels very counter-intuitive to go on a 'diet' and then have to order myself to eat more, when you're used to thinking 'you're really overweight, you need to eat less'... which gets compounded even more when I need to get more exercise, as then you need to eat even MORE.

I'll try and fight my instincts and do it though, I know it's important... my habits are generally good (few processed foods, not a lot of stuff like chocolate or crisps, lots of home cooking, no sugar in my drinks and lots more stuff like green tea than soda...) so I guess I just need to have more of the good stuff I eat.

wahmx3 · January 2013

Thanks for the advice guys! I'd read some of them but was a bit in denial I think. I feel like I don't get a lot of exercise, but I'm also concious of damaging myself so I'm building up (when I'm further along, fitness ladder will be 15 mins intensive exercise first thing in the morning every single day, and I want to build the rowing/cycling to longer spells too) so I keep thinking I surely can't need that many 'just because I'm heavy'.

(Which is of course, silly and wrong of me.)

It feels very counter-intuitive to go on a 'diet' and then have to order myself to eat more, when you're used to thinking 'you're really overweight, you need to eat less'... which gets compounded even more when I need to get more exercise, as then you need to eat even MORE.

I'll try and fight my instincts and do it though, I know it's important... my habits are generally good (few processed foods, not a lot of stuff like chocolate or crisps, lots of home cooking, no sugar in my drinks and lots more stuff like green tea than soda...) so I guess I just need to have more of the good stuff I eat.

I think the hardest part for anyone wanting to lose weight....is to eat enough to properly fuel their body. Just to compare, I am 5'4", weigh 145 and eat around 1500 calories daily which is just above my BMR. Go check out the link that someone else posted and get your BMR and TDEE calculated, never eat below your BMR. Your body needs the food to fuel your heart, lungs, brain and every other body organ and muscle you have. Exercise is great but eating the right foods in the right amounts and drinking lots of water is the most important, especially in the beginning. To lose the weight and more importantly to keep it off, please eat enough and 1200 calories is no where near enough.

masfe · January 2013

Thanks for the advice guys! I'd read some of them but was a bit in denial I think. I feel like I don't get a lot of exercise, but I'm also concious of damaging myself so I'm building up (when I'm further along, fitness ladder will be 15 mins intensive exercise first thing in the morning every single day, and I want to build the rowing/cycling to longer spells too) so I keep thinking I surely can't need that many 'just because I'm heavy'.

(Which is of course, silly and wrong of me.)

It feels very counter-intuitive to go on a 'diet' and then have to order myself to eat more, when you're used to thinking 'you're really overweight, you need to eat less'... which gets compounded even more when I need to get more exercise, as then you need to eat even MORE.

I'll try and fight my instincts and do it though, I know it's important... my habits are generally good (few processed foods, not a lot of stuff like chocolate or crisps, lots of home cooking, no sugar in my drinks and lots more stuff like green tea than soda...) so I guess I just need to have more of the good stuff I eat.

Because people tend to lower their calories intake by a lot when they go on a diet, and sometimes they do that along with adding exercise. If you're eating 500 calories for example above your maintenance and then suddenly go 1000 calories below your body will suffer, give you less energy, and eventually adapt. Then you won't have any margin to lower even more and you'll get stuck.

I used to eat a lot, and then i went on a 35Kg (80lb? not sure) diet. The way i did it was by decreasing slowly my calories intake. I remember that at first with little exercise and still on a bad diet i could lose weight. And when i got stuck i just made my diet (or increased exercise) better and better while losing weight slowly, and i managed to lose those 35Kg without going crazy low on calories or exercise.

Basically it's better to lose 1lb/week for a year then losing 2lb/week and risk reaching a plateau after 3 months.

KiloTango · January 2013

I calculated my BMR... and it's higher than the goal calories MFP is giving me. (MFP says I want a net intake of 1600, but their BMR calc says my BMR is 1,731 @_@)

Which says to me they should check that out, because I bet there's other people like me who are undershooting their BMR... This is just confusing.

vicmonster · January 2013

Hi,

You should take some time out and read the info from the below link:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I think a lot of people will refer you to this as it all makes sense. Get all your measurements and customise your goals on MFP.. but 1200 sounds extremely low, so if you're not going to read the above - then I'd say stick with 1600!

Good Luck

****THIS

VelociMama · January 2013

I calculated my BMR... and it's higher than the goal calories MFP is giving me. (MFP says I want a net intake of 1600, but their BMR calc says my BMR is 1,731 @_@)

Which says to me they should check that out, because I bet there's other people like me who are undershooting their BMR... This is just confusing.

MFP sets your calorie intake by the goal you choose. If you chose to lose 1.5-2 lbs per week, then it gives you a very low intake (1600 is quite low). If you take your time and aim for only 1 lb per week loss initially, you'll be able to eat a lot more, which is a GOOD thing.

erinsueburns · January 2013

I calculated my BMR... and it's higher than the goal calories MFP is giving me. (MFP says I want a net intake of 1600, but their BMR calc says my BMR is 1,731 @_@)

Which says to me they should check that out, because I bet there's other people like me who are undershooting their BMR... This is just confusing.

I do't think it actually uses BMR for their calculations, just amount you indicate you want to lose per week minus TDEE, whether or not that amount is sane or not.

unnur16 · January 2013

i started out almost 250 lbs and i have been on 1200 cal for 11 weeks now and i have lost 33 lbs , so it worked for me. but im also a bit higher then you are i´m 5 10"

KiloTango · January 2013

MFP sets your calorie intake by the goal you choose. If you chose to lose 1.5-2 lbs per week, then it gives you a very low intake (1600 is quite low). If you take your time and aim for only 1 lb per week loss initially, you'll be able to eat a lot more, which is a GOOD thing.

It's set to 1lbs a week already and gives me a goal of 1,660.

So yeah, I guess I need to set a custom one.

mistylovesmusic · January 2013

For me, I was 164 5'4" when I started. I was eating 1500 calories per day. If I exercised, I didn't usually eat them back unless I knew I was going out to dinner etc. I think you should start at the higher number so you have room to go down if you plateau. And everybody plateau's at some point. I my plan is to go down 100 caloris with each 10 pound milestone until I get to 1200. I am currently at 156 and eat 1400 calories. When I get below 150 I will go to 1300 and then when I get below 140 I will go to 1200. That's my plan anyway. Good luck on your journey!

akaMrsmojo · January 2013

I go up every plateau. Going down never works for me. From my experience, 1200 is low for everyone. But it is a baseline to net so you won't get sick. I was never successful on any less than 1480.

WendyTerry420 · January 2013

:flowerforyou:

ktied · January 2013

Yea i think both of those numbers are too low. my calorie goal is at 1600. But i make sure i do some sort of physical activity every day, whether that be busting my butt in the gym or a leisurely walk with the dogs, and I always eat my calories back. So i eat between 1900 and 2200 every day and im losing 1-2 pounds a week. (5'5'' and 250 pounds. I started at about 290)

Will210 · January 2013

Try for the 1200 and see how you feel. If you are exercising - use that as a benchmark meaning do your exercises improve (can you do cardio better/longer...do you get strong with weight exercises..do you have energy to workoutt? Do you feel light headed when you get out of a chair - chances are you need to up the calories. Your body will tell you - just need to listen.

Assuming you have a higher % of fat on your body so your body will use that for energy - that is the goal. Also make sure your diet has good fat in it.

Goal calories seem high...

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