Go by MFP calculations or not?? Pls help

No don't go by MFP.... I did for a while and lost weight but I checked out my BMR and TDEE first. Google them you'll find what your body actually needs in order to lose weight.
Good luck.

Setting your goal to 2 lose 2lbs per week is why your calories are low.

Make it 1 lbs per week and it will probably be more reasonable.

TRUST MFP IN ALL THINGS. MFP IS YOUR NEW GOD.

The numbers are just a general guideline to get you started. If you are fine with losing 1 pound a week, then change your goal to that and you can eat more. You may find that you actually maintain on a different number than the one MFP figures for you, either higher or lower. A lot of this is trial and error to find what works best for you. If you aren't losing anything, then lower the cals a bit, if you are getting too hungry and losing too fast, then up the cals a bit.

We have similar starting points For the first two weeks or so I went by MFP and quickly realized that it wasn't sustainable, not for a lifestyle change. Then I found this post:

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

and everything changed! Figure out your BMR (what your body burns if you do nothing but chill in bed all day) and your TDEE (how much energy you need in a normal day) and manually set everything. You'll find that you can eat more to weigh less (which is more sustainable in the long run anyway) and be satisfied and not feel like you're starving yourself. Also, keep in mind if you do choose to use this method that you don't have to eat back your exercise calories as they are already factored into your daily allowance (unless, of course, you burn a ridiculous amount during an usually draining session and are starving).

Hope this helps and feel free to add if you want some support in the process

I can give you a general outline of how it works.

At the cellular level, we burn simple sugars, glucose. Structures inside the cells use different amino acids (proteins) and fatty acids and glucose to carry out life.

Think of your daily energy needs as a bowl. Fill it up with food, any food, and you can only put so much in before it starts overflowing. When you eat too much, our bodies have a way of storing eaten carbs, proteins, and fats for use later. We evolved this way through times of famine and times of plenty.

When we realize that we have overeaten for so long that we have an unhealthy amount of bodyfat on us, we need to do something to fix what's happened. The good news is that our bodies don't like to be exceptionally overweight, just as they don't like to be exceptionally underweight. When the overweight people start losing, the weight comes off at a precipitous rate. Once they get closer and closer to normal weight ranges, the loss slows.

Simply speaking, it costs heavy bodies more energy to move around and perform daily tasks. As a general rule, if you cut back to a 2000 calorie diet, and you are very overweight, the calorie cost of maintaining that very overweight body will be so high, 2000 calories would be enough of a deficit to see a reverse in weight gain.

To get technical, when we diet, our cells don't get enough glucose to perform day to day tasks, like replacing red blood cells and making your heart beat. When we don't eat enough calories to cover the metabolic costs of living, our liver will take amino acids (protein) and chain them together with fatty acids and create glucose (It's called gluconeogenesis). This is how we can lose fat, by creating a calorie deficit and eating enough protein.

If you skimp on your diet and cut too many calories too much too soon, your liver will make up for that cut by taking the proteins it needs from your bodies' stores of protein, your muscles.

Eat less, make sure you eat protein ALL THROUGH your day, when we eat all our protein in one sitting, after 8 hours we've digested all that, and the other 16 hours of the day our muscles are being vampired. Think of fat loss and your new lifestyle in terms of 24 hour segments, you should have protein at each meal, and some slow digesting protein for your last meal before you sleep, which essentially equals 8 hours of fasting.

Protein is also harder for our bodies to digest, and it helps to keep us full for longer. Eggs, fish from sustainable sources like tilapia or farmed salmon or catfish are all great, fake crab is an amazing snack, ground turkey is almost ALL protein, and it can be as lean as you like.

Any kind of meat except for maybe hamburger is going to be great for you. And even hamburger is amazing, if you pick out a nice sirloin roast, a leaner cut of meat and have the butcher grind it for you. Packages of ground beef can have up to 30% of their weight in fat in them (because we pay per pound, and no one buys fat). Soybeans are a great source of protein, they sell steamer bags of edamame in the grocery store now.

There is nothing to say you can't have bread or rice or carbs, but your focus should be on protein, and that other stuff should be dressing for the main attraction. If you try and eat your daily allowance of protein (at least 100g of protein per day no matter what MFP says) then you should feel full enough to get you through any day, no matter how stressful!

Hi. I am also 41 and 5'4". My starting weight was 228. I don't remember what MFP said I should be eating, but I know I added to it. I have my diet set at 1600 cal per day, but I also track carbs, fat & protein. Right now carbs is 45%, fat is 30% & protein is 25%. I have been losing at that amount. I'm sure I will have to decrease soon, but I didn't see a point in starting off low if I didn't have to. :bigsmile: