can a uk user please help me ?

I am pretty certain that MFP does not take into account any medical conditions that you may have and not being a doctor, I am not sure whether MFP is recommending a "healthy" intake or not.

Personally, I would suggest that you to visit your GP and ask them for some advice. Tell them about this site and that many people have found it incredibly useful. In fact my dad, who is a retired GP, recommended I come here when I wanted to make a change.

Have your doctor advise you about diet and a healthy calorific intake as well as a suitable exercise plan and work with that. You can still use the MFP tools to track everything and once your doc says it is OK to use the MFP defaults, go for it.

Good luck on your journey.

Most people say MFP comes up with too low BMR but if I remember rightly it isnt a maintain figure its the level you need just to live (if you never moved all day)

Find your maintenance calories .... What you need to stay the same weight

Weigh yourself accurately.

Eat 2000 calories a day for two weeks (record VERY accurately - weigh food portions , include drinks)

Weigh yourself

Can then calculate your true maintenance calories

then reduce what you eat by 300 or 400 less than that figure

I use BMR and I am in Scotland! It's not often talked about, but it is there. A GP would give you the best information regarding calorie levels with your health issues, but for me my calorie levels are like this:

My BMR is around 1560, which is what my body burns everyday if I did absolutely nothing. My total expenditure is somewhere around 2100 calories, which allows for my activity level. I eat around 1700 a day (net, not gross) to ensure I'm at a deficit whilst remaining above my BMR.

That way I can hopefully avoid losing much lean body mass.

At least I *think* that's how it works.

Good luck with your weight loss :flowerforyou:

I have PCOS also, and I saw a dietician a few years ago that put me on a 1000 calorie daily diet (since with PCOS our bodies need less calories), and I know there are a lot of PCOS peeps on here that are on 1200 calorie diets. Of course I knew there was no chance I would stick to that as it was so strict so I used the BMR that my weight loss program (WLR at the time) gave me and aimed for -200 or so calories to account for the condition, tried to keep my carbs down which also helps, and did plenty of exercise and I did lose the weight, albeit probably not as fast as if I'd restricted as much as she wanted me to!!

Unfortunately since then I gained the weight again :embarassed: But I'm pretty much trying to the do the same thing this time

The best advice though would be to go and speak to your doctor, who might send you to a dietician, and go on what they say as it's different for everyone.

Firstly I am by no means a health expert or medical professional, I can only go off my own experiences. I have previously lost around 5stone with ww before I started on here I only have around another 12lb to go.

Mfp gave me 1200kc a day for me this was too low. I do very little excercise due to illness other than walking and I've just started yoga. I found my weight loss plateaued and wouldn't shift, I was so hungry and tired most of he time and constantly thought about food, this caused me to over eat because I was so hungry I'd either fridge pick or have a massive portion at mealtimes.

I decided to look into my BMR and Tdee. My BMR is around 1360 so I have upped my daily calories to this, I eat back some of my excercise cals too. I am a lot happier, I eat every 2 to 3 hours even if its only a piece of fruit or some nuts and am never hungry. I don't let myself get to that "starving" stage so I don't over eat & can cut my portion sizes down. In fact some days I seem to be eating constantly. The change in weightloss has been dramatic, from barely losing 1/2 lb in 3 weeks I've lost 3lb in the 2 weeks I've made the change. I know the 160 cals difference I'm eating is not a lot, but for me it's 2 snacks and also gives me the extra energy to want to excercise a bit more.

I don't think you'll starve or damage any organs on 1200 cals, and if you can easily manage on this then fine & good luck to you. However you may find it difficult to continue at that amount. It depends how you feel. If you're tired, depressed, have no energy you may need to up your intake. Ok so your weightloss may at some point slow down, but it's not a race it's a complete lifestyle change, and one that you need to be comfortable maintaining. Everyone is different and what may work for one person may not work for another. If you're unsure I would discuss this with your GP.

I wish you every success in our journey xx