Calorie limit in MFP

tnrunningnurse
tnrunningnurse Posts: 549 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
So it seems to me that MFP sets everyone's ideal calorie limit at 1200, which is not realistic for the most part. First of all your calorie needs are based on your weight and your activity level. My suggestion to everyone who joins this site is to either google a search for my calorie needs or go the Shape magazines website or Fitness magazine's website and use their calculator's to calculate your daily calorie needs based on your goals. I am a very active person, I run 4 days a week and average 5-6 miles of walking at work on the other 3 days....so 1200 cals would leave me starving and put me into "fat save mode" Find out your calorie needs and this journey won't be so difficult. Keep in mind has you lose weight your calorie needs will go down.

Replies

  • Cwilliams8676
    Cwilliams8676 Posts: 252 Member
    It put me at early 2000 calories so not everyone. I set it to 1300 so i can add exercise to it to eat back I typically eat around 1400 calories. i could do 1200 easily but exercising burning 600-700 a day i need more
  • tnrunningnurse
    tnrunningnurse Posts: 549 Member
    It put me at early 2000 calories so not everyone. I set it to 1300 so i can add exercise to it to eat back I typically eat around 1400 calories. i could do 1200 easily but exercising burning 600-700 a day i need more
    It set me at 1200, which I knew was not enough based on my activity level. I felt like I was starving. That is why I found a calculator.I then changed mine to 1300. It will change as my activity level increase. I just posted this because I see so many questioning their cal limit.
  • phatty28
    phatty28 Posts: 8
    My intake is set at 1200 and I exercise 5 days a week burning 400-600 daily. I don't ever feel hungry or starving and I am at a net of 900-1100 per day. Should I be eating back my calories.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    you can manually change the calorie intake to something else. and MFP didnt set me at 1200 either, so it doesnt set everyone's calorie at that amount.. how could it? people are different ages, genders, activity levels, goals etc :laugh:

    it originally had me at 1300, but i set it myself to 1600 and eat anywhere from 1200 on my lightest days to 2400 on my hungriest days. i'm losing approx 2 lbs a week too
  • tvl0308
    tvl0308 Posts: 96 Member
    When I first started it put me right at 1200 calories and working out 3 days a week. But now i am working out 5 days a week. I am usually under the 1200 calories . Sometimes it is 1090 to 1120 calories i eat a day. I need to eat more. As you called it "fat save mode" that is what is happening to me. Yikes!!
  • jack_d_r
    jack_d_r Posts: 1
    You've been adding what you burn off to your calorie allowance, right? If your allowance is 1200, and you burn off 300 during exercise, you get to eat 1500. That's actually quite a bit of food, particularly if it features a good percentage of vegetables such as leafy greens, tomatoes and bell peppers etc.
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    Mine is 1,510 calories a day because I have it set at 1 lb loss per week. I think pretty much any woman who checks the "2 lbs per week" box gets a calorie limit of 1,200, even if it's not a 1,000 calorie deficit under their TDEE (7,000 calorie weekly deficit = 2 lbs a week).
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    It didn't put me at 1200, but I didn't set it for two LBS a week. If you set it for quick weight loss, it often chooses the lowest number of calories, yes.

    Mines currently set much higher than 1200.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    MFP expects you to eat your calories back.

    I can eat 1200 +500 or I can eat 1700, my body doesn't seem to care.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
    So it seems to me that MFP sets everyone's ideal calorie limit at 1200, which is not realistic for the most part. First of all your calorie needs are based on your weight and your activity level. My suggestion to everyone who joins this site is to either google a search for my calorie needs or go the Shape magazines website or Fitness magazine's website and use their calculator's to calculate your daily calorie needs based on your goals. I am a very active person, I run 4 days a week and average 5-6 miles of walking at work on the other 3 days....so 1200 cals would leave me starving and put me into "fat save mode" Find out your calorie needs and this journey won't be so difficult. Keep in mind has you lose weight your calorie needs will go down.


    I think you're mistaken. MFP does not set everyone's calorie limit at 1200.
  • WannaBeFitJean
    WannaBeFitJean Posts: 52 Member
    So it seems to me that MFP sets everyone's ideal calorie limit at 1200, which is not realistic for the most part. First of all your calorie needs are based on your weight and your activity level. My suggestion to everyone who joins this site is to either google a search for my calorie needs or go the Shape magazines website or Fitness magazine's website and use their calculator's to calculate your daily calorie needs based on your goals. I am a very active person, I run 4 days a week and average 5-6 miles of walking at work on the other 3 days....so 1200 cals would leave me starving and put me into "fat save mode" Find out your calorie needs and this journey won't be so difficult. Keep in mind has you lose weight your calorie needs will go down.


    I think you're mistaken. MFP does not set everyone's calorie limit at 1200.

    ^ This... and mine is set at 1610. Where did you get your info that everyones was set to 1200??
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    It's put me at 1390 cals per day.
    If you set it to the recommended lose rate of 1lb per week, it will give you a higher calorie goal. Unless you are severely overweight, in which case the 1200 cal per day diet can be essential for you.

    Also, if you exercise it then alters so you eat your calories back. So even if you are one of the people who is set 1200 calories (because you put 1.5lbs-2lbs per week loss or because MFP suggests this because of your statistics), it can be more like 1500-1600 with exercise calories taken into account.
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