You can eat way more than 1200 cals/day and reach your goal!
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Fit_Mama99
Posts: 17
Good morning MFP's! I've had a few ladies asking me about what I'm doing to drop the weight lately. Was going to PM someone and then thought it's no secret, so I'll just post it here. Then someone suggested I post this info in the forums also. Over the past several months I was slacking with my workouts and put on about 6 lbs. I'd close out my diary at the end of the day with good intentions, and then end up going over...way over some days. That's how I gained back those 6 lbs. Well, I felt like I looked best at my lowest weight of 127, so instead of drastically cutting my calories to lose the 6 lbs, I looked on scoobysworkshop.com (accurate calorie calculator) and found out my maintenance calorie goal for 127 lbs. So I've been staying within that goal, making sure I work out according to the activity level I set there, and it's working for me. No one should eat at 1200 calories IMO. That's just ridiculous nonsense. The lowest I ever went with my calories was to 1500 and THEN hit a plateau (I was within maybe 10 lbs of my goal), which I only broke when I decided to try INCREASING my cals! I will say that I'm not hungry eating at maintenance and I can eat what I want as long as I do a little planning and pre-logging at times. I'm in this for the long haul so this is how I've made it livable for me. I'm making sure I have at least 64 oz of water a day, more if possible. I eat five meals a day-breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. This way I never get too hungry and keep my body fueled. I'm doing a new thing now where I look at my goal for the week and if I go over slightly one day, I try to make it even out by the end of the week. I set a goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and try to pretty much eliminate processed carbs from my day as much as possible. Strength training 3 days a week, try to do cardio daily, and no less than 4 days a week, try to hit my macros, and try to eat whole grain instead of white rice, pasta, and bread...actually I don't eat a lot of any of that even though I love it. If you haven't checked out the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less, you really should. They have a "starter kit" e-book you can purchase for $5 that has a wealth of information (shout out to Lucia and Kiki)! Those girls have got it going on and they know what they're talking about! Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps some of you.
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Also forgot to mention that if you set your calorie goal this way, you don't want to eat back your exercise calories burned because your activity is already figured into the calculation...I just log my exercise as burning 1 calorie and that's why.0
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Good morning MFP's! I've had a few ladies asking me about what I'm doing to drop the weight lately. Was going to PM someone and then thought it's no secret, so I'll just post it here. Then someone suggested I post this info in the forums also. Over the past several months I was slacking with my workouts and put on about 6 lbs. I'd close out my diary at the end of the day with good intentions, and then end up going over...way over some days. That's how I gained back those 6 lbs. Well, I felt like I looked best at my lowest weight of 127, so instead of drastically cutting my calories to lose the 6 lbs, I looked on scoobysworkshop.com (accurate calorie calculator) and found out my maintenance calorie goal for 127 lbs. So I've been staying within that goal, making sure I work out according to the activity level I set there, and it's working for me. No one should eat at 1200 calories IMO. That's just ridiculous nonsense. The lowest I ever went with my calories was to 1500 and THEN hit a plateau (I was within maybe 10 lbs of my goal), which I only broke when I decided to try INCREASING my cals! I will say that I'm not hungry eating at maintenance and I can eat what I want as long as I do a little planning and pre-logging at times. I'm in this for the long haul so this is how I've made it livable for me. I'm making sure I have at least 64 oz of water a day, more if possible. I eat five meals a day-breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. This way I never get too hungry and keep my body fueled. I'm doing a new thing now where I look at my goal for the week and if I go over slightly one day, I try to make it even out by the end of the week. I set a goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and try to pretty much eliminate processed carbs from my day as much as possible. Strength training 3 days a week, try to do cardio daily, and no less than 4 days a week, try to hit my macros, and try to eat whole grain instead of white rice, pasta, and bread...actually I don't eat a lot of any of that even though I love it. If you haven't checked out the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less, you really should. They have a "starter kit" e-book you can purchase for $5 that has a wealth of information (shout out to Lucia and Kiki)! Those girls have got it going on and they know what they're talking about! Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps some of you.
Way to think in absolutes0 -
Good to know! I've been doing the TDEE - 20 since about late January or mid-February and it has worked pretty well. I definitely feel good and have noticed inches lost, if not always weight lost. Strength training has made a big difference. I still need to work on getting my macros right though.0
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Good morning MFP's! I've had a few ladies asking me about what I'm doing to drop the weight lately. Was going to PM someone and then thought it's no secret, so I'll just post it here. Then someone suggested I post this info in the forums also. Over the past several months I was slacking with my workouts and put on about 6 lbs. I'd close out my diary at the end of the day with good intentions, and then end up going over...way over some days. That's how I gained back those 6 lbs. Well, I felt like I looked best at my lowest weight of 127, so instead of drastically cutting my calories to lose the 6 lbs, I looked on scoobysworkshop.com (accurate calorie calculator) and found out my maintenance calorie goal for 127 lbs. So I've been staying within that goal, making sure I work out according to the activity level I set there, and it's working for me. No one should eat at 1200 calories IMO. That's just ridiculous nonsense. The lowest I ever went with my calories was to 1500 and THEN hit a plateau (I was within maybe 10 lbs of my goal), which I only broke when I decided to try INCREASING my cals! I will say that I'm not hungry eating at maintenance and I can eat what I want as long as I do a little planning and pre-logging at times. I'm in this for the long haul so this is how I've made it livable for me. I'm making sure I have at least 64 oz of water a day, more if possible. I eat five meals a day-breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. This way I never get too hungry and keep my body fueled. I'm doing a new thing now where I look at my goal for the week and if I go over slightly one day, I try to make it even out by the end of the week. I set a goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and try to pretty much eliminate processed carbs from my day as much as possible. Strength training 3 days a week, try to do cardio daily, and no less than 4 days a week, try to hit my macros, and try to eat whole grain instead of white rice, pasta, and bread...actually I don't eat a lot of any of that even though I love it. If you haven't checked out the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less, you really should. They have a "starter kit" e-book you can purchase for $5 that has a wealth of information (shout out to Lucia and Kiki)! Those girls have got it going on and they know what they're talking about! Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps some of you.
Way to think in absolutes
Thank you.0 -
Thanks acg67, I knew I'd get some snarky comments so way to get it out of the way right off the bat! Have a nice day! :flowerforyou:0
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Good morning MFP's! I've had a few ladies asking me about what I'm doing to drop the weight lately. Was going to PM someone and then thought it's no secret, so I'll just post it here. Then someone suggested I post this info in the forums also. Over the past several months I was slacking with my workouts and put on about 6 lbs. I'd close out my diary at the end of the day with good intentions, and then end up going over...way over some days. That's how I gained back those 6 lbs. Well, I felt like I looked best at my lowest weight of 127, so instead of drastically cutting my calories to lose the 6 lbs, I looked on scoobysworkshop.com (accurate calorie calculator) and found out my maintenance calorie goal for 127 lbs. So I've been staying within that goal, making sure I work out according to the activity level I set there, and it's working for me. No one should eat at 1200 calories IMO. That's just ridiculous nonsense. The lowest I ever went with my calories was to 1500 and THEN hit a plateau (I was within maybe 10 lbs of my goal), which I only broke when I decided to try INCREASING my cals! I will say that I'm not hungry eating at maintenance and I can eat what I want as long as I do a little planning and pre-logging at times. I'm in this for the long haul so this is how I've made it livable for me. I'm making sure I have at least 64 oz of water a day, more if possible. I eat five meals a day-breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. This way I never get too hungry and keep my body fueled. I'm doing a new thing now where I look at my goal for the week and if I go over slightly one day, I try to make it even out by the end of the week. I set a goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and try to pretty much eliminate processed carbs from my day as much as possible. Strength training 3 days a week, try to do cardio daily, and no less than 4 days a week, try to hit my macros, and try to eat whole grain instead of white rice, pasta, and bread...actually I don't eat a lot of any of that even though I love it. If you haven't checked out the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less, you really should. They have a "starter kit" e-book you can purchase for $5 that has a wealth of information (shout out to Lucia and Kiki)! Those girls have got it going on and they know what they're talking about! Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps some of you.
Way to think in absolutes
Thank you.
If you're eating 1500 calories a day and not eating exercise cals back, you're netting less than 1200 a day .0 -
This is true...I don't eat at 1500 cals a day anymore, to clarify...I was saying that was the lowest I had ever set my goal at. And I'm sure there were days I was netting below the 1200, which is why I think I hit my plateau when I used to eat at 1500.0
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Good morning MFP's! I've had a few ladies asking me about what I'm doing to drop the weight lately. Was going to PM someone and then thought it's no secret, so I'll just post it here. Then someone suggested I post this info in the forums also. Over the past several months I was slacking with my workouts and put on about 6 lbs. I'd close out my diary at the end of the day with good intentions, and then end up going over...way over some days. That's how I gained back those 6 lbs. Well, I felt like I looked best at my lowest weight of 127, so instead of drastically cutting my calories to lose the 6 lbs, I looked on scoobysworkshop.com (accurate calorie calculator) and found out my maintenance calorie goal for 127 lbs. So I've been staying within that goal, making sure I work out according to the activity level I set there, and it's working for me. No one should eat at 1200 calories IMO. That's just ridiculous nonsense. The lowest I ever went with my calories was to 1500 and THEN hit a plateau (I was within maybe 10 lbs of my goal), which I only broke when I decided to try INCREASING my cals! I will say that I'm not hungry eating at maintenance and I can eat what I want as long as I do a little planning and pre-logging at times. I'm in this for the long haul so this is how I've made it livable for me. I'm making sure I have at least 64 oz of water a day, more if possible. I eat five meals a day-breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. This way I never get too hungry and keep my body fueled. I'm doing a new thing now where I look at my goal for the week and if I go over slightly one day, I try to make it even out by the end of the week. I set a goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and try to pretty much eliminate processed carbs from my day as much as possible. Strength training 3 days a week, try to do cardio daily, and no less than 4 days a week, try to hit my macros, and try to eat whole grain instead of white rice, pasta, and bread...actually I don't eat a lot of any of that even though I love it. If you haven't checked out the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less, you really should. They have a "starter kit" e-book you can purchase for $5 that has a wealth of information (shout out to Lucia and Kiki)! Those girls have got it going on and they know what they're talking about! Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps some of you.
Way to think in absolutes
aaaaand way to be constructive as usual.
very, VERY few people should be eating 1,200 cal.0 -
OP...I would say 1,200 is for some people...but it is abused IMHO...very overweight/obese/morbidly obese can benefit greatly from that kind of calorie restriction. You are correct that it is unnecessary, especially if you have very little to lose. I've done much the same...set my calorie goal to 100 calories below what my maintenance will be at my goal weight. I did this primarily because I only have 13 Lbs to lose to get there and I want it to be all fat...this gives me about 2,300 calories per day. This also helps immensely in my lifting...I struggled with my lifting when I was doing bigger deficits...but sense dropping 32 Lbs and switching to my current calorie goal my lifting has improved dramatically.
This does work, but it is a very slow way to lose weight...I wouldn't think it appropriate for someone needing to drop 50+ Lbs...perfectly awesome way to go about it with a handful of cosmetic pounds to lose.0 -
Yes, coach and wolfman...I agree. I tend to talk in extremes sometimes when I'm passionate about something. But this is true...1200 cals could be realistic in certain cases, just not all or most, probably, at least in my humble opinion. But it's true that there are always those exceptions. And if you have a lot to lose, it makes sense to cut more than someone who is close to their goal. There's calculations on the Scooby's workshop site that will calculate in how much you want to cut, and if I had a lot I wanted to lose, would probably do the 20 percent cut. And by all means, I am not trying to say I am an expert! I'm also open to new advice and information.0
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agreed; and I think her point is specifically for those that have that "last little bit" (5 or 10 lbs) to lose that are the ones that get stuck on the 1200 a day mindset. I know several people that think this is something they have to abide by in order to lose weight, when in reality, once the BULK of the weight has been lost, you can increase cals and still lose weight. it is a very hard concept for a lot of people to grasp because they have been stuck on the idea of limiting for so long..
great post OP - glad to hear your experience - and hope others might be encouraged to try it that have been feeling restricted.0 -
YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.0 -
YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.0 -
Koldriana, no arguments there...people absolutely should research and decide for themselves...I was just sharing my own experience for what it was worth. Thank you for sharing the links.0
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YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.
the point is that you realize you're supposed to NET 1300 which means you're actually eating more. Many people on this site eat a gross of 1200 calories, which is NEVER ok.
yes. I said that in absolutes. because it's true.0 -
Awesome. Love success stories like this!0
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YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.
the point is that you realize you're supposed to NET 1300 which means you're actually eating more. Many people on this site eat a gross of 1200 calories, which is NEVER ok.
yes. I said that in absolutes. because it's true.
lol, and you're reasoning is?0 -
YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.
the point is that you realize you're supposed to NET 1300 which means you're actually eating more. Many people on this site eat a gross of 1200 calories, which is NEVER ok.
yes. I said that in absolutes. because it's true.
lol, and you're reasoning is?
because I've never heard of someone with a BMR below 1000. have you?0 -
Your success story is encouraging. Do you have a link for the MFP group Eat More to Weigh Less you mentioned in your post that I could check out?0
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YOU can.. but not EVERYONE can.
I wish people would stop with 1200 calories. It's JUST a number. It has NOTHING to do with anything except its some random number that this website uses when someone says they want 'to lose 2 lbs / week'. Calculate your calories properly using one of the methods in some threads like these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
There are many people who eat 1200 and less because that is RIGHT for their age,weight, height and activity - I net 1307 calculated from the IPOARM method. Seems to work for me but obviously it's not going to work for everyone. I encourage people to do their own research instead of relying completely on what someone else tells them to do.
the point is that you realize you're supposed to NET 1300 which means you're actually eating more. Many people on this site eat a gross of 1200 calories, which is NEVER ok.
yes. I said that in absolutes. because it's true.
lol, and you're reasoning is?
because I've never heard of someone with a BMR below 1000. have you?
Yes, but what is your point? Are you saying bariatric surgery patients should eat over 1200 cals post op?0
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