calorie intake vs how many calories to burn

chelle3283
chelle3283 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am on a 1200 calorie diet which includes low carbs. I am a little confused on how many calories I need to burn a day. I was thinking of burning 1000 calories a day on a 1200 calorie diet. would that make me lose weight? I want to lose at least 2lbs a week.my goal is to lose 40lbs by sept 24th

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    1) Your body burns calories even without exercise and, believe it or not, even while you sleep. Your organs require calories just to function.

    2) Please, Please, don't eat 1200 and burn 1000 through exercise without eating the exercise calories back. If you don't eat the exercise calories back, you will essentially being giving your body only 200 calories to function. It's not healthy and can cause you health problems later down the road.

    3) 1-2lbs a week is healthy rate to lose weight. Don't expect to lose 2lbs a week unless your 50+ lbs overweight or you take dangerously unhealthy shortcuts.

    4) The only thing needed for weight loss is a calorie deficit. Which MFP gives you and you don't have to exercise.

    5) Exercise will make you look and feel better, but isn't needed for weight loss.

    I really think you need to read:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/976981-welcome-to-mfp-don-t-worry-there-s-cliff-notes?hl=welcome+to+MFP
  • chelle3283
    chelle3283 Posts: 16 Member
    so are you saying if I 1200cal a day and not excersize ill still lose 1-2 lbs a week? and I am 50 + overweight.
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
    so are you saying if I 1200cal a day and not excersize ill still lose 1-2 lbs a week? and I am 50 + overweight.

    Lets look at it from the other view point. Do you think your body will function at it's very best if you are netting 200 calories a day? Forget the weight loss for a second. Think about your health. You will not be doing your body any favours in terms of long term sustainable weight loss by eating at 1200 and burning off 1000 calories daily. Only eating 1200 daily is bad enough, without that kind of burn on top of it.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Read this before you start off in wrong direction

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/963088-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    so are you saying if I 1200cal a day and not excersize ill still lose 1-2 lbs a week? and I am 50 + overweight.

    yep.

    yesterday before exercise, just from daily activity (I'm not even that active outside of exercise) I burned 1955 calories. Also, I eat way more than 1200 calories a day (this last week I lost 2.8lbs....but if I average out my weight loss from when I started in feb...it's more like 2.1-2.3lbs a week).

    sx0sab.jpg
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Please consider calculating the number of calories your body burns in a day (TDEE) and eating a reasonable amount less than that (about 20%). http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • chelle3283
    chelle3283 Posts: 16 Member
    so my doctor told me he wants me to do a 1,200 calorie diet. with that being said should I not excersize and just do the diet? or should I excersize and then just eat what I burn off?
  • boothekm
    boothekm Posts: 60 Member
    I would at least eat some of what you burn. I'm pretty sure you already burn about 2000 calories a day from normal activities. That's already more than your intake.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    so my doctor told me he wants me to do a 1,200 calorie diet. with that being said should I not excersize and just do the diet? or should I excersize and then just eat what I burn off?

    1) Maybe ask your doctor ***Keep in mind, that unless you're talking to a registered dietitian, some doctors tend to give bad advice when it comes to nutrition. **
    2) If you want to work out, than why not try 1200+ exercise calories for about 4 weeks and see what happens. If you don't want to exercise, then don't and just eat at the 1200 calories.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    so my doctor told me he wants me to do a 1,200 calorie diet. with that being said should I not excersize and just do the diet? or should I excersize and then just eat what I burn off?

    Why not ask your doctor? What reason did he give you for 1200 cals?

    If you do exercise, just make sure you estimate the calories burned during the exercise (lots of ways to do that) and then eat those extra cals.
  • chelle3283
    chelle3283 Posts: 16 Member
    im not sure why he wants me to eat 1200 but MFP told me the same thing. I weigh 215 and so I need to lose about 90 lbs. My doctor also told me he wants me to walk about an hour a day. So I do the elliptical on the highest intensity and that way I burn about 100 calories in 11 minutes. so should I burn 500 cal ( about an hour ) and then just make up the rest? I do want to get fit.
  • torchita
    torchita Posts: 32 Member
    HI Dian ,, i looked up the like you recorded .. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and i dont understand all there asking for.. Im 44 yrs old female and weight 258 i burn 1200 cals a day 5 days a week.

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