1400 Calorie Plan

Hello!

If I'm on a 1400 Calorie plan how many calories do I need to burn to lose weight? I work out about 80 minutes of Cardio which according to MFP it says I've burned 461 is that enough to lose weight or do I need to be doing more?

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    You burn calories all day long.

    Shoot, you sleeping all day long burns what is called your BMR.

    MFP estimates this as foundation to the math, you can see the number under Apps - BMR Calc.

    But since you don't sleep all day, but probably move, and eat which actually burns calories too, and exercise, and merely being awake burns more than sleeping, that all added up is called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE.

    You eat less than that number, you lose weight. Make it a big deficit, lose some muscle mass too, make it reasonable, hopefully just fat mass.

    If MFP gave you the 1400 - that ALREADY has a deficit based on your weekly weight loss goal - likely 1000 calories less than a maintenance level with NO exercise included.

    You might say a non-exercise TDEE day, minus 1000.

    You exercise, you just increased your TDEE for that day, minus the 1000 already there, means you now get to eat more than the 1400 to keep a reasonable deficit.

    That's why MFP works as you log your workout, and you are given extra to eat, to maintain the 1000 calorie deficit already there.

    Don't think faster and bigger loss is better, or you quickly spend months of wasted time wondering why your loss stopped.
  • onedayatatime12
    onedayatatime12 Posts: 577 Member
    Hi! This depends on your weight loss goal. A pound is 3500 calories, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, then you'd have to have roughly a deficit of 500 calories per day (through diet and/or exercise). Since you're having a deficit of 450 (I always take less) calories through exercise already, you just need to eat about 50 calories less than your BMR. Google 'BMR calculator' and you can figure out your daily caloric needs. :)

    Also, keep drinking LOTS of water (at least 10-12 glasses for sure), and have two bowls of yogurt a day (I was skeptical at first, but within two weeks of doing the yogurt twice a day, my natural waistline has gone down by 0.25 inches and that's the hardest part for me!) :) Good luck!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Hi! This depends on your weight loss goal. A pound is 3500 calories, so if you want to lose 1 pound a week, then you'd have to have roughly a deficit of 500 calories per day (through diet and/or exercise). Since you're having a deficit of 450 (I always take less) calories through exercise already, you just need to eat about 50 calories less than your BMR. Google 'BMR calculator' and you can figure out your daily caloric needs. :)

    Also, keep drinking LOTS of water (at least 10-12 glasses for sure), and have two bowls of yogurt a day (I was skeptical at first, but within two weeks of doing the yogurt twice a day, my natural waistline has gone down by 0.25 inches and that's the hardest part for me!) :) Good luck!

    Please get your terms correct before giving bad advice.

    At the least read what BMR and TDEE means, because you totally missed it. My post will tell ya.

    Only thing you got right was fat has 3500 calories in it.
  • onedayatatime12
    onedayatatime12 Posts: 577 Member
    Well the information I got was from a variety of sources online, so I guess that's not reliable! But thanks for the clarification. (I don't think the yogurt thing was bad advice at all though lol...)
  • chellerella76
    chellerella76 Posts: 5 Member
    What if MFP gives you a different Calorie plan than lets say your Curves instructor? MFP actually gave me 1592 Calorie to lose 2 lbs but my Curves Instructor said anything between 1400-1500?
  • lmorr7
    lmorr7 Posts: 11 Member
    Unless your Curves instructor is a certified nutritionist, I'd go with MFP calories. Or, read up on TDEE/BMR to get a number that works for you.
  • katieliz92
    katieliz92 Posts: 8 Member
    I'm by no means a nutritionist and for a while I tried to maintain the 1200 calorie diet..and was so hungry. So, I upped my calories to 1500 and some days I'm more hungry than others. Now, I'm trying to listen to my body. If I'm hungry - I eat. If I'm hungry..and I just ate..I try to drink water or wait before eating to make sure I'm eating because I'm hungry not because I'm bored. I think the "right" amount of calories differs for everyone and that we shouldn't be so focused on losing weight that we gain really bad and obsessive eating habits. You want to lose the weight for good and be able to stick with it. So, long story short..listen to your body and choose healthier foods and you'll be fine! Good luck on your journey! :)
  • mtang99
    mtang99 Posts: 7 Member
    If you are eating 1400 per day and burning 461 per day you are only netting 939 calories - this is not enough calories to keep you burning and will put your body into starvation mode. You should be netting 1200 or more each day. trust me I went 3 weeks with the only thing changing is a longer/harder workout and did not loose a pound then I read about netting 1200 and tried it, within 2 days I lost 4 pounds and have been loosing consistantly since.
  • chellerella76
    chellerella76 Posts: 5 Member
    mtang99 I'm very new at this and not quite sure what you mean by netting. So I went ahead and put in what I'm going to eat for dinner and my snacks and this is what MFP tells me....

    Goal 1400
    Food 1570
    Exercise 461
    Net 1109
    Remaining 291

    Yesterday was:

    Goal 1400
    Food 1446
    Exercise 461
    Net 985
    Remaining 415

    And I gain 1.2 lbs this morning when I weighed in...
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    What if MFP gives you a different Calorie plan than lets say your Curves instructor? MFP actually gave me 1592 Calorie to lose 2 lbs but my Curves Instructor said anything between 1400-1500?

    Use the MFP goal, unless the Curves instructor helped get your bodyfat %, and based a Katch BMR on that, then a TDEE with planned exercise on that.

    Use the 1592, log your exercise calories minus about 20%, and eat those all back.

    Oh, you can't have a valid weigh-in morning after a day of exercise, you gained glucose stores with water weight.

    If you feel like driving yourself nuts watching invalid weigh-ins, weight 5-6 times daily and realize how useless that really is.

    Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels and not sore from last lifting workout.
    That is the only valid weigh-in day.

    So in your stats, that remaining is what you were supposed to eat back.
    The net means after exercise used that amount of calories purely to move you mechanically, you left your body with that much to run itself.
    Do you have any idea at all of a good safe level, as well as a level to actually benefit from the exercise?
    Is your first introduction to calories levels logging everything you used to eat, so you know how much you used to eat without exercise, or is it the MFP and Curves recommendation? Besides that you have no idea what is really high or low?

    Keep it up, you'll crash and burn.
    Just use the Search button above on "plateau" and "stall" and see what you'll be complaining about at some point.
    The advice many here are trying to give you is from experience and to prevent you from going down that road.

    Curves knows you better see weight loss or you won't stick around as customer (of MFP knows the same) and they don't care if it's muscle mass you lose.
  • chellerella76
    chellerella76 Posts: 5 Member
    I've lost 9lbs with Curves in a month and I'm happy I just wanted to make sure because my Curves Instructor was giving me a different calorie count than MFP was and I guess I should really stick with her since she is an approved instructor with credentials.

    Thank you everyone with your help, it was very much appreciated!
  • cerexflikex
    cerexflikex Posts: 58
    What if MFP gives you a different Calorie plan than lets say your Curves instructor? MFP actually gave me 1592 Calorie to lose 2 lbs but my Curves Instructor said anything between 1400-1500?

    Use the MFP goal, unless the Curves instructor helped get your bodyfat %, and based a Katch BMR on that, then a TDEE with planned exercise on that.

    Use the 1592, log your exercise calories minus about 20%, and eat those all back.

    Oh, you can't have a valid weigh-in morning after a day of exercise, you gained glucose stores with water weight.

    If you feel like driving yourself nuts watching invalid weigh-ins, weight 5-6 times daily and realize how useless that really is.

    Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels and not sore from last lifting workout.
    That is the only valid weigh-in day.

    So in your stats, that remaining is what you were supposed to eat back.
    The net means after exercise used that amount of calories purely to move you mechanically, you left your body with that much to run itself.
    Do you have any idea at all of a good safe level, as well as a level to actually benefit from the exercise?
    Is your first introduction to calories levels logging everything you used to eat, so you know how much you used to eat without exercise, or is it the MFP and Curves recommendation? Besides that you have no idea what is really high or low?

    Keep it up, you'll crash and burn.
    Just use the Search button above on "plateau" and "stall" and see what you'll be complaining about at some point.
    The advice many here are trying to give you is from experience and to prevent you from going down that road.

    Curves knows you better see weight loss or you won't stick around as customer (of MFP knows the same) and they don't care if it's muscle mass you lose.
    The tip about weigh-ins here, has really got me thinking. I'll try it the suggested method here. Thank you.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I've lost 9lbs with Curves in a month and I'm happy I just wanted to make sure because my Curves Instructor was giving me a different calorie count than MFP was and I guess I should really stick with her since she is an approved instructor with credentials.

    Thank you everyone with your help, it was very much appreciated!

    My wife worked at Curves for awhile.

    Do you know what exact credentials they are an approved instructor for? Be surprised.
  • Broejen
    Broejen Posts: 414 Member
    mtang99 I'm very new at this and not quite sure what you mean by netting. So I went ahead and put in what I'm going to eat for dinner and my snacks and this is what MFP tells me....

    Goal 1400
    Food 1570
    Exercise 461
    Net 1109
    Remaining 291

    Yesterday was:

    Goal 1400
    Food 1446
    Exercise 461
    Net 985
    Remaining 415

    And I gain 1.2 lbs this morning when I weighed in...

    You are netting too low. The numbers MFP gives you are better than what the instructor at Curves gives you. Listen to what Heybales tells you...he know what he's talking about.
  • chellerella76
    chellerella76 Posts: 5 Member
    I'm going with the 1200 calorie and just gonna use curves for exercise! I was at a retreat and spoke to a lot who have lost weight by sticking to the 1200! Thanks everyone!
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