Do you really lose weight if you eat to your set calories?

It's the ideal place to start. Simply monitor your weight for a couple weeks and drop it by a couple hundred if you haven't lost weight. If you've lost even a pound though.. stay there until you can't lose anymore. Too many people start low. Always start high.. you give yourself way more options to lose as time goes on, keep your metabolism where it should be and lose weight in the most healthy way possible.

Should a breastfeeding mother be trying to lose weight at all? Maybe you need to just eat healthier and let the weight loss take care of itself once that little one is weaned!!

If BFing, I would err onthe side of higher intake and see how it goes.

You will lose weight if you eat your set calories...and remember that those calories include every little thing. That bite of cheese while preparing dinner, that handful of grapes, having a couple bites of your kid's leftover dinner...that all adds up quickly to wipe out your deficit. I was certain I had a crappy metabolism and that i was only eating 1600 calories a day. I had my metabolism tested - turns out I burn around 2700 a day (5'11", active) and I was simply delusional with respect to how much I was actually eating

I started my diet back mid march. My calorie limit is 1200.I have either stuck to it ,or most of the time I was under. I exercise 5 days a week. I have since lost 20 lbs already. Watch your sodium,drink lots of water,with that and exercise ,yes you will loose the weight. Good Luck.

Should a breastfeeding mother be trying to lose weight at all? Maybe you need to just eat healthier and let the weight loss take care of itself once that little one is weaned!!

it's safe provided you take it slowly (i.e. not too big a deficit, e.g set your goal to lose the weight slowly, e.g. 1lb a week) and also keep a close eye on milk supply, to make sure it's keeping up. If the baby's going through a growth spurt and taking more milk than usual it may be an idea to up your calories a little (and likely you'll still be eating at the same deficit as the baby will be taking more milk). Also pay attention to getting enough nutrition, i.e. enough to support breastfeeding and your own body. That's in terms of micronutrients and macronutrients.

The body stores fat while pregnant, for the purpose of supporting breastfeeding, so eating at a moderate deficit for slow fat loss, the body will simply be using this stored fat to support breastfeeding, and the mother will gradually go back to her pre-pregnancy weight.

I personally breastfed both my kids up to age 2 and 2.5 and lost weight while doing so, it didn't affect my milk supply and my health was improved as a result of losing fat. I don't think it's a good idea to stay obese until a child is weaned, especially if you're doing full term breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months and part time for up to 2 years. That's a long time to wait to start losing fat.

If you're doing everything right then yeah...i.e. have appropriately set up your profile and activity level, weigh and measure you foods and ingredients to ensure your intake is as accurate as possible, and don't over estimate calorie burn from exercise and over eat your exercise calories back then yes, it works...barring medical condition or something.

My net calorie goal with MFP was 1850 to lose one pound per week. I always ate back about 70% of my exercise calories burned per my HRM (to account for estimation error). I've lost roughly 35-40 Lbs. I maintained for a couple months but have decided I'd like to get down to 15% BF from 19% so I'm on a very slow (deliberately slow) cut right now.

certain kinds of foods are hard to find accurate listings for on the diary search. If you're eating a lot of these your calories can be off by a lot. If I'm eating a lot of foods that day that are listed sketchily then I always try to stay under by a few hundred

certain kinds of foods are hard to find accurate listings for on the diary search. If you're eating a lot of these your calories can be off by a lot. If I'm eating a lot of foods that day that are listed sketchily then I always try to stay under by a few hundred

Thanks for the advice. How can I tell if they're accurate or not?

If there's a lot of conflicting entries, each with plenty of user confirmations. Two items I've found are rice and movie theatre popcorn. The numbers vary, and not just a little - but by hundreds of calories. Of course, neither is something that you'll likely to be eating a LOT of if you want to lose weight, but it is a bit annoying.

Also, if a number just sounds too good to be true. In one case, I couldn't believe that the calories in a specific restaurant veggie burrito were as low as a user had entered them, and that was the only exact match. So, I added all the ingredients, one at a time, and saved it as a meal. Came out about the same, but I felt more confident that the number was correct.

Hi! Although I'm new to MFP, I'm thinking they're setting individuals at easy targets, but anything we do above and beyond is just...great! It's to help track our progress, but I don't think it's completely conformed to us as individuals. Or maybe it is if you fill out more info about yourself? I've added what I've been eating, exercising, and my starting and current weights. However, I haven't added any measurements...

Yesterday was my first day on the site, and I completed my food/exercise log and was under my caloric intake by a little. I figured anything under the 'goal' or 'ideal' consumption is just gravy....a healthier form of gravy!!

I'd be more prone to follow the plan your nutritionist gave you since it's configured to you personally.