MFP and 1200 calories

4Pookiecat
4Pookiecat Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My understanding is that Myfitnesspal will not go below 1200 calories. Right now, I am in the 200s for weight, set at losing two pounds a week. MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1210 right now. If I lose a couple more pounds, I should theoritically be below that 1200 calories that MFP wont go below. How am I supposed to maintain the 2 pound loss using the numbers MFP gives me? I still have 90 pounds or so to go so I am not that close to my goal.

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom!

I should also add that I do eat some of my exercise calories back so I am not going below 1200 in order to get all my nutrients, etc.

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    You're not. 1200 calories is the lowest recommended amount of calories to get all your proper nutrition. As you lose weight, your weight loss goals should become less aggressive. In fact, as you lose weight, your caloric goal should increase (when done correctly). This will prepare your body (over time) for maintenance. I know this isn't what you want to hear, because let's face it, you want to lose weight as fast as possible, however, you want to be healthy too. 1-2 lbs loss a week is considered healthy loss. But no, MFP will never put you below 1200 calories. Under 1200 calories (in my opinion) should only be done under doctor supervision. I know VLCD (800 cal) definitely should be under doctor supervision, but that 800-1200 area is a pretty fine line.

    Just keep going with where you're at, and if you feel like you're struggling, don't be afraid to up your calories. It's okay to be less aggressive, you'll still lose weight, just not as fast.

    Gee, I hope that all made sense, lol. Good luck!
  • 4Pookiecat
    4Pookiecat Posts: 20 Member
    The thing is, even though MFP says 1200 calories, I exercise and eat back about 600 more calories a day so really, I could go down to 600 calories on MFP and still be eating 1200 calories. This is the frustrating part. I know I can manually change the calories for MFP - anyone have a website that can figure out what MFP should give me if I am eating 600 exercise calories back in order to lose 2 pds a week? Seriously, I am not anywhere near maintenance right now.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    The bigger the deficit doesn't always result in bigger scale loss.. Sounds like your using MFP how your suppose to, eating back exercise calories.. why don't you worry about your weight loss journey before worrying about how low you can set MFP
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    There comes a point where 2 lbs a week isn't a viable goal. With 80 lbs a week, 1.5 lbs a week is recommended not 2.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    The thing is, even though MFP says 1200 calories, I exercise and eat back about 600 more calories a day so really, I could go down to 600 calories on MFP and still be eating 1200 calories. This is the frustrating part. I know I can manually change the calories for MFP - anyone have a website that can figure out what MFP should give me if I am eating 600 exercise calories back in order to lose 2 pds a week? Seriously, I am not anywhere near maintenance right now.

    You can switch to a TDEE method

    An explanation is here
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
    2 pounds a week really isn't a viable goal and I'm afraid it's just going to lead to lots of frustration on your part. Focus less on the scale and more on your habits. The slower you lose, the more sustainable it will be. Don't do anything to lose weight now that you aren't willing to do FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Set goals that you can control like logging everything that you eat, exercising 30 minutes a day 5 days a week, etc. You cannot control the amount of weight you lose each week, no matter how much you try and trying to do it leads to a lot of frustration and burn out. Set your goals for a modest amount of weight loss (.5-1.5 pounds per week), eat sensibly, don't beat yourself up for mishaps, exercise and move forward. Good habits will lead to a weight loss. I'm *lucky* if I lose .5 pounds a week (really, really lucky!), yet here I am at 74 pounds down. It all adds up.
  • ekaustin7
    ekaustin7 Posts: 185 Member
    You want to NET 1200 calories, not eat 1200 calories total. The previous poster is correct, as you lose weight, you need to make your goal less aggressive in order for it to be more sustainable. If you have a lot to lose, you will lose a lot right away because of the large calorie deficit. If you have a lot to lose, re-evaluate your goals every 20 pounds you lose. If you're losing 2 pounds a week consistently right now, when you've lost an additional 20 pounds, change your goal to lose 1.5 pounds per week. After another 20 pounds, change it to lose 1 pound per week, then 0.5 pounds per week. It will be frustrating not seeing the numbers drop quite as quickly as you are used to. It looks like you only have ~80 pounds left to lose, so this plan will get your body used to having more and more food over time. After you do this, you'll brush right up against your maintenance number and it will be smooth sailing from there.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    The thing is, even though MFP says 1200 calories, I exercise and eat back about 600 more calories a day so really, I could go down to 600 calories on MFP and still be eating 1200 calories. This is the frustrating part. I know I can manually change the calories for MFP - anyone have a website that can figure out what MFP should give me if I am eating 600 exercise calories back in order to lose 2 pds a week? Seriously, I am not anywhere near maintenance right now.

    You're not supposed to EAT 1200 a day. You're supposed to NET 1200 calories a day, according to how MFP works. Your body gets 1200 calories to use for basic functions. If you eat 1200 calories and work off 600, you're only giving (netting) your body 600 for its basic functions (living, breathing, growing hair, etc). And for most people, losing 2 pounds a week is too lofty a goal. The less you weigh, the slower you should be losing the weight.
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    The deficit comes from your net calories. Not just your food intake.

    Your main page says something like Goal (1200 in your case) Food (whatever you've eaten for the day - Exercise (whatever exercise you've logged for the day) = net

    If you have a goal of 1200 and you've eaten 850 calories and logged 400 calories of exercise it should look something like this...

    1200 Food:850- Exercise 400 = 450 net

    The net is the number you pay attention to. Since you've netted 450 calories you can still eat 750 calories.

    MFP expects and intends for you to eat back your exercise calories. If you do not then your net can drop very low such as 1200 calorie goal... eat 1200 calories.... exercise 1000 calories = net of 200 calories. Those 200 calories would be your actual intake for the day... what you could "take to the bank" as it were. You cannot survive on 200 calories a day. This is just an example but hopefully it explains how the system works.


    Good luck.
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
    My understanding is that Myfitnesspal will not go below 1200 calories. Right now, I am in the 200s for weight, set at losing two pounds a week. MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1210 right now. If I lose a couple more pounds, I should theoritically be below that 1200 calories that MFP wont go below. How am I supposed to maintain the 2 pound loss using the numbers MFP gives me? I still have 90 pounds or so to go so I am not that close to my goal.

    Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom!

    I should also add that I do eat some of my exercise calories back so I am not going below 1200 in order to get all my nutrients, etc.
    As far as I can tell, MFP doesn't like going below 1200 calories because you are on the upper band of going into very low calorie diet (VLCD) territory, which is definted as eating less than 1000-1200 calories/day for a woman, depending on your height and lean body mass. While VLCDs will cause rapid weight loss in the short term, they haven't been shown to be more effective than normal LCDs in the long-term. There's a plateu thread on the third or 4th page where the study is linked if you're interested (this is NOT saying VLCDs cause plateus, but rather given a long enough timeline both will reach the same end-state).

    There are also potential health risks with doing a VLCD not getting proper nutrition, so you should discuss this with a nutritionist before you embark on one (NOT a primary physician, it is beyond their realm of knowledge). You would have to ensure you are carefully monitoring what you eat so that you make every calorie count toward getting your daily nutritional needs.

    You can set MFP below 1200 calories manually, it just won't automatically go below 1200. But you probably should start off with setting it to 1 lb/week and go from there after you have a few weeks of personal data.

    Personally, I've been consistently losing 2 lb/week when my MFP goal is set to 1 lb/week. My guess is the difference is caused by MFP's calories don't compensate for increased energy used for recovery from workouts.
  • LessthanKris
    LessthanKris Posts: 607 Member
    I am set for 1200 as well and am at 160.6 now. I started at 169.8 five weeks ago. I work out 6 days a week and eat back almost all of my exercise calories every day. You can still lose. Maybe not two pounds a week but when you have less to lose dropping two pounds is probably less realistic. Look at the Biggest Loser. The biggest people drop the most weight every week, the smaller are less.
  • ash8184
    ash8184 Posts: 701 Member
    You've lost so much already that you will have a hard time continuing to lose as quickly. I found once I got within 100lbs of my ideal weight, I was only losing 5lbs a month (and it all happened in 1 week out of the month).

    You can, however, vary your exercise and that might help you continue to lose.

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