1200 calories isn't enough for me

It also depends on WHAT you are eating. For instance, an order of fries could be over 300 calories but also an entire subway sandwich can be less than that. Which is more filling?

Two tbspoons of salad dressing can go to 200 calories or you can eat a bunch of fruit and veges for much less than that. I started looking at what I was eating too not just the calories. :ohwell:

It also depends on WHAT you are eating. For instance, an order of fries could be over 300 calories but also an entire subway sandwich can be less than that. Which is more filling?

Two tbspoons of salad dressing can go to 200 calories or you can eat a bunch of fruit and veges for much less than that. I started looking at what I was eating too not just the calories. :ohwell:

Good point! People tend to forget this part. People, everyone needs to be aware that calorie count is only half the battle, watch out for the bad stuff like saturated fats, simple carbs, excess sodium, chemicals, dyes, and simple sugars (well, techincally the same thing as simple carbs but... 6 of 1...).

Remember, not only how much, but what, when and in what amounts is also important. One giant meal (even if you are under your cals for the day) is just as bad as overeating for a day!!! It's true!

im in the same boat- im on 1200 cals a day but my bmr works out as 1521 cals a day- I'm a bit confused on what the BMR cals mean with regards to how many cals you should eat for the day...but is 1200 ok for me?

Irish, we can't know that because you didn't give us your numbers. but, from what you put up as your desired weight loss, you aren't that bad as far as weight goes, so I would tend to say that you are WAAAAAY under if your BMR is 1521. BMR is basically AS LOW AS YOU SHOULD EVER GO. There are some pretty specific times, and examples where you can go lower, but usually that's for people who either have some kind of condition, are obese and need a VLC diet for a short period, or some other specific reason to go below your BMR.

I mean, just google what the Basil Metebolic Rate is and you should understand why you shouldn't go below it for any extended time.

Here is the wiki def. of it, it's not the best I have ever seen but it's good enough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

my numbers are 1.4lbs a week to lose according to MFP - that is exercising 3 times a week for 40 mins

I have so far only managed to exercise twice a week for 50 mins (cardio only) first thing in the morning - I just can't get my *kitten* out of bed that early 3 times a week it seems

I've lost 4 lbs but I should have lost a lot more by now as I tend to overeat at the weekends- I'm slowing cutting back and getting my will power stronger bit by bit but it's taking a while.....

Are those the numbers you mean - or do you mean my height how much I want to lose etc?

Thanks so much for your help- I'm off to read about BMR now!

well, 1.4 lbs/week for someone who only needs to lose 30 is pretty ambitious, and yeah, we would need height, weight, age, activity level to make any kind of guess as to your numbers. But I think you have already figured out why the numbers are off for you. For the goals to work, you need to follow them relatively close.

I'm 27, 5'9", 159 lbs, want to lose about 21 lbs, my activity level is nil- I sit at a desk all day and only exercise I get is the gym! (I'm also female by the way!)

I know I have to follow my goals closely but I'm finding its a case of conditioning my mindset towards it if you understand what I mean!
I also know half my battle is lack of exercise- I work long hours and am pretty wrecked when I get home thus I like the early morning workout....

Do you think based on all those numbers, 1200 cals is about the right amount?

That's probably too few calories. I would try for about 400 cals/day deficit and expect to lose about 3 to 5 lbs a month at most (and you should expect plateaus in there too). That's just me. I mean 1450 cals/day plus any exercise calories. This is just opinion, but large, fast loss is more for people with a lot to lose, if you only need to drop between 20 and 30, then it's going to take longer, and remember, the closer you get to your goal, the harder it will be to drop weight.

Well then you aren't going over because you're supposed to eat your exercise calories so you're good. Just keep it to the 1200 on days you don't exercise. Eat really low calories things like scrambled egg whites with parmesean cheese (79 calories in 3 egg whites) or salads dressed only with lemon juice and seasoning. Oatmeal is really filling- i eat it for lunch alot and there are ton of flavor options all under 200 calories. Good luck!

oatmeal does not fill me up... at all...

thanks for bringing this up. I have the bad habit of not eating enough during the day, then going and doing a 1600 calorie workout after work, leaving me way way too many calories to eat after my workout. Comments such as this are helping me to eat more earlier BEFORE I go burning all those cals that i havent even eaten yet!

Umm...what do you do that burns 1600 calories? I want to start doing it to!

Yeah that's rough. For me that's about 1 and 3/4 hours of running at 80% max heart rate (about 8.5 minute mile for me). ahh, I can do that for about 4 miles or so, but I wouldn't even attempt to do it for over an hour. I know I burn that playing a double header in baseball, but that's including pitching one of the games.

hi all! i just got a chance to come back to this thread. I already sent a private message to Meg, but i thought i would just go on and summarize what i told her here, for others if it might help.


i do alot of cardio about four days a week....three of those days are at classes at the gym.

the days that i burn 1600, i do 1 hour of zumba class and 1 hour of step/strength training class.

Zumba is a high energy latin dance aerobics class. It keeps my heart rate way up the entire time. (by way up, i mean about 60-70% of my maximum heart rate, which for me is about 160-170bpm i think)

I use a Heart Rate monitor to keep track. I usually burn about 700 calories by the end of zumba, however it took about a month for me to get to that number (my metabolism was really low when i first joined mfp and started working out) at first i burned about 400 calories per class. All of those numbers are with me doing the most high impact version of every step and move.

I then have strength training which starts with more cardio doing like, step aerobics. Then we do some toning exercises with weights, and sit ups.

I have found, and i think it is proven somewhere, that once you get your heart rate up, the longer you let it remain elevated, the more calories and fat that you burn. So that means that second hour is critical for serious fat burning, even tho its so time consuming. The first thirty to forty minutes is like getting the engine started, and the rest of the time is just burning gas like crazy. Well worth it for me!

i know this was long and drawn out, but i felt i needed to explain how i get to such a high amount of calories every MWF.....

hi all! i just got a chance to come back to this thread. I already sent a private message to Meg, but i thought i would just go on and summarize what i told her here, for others if it might help.


i do alot of cardio about four days a week....three of those days are at classes at the gym.

the days that i burn 1600, i do 1 hour of zumba class and 1 hour of step/strength training class.

Zumba is a high energy latin dance aerobics class. It keeps my heart rate way up the entire time. (by way up, i mean about 60-70% of my maximum heart rate, which for me is about 160-170bpm i think)

I use a Heart Rate monitor to keep track. I usually burn about 700 calories by the end of zumba, however it took about a month for me to get to that number (my metabolism was really low when i first joined mfp and started working out) at first i burned about 400 calories per class. All of those numbers are with me doing the most high impact version of every step and move.

I then have strength training which starts with more cardio doing like, step aerobics. Then we do some toning exercises with weights, and sit ups.

I have found, and i think it is proven somewhere, that once you get your heart rate up, the longer you let it remain elevated, the more calories and fat that you burn. So that means that second hour is critical for serious fat burning, even tho its so time consuming. The first thirty to forty minutes is like getting the engine started, and the rest of the time is just burning gas like crazy. Well worth it for me!

i know this was long and drawn out, but i felt i needed to explain how i get to such a high amount of calories every MWF.....

I do envy you girl.
I have neither the time or the energy to work out for 2 hours after (or before for that matter) work. I could do it on weekends, but during the week, oh no, that would kill me.
You are right about keeping the heart rate up. The longer you do it, the better the burn. Oh, and you don't even need 30 to 40 minutes warm up, for the average person it's about 12 to 15 minutes to get the heart and bloodstream pumping the max amount of oxygen through the system, at that point you get full aerobic burn, which means full fat burning. What you want to watch for, and try not to let happen is getting way out of breath, oxygen depeltion causes anaerobic burn, which burns glycogen (blood sugar) and doesn't burn fat (well, not very much at least). Anaerobic activity has a place in exercise, an important place actually, but it's not the best vehicle for burning fat. When you are running and you finally pass the "wall" that's the point where you are really starting to burn fat, that's when the immediate glycogen level are depleted (food you have recently eaten), and the body starts grabbing glucose from stored energy (mostly fat), which also releases endorphins that give you your "second wind". This is why it's good to get that heart rate up in the 70% range, you're body doesn't burn glucose as efficiently at this level, but it burns more per minute, so if you can hold that level or higher for a long period, you are definitely burning fat.

that's my tip for the day.

-Banks