morbidly obese, 300+lbs to lose - calories/day?

What number did MFP come up with when you created/updated your diet/fitness profile? It's unlikely to be 1200.

I'm not sure, because this is new to me, I need to lose 110. I woke up one day, and realized how serious it was becoming. My heels crack, and I'm on bp meds, thyroid pills, and barely fit in my bathtub. I have failed so many diets, but this site is teaching me accountability. I am praying you find someone that knows how to help you chose the right diet to follow. Bless you, and best of luck

MFP told me something crazy, like 3000 cals/day.

So it is safe to say that you could eat at least 2000 and still lose weight. Do you know how much you were eating on average on a normal day before?

When I first started on mfp I had 100 lbs to lose and mfp had me at about 2200 cals a day. As I have lost some, mfp has reduced my calories some, to about 1900. I would recommend trying the amount of calories that mfp gives you, so that you can lose weight in a slow, healthy manner. If you plugged all your numbers in correctly, you should be at a calorie deficit, even if it seems high.

3000 calories is probably not a crazy number. Unless you have some kind of a metabolic disorder MFB cannot account for. As you lose weight that number will decrease. You don't want to drop too many calories too fast or your body will go into starvation mode which makes it even harder to lose weight.

she'd have to lose at least 400lbs before she'd go into starvation mode as it doesn't affect people until they are down to like 5% bf or something

actually not true, you will not lose weight if your body is starving itself . . .so all the hard work will be fore nothing and you can make permanent damage on your metabolism

MFP told me something crazy, like 3000 cals/day.

I'm afraid that's not crazy. Because of what you weigh, your body needs more calories to sustain itself while you lose weight.

Hang in there, you can do it.

Just think of it this way, the more you weight the more your body works to de everything, breathing, walking, moving of any sort, just living you body will burn more calories so it needs more, as you lose the calories will drop because your body require less. Just follow the program and dont eat too few or it will be hard to keep the loss up long term

This seem like an idiotic question, if someone were to say eat all there calories. stay in deficit on donuts will they still lose weight? I eat a generally healthy diet just now smaller portions and measuring pretty much everything. I mean say you go over on a few things in your macros or a person goes over a lot on there macros would a typical person still lose?

3000 calories is probably not a crazy number. Unless you have some kind of a metabolic disorder MFB cannot account for. As you lose weight that number will decrease. You don't want to drop too many calories too fast or your body will go into starvation mode which makes it even harder to lose weight.

she'd have to lose at least 400lbs before she'd go into starvation mode as it doesn't affect people until they are down to like 5% bf or something

actually not true, you will not lose weight if your body is starving itself . . .so all the hard work will be fore nothing and you can make permanent damage on your metabolism

actually it is, if you look at prison camps and other starvation situations, the people did not stay fat because they had nothing to eat. Though if you have proof to the contrary I'd love to see it.

Should she eat crazy low calories? No, not because she will not lose weight, but because there are serious health risk like heart failure attached to it. There was one guy in the UK who was morbidly obese and did not eat anything for a year. He was monitored very closely and took supplements and yeast, but he did lose his weight. No OP, I am not suggesting in any way shape or form that this is the way to do it. I do think you should stick with the MFP goal or something close to it, but if you are not losing weight it won't be because you are eating too little.

Thanks everyone! MFP has me set at 3400 cals / day, will give it a try for awhile and see how things go.

I know it sounds like a lot, and you might have a hard time getting there if you eat "diet" foods. My journal lately has been terrible because I've had dinner out every night this week due to poor planning and working late, but you can look at it if you want. But in general, sometimes you might have to eat a higher fat content diet to get those calories. Things like eggs, nuts, seeds, almond butter, whole fat dairy, etc, can be your friend.

When I saw my trainer the other day, he said that I look so much healthier. He asked how I'm recovering from our training and I saw, "It's like magic." I was quite slow to recover several times in the beginning and he said I wasn't eating properly. I have changed to include more protein and fat and I feel so much better. Plus it helps me get to my calories that I'm trying to meet.

Good luck!

Oh lordy haha! Interesting read thanks

I wouldn't go for 1200. The heavier you are, the more you need to eat. You could start with 2,000 cal a day for now, though really what I recommend is going by what MFP tells you to do calorie wise and incorporating some exercise in; whatever you can physically do. (walking is such a great start!)

The reason I wouldn't go for 1200 at your weight is that as you continue to lose, you'll need to constantly readjust your calories lower and lower as time passes and more weight comes off so you don't want to start so low. Plus you need more calories at your size to make your body go! (We're like cars after all - we need fuel to run.)

I'm 5'9 and currently 262 lbs and I eat 1500 cal a day. I started with 1700-1800 when I was at my heaviest and I still lost great so no need to drop down to 1200, in my opinion.

People will talk about 'macros' but at your weight I don't think you have to worry about that yet, but more so about portion control and frequency of meals.

Make sure to eat 6 smallish meals instead of 3 large ones when you eat 3400kcal.

That's about 560 kcal per meal. You will find out that with 560kcal as your limit, you will have to find healthy food such as egg whites, chicken breasts, veggies, etc and can eat a large volume of it as well.

6 meals of that / day will make your fat loss faster.

You say you have tried " when I tried dieting before, and can meet or stay under that goal pretty easily. "

but you failed(I'm guessing). Why have you failed in the past? People tend to blame it not on themselves but on situations outside of their control. Unless it's an extreme one, most people experience hardships from everyday living. You need to destress by exercising or finding a hobby rather than focusing on food to releive tension.

In your case with hundreds to lose, you have to think very long term( 2 years +) . You didn't get to that weight in 2 years so it's not fair to think that you can lose it in a heartbeat right?

I have a good friend who dropped 200 lbs ( from 410 --> 210 lbs) so I know how tough it is and how long it takes, but the end result will be worth it!

gl