1200 too low for me after a year - struggling

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AllyLouB
AllyLouB Posts: 40 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, for the last year Ive been using mfp and their suggested calorie goal of 1200. I exercise frequently, and don't always eat back my burned calories. I've lost the weight! but my health is suffering and only this last few days have I made the link.

My tiredness is daily, no matter how much sleep I get..plus 9 hours most evenings. I have bags under my eyes and dark circles. My skin, chin, is spottier than it has been In my life, I'm 36 now and it's embarrassing. My moods are awful, ratty, tears, to almost depression like days. This it what prompted me to finally visit the doctor last week. Blood results are pending.

However, today I wore my heart rate monitor from 6am to 4pm, and used 2600 calories. Today was a lazy day, no exercise just walking school, dog, housework etc. I've no reason to doubt this reading, it is a very good monitor, and programmed correctly.

I've been eating to mfps goal of 1200..so this has been severely underestimating my nutritional needs? I drink 2 litres water daily.

I'm really after advice regarding nutrition as I am obviously struggling here and really want to get healthy and on the right track again without losing fitness.

Many thanks

Replies

  • LTKeegan
    LTKeegan Posts: 354 Member
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    Calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and your BMR (basal metabolic rate). If you have lots of weight to lose, do TDEE-20% and make sure that number is greater than your BMR. Then, eat that.

    Also, don't be surprised if you initially gain weight. When you eat too little, your body can over react and store more fat when you start eating normal again. This is so you can replace your fat stores in case you need to get through another "famine".
  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
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    HRM are not meant to be used all day, only for steady state cardio.

    Wearing it all day does *not* give you an accurate estimation for your daily calories burned, at all.

    I will agree that eating 1200 calories and not eating enough exercise calories can lead to some of the symptoms you've described, but so can many medical conditions not related to your calories.

    Since the majority of your symptoms sound hormonal, I would suggest trying to up your healthy fat consumption. Fats really help control hormones.
  • mmcdonald700
    mmcdonald700 Posts: 116 Member
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    Calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and your BMR (basal metabolic rate). If you have lots of weight to lose, do TDEE-20% and make sure that number is greater than your BMR. Then, eat that.

    Also, don't be surprised if you initially gain weight. When you eat too little, your body can over react and store more fat when you start eating normal again. This is so you can replace your fat stores in case you need to get through another "famine".

    If you're eating at a deficit you're not going to store fat. Your body doesn't "decide" to store energy that it requires to carry out basic functions just in case you eat less again - it simply burns what it needs from what youre eating, and either burns your body stores if it's in a calorie deficit or stores excess energy when you have a surplus. No surplus, no fat storage or ability to build muscle. Your metabolism could be a bit slower from eating at an extreme deficit though, so your deficit may be smaller than it might "normally" be at your height and weight. Your weightloss will absolutely slow down, you may go up a little bit from water retention if you increase your calories but it's not fat being stored if you're eating less calories than your body consumes daily to carry out functions/exercise.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    MFP's system is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories. If you are exercising frequently and not eating those back, then yes, there's a good chance you're not getting an adequate caloric intake. I'm assuming you set it to lose 2 pounds per week, right? Unless you have a very large amount of weight to lose (I think it's something like 75+ pounds), that's too aggressive.

    I'm not trying to sound harsh and I hope you don't take it that way, but MFP is just a tool. Its recommendations are not 100% perfect for everyone. Plus, if you're inputting inaccurate goals (like trying to lose 2 pounds per week when it's not necessarily appropriate), it's going to give you recommendations that aren't right for you. You need to listen to your body and do waht it tells you to do. Even if your blood work comes back fine, if you don't feel good at 1200, it's not right for you. Please don't continue to do something that's wrong for you.

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