Struggling to reach a net of 1200

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ScifiGirl1986
ScifiGirl1986 Posts: 104 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Every night I find myself looking for something to eat to get to 1200 net calories. Tonight, I spent an hour trying to figure out what I could eat that would get me above 1200 and still have a 500 deficit, which is what MFP says I should have to lose 1lb a week. Everything had either too few or too many calories. Should I be exorcising less? Eating more during the day?
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Replies

  • Thencalisays
    Thencalisays Posts: 29 Member
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    I have that problem often. Especially now that I am eating better, the volume is crazy. I just live with it now, I eat as much as I do, and feel no guilt for falling under. I used to beat myself up about it, but I am not tired, or lagging at all, I just listen to my body, if i need more fuel I eat more. This may be totally off, but it has worked for me so far.
  • amberflo143
    amberflo143 Posts: 94 Member
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    Hello,

    My calorie intake is 1200 set by MFP to loose 2 pounds a week. If I exercise I rarely net 1200 calories. I don't always eat my exercise calories if I am not hungry. Listen to your body!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    You record some seriously high calorie burns for a very short amount of exercise times, so I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. Eat back a portion and call it good.
  • dieter1200
    dieter1200 Posts: 56 Member
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    You have some big exercise burns. For health benefits you should workout a half hour 5 days a week. Anything more then that of cardio depends on how much you want to eat back to net at least 1200 calories. You could try pre-logging your food for the day (don't forget snacks) to see how much you want to workout. You can try working out after dinner. Sometimes I workout twice a day, if I go over calories and have the time.
  • ScifiGirl1986
    ScifiGirl1986 Posts: 104 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies.

    Most of the time, I pre-log my meals, although I leave the snacks off until I have them, and when I workout it tends to be late at night (around 10 or 11) because I don't want to be interrupted.
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
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    Where are you getting those calorie burn figures from? I am doubtful that even a high intensity kickboxing is burning 555 calories in just 30 min. Most aerobic classes are about 400-500 for an hour.
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    Where are you getting those calorie burn figures from? I am doubtful that even a high intensity kickboxing is burning 555 calories in just 30 min. Most aerobic classes are about 400-500 for an hour.

    Kickboxing for 36 minutes to burn 658 calories doesn't seem like an accurate number.. unless you're wearing a HRM and *constantly* moving, I would average at most 10 calories a minute...
    Also - I know you've probably changed your diet some, so not to be cynical, but how are you having trouble netting 1200 calories if you're here to lose weight? That being said, seems like your diary is pretty good to me when you account for the possible over-estimation of calorie burn.
  • nikkihk
    nikkihk Posts: 487 Member
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    A spoon full of peanut butter is a pretty easy gap closer...
  • ScifiGirl1986
    ScifiGirl1986 Posts: 104 Member
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    I get the total calorie burn off of MFP's search engine. I input what I did and for how long and that's what it gives me.
  • dtimedwards
    dtimedwards Posts: 319 Member
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    I get the total calorie burn off of MFP's search engine. I input what I did and for how long and that's what it gives me.

    Only eat back about 50%-60% of those calories. Do that for about two weeks and see if the math works out to your actual loss.

    If you still need extra calories at the end of a night, an enjoyable way to get them is peanut butter, beer, or whiskey.
  • Dewymorning
    Dewymorning Posts: 762 Member
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    If you told MFP you want to lose 1 pound a week then 1700 calories a day already has the 500 calorie deficit in it, you don't have to go 500 below that again (my observation from looking at your diary)
  • shmulyeng
    shmulyeng Posts: 472 Member
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    Don't worry so much about eating back your exercise calories. Just listen to your body. If you feel fine, you're eating enough. I've been doing good this for 5 months now and hardly ever got to 1200 calories eaten. I average about 600 calories net. I feel great and my running gets stronger and stronger.

    For the record, I'm a 5' 11" male and I weigh 236 now.
    (I know I'll get blasted for this)
  • ScifiGirl1986
    ScifiGirl1986 Posts: 104 Member
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    I am hitting the 1700 before working out, but then it drops a lot, so I'm under 1200. Also, apparently, the amount of calories burned is determined by weight + duration (I googled to see if maybe MFP was over-estimating the amount I've burned and every calculator I've found takes my weight into account and gives me an amount similar to what MFP gives me).
  • amberflo143
    amberflo143 Posts: 94 Member
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    MFP way over estimates calorie burns, I found this out by comparing with my heart rate monitor. Be on the safe side and eat half if that of the calories burned. Good Luck!
  • Seabee74
    Seabee74 Posts: 314
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    Nuts, especially almonds are a good nutritious food with a lot of calories too !
  • ghunter1
    ghunter1 Posts: 6 Member
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    Nuts, olive oil, coconut oil and cheese are high calorie good foods that you can add to up your calories, but I would go with what others have said and only eat back half of your exercise calories, I have found the MFP burns to be way off, so much so that I usually try not to eat any exercise calories back, espescially not ones from walking, riding my horse etc.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    k folks eating under 1200 calories is not healthy...hunger is not a good indicator of what the body needs to fuel workouts.

    2nd yes you can reach 1200 or you wouldn't be here...sorry to be blunt but thems the facts.

    I sometimes struggle to stay in my 1600-1700 range ...because I want my ice cream or chips or whatever..

    don't look at this as a diet...don't cut out foods...eat the foods you will be eating when you have lost your weight just in smaller portions..

    Stop eating "diet" food...eat real food...fuel your workouts

    And yes MFP over estimates calorie burns as do machines or any forumla you find on google.

    When I do a workout from fitness blender it gives me a range of calories burned...lets say for my 23min workout it gives 164-254 calories...MFP gives me 274...

    Calories burned is dependent on too many things for anything to be accurate.
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    k folks eating under 1200 calories is not healthy...hunger is not a good indicator of what the body needs to fuel workouts.

    2nd yes you can reach 1200 or you wouldn't be here...sorry to be blunt but thems the facts.

    I sometimes struggle to stay in my 1600-1700 range ...because I want my ice cream or chips or whatever..

    don't look at this as a diet...don't cut out foods...eat the foods you will be eating when you have lost your weight just in smaller portions..

    Stop eating "diet" food...eat real food...fuel your workouts

    And yes MFP over estimates calorie burns as do machines or any forumla you find on google.

    When I do a workout from fitness blender it gives me a range of calories burned...lets say for my 23min workout it gives 164-254 calories...MFP gives me 274...

    Calories burned is dependent on too many things for anything to be accurate.

    All of this! Get a quality heart rate monitor if you want to be more accurate with you calorie burn from steady state cardio. Otherwise just experiment with eating back a percentage of your exercise calories and make adjustments based on your actual weight loss numbers.
  • ChrysalisCove
    ChrysalisCove Posts: 975 Member
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    Or you could just do TDEE-% & not have to worry about logging exercise at all (within reason)... ????

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Hello,

    My calorie intake is 1200 set by MFP to loose 2 pounds a week. If I exercise I rarely net 1200 calories. I don't always eat my exercise calories if I am not hungry. Listen to your body!

    OP - Do you want a lower body fat %?..............then DON'T follow this advice.

    Too few calories for too long.........your body will burn fat+muscle....not just fat. If you are working out to preserve muscle.....then you've got to FUEL your workouts. Don't let existing muscle be the fuel.

    Plan ahead....a cardio day (especially) is going to mean extra calories. Eat a bigger breakfast. Add some nut butter here, a handful of nuts there. Avocado is high calorie....small portion. Make sure you hit protein numbers everyday.

    Some people use the TDEE method (which includes exercise) .....then take a % of calories off. This gives you an "average" number of calories to eat everyday.....this gets rid of the up / down.....approach.

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