mfp goal, not much of a calorie deficit

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denisec26
denisec26 Posts: 199 Member
in Food and Nutrition
so up until today (i changed my info from very active to a step down from that) i dont know which to pick cause im active during the day but thats just with the baby or cleaning or going out here and there and then i add my working out to that..so i figured i shouldnt list my daily activity as very active. but when i did i had almost a 1000 calorie defict, which seemed okay.

but now that i changed it, its this..

Calories Burned
From Normal Daily Activity 1,800 calories/day
Net Calories Consumed*
Your Daily Goal 1,200 calories/ day
Daily Calorie Deficit 600 calories
Projected Weight Loss 1.2 lbs/ week


i dont want to only have a decicit of 600..and pretty much a pound a week..it used to be at least a pound and 1/2.
granted, since ive been on here..i loose like a pound a month...but thats a whole other issue..but i feel like if im dieting and working out and watching what i eat..600 calorie deficit seems low and so does a 1.2 pounds.

should i change it back to active so that it goes back up to almost 1000 and 1.5 pounds or is this ok?

Replies

  • tlynnweb
    tlynnweb Posts: 201 Member
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    Have you thought about just following the plan like it's laid out? I mean, you might not be losing anything b/c your body might be in starvation mode. I didn't use to believe that you had to eat to lose, but it's true. I've noticed you don't track your food either? Do you track it somewhere else? I am also a stay at home mom and I think the correct setting for myself is the Lightly active. I don't believe you include what exercise you do every day in that category. I also think that next to the lightly active group it says something like nurse/salesman, etc. I was a nurse before kids and on my feet all day long! I definitely wouldn't consider it LIGHT ACTIVITY! So, that's what I chose. Healthy weight loss is a pound a week.
  • StephP0915
    StephP0915 Posts: 10 Member
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    If you want more of a calorie deficit, you can start adding exercise to your daily activity. You should not consume less than 1200 calories per day as it will cause your body to go into starvation mode. Selecting a higher or lower activity level will not actually create more of a deficit for you unless you are actually getting more activity. My advice would to be to start tracking your exercise as well as your food consumption to determine what your deficit truly is. It will change from day to day depending on how much you eat and how much exercise (not your normal daily activity) you get in a day.
  • denisec26
    denisec26 Posts: 199 Member
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    i do exercise on a daily basis. and i do track my food. ive just been away in ny so i couldnt track then. but my daily goal on here has always been 1200. so i eat 1200. and exercise..and try and eat back my exercise calories
  • jam3114
    jam3114 Posts: 250 Member
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    My deficit is 510cal which isn't alot either but if its what they think you should consume maybe go with it for a week or so & see what happens. My profile is Sedentary as I have an office job so don't do much till I get home. Remember a pound a week is 26 pounds less in July :flowerforyou:
  • WishfulShrinking331
    WishfulShrinking331 Posts: 244 Member
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    I don't really think the setting that you put it on will make you have that actual calorie deficit unless you are actually doing that activity. They base the number on how much work you already do which does not include your workouts. If you put in that you are a construction worker lifting and working out all day but you aren't really doing that it's not going to change how many calories you burn just by changing the setting. Work out more if you want to loose more weight and make smarter choices with all of the 1,200 calories.
  • denisec26
    denisec26 Posts: 199 Member
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    ps

    i also track my exercise on this site..thas why im here. i track my food and working out.
  • sallyLunn
    sallyLunn Posts: 381
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    I don't know how tall you are, but unless you are really, really short, you are probably within your healthy weight range. This is important to note because this is, I think, the hardest range to loose weight in.

    If I were you, I would set myself to "lightly active" and click that I'd like to loose a pound per week. I'm guessing this will cause MFP to kick out a calorie allowance of around 1200 calories a day. Then I would exercise and if you aren't doing any strength training, try adding at least two strength training sessions a week. This would be the conservative way to do it and most likely to work for you in the long run.

    The thing is, MFP will never set your calories lower than 1200 so as you loose weight, you'll find that with some digging that your actual calorie deficit is set for you to loose only .9 pounds a week or something. Just leave it and keep the course.

    Best of luck.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    When you have less than 20 pounds to lose it gets harder. There is less fat for your body to burn, which makes it more likely that your body will burn some muscle instead. (The body takes the fuel source that is closest to the area that needs the fuel. If fat is too far away it becomes more efficient to use muscle.) That's why when there is less body fat to burn you need a bigger caloric intake. Getting too few calories will make the body go into starvation mode faster. So your calorie deficit doesn't need to be that large.

    Also, think about how active you really are during the day. I'm a stay at home mom with a 2 year old and a crawling 8 month old. I just changed my activity level from sedentary to lightly active because I'm trying to do a better job of keeping up with the housework. I may be providing day care to a friend's newborn soon so I'm trying to so more. Unless you're going for walks to the park everyday, going grocery shopping, and other activities that constantly keep you on your feet, I wouldn't have your activity level set so high.

    You also need to make sure you're eating at least half of your exercise calories. And you should be doing cardio and well as strength training.
  • jennylynn84
    jennylynn84 Posts: 659
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    Seconding what a lot of people have already said. 2 lbs a week is possible when you have more weight to lose. I can no longer effectively set mine to lose 2 lbs a week either. Its slower going when you're closer to your goal. I think right now I'm set to lose somewhere around 0.7 lbs a week.

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