Question..

jenifer4
jenifer4 Posts: 57
edited September 22 in Health and Weight Loss
I know MFP recommends you do not go under 1200 calories but what if I have more to lose in less time.
I completely understand that its not the best idea to rush weight lose and its not healthy, I lost 50lbs on WW in the past over a year. I know its better to lose slower as it usually stays off longer.
I understand that, but its also not healthy for me to be over weight and gain 30lbs in 4 months...all I want to lose is 2lbs a week.
I sit all day at a desk job and I work out and burn 400 calories per night .

Can you confirm if below would allow me to lose weight quickly, maybe not the healthiest way but the quickest.

I'm told that 3500 calories = 1 pound.
My BMR is 1441 according to the tools section.

If I want to lose 2lbs a week thats a 7000 deficit per week /-1000 a day.
1441 + 400 (average of what I lose working out each day) = 1841 cal per day
1841-1000 = 841 cal per day.

now if I normally only eat 1200 calories per day thats 1841-1200 = 241 cal

So, will I lose 2lbs a week if I eat 1082 cal a day?

Replies

  • jenifer4
    jenifer4 Posts: 57
    Im not saying this is what I will be doing, Just asking for opinions on this.
    Also wondering if anyone has dropped this low on a short term basis?
  • ouryear002
    ouryear002 Posts: 325 Member
    I was on a diet a while back where they hqad me eating 1000 calories/day. I was so hungry I cried and I felt like crap. When I moved up to 1200, I had energy again. Once in a while is ok, but if you consistently eat below 12oo, you will literally be starving. You will lose muscle and hurt your long term weight loss goals.
  • amymeenieminymo
    amymeenieminymo Posts: 2,394 Member
    You said a couple times in your post that you know it's not healthy to want to lose so much weight so quickly....so I think you answered your own question.

    I know we all want to get there NOW, but you've done it in the past, so you know that with every pound lost you'll feel better. It won't happen overnight, and I know cause I too lost 50 pounds, and in the last few months I have gotten off track and gained back what I think is a "not normal amount" to gain in such a short amount of time. I would LOVE to be back to the 165 that I was right away, but I know that as crappy as I feel at this weight right now, even one day of eating right and working out makes me feel great, and I know after I lose just 5 pounds, my pants will start to feel just ever so slightly looser, which will boost my confidence even more.

    Pushing yourself too hard to lose weight quickly will just make you feel bad, could result in saggy skin, could make you plateue, and even if you do lose it, you're that much more likely to gain it back quickly, plus some.
  • minervasp73
    minervasp73 Posts: 59
    I have to agree! Under 1200 just makes you starving and miserable. It's easy enough to lose weight and keep to at least your basic 1200.

    Or, if you really want, just increase your exercise while eating your 1200. Just drink a crapload of water and herbal tea.
  • ccrunk75
    ccrunk75 Posts: 15 Member
    Your body will actually HOLD weight if you are eating too little, so you will get the opposite results. Here is what i did in the beginning. You will lose water weight by starving yourself but not actual fat so as soon as you start eating healthy again, you WILL put it all back on. The best thing to do is stick with the daily calories that MFP gives you and ramp up your cardio. I currently eat approximately 1340 a day. If I do go over, i dont cut calories the next day but I increase my exercise to make up the difference so I don't screw with my metabolism.
  • boniekatie
    boniekatie Posts: 147
    If you go below 1200 calories a day you risk having your body go into starvation mode where it will do everything it can to keep from starving to death. In starvation mode your body holds on to fat like a drowning man holding on to a life perserver. Not only will you loose weight more slowly, but the weight you do loose will be less likely to be fat. Also your energy will decrease and your body will start increasing your cravings to try and get you to eat.
    You better bet is to stick to the 1200 cal and ad more exercise if you want to do 2 lbs per week. You can get up early and do some yoga before you get ready for work. You can go for a walk at your lunch break. You can increase your exercise time in the exening or change up what you are doing to increase the intensity. Park farther away and increase your steps anyway you can. Deliver messages in person rather than email, volenteer to fetch some coffee for your boss, ect.
    The body is much more complicated than just calories in vs calories out. What you spend your calories on is also important.
    If you have a good plan and stick to it, your body will help you and not fight you on the journey.
  • RachM
    RachM Posts: 113 Member
    Maybe its my lack of willpower, but I am not capable of just eating 1200 calories. I get a headache, grumpy, and have no enegery. Now if I workout and can eat those calories I feel MUCH better during the day. Its probably do-able to just eat too few calories and you probably will lose weight, but you will most likely gain it all back just as fast as you lost it, and is losing weight super quick worth feeling terrible every day? And what if your willpower caves and you start over eating? You will probably feel even worse. I would say up your cardio, eat your 1200 calories and do it slow :)
  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
    I eat 800-1000 calories a day and I am never hungry nor starving. I have no cravings. and I am losing weight like crazy. I am on the Medifast plan which gives me sound nutritional meals 6 times a day. It has taught me how my unhealthy old daily diet was doing to me and especially how carbs played a role in making me fat. Once all my weight is lost I will transition to maintenance which is a very slow process of adding in fruit and a healthy grin to replace 2 of my pre packaged meals (there is more to it than that, that is just an example). To be honest, I love being on this plan, that I may have a very hard time transitioning because I love the convenience of it. It really fits into my busy life.
  • cutie2b
    cutie2b Posts: 194 Member
    Hi.

    Your math is skewed, and I'll explain why. Your BMR = 1441 - so that's the amount of calories you burn if you were laying in a vegetative coma and did not thing but breath and lay there. That's how many calories your body burns repairing cells, breathing, and maintaining your body. I am pretty sure that you do more then that all day even at a desk job. So if you get up out of bed at all for the day or even wake up and move at all, you are going to be burning more calories.

    Example: My BMR is 1850. My normal sedentary desk job of a life means that on average I'll burn 2300 calories or so a day. If I work out, then it's usually 2600-2700 calories (maybe more).

    So your body actually uses probably about 1700-2000 calories per day on days you don't exercise depending on age and how sedentary you are. On days you exercise, you can add another 400-500 calories.

    So on days you exercise: 1700+500-1000 = 1200, 2000+500-1000=1500

    And if you go below your BMR, I am pretty sure your body thinks it's starving, and it may hold on to your weight with an iron grip.

    1200 calories should be fine. IF you don't lose any weight on that, you can always decrease by 50 calorie increments to see when you start to lose weight.

    Natalie
  • saj9291113
    saj9291113 Posts: 65
    You are trying to get healthy, but state you want to do it incorrectly just a few years ago you lost 50 and gain 40 back(from your profile). Thats called yo-yo dieting, more unhealthy then just carrying the extra pounds. You are causing your body more stress, it is not sure whats going on. Take the time and do it correctly now instead of trying to impress people quicker. All thats going to happen are people are going to say " darn Jen looks great with all that weight loss" then 3 months later " Jen lost all that weight and put it all back on"

    If you are going to do 1200 calories(which is the lowest I would suggest without doctors supervision) then do a couple of things to help you out
    1) spread your meals out to 200 calories every 3 hours( 6 meals)
    2) Sleep, make sure you get a solid 7-9 hours daily of sleep
    3) Find out what your highest calories burn heartrate is and stay in that.
    4) Drink water, not pop, coffee, tea, and lower your amount of milk
    5) Take a one-a-day vitamin for you(you will need to replenish everything you are losing in less food, sweating and water)

    These are just a few ways to start to get off of the yo-yo.
  • fitmom125
    fitmom125 Posts: 87
    Great question Jenifer4, I learned alot with the responds to your question.
  • schobert101
    schobert101 Posts: 218 Member
    Cutie2b is absolutely right. You need to do your calculations not from your BMR but from the daily calories burned without exercise depending on what your daily activities are. You can find it on the goals page where it has your diet profile. That number is a result of your BMR plus the calories you burn from your job, walking around your house etc. For example my BMR is 1360 but my daily colories calculated is 1660 using the sedentary setting. The calculator will never let you go below 1200 calories per day so even if I put in a goal of losing 2 pounds per week the calculator keeps telling me I will lose 0.9 pounds per week if I follow the plan and eat all my exercise calories. Even if I work out 2 hours a day and eat the exercise calories I can't get the calculator to come up with more than 0.9 pound loss per week. So the only way I can safely do that would be to not eat all the exercise calories which I sometimes do. So no matter how much you WANT to lose there is a limit as to what is safe and balanced without starving yourself.
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