Need some help with calories

Pebblespooch
Pebblespooch Posts: 24 Member
in Getting Started
Ok Im 5ft8, 28years old and weighed 96kg when I started. My goal weight is 65kg. The calculator on here has given me 1200 calories per day if I choose to try for 1kg loss a week. Is this safe? Surely if I take too much away my metabolism will slow down??? If I chose to have weight loss of .75kg a week it suggests 1260 calories per day. Thanks in advance :)

Replies

  • Booda101
    Booda101 Posts: 161 Member
    Recommended reading: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants


    I'd also suggest figuring out your TDEE and BMR. There are several calculators available through the internet with Scooby's Workshop and Fitness Frog being two of the more popular. Once you have your TDEE, you can subtract a percentage from that. I suspect it will be more than 1200 calories.

    Good luck!
  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
    MFP will shoot you that minimum as it expects you to log exercise in which it will add available calories to your log for you to eat back. Some eat most back as the calories it estimates tend to be high, so some will sync up devices like a Fitbit or use HRM (hear rate monitor) to give a more accurate representation of calories burned, that again will be added back into your log for you to eat back. The deficit is already calculated into that 1200 calories based on how much you told MFP you wanted to lose. Now with all that being said, you will not die a most painful death by eating less than 1200 calories as some will infer in these forums. Going long term below that amount would definitely have an impact on health and would need to be done only with Dr. monitoring for a specific reason, but if you fall under that amount for whatever reason a day here or there, don't let the "end of the world" people frighten you thinking you will die.
  • Pebblespooch
    Pebblespooch Posts: 24 Member
    I am aware at my weight I am not going to die from only eating 1200 calories a day ;) However does such a small amount mess with your metabolism so long term could end up putting weight on if ever eat more than that??? I have struggled with OCD and this has been related to obsessive eating before so don't want to end up down that dangerous road again. I just cant mess it up again and risk my health.
  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
    I am aware at my weight I am not going to die from only eating 1200 calories a day ;) However does such a small amount mess with your metabolism so long term could end up putting weight on if ever eat more than that??? I have struggled with OCD and this has been related to obsessive eating before so don't want to end up down that dangerous road again. I just cant mess it up again and risk my health.

    Eating at any deficit long term will cause the body to adjust metabolism downward to some degree. The body wants to keep you alive and as you get to lower degrees of bodyfat, your body will adapt to lower levels of caloric intake thus eating at higher levels will cause initial weight gain until things come back to normal...but this is a moot issue to some degree as we are taking about far extreme scenarios. The goal is to eat as much as possible while still losing the recommended amount of weight safely. Again, MFP has you doing this by eating back your logged exercise calories, so you should be eating more than 1200 calories daily unless you are bed ridden. If logging exercise calories back seems daunting to you or are unsure about it, then maybe take a look at following the TDEE method as one of the other posters had commented about. Doing that type would incorporate your weekly activity level into your daily calories up front so you don't have to log exercise, nor do you eat calories back as again, they are already factored in. There are many online calculators that will estimate this number for you (one is www.iifym.com ) and all you do is run that number for a few weeks, and after a few weeks, average your weight loss. If you are losing between .5-1% of your bodyweight weekly (again average), the you are golden. If you are losing more than that, then adjust upwards by say 40-50 daily calories...or if not losing enough, then adjust downward by 40-50 daily calories. But give each small adjustment a few weeks to run to work and get your average.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Ok Im 5ft8, 28years old and weighed 96kg when I started. My goal weight is 65kg. The calculator on here has given me 1200 calories per day if I choose to try for 1kg loss a week. Is this safe? Surely if I take too much away my metabolism will slow down??? If I chose to have weight loss of .75kg a week it suggests 1260 calories per day. Thanks in advance :)

    MFP will give you as few calories--down to 1200 minimum--as you need to lose your chosen goal (up to 2 lbs or 1 kg (2.2 lb)). Since 1 kg is the highest possible goal it allows, and requires a cut of 1100 calories per day from your maintenance without exercise, it's going to put anyone not extremely overweight or simply large (like a 6 ft + guy) down to 1200, unless you also tell it you are active on a daily basis. The exercise plans you put in aren't taken into account until you do them.

    What this means is that a user needs to exercise some judgment in deciding what's a reasonable weekly goal given their size and exercise level.

    Someone who is not that overweight might want to reconsider and go for a less aggressive goal such as .5 kg or--when getting close to goal--.25 kg. This also makes sense as I believe that there's more worry about losing lean body mass or lowering your metabolism when you are cutting calories while less overweight.

    Also, you might want to consider if you are being realistic about your daily activity. You are reasonably tall and young thus I doubt that you are light enough to get 1200 unless you say sedentary. Few people, even in the US, are actually sedentary, and people in other countries are probably even less likely to be so (less chance you are driving everywhere, etc.).

    Finally, the 1200 is before exercise. When you exercise you are expected to eat more to compensate, as you are no longer trying to achieve the whole 1 kg/week by cutting calories, but exercising for part of it.

    Thus, my guess is that it's not great for you to eat 1200 at your height and age, but if you put in lightly active (or more) for your activity level you'll get more calories and if you exercise and eat it back you will actually have a higher goal still.

    All that aside, 1 kg IS the highest goal possible, so you might want to consider trying the changes I recommended above plus the .75 kg, which is still a pretty quick rate. That should get you somewhat more than 1260 even before exercise and then remember that what you are aiming for includes your exercise calories.

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