Abysmal amount of recommended daily calories

cr120mfp
cr120mfp Posts: 3 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I just signed up for MFP and saw the amount of recommended calories per day – 1350. All I can think is, what am I going to eat? And how in the world do I parcel that out for satisfying meals? This suddenly feels a little daunting. What do you eat? Where did you find meal recommendations?

Replies

  • mrsbunbunbun
    mrsbunbunbun Posts: 49 Member
    Whoa! How do you have it calibrated?

    What does it tell you if you say "lightly active" and 1 lb/week? That's the place I think most people start, and that's what my trainer set me up with. It started me with 1790 at my starting weight, which was totally doable. ;)
  • rosehips60
    rosehips60 Posts: 1,030 Member
    Where did you set your weight loss goal? Maybe you could lose slower and be more satisfied.
  • Nojoke81
    Nojoke81 Posts: 131
    You can 'net' calories by eating any calories burned through exercise. As long as you don't over-estimate burned calories you'll be ok. Any additional calories burned will be what you can have in any 24 hour window.
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,284 MFP Moderator
    Did you select '2 pounds a week' when you were setting up your account? With only 8 lbs to lose, you'd do better (and get more calories) if you set it to 1/2 a pound per week.

    BUT, if you don't like the number of calories MFP gave you, then you can always exercise to earn more calories to eat. :)
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    I found that te craziest things have so few calories that I can eat a ton.
    Like baby spinach. I can go to town on baby spinach and it's under 10 calories.
    veggies in general, filling and lower in calorie content.

    I'd also look into calculating your TDEE rather than what MFP suggests, because MFP can guess quite low.

    Also worth note, how much do you have to lose? If you set it for say 2lbs loss a week but you don't have many pounds, it's going to cut you quite drastically and by setting a slower weight loss goal you can eat more, and still lose week over week.
  • pito910
    pito910 Posts: 2
    HELLO I HAVE A DOUBT. IF I TAKE COFFEE WITH WHOLE MILK , I HAVE TO ADD ALL OF CALORIES OF SUGAR AND COFFEE AND MILK , PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW TO ADD SOMETHING NEW. THANKS
  • ColourfulFiasco1
    ColourfulFiasco1 Posts: 37 Member
    1350 is definitely do-able! You have to start thinking more about feeding your body what it needs rather than what you're used to in order to satisfy your recommended calories as well as nutrients. An entire plate of fruits and vegetables is going to have as many calories as one scoop of ice cream usually. Prepackaged meals will also have tons of salt, sugar, and calories that you don't really need.
    On days that I'm doing well, for breakfast I'll usually either have a FiberOne bar or a cup of Special K with skim milk and splenda and then some fruit. That usually "costs" me 100 to 300 calories- and it's a lot more filling than the there bites of powdered sugar donuts I could have had for the same calories.
  • galaxylynx
    galaxylynx Posts: 3 Member
    Look at people's open diaries - or go on pinterest and look for low calorie recipes. Start with buying the low calorie or low fat (but not fat free as you need some fats) versions of what you do buy already (i'm mainly looking at cheese over here. cheese is a killer.) eat lots of veggies. by lots of veggies I mean start planning your meals (lunches and dinners) by making sure at least 50% of the meal is some kind of vegetable. then 25% lean protein (fish, chicken, beans, etc), then healthy whole carbs if you want, like brown rice, whole grain pasta, quinoa, etc. I usually go to the store and buy lots of fresh veggies, which guilts me into eating them before they go bad because i HATE wasting food.

    am a vegetarian and I have an easy time reaching my 1200/day goal because i don't eat heavy meats, and by making sure I exercise a couple times a week (a 30 min walk can get you another 100 calories to eat). Find foods that have a lot of protein and fiber (like lentils) so they will fill you up. Eating 200 calories of lentils is way more filling than eating 200 calories of a cheeseburger. And no soda. Never! not once! soda is garbage! 0 calorie selzer water is a good replacement if you need your fizz.
  • docktorfokse
    docktorfokse Posts: 473 Member
    I'm at 1390. People may have varying reactions to this, but I just either skip lunch or have a small snack around lunchtime. I also have my nice big greasy breakfast of eggs and sausage or turkey bacon, and dinner is just about checking your portions. I log cardio and try to undershoot, but save for some bad days I haven't really needed all the cardio I've been doing.
  • Unknown
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  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    how did you come to that caloric allowance?
    how much weight do you have to lose?
    what are your fitness goals?
    did you select that you want to lose 2lbs/week?

    oftentimes new users want to lose the most weight per week that MFP will allow. this could be why its got you so low.

    i would suggest you calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and eat 75-80% of that number.

    EDIT: ok it looks like you have only 8lbs to lose. since you have so little to lose, it likely wont come off very fast. due to having that tid-bit of info, i would highly suggest you do 80% of TDEE. be patient, log everything, and enjoy healthy sustainable weight loss.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    I just signed up for MFP and saw the amount of recommended calories per day – 1350. All I can think is, what am I going to eat? And how in the world do I parcel that out for satisfying meals? This suddenly feels a little daunting. What do you eat? Where did you find meal recommendations?

    The ticker on your profile says you want to lose 8 lbs, so you should have set your goals to lose .5lbs per week.

    MFP gives you a goal that will allow you to lose without any exercise. When you do exercise and enter your workouts, MFP will tell you to eat those calories as well.

    Almost no one should be using the "sedentary" activity level. If you're bedridden, fine, but otherwise everyone is at least "lightly active".

    So check your settings, first.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    HELLO I HAVE A DOUBT. IF I TAKE COFFEE WITH WHOLE MILK , I HAVE TO ADD ALL OF CALORIES OF SUGAR AND COFFEE AND MILK , PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW TO ADD SOMETHING NEW. THANKS

    hello, and welcome to MFP.
    perhaps you could start your own thread and ask these questions.
    the community will be happy to help you! :flowerforyou:
  • madslacker
    madslacker Posts: 39
    A suggestion.

    You likely received that recommendation because you indicated that you want to reduce your weight by 2lbs per week. Myfitnesspal made a suggestion based on it's baseline calculations for your age/weight/height.

    I would suggest changing your goal to lose 1lbs per week. Eat the recommendation and see how much weight you actually lose to determine the next step.

    It's tempting to try to jump in head first and lose everything fast, fast, fast. Don't do that. Change starts in the small.

    To answer your question, however - REAL food is actually pretty low in calories.

    4oz of boneless/skinless chicken breast - ~140 calories.
    4oz eye of round steak - ~150 calories
    4oz extra lean ground beef - ~150 calories
    Packet of tuna + olive oil mayo - ~100 calories
    Mountains of green vegetables ~ 50 calories
    numerous varieties of low calories bread - ~100 calories for two slices
    banana - ~100 calories
    apple - ~70 calories
    Baked potato - ~100 calories (add a serving of sour cream @ ~60 calories)
    Guacamole - ~50 calories
    Low fat cottage cheese - ~90 calories

    If you focus on lean meats, fruits, veggies - you'll have a hard time getting to your calorie limit. There are alternatives to most of the high calorie junk we put in our bodies. I'm not a huge fan of plain meat - so instead of rich sauces you can use spices and seasonings.
  • cr120mfp
    cr120mfp Posts: 3 Member
    Oh wow - MFP just might be highly addicting. Talk about instant gratification! (And instant accountability). Thanks for the feedback and great advice. Time to fiddle with the settings, look at the food diaries of successful folks, and figure out my TDEE. 8 pounds may not sound like much, but it's part of a bigger picture and seems like a safe place to start.

    Thanks again everyone!
  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 856 Member
    feel free to add me and look at my diary, I eat between 1200-1400 most days. You may need to increase yours, if that is too low for you. you can customize everything. (for example, if you chose to lose 2lbs per week, you can increase cals a bit and still lose 1 lb a week) Plus, add in your exercises and you will get calories added to your allotment for the day, based on your energy output when you are active.
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    Oh wow - MFP just might be highly addicting.

    Yes. :laugh:
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    1350 is a bit modest, but doable. Consider if you make sure you eat 3 meals that are 450 cals, and then if you walk for 30 mins, you've earned another 150 calories of food you can eat. Its tight enough, but doable, especially if you ensure your lunches and dinners are meat/ fish with vegetables. Breakfasts for 450 calories are quite doable too :)

    All that said, I agree with the above poster who said to start a little more modestly, as you can always be a bit more aggressive when you feel ready for it, but the most important thing is to develop the habit first. After that, crank it up as you feel fit and confident for :)

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