Total calories too low?

witsend79
witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all

I lost 4 stone following slimming world but due to so many food intolerances I'm now switching to calorie counting so I can eat what my stomach likes but keep a handle on what actually goes in! I want to lose 9lb that I gained during marathon training.

So my calories are set to 1200 by MFP. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, a mix of running (30-40 miles a week) and insanity dvd's at the moment. (I anticipate a range of exercise cals from 300- 1800)

I'm aware that I need to eat some or all of my exercise cals but having my basic allowance at 1200 seems so low! Any advice?

Replies

  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
    Indeed - very low!
    Stats?
  • OllyJ_79
    OllyJ_79 Posts: 126 Member
    As above, details on your height, weight and goals are required
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    if you think 1200 is too low, eat more?
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    Oh yes, stats would be helpful.

    I'm 5 foot 1, 10st 2. Athletic shape with heavy set legs (my legs are quite muscular from running).

    I think my query is around daily activity really. I suppose when I'm not running, I'm quite inactive at the moment. It's summer holidays so I'm sitting in parks watching over the kids, doing bits around the house and running errands but generally using the car (my son has autism and I have Rhuematoid arthritis, some things that would be good advice to others just don't work for me, such as 'walk more instead of using the car'). So I've opted for sedentary. But not sure how active the next level up is really.

    As someone who followed SW, I have absolutely no idea on portion control/sensible calorie allowance. In no hurry to lose the weight, I just want to feel less pig like and more satisfied when I've eaten.

    I could eat more (I do eat more!) but if I want to lose, how much more than 1200 do I eat, Tavistock Toad?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member

    I could eat more (I do eat more!) but if I want to lose, how much more than 1200 do I eat, Tavistock Toad?

    well, if you do eat more, how much are you eating, and are you losing weight eatign that much? if yes, keep eating that much, if no, reduce cals by 100 and see if you start losing... repeat every 4-6 weeks as necessary.
  • annie7hudds
    annie7hudds Posts: 199 Member
    I think MFP defaults to the set calorie goal of 1200.

    I have just re started my efforts - and my calorie intake is set to be 1200. However I am 8 inches taller than you and (at least) two stone heavier.

    In previous times I have re-set mine to about 1600 per day - and tried not to eat my exercise calories.
  • OllyJ_79
    OllyJ_79 Posts: 126 Member

    So my calories are set to 1200 by MFP. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, a mix of running (30-40 miles a week) and insanity dvd's at the moment. (I anticipate a range of exercise cals from 300- 1800)

    For your size and weight, your BMR is just short of 1300, I'd say your TDEE without the ruining would be around 1800-1900 a day, however with the running, you'll be netting around 100 calories per mile run (0.70 x weight lb's) x distance miles), so that would add another 3000-4000 calories a week, so you could average that out and say your TDEE was 2400 a day, take 500 off and eat 1900 a day and loose 0.5lb a week.

    If you have a week without running, simply lower your intake and eat 1500 a day.
  • Nonie_S
    Nonie_S Posts: 9 Member
    Hi, WitsEnd,

    I am 5ft 5in; and currently 15st 5lb. MFP has also put me on 1200 calories, but I think that is too low for me.

    About 10 years ago I lost 5st using a combination of low carb and calorie counting. Some of this has crept back which is why I am back to being strict with myself.

    Anyway, more to your original point. I Googled (other search engines are available) the formula for working out your resting calorie needs, then taking into account your normal activity levels; finally you work out what your extra calorie expenditure is, and as long as you stay about 500 calories a day under what you use, you *should* lose about a pound a week.

    I entered it all into a spreadsheet and use the calorie and exercise values from MFP to update the excel.

    My formula works out like this:-

    ((655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)) + 20%) + daily exercise calories - 500 calories

    The website I got the information from is:-

    http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm

    I hope this helps.
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    No, I'm currently not calorie counting and have gained weight during marathon training. However I am 100% sure that while following SW (and successfully lost weight) I was eating more than 1200 calories a day. I just don't know how much.

    I've had about 4 months off any form of healthy eating. I'm effectively starting again now I know what I can't tolerate and now my marathon is out of the way. I can't cut back 100 cals at a time as I don't really have a starting point.
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member

    So my calories are set to 1200 by MFP. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week, a mix of running (30-40 miles a week) and insanity dvd's at the moment. (I anticipate a range of exercise cals from 300- 1800)

    For your size and weight, your BMR is just short of 1300, I'd say your TDEE without the ruining would be around 1800-1900 a day, however with the running, you'll be netting around 100 calories per mile run (0.70 x weight lb's) x distance miles), so that would add another 3000-4000 calories a week, so you could average that out and say your TDEE was 2400 a day, take 500 off and eat 1900 a day and loose 0.5lb a week.

    If you have a week without running, simply lower your intake and eat 1500 a day.

    This is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much, you have helped me massively.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    No, I'm currently not calorie counting and have gained weight during marathon training. However I am 100% sure that while following SW (and successfully lost weight) I was eating more than 1200 calories a day. I just don't know how much.

    I've had about 4 months off any form of healthy eating. I'm effectively starting again now I know what I can't tolerate and now my marathon is out of the way. I can't cut back 100 cals at a time as I don't really have a starting point.

    so set MFP to lose 1lb per week, set your activity level accordingly, weigh and measure everything, log, and eat back exercise cals...
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    Hi, WitsEnd,

    I am 5ft 5in; and currently 15st 5lb. MFP has also put me on 1200 calories, but I think that is too low for me.

    About 10 years ago I lost 5st using a combination of low carb and calorie counting. Some of this has crept back which is why I am back to being strict with myself.

    Anyway, more to your original point. I Googled (other search engines are available) the formula for working out your resting calorie needs, then taking into account your normal activity levels; finally you work out what your extra calorie expenditure is, and as long as you stay about 500 calories a day under what you use, you *should* lose about a pound a week.

    I entered it all into a spreadsheet and use the calorie and exercise values from MFP to update the excel.

    My formula works out like this:-

    ((655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)) + 20%) + daily exercise calories - 500 calories

    The website I got the information from is:-

    http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm

    I hope this helps.


    This is also very helpful, thank you Nonie x
  • OllyJ_79
    OllyJ_79 Posts: 126 Member

    so set MFP to lose 1lb per week, set your activity level accordingly, weigh and measure everything, log, and eat back exercise cals...

    My only comment with this is that the exercise calorie database is often wrong. Walking and running being way off. Example walking at 3.5 mph for 60 minutes says 310 calories, but I know from lab tets on people, that walking for my weight is 64 cals per mile Net, which would be 224 calories. Hence I would have just logged an extra 86. Over a week that would, and did used to add up.

    Hence I believe the TDEE method is more accurate, as it takes the guess work out of it. Its personal preference, but I found it much more effective in weight loss, and in diet consistency as I got to eat the same amount of food every day, rather than a small amount on a non training day, followed by a lot more the next day.
  • Nonie_S
    Nonie_S Posts: 9 Member
    Hi Olly,

    When I use exercise calorie figures, I use the amount my Garmin Forerunner tells me, then make the numbers work in MFP.
  • OllyJ_79
    OllyJ_79 Posts: 126 Member
    Hi Olly,

    When I use exercise calorie figures, I use the amount my Garmin Forerunner tells me, then make the numbers work in MFP.

    It's likely, although you need to check, that this is giving you the gross calorie burn for exercise i.e including the calories you would have burnt laying in bed just staying alive, on top of your exercise. If you are logging this as additional activity, and eating them back, you need to subtract these to get your net calorie burn.

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

    And calculator:
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx
  • blaise190
    blaise190 Posts: 8
    Hi Witsend,

    Interesting to read your post as you actually follow a similar routine to myself.

    Now I know people are going to disagree with me but anyway...

    I am 5,6 ft and weigh 134lbs, I exercise 6 days a week without fail a combination of the gym and Insanity (max level only) - I would say roughly 80% Insanity though as its more convenient for me to work out at home. My diet is 900- 1000 Calories a day max and I may go over by 50Kcls if I have over exercised that day.

    I know every health professional out there would advise against my calorie intake but I have to say I have lost quite a bit of weight since switching from 1200 kcals to 900. Which I did about three weeks ago.

    I will continue on until I have hit my goal weight of 119 lbs and then revert back to around 1400 kcals and continue my exercising and eating healthily.

    Have you lowered your calorie intake due to a weight loss plateau?

    Also would be interested to know if anyone else follows a similar diet? (no negativity please, productive criticism is fine)
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    No, I'm currently not calorie counting and have gained weight during marathon training. However I am 100% sure that while following SW (and successfully lost weight) I was eating more than 1200 calories a day. I just don't know how much.

    I've had about 4 months off any form of healthy eating. I'm effectively starting again now I know what I can't tolerate and now my marathon is out of the way. I can't cut back 100 cals at a time as I don't really have a starting point.

    so set MFP to lose 1lb per week, set your activity level accordingly, weigh and measure everything, log, and eat back exercise cals...

    1lb a week gives me 1200 cals. 0.5lb a week gives me 1350...which isn't much higher.
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    No plateau here. I have bad IBS and realised a lot of what I ate caused the horrific stomach cramps. So I've cut all of that out but SW relies quite heavily on artificial sweetener/low fat products and dairy. I can't stomach either. So it was no longer working for me, I constantly felt hungry which led to me over eating.

    I've recently completed 2 marathons and the training for those encouraged carb heavy days. Again, didn't help the waist line!

    So now I'm back to just running half marathon distance until Christmas, I thought I'd better get a better grip on this and hopefully avoid the same happening next year.

    I absolutely could not function on the amount of calories you eat. I want to shed some weight but I don't want to risk lowering my already dodgy immune system by eating too little. Eating too few calories also puts your body at a greater risk of injury through the hard training. I'm battling arthritis already, I don't need anything else against me ;) I need something that I can sustain after I've lost the last few pounds, not something that will get me to that magic number on the scales. I've found that actually maintaining the loss is the hardest thing, not losing it. And with that in mind this is a life style thing, not a weight loss thing.

    My only advice would be to research the affect of each food group on your body and how your body uses food when you train heavily. It may help you to make the right decisions for your body in the future x
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  • blaise190
    blaise190 Posts: 8
    No plateau here. I have bad IBS and realised a lot of what I ate caused the horrific stomach cramps. So I've cut all of that out but SW relies quite heavily on artificial sweetener/low fat products and dairy. I can't stomach either. So it was no longer working for me, I constantly felt hungry which led to me over eating.

    I've recently completed 2 marathons and the training for those encouraged carb heavy days. Again, didn't help the waist line!

    So now I'm back to just running half marathon distance until Christmas, I thought I'd better get a better grip on this and hopefully avoid the same happening next year.

    I absolutely could not function on the amount of calories you eat. I want to shed some weight but I don't want to risk lowering my already dodgy immune system by eating too little. Eating too few calories also puts your body at a greater risk of injury through the hard training. I'm battling arthritis already, I don't need anything else against me ;) I need something that I can sustain after I've lost the last few pounds, not something that will get me to that magic number on the scales. I've found that actually maintaining the loss is the hardest thing, not losing it. And with that in mind this is a life style thing, not a weight loss thing.

    My only advice would be to research the affect of each food group on your body and how your body uses food when you train heavily. It may help you to make the right decisions for your body in the future x

    Thanks and good point researching certain foods. I'm actually getting tested against food allergies shortly so that should be interesting. I know my diet is pretty drastic but for me maintaining weight is not so much the issue. Once I have hit my goal weight I will definitely go back to around 1400 Kcals as i don't want to just keep losing weight.
  • blaise190
    blaise190 Posts: 8
    Having an accurate number to work with is important. Knowing exactly how much I can eat of whatever diet or exercise program I am on is important to me.
    I know within a couple of bites of food if I am going to lose or gain weight for that day? Having this data helps me make little accomplishments that add up.
    So if I simply stay underneath that number I make little accomplishments everyday. I know I am making progress to my goal because I have a number I trust that is accurate. I would suggest getting this number.

    Exactly! This is the same for me too! Plus it makes it easier to incorporate treats in your diet if you know exactly what your consuming. For example on a Sunday I will have a light breakfast and lunch (200kcals in total) so I know is still have 700kcals to have a big dinner and maybe a drink.

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