Caloric Intake & TDEE/BMR... Am I Doing This Right?

meaganlael
meaganlael Posts: 32
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello MFPers! Two months ago, I decided to make the change from a daily fast food eating couch potato to a healthy person. Using MFP's calculations, I started off using a 1200 daily caloric limit with about 2-3 hours per week of cardio & some weight training, and for the first few weeks, I dropped weight like crazy. The first month, I lost 12 pounds, and the last four weeks, I have only lost 1 pound.

After reading a good bit about how MFP's calculations can be inaccurate, I used another website to calculate my TDEE/BMR, which was WAY different from the MFP calculations I've been using. If my BMR is 1654, is this roughly the amount of calories I should be consuming daily? This is a good bit more than the 1200 daily I'm used to, but the 1200 calorie calculation was based on my previous sedentary lifestyle status, which has changed over the last 2 months. So I'm wondering if the initial shock of lowering my calories from about 3000 daily with no exercise, to 1200 a day with moderate exercise, was enough to result in the 12 pounds lost in the beginning, but not sustainable enough for me to continue losing weight. The concept of needing to consume more calories to lose weight boggles my little brain, so any feedback on whether I'm doing the right thing with upping my calories to 1650, or if that will indeed result in weight gain, is much appreciated! My diary is open for anyone who would like to look.

Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    The current 'stall' is probably hormones/time of month/sodium/stress/adjusting to new workout routines.

    BUT you probably can eat more, have more energy as a result, and still lose weight. If your BMR is 1654 then you easily burn 2000/day plus exercise. So eating ~1600 per day and being more active should be a sustainable, long term way to lose weight.

    But some weeks will be up, some the same and some down. If the overall goal is downward, then you're good!
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    I agree that you should be eating more now. I hit a plateau and broke it by increasing my calories. As you become more fit, your body needs more fuel to function properly. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    Allan
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Everyone loses more weight initially. But 1200 calories with that exercise is not a good combo. 1200 isn't good for most people.

    What is the TDEE that the website gave you? This is the number estimated to be your maintenance needs, so you create a deficit from that. If your TDEE came up as 2150 then you can subtract 10-20% from it for save weight loss - the bigger the % the larger the deficit thus the quicker the losses. But 20% is still usually within the realm of 1lb/week (will vary for everyone of course).

    I think Allan's advice is good if you're following TDEE method and have started out at a reasonable amount of calories. But if you are not dropping weight at all while also showing signs of not eating enough/too large of a deficit (e.g. uncharacteristic moodiness, lethargy, too much hunger or never any hunger, decreased performance at the gym) then up the cals to your estimated maintenance for a few weeks, monitor, and resume a 10-20% deficit from that. Your TDEE changes as you lose weight, so recalculate if you lose weight.

    You might also want to consider buying a food scale to see whether you've been accurately logging your entries. I almost never measure anything honestly, just weigh it all.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    So I'm wondering if the initial shock of lowering my calories from about 3000 daily with no exercise, to 1200 a day with moderate exercise, was enough to result in the 12 pounds lost in the beginning, but not sustainable enough for me to continue losing weight. The concept of needing to consume more calories to lose weight boggles my little brain,
    1200 a day isn't dangerous, with or without moderate exercise. See links in my profile. I don't think the 'shock' of lowering calories caused your plateau, just the 12 lbs. loss in the prior month. That's a lot to drop.

    You can eat more and still lose weight but you don't have to, and it certainly won't speed things up, unless it also causes you to move more or adhere to your diet for longer. Though your plateau will most likely break any day now, so if you up your calories now it might seem like eating more causes more weight loss.

    Good luck!
  • meaganlael
    meaganlael Posts: 32
    My values from the calculator are:
    - BMR 1654
    - TDEE 2275
    - Daily calories based on 20% reduction 1820

    So based on that, I guess I should be eating upwards of 1820 calories a day, but I feel going from 1200 to 1820 is too much a jump. Eating at around 1600 past two days has definitely boosted my energy, so I'll give that some time and adjust as necessary. Thank you all for your insights and explanations!
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
    1200 is low, but if you were truly eating 1200, you would be dropping weight. May not be the weight you want it to be, but you'd still be dropping it.

    The whole if you don't eat enough, you won't lose weight line on here is a myth. Starvation mode in the sense it's talked about on mpf is a myth.

    You definitely should eat more, but truly eating 1200 would result in weight loss..
  • meaganlael
    meaganlael Posts: 32

    You might also want to consider buying a food scale to see whether you've been accurately logging your entries. I almost never measure anything honestly, just weigh it all.

    A food scale does seem like a very good investment to make soon, as well as a HRM (as a side note). I've made good habits of measuring things out with cups, but there's plenty of things I eat that are difficult to measure in cups and tablespoons, and I don't trust exercise machine outputs. Thanks for the advice!

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