Total calories eaten?

Options
bradleygirlinspirations
bradleygirlinspirations Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question. May be a simple answer. Everyone tells me to eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But mfp started me out at 1800 then I dropped it as low as I can and it says to eat atleast 1690. Is that because I'm much heavier and should eat more than the 1200?? I currently weight 266. Thanks

Replies

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    Options
    bradleygirlinspirations wrote: »
    I have a question. May be a simple answer. Everyone tells me to eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But mfp started me out at 1800 then I dropped it as low as I can and it says to eat atleast 1690. Is that because I'm much heavier and should eat more than the 1200?? I currently weight 266. Thanks

    "Everybody" isn't taking your age/height/weight./activity level into consideration. MFP is. If you are weighing and logging accurately, you should be losing at 1690. Good luck!
  • bradleygirlinspirations
    bradleygirlinspirations Posts: 60
    Options
    obscuremusicreference wrote: »
    bradleygirlinspirations wrote: »
    I have a question. May be a simple answer. Everyone tells me to eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight. But mfp started me out at 1800 then I dropped it as low as I can and it says to eat atleast 1690. Is that because I'm much heavier and should eat more than the 1200?? I currently weight 266. Thanks

    "Everybody" isn't taking your age/height/weight./activity level into consideration. MFP is. If you are weighing and logging accurately, you should be losing at 1690. Good luck!



    Thank you! I have lost 6lbs in 8 days but that could be the initial water weight? But what I do eat sure isn't a lot to begin with I don't think. I have been logging everything the best to my knowledge.
  • Sherriediva1
    Sherriediva1 Posts: 345 Member
    Options
    Carrying around extra weight requires more energy. The poster above has the right of it. Let MFP guide you. If a reasonable time passes and you aren't losing then you may want to consult your doctor. Right Now - enjoy those calories! Wishing you SUCCESS!
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    1200 is a number dieting companies throw around a lot. Reality is most people can eat more than 1200 calories and lose weight just fine.

    I currently eat between 1600-2000 typically (sometimes more sometimes less) and I'm losing weight. I'm 5'4.5" and currently about 155/156lbs. My NET is 1320, but between exercise and adjustments from my fitness tracker, I can eat more.

    To lose weight, you need to eat less than you burn. Your body burns calories just being alive, then daily activity adds to that, and then add exercise burns on top of that.

    Follow MFP for awhile, eat what it says plus 50-75% of the exercise calories. In about 4 weeks you will know whether or not it is working. Losing to fast, eat more. Not losing as fast as you planned (up to 2lbs per week), then eat less.
  • bradleygirlinspirations
    bradleygirlinspirations Posts: 60
    Options
    I usually try not to eat any of the calories I have burned so that I lose weight. Maybe I'm trying to lose it too fast! Id prefer more than 2lbs a week but id be happy with 2lbs
  • bradleygirlinspirations
    bradleygirlinspirations Posts: 60
    Options
    I've ate 1200 calories so far. So should I be eating atleast my 1690? And mfp seems to want me to eat the calories burned
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
    Options
    You'll likely burn out pretty fast trying to starve the weight off. You should be eating at least 1690. If you're using MFP the way it is intended you'd also eat exercise calories - but in my personal opinion if you're eating at least 1690 you're probably okay (you'd have to calculate your TDEE to know for sure).
  • norman3538
    norman3538 Posts: 4 Member
    Options
    This depends on a lot of things. If you workout you will need to comp for those calories. You have to burn more than you intake to loose weight. Its just that simple. If I were you I would go to another site and get your BMR. Make sure the site takes in account for your activity level for a day. BMR is your basic metabolic rate. For example, mine is around 1900 calories a day. Im a 35 year old moderate active on any given day. This means my body burns that much doing nothing. Now Im very active in the gym, but I dont count that in on my BMR. Thats because the things I do in the gym burn calories. I think you would be ok with 1600 as long as the calories are coming from good macros like protein and good fats and even some carbs as long as they are low glycemic (complex). Feel free to look at my food diary to see what I eat.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited February 2015
    Options
    bradleygirlinspirations wrote: »
    I've ate 1200 calories so far. So should I be eating atleast my 1690? And mfp seems to want me to eat the calories burned

    MFP sets it's calories based on how many calories you would burn approx without exercise. If you exercise, then your daily burn is higher than what MFP originally estimated and as such you need to eat more to maintain your deficit. Safe weight loss is 1-2lbs per week.

    An example:

    MFP estimates I maintain without exercise on 1820.
    MFP gives me a goal of 1320 to lose weight without exercise.

    I exercise and burn say 500 calories.
    My daily burn is now 2320.
    To lose 1lb per week I need to eat 1820 (NET 1320).

    I actually (based on rate of loss and intake for a 3 month period) burn close to 2600 on average. If I didn't eat my exercise calories and adjustments from my activity tracker, my deficit would be well over 1000 calories which isn't all that healthy. I also want to give my skin time to adapt a bit to my weight loss (faster loss apparently results in more loose skin since it wasn't given time to adapt) and I want to maintain as much muscle as possible.

    Having to large of a deficit can result in your body burning more muscle mass than it normally would at a moderate deficit. This will lower the amount of calories your body burns and thus mean that you maintain at a lower calorie amount than you would have had you maintained some of the muscle mass you lost.

    Another thing to think about, what will you do if you stall out? 1200 is the minimum healthy amount for women. So, from a health stand point, you won't be able to drop anymore.
  • bradleygirlinspirations
    bradleygirlinspirations Posts: 60
    Options
    Ok that all makes sense. I will increase my calories some so that I'm not losing so fast. I have never really understood it that way.

Categories