Am I eating too low?

Options
melg51
melg51 Posts: 37 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I have a recorded weight of 69 kgs and want to lose 0.75 kg a week ( I am 5"7) , MFP gave me an allowance of 1200 calories a day. I admit at the moment exercise is taking a back seat because of finals/dissertation etc, although I do a weights class once a week.

I have been reading 1200 is too low for the body? I am struggling to stick to it, it's not that I eat crap it's just that I like to snack on fruit but the calories for this can add up.

Any advice would be welcome..

Replies

  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
    Options
    You have a small amount of weight to lose so it will be slow. reset your goals to lose a lot less a week and you'll get a bigger allowance and eat a portion of your exercise calories back. This is likely to be more sustainable. Even without exercise you should be able to eat around 1500 calories and lose. Log your food accurately weigh and measure everything set a more sustainable goal and have some patience because you have such a small amount to lose it will be slow so what you do needs to be sustainable
  • melg51
    melg51 Posts: 37 Member
    Options
    isulo_kura wrote: »
    You have a small amount of weight to lose so it will be slow. reset your goals to lose a lot less a week and you'll get a bigger allowance and eat a portion of your exercise calories back. This is likely to be more sustainable. Even without exercise you should be able to eat around 1500 calories and lose. Log your food accurately weigh and measure everything set a more sustainable goal and have some patience because you have such a small amount to lose it will be slow so what you do needs to be sustainable


    thanks. I had adjusted to 0.5 KGs a week and so now can eat 1320 a day. It says if I stick i'll lose 1.5 kg by April 20. Slightly slower than I would have liked but I suppose this is a long haul thing and I don't want a quick fix that can be broken easily!
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    Options
    I'm going to make a suggestion. Use the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) method. I went to Scooby Workshop & put in your details and got a TDEE of 1830 with no exercise - with the weight lifting and most likely with having to walk around to get to classes and the like, I would honestly put you at a light level versus sendentary, and that TDEE is 2096. As you are already a healthy weight, you should take a 10% deficit from that - 1887. Yes, it will be slower than you'd like but at 21 yrs of age and at a healthy weight to start with, speed is not of the essence (you will maintain more muscle this way). Once you are able to do more exercise (which I'd suggest you do anyway as it's a good stress reliever), you can up the calories.
    -
    You can change the calorie goal on MFP by going to goals and doing a custom set up.
  • melg51
    melg51 Posts: 37 Member
    Options
    mymodernbabylon wrote: »
    I'm going to make a suggestion. Use the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) method. I went to Scooby Workshop & put in your details and got a TDEE of 1830 with no exercise - with the weight lifting and most likely with having to walk around to get to classes and the like, I would honestly put you at a light level versus sendentary, and that TDEE is 2096. As you are already a healthy weight, you should take a 10% deficit from that - 1887. Yes, it will be slower than you'd like but at 21 yrs of age and at a healthy weight to start with, speed is not of the essence (you will maintain more muscle this way). Once you are able to do more exercise (which I'd suggest you do anyway as it's a good stress reliever), you can up the calories.
    -
    You can change the calorie goal on MFP by going to goals and doing a custom set up.

    Wow, ok that is interesting - thank you. I am certainly learning a lot here, I had the awful attitude that as little calories as possible was the way forward.. I am now seeing that it definitely is not!

    I think a slower approacher is better because I am less likely to 'fall off the wagon' as they say.

    thanks for all your help :)
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Options
    The problem with the TDEE method is that you end up estimating how many calories you think you are going to burn doing exercise, but then you'll be busy one day or it'll be lightning outside, or you just decide not to do it. If you don't figure out a way to remove calories from exercise you didn't do, you'll end up gaining weight. I much prefer the way MFP handles it. Due to injury, I haven't been able to exercise for the past several weeks. I didn't have to adjust anything. I just stuck to the daily allow of calories it gave me and I've lost more than ten pounds while spending a lot of time sitting around the house. I'll be back to exercising in a few days and my calorie allowance will go up automatically, because I'll be logging calories burned exercising.

Categories