Confused about Calorie Limit
kelziemba
Posts: 48 Member
Hi. I am a 38 year old woman, 5'4", and started MFP a week ago at 17 stone (238 lbs). The app told me I should limit myself to 1200 calories a day, which I've read is the minimum I should go down to. In my first week I've lost 8 lbs which I know is mostly water weight but it's a great start. I'm haven't felt hungry yet, probably due to my high level of motivation currently and also cuz I'm eating a lot more protein and fiber than before.
I am curious about the 1200 calorie setting. I would have thought that as I get slimmer I would need to reduce my calorie intake somewhat to keep losing weight, but if 1200 is the minimum I should go then this won't be possible. So is 1200 the correct amount?
I am curious about the 1200 calorie setting. I would have thought that as I get slimmer I would need to reduce my calorie intake somewhat to keep losing weight, but if 1200 is the minimum I should go then this won't be possible. So is 1200 the correct amount?
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You don't have that much to lose, so try putting in a smaller weight loss goal.0
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I have a lot to lose. I want to lose 8 stones at least. I just corrected my first post to read 238 lbs (not 138 lol).0
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You listed 138 lbs first, not 238. You need to be eating much more than 1200 calories for a healthy loss.0
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I've corrected my first post. Sorry for the confusion.0
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17 stone is 238...the confusion is you have 138...but that being said...with 112lbs to lose 2lbs a week is doable for a couple weeks but under 100lbs try for 1.5lbs a week...and your calories will change based on that (or it should)
This gives you a bit more food to eat and you follow this as you lose
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
It is very sustainable.
And don't forget if you are exercising to eat back some of your exercise calories....at least 50%0 -
Yes, 1200 is the minimum. After losing ten pounds, I have noticed that I burn fewer calories with the same exercises, but I have not dropped below 1200 calories. 1200 is your minimum to keep going day to day, but as you burn calories you can eat more than 1200. Does that help?0
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I started at 238 lbs last week and I'm 5'4".0
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I guess you have selected to lose 2lb a week.
If you have, then I guess you'd just need to change it to 1.5, then 1 and so on the closer you get to your goal0 -
I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!0
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I think at your starting weight it would be better and you should be able to lose on more. 1200 is before exercise, so you should be eating more to account for exercise. I was losing fine at 1800-2200/day at around your weight (although fairly active). I think it is ideal to eat as much as you can while still losing regularly, that gives you more nutrition, fuel for workouts, and room to reduce further as you lose weight and your calorie needs decrease.0
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help. That makes sense, I won't always hope to lose 2 lbs a week. I know to expect less as I go on.....so at that point I will change my settings. I have yet to start working out. I will need to build up my strength and stamina very slowly as I am totally unfit.0
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Yes, when you begin and you choose 2lb/wk loss, you got 1200... but as you progress and have less to lose, your weekly goal will also become smaller, just like somebody posted above:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
So when you choose the smaller weekly goal, the amount of calories will go up slightly until you reach maintenance. :flowerforyou:0 -
17 stone is 238...the confusion is you have 138...but that being said...with 112lbs to lose 2lbs a week is doable for a couple weeks but under 100lbs try for 1.5lbs a week...and your calories will change based on that (or it should)
This gives you a bit more food to eat and you follow this as you lose
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
It is very sustainable.
And don't forget if you are exercising to eat back some of your exercise calories....at least 50%
I would like to emphasize the bolded part. Also, keep in mind, that if you have other goals (more that are workout related) that a smaller weight loss goal might be beneficial. Essentially, more food = more energy for exercise. So in many cases, especially as you get smaller, having a greater amount of food, will enable you to workout harder. Overall, it's finding a balance between calories and exercise.
And when you start working out, there are plenty of programs for beginners. Many people start with walking/joggin (programs like couch to 5K) and use body weight programs (such as convict conditioning or you are your own gym) to get them into resistance training. Either way, it's ideal to have both cardio and resistance training as part of your routine.
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At 238, your TDEE is about 2150. Since subtracting 1000 is less than 1200, MFP will give you a goal of 1200. If you want to lose 2lbs a week, you will need to exercise to push your TDEE higher. As you get slimmer, a 2lbs per week weight loss would require additional exercise, since you won't be burning as many calories doing other things.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »At 238, your TDEE is about 2150. Since subtracting 1000 is less than 1200, MFP will give you a goal of 1200. If you want to lose 2lbs a week, you will need to exercise to push your TDEE higher. As you get slimmer, a 2lbs per week weight loss would require additional exercise, since you won't be burning as many calories doing other things.
^ YES. MFP puts me at 1250 for .5 lb weekly loss, and 1200 for 1 lb weekly loss. That's because with my stats I would need 1500 calories to maintain....but they don't want to tell me to go down to 1000 for a 500 calorie deficit since most experts say to go no lower than 1200. I'm ok with .5 loss at this point, though I do bump up from 1250 through exercise.0 -
Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.0 -
astralpictures wrote: »Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.
not so much.
I eat 1800 a day and lose on average 1/2lb a week. I can eat up to 2500 during summer and not gain...
The key is actually consistent and accurate logging. If at 1200 you aren't losing you are eating more than you think...0 -
astralpictures wrote: »Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.
not so much.
I eat 1800 a day and lose on average 1/2lb a week. I can eat up to 2500 during summer and not gain...
The key is actually consistent and accurate logging. If at 1200 you aren't losing you are eating more than you think...
I don't know your routine but... possibly you're more active during the summer, hence, you can handle more calories. Not to put words in "astralpictures" mouth but, I believe what he was saying was:
"All things being equal, the more calories you eat, the more weight you'll gain or the slower your weight loss will be."0 -
DogRiverDude wrote: »astralpictures wrote: »Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.
not so much.
I eat 1800 a day and lose on average 1/2lb a week. I can eat up to 2500 during summer and not gain...
The key is actually consistent and accurate logging. If at 1200 you aren't losing you are eating more than you think...
I don't know your routine but... possibly you're more active during the summer, hence, you can handle more calories. Not to put words in "astralpictures" mouth but, I believe what he was saying was:
"All things being equal, the more calories you eat, the more weight you'll gain or the slower your weight loss will be."
generally yes but that being said for this particular situation it's more likely a logging issue...and they were eating more than they thought...but as they increased calories their logging got more accurate as that group is about logging as well. Often times people logging 1200 and losing slower than normal or not at all the issue is logging accuracy so sometimes "eating more" aka logging accurate calorie counts works.
and yes I am more active in the summer..2k TDEE in the winter, 2200-2500 in the summer...I don't walk outside in the cold...0 -
DogRiverDude wrote: »astralpictures wrote: »Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.
not so much.
I eat 1800 a day and lose on average 1/2lb a week. I can eat up to 2500 during summer and not gain...
The key is actually consistent and accurate logging. If at 1200 you aren't losing you are eating more than you think...
I don't know your routine but... possibly you're more active during the summer, hence, you can handle more calories. Not to put words in "astralpictures" mouth but, I believe what he was saying was:
"All things being equal, the more calories you eat, the more weight you'll gain or the slower your weight loss will be."
generally yes but that being said for this particular situation it's more likely a logging issue...and they were eating more than they thought...but as they increased calories their logging got more accurate as that group is about logging as well. Often times people logging 1200 and losing slower than normal or not at all the issue is logging accuracy so sometimes "eating more" aka logging accurate calorie counts works.
Regarding logging... YES, I couldn't agree with you more! Even small logging errors, especially on calorie dense foods, make a huge difference on the daily total. Then, couple those logging errors with a non-aggressive goal (say a daily 500 calorie deficit) and the person could be in big trouble if underestimating. I also do my own nutritional calculations with recipes found online; I've seen calorie/serving errors of up to 35%!0 -
Hello I am the OP and I was never saying that I'm not losing on 1200. I am losing - as I said in my original post I lost 8 lbs in my first week and I've only been using MFP for this last one week. My original question was to do with what happens when I get down to a lower weight and still want to keep losing weight, as I had assumed my calories would need to go down. This has been answered by the explanation regarding the expectation of 2 lbs a week losses now vs 0.5 lbs a week losses in the future when I weigh less.0
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Hello I am the OP and I'm was never saying that I'm not losing on 1200. I am losing - as I said in my original post I lost 8 lbs in my first week and I've only been using MFP for this last one week. My original question was to do with what happens when I get down to a lower weight and still want to keep losing weight, as I had assumed my calories would need to go down. This has been as we're by the explanation regarding the expectation of 2 lbs a week losses now vs 0.5 lbs a week losses in the future when I weigh less.
I'm NO EXPERT because I haven't reached my goal but... as your weight decreases, so does your BMR. However, when you set less aggressive goals after some weight loss, your calorie limit will be a little higher than it currently is! Example:
NOW: 238lbs = 1745 BMR - 2lb/wk loss = 745 Calories / Day (even though MPF rounds up to 1200)
FUTURE: 158lbs = 1382 BMR - 0.5lb/wk loss = 882 Calories / Day (MFP will still round up to 1200)
GOAL: 118lbs = 1200 BMR - 0.0lb/wk loss = 1200 Calories / Day
So, as the weight comes off, even though your BMR drops, this drop is more than offset with less aggressive weight loss goals.
*** Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.0 -
astralpictures wrote: »Corinne_Howland wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for a long time. Lost 17 pounds then stalled and stalled and stalled. Then, slowly, the weight started to creep back up. I gained back 5 pounds. I've actually increased my calories and have joined the eat more 2 weight less group here on MFP. It's hard to wrap my head around eating more. but, it's worth a shot. Apparently, it's normal to gain a few before the scale goes back down. so, I'm being patient. since my BMR is 1366, 1200 was way too low. Good luck!
If you eat more, you'll just gain more.
not so much.
I eat 1800 a day and lose on average 1/2lb a week. I can eat up to 2500 during summer and not gain...
The key is actually consistent and accurate logging. If at 1200 you aren't losing you are eating more than you think...
I was talking to the poster who said they have gained 5 pounds. If you're in deficit and losing obviously eating more, as long as you're still in deficit, won't cause a gain. Not sure why you thought I was talking about your specific case. If the person I was referring to is gaining weight now, then increasing calories will lead to more weight gain. Eat more to lose more does not mean eat more calories to lose more, like the person I quoted wrote. I agree that if a person thinks they are consuming 1200 calories and is gaining then they aren't actually eating 1200 calories. But blindly just eating more isn't going to solve problems like the eat more crowd will have you believe, because that means their calorie estimate will be even more off.
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