Do I really need to eat only 1200 calories?

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  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    No, you don't have to eat only 1200 at your height and weight (especially if you intend to exercise). Use a food scale to log accurately. I'd suggest aiming for more like 1500-1700 and not eating back exercise calories. Adjust as needed based on rate of loss - if losing too fast, eat more, if too slow, eat a bit less.

    Personally: I'm 5'3.5", started at 216. My doctor told me to eat 1500 and exercise 30 minutes 4-5x/week. I think this was too little - I lost too fast at the beginning. I'm now at 143lbs and I average about 1600 calories with 30 min of exercise 5-6 times per week and still lose 2-3lbs per month (the suggested rate, or even slightly higher).
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    Simply put...

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  • Cave_Goose
    Cave_Goose Posts: 156 Member
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    tspencer824 wrote: »
    You will starve and binge before losing nearly 100lbs this way.

    You need to eat for your body. I suggest for now, 2100 calories if you are not exercising. Make the pie read 45% protein, 40% healthy fat and the rest carbs. Low carb dieting will help you reach your goal just by nutrition. I really believe this.

    Perfect example of why I never ask for advice on this forum--you never know what bad input you will receive.

    45% protein in your diet is going to cause you all kinds of problems....http://www.webmd.com/diet/20000425/protein-popularity
  • sweetpea03b
    sweetpea03b Posts: 1,124 Member
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    I actually find it easier for me to set my goal to maintenance and "come at it from both ends" so to speak. So, I reduce the amount I eat by a little and exercise a bit to come up with my deficit. I find this easier for me because it seems less rigid and I can choose whether to eat a little less or exercise a little more. For instance, my "maintenance" is 1780... so I try to eat between 1400-1500 and make up the difference with exercise. I may eat a little more or a little less and just adjust my workouts accordingly. Good luck!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    mewilliams11 wrote: »
    I just started MFP today & when I entered in all my info, it said that my daily calorie goal is 1200. I am a female who weighs 216, I'm 5'5", I'm 37 yo, & I selected sedentary as my daily activity level. I plan to exercise 5 days week/30 minutes a day. Isn't 1200 calories too low to start out with considering how much weight I want to lose? (My goal weight is 135). I know that as you lose weight that your daily calories should decrease to continue loosing, but I also thought you shouldn't eat below 1200 call/day. Am I missing something or is this calorie goal accurate for me? Thanks!

    your 1200 calorie allotment does NOT include any exercise...obviously if you're exercising, you're not sedentary...you're supposed to log your exercise and you will earn extra calories to account for that activity...just make sure you make some kind of allowance for estimation error.
  • bwilliams66
    bwilliams66 Posts: 2 Member
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    When MFP says "sedentary" that's what they mean- no movement - and most people aren't completely sedentary. One thing that motivated me was getting a fitbit-even on days when all I do is walk 5k steps, I still get extra calories from the fitbit adjustment- and 5k steps really isn't much at all - I broke my foot in February, and really couldn't do much, but every little bit helped. Also, use the mapmyride, mapmywalk or mapmyhike apps- they work pretty well and help to track calories burned, and you can input the information or sync it automatically.
  • jennyonthespot
    jennyonthespot Posts: 98 Member
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    No!! I pulled up an online calculator. http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

    Your BMR is 1,666. If you literally did nothing but stay in bed all day, that's how much you would burn. My advice is to buy yourself a cheap food scale off Amazon, set a conservative calorie deficit, say 1,700 or so. Weigh everything. Log accurately and consistently and you will see results.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    bwilliams66 wrote: »
    When MFP says "sedentary" that's what they mean- no movement - and most people aren't completely sedentary. One thing that motivated me was getting a fitbit-even on days when all I do is walk 5k steps, I still get extra calories from the fitbit adjustment- and 5k steps really isn't much at all - I broke my foot in February, and really couldn't do much, but every little bit helped. Also, use the mapmyride, mapmywalk or mapmyhike apps- they work pretty well and help to track calories burned, and you can input the information or sync it automatically.

    Sedentary isn't zero steps (that's BMR).

    http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
    edited July 2015
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    bwilliams66 wrote: »
    When MFP says "sedentary" that's what they mean- no movement - and most people aren't completely sedentary. One thing that motivated me was getting a fitbit-even on days when all I do is walk 5k steps, I still get extra calories from the fitbit adjustment- and 5k steps really isn't much at all - I broke my foot in February, and really couldn't do much, but every little bit helped. Also, use the mapmyride, mapmywalk or mapmyhike apps- they work pretty well and help to track calories burned, and you can input the information or sync it automatically.

    Sedentary isn't zero steps (that's BMR).

    http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/

    ^^ This is what I thought LOL.

    The example MFP gives for sedentary is if you have a desk job. It doesn't say "if you lay in bed all day".

    I choose sedentary because my job has me sitting on my butt all day unless I get up to go to the bathroom or get food or drink.

    I bought a Fitbit to give me an idea of how much I move every day and I try to hit 10K in steps every day now. I still keep my option as sedentary because it's my lifestyle. The extra movement is a conscience effort. I eat back about half of my exercise calories earned by what Fitbit logs for me in exercise.
    I think you choose the other options if you have a lifestyle which keeps you at the movement level. If I was a nurse I would naturally have to walk more I think so that would be my lifestyle.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
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    I've been able to lose 24 lbs. over the last 8 months (started at 198) and the only reason I think I've been able to stick with this is that I've been careful to avoid feeling deprived and hungry. At first, I used the TDEE method because I found the daily ups and downs of calories with exercise too confusing and it was hard enough to shoot for a static number so I figured it out and was shocked and amazed I coud eat 1800 calories with 3-4 days of exercise a week and lose about 1 lb. a week for several months. That was an epiphany to me. Every "diet" I've ever been on told me to start at 1200 calories and I could only do that for a few weeks and then I would just give up.

    Yes, I've had to adjust my plan as I've lost weight and am back to using the MFP method (now that I have a good sense of what I actually burn and am a fairly regular exerciser) but I know I wouldn't have stuck with it this long if I had started with low calories from the beginning or had to do crazy amounts of exercise.

    You can do this. And there's nothing wrong with slow and steady. I love how I feel right now and I know I can keep going as long as it takes to get all the extra weight off. To me that's more important than getting to my goal in a hurry. If you check out the maintenance forum you'll see that this journey doesn't end with getting to your goal weight so why not enjoy the journey as much as possible?
  • jennyonthespot
    jennyonthespot Posts: 98 Member
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    RenaTX wrote: »
    TeaBea wrote: »
    bwilliams66 wrote: »
    When MFP says "sedentary" that's what they mean- no movement - and most people aren't completely sedentary. One thing that motivated me was getting a fitbit-even on days when all I do is walk 5k steps, I still get extra calories from the fitbit adjustment- and 5k steps really isn't much at all - I broke my foot in February, and really couldn't do much, but every little bit helped. Also, use the mapmyride, mapmywalk or mapmyhike apps- they work pretty well and help to track calories burned, and you can input the information or sync it automatically.

    Sedentary isn't zero steps (that's BMR).

    http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/

    ^^ This is what I thought LOL.
    The example MFP gives for sedentary is if you have a desk job. It doesn't say "if you lay in bed all day".

    BMR is the amount of calories your body uses for basic functions. Even if you're sedentary, I hope you do more than just digest food and pump blood. :-)
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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    Oh a few good posts to read if you have the time. They really help.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    mewilliams11 wrote: »
    I just started MFP today & when I entered in all my info, it said that my daily calorie goal is 1200. I am a female who weighs 216, I'm 5'5", I'm 37 yo, & I selected sedentary as my daily activity level. I plan to exercise 5 days week/30 minutes a day. Isn't 1200 calories too low to start out with considering how much weight I want to lose? (My goal weight is 135). I know that as you lose weight that your daily calories should decrease to continue loosing, but I also thought you shouldn't eat below 1200 call/day. Am I missing something or is this calorie goal accurate for me? Thanks!

    You can try 1200 for a little bit and if you don't feel like it is sustainable for you then you can adjust your weekly weight loss goal for more calories. I'm a 5'5 35 year old female who weighs 190 and I get 1460 calories to lose 1 pound a week. My activity is set to sedentary as well. I would rather have more calories with a slower rate of loss because it is easier for me to stick to.
  • kathy9083
    kathy9083 Posts: 27 Member
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    When I initially started my diet, I ate only 1200 calories a day and exercised 5-6 times a week for 60 mins (+ 30 mins of weight training 3 times a week). I found that eating that amount of calories was way too low for me (5'5 female, 219 pounds). I'm now eating around 1500 calories every day and I feel like I have so much more energy than I did when I was eating only 1200. So the answer is no, you don't have to eat only 1200 calories to lose weight.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Here are some more good links, when you have time. I remember being really confused by all the acronyms people throw around and it's really useful to understand them.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

    Maybe someone already linked this TDEE calculator, but here's the one I use:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    An awesome success story that helped me change the way I thought about losing weight:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1454303/2-years-of-maintenance-130-pounds-lost/p1

    Good luck!



  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I'm 37, 5'5", 133-135 pounds, and I ate between 1650 and 1800 to lose 80 pounds.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    jennyonthespot wrote: »
    No!! I pulled up an online calculator. http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

    Your BMR is 1,666.

    No, it's not.

    You cannot use online calculators naively like that for obese people - you will get wildly inflated BMR numbers.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    mewilliams11 wrote: »
    I just started MFP today & when I entered in all my info, it said that my daily calorie goal is 1200. I am a female who weighs 216, I'm 5'5", I'm 37 yo, & I selected sedentary as my daily activity level. I plan to exercise 5 days week/30 minutes a day. Isn't 1200 calories too low to start out with considering how much weight I want to lose? (My goal weight is 135).

    So you need to lose 81 lbs or 283,500 calories from your fat reserves. At your level of obesity your intake can initially be as low as is healthy and you can stick to, so 1200 is as good a number as any.

    https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html says :-
    8w6265i22zoy.png
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Lots of information getting thrown at you here. Stick with the links - they are all good ones, take the time to read them. Here's one more, read the first post in this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    yarwell wrote: »
    mewilliams11 wrote: »
    I just started MFP today & when I entered in all my info, it said that my daily calorie goal is 1200. I am a female who weighs 216, I'm 5'5", I'm 37 yo, & I selected sedentary as my daily activity level. I plan to exercise 5 days week/30 minutes a day. Isn't 1200 calories too low to start out with considering how much weight I want to lose? (My goal weight is 135).

    So you need to lose 81 lbs or 283,500 calories from your fat reserves. At your level of obesity your intake can initially be as low as is healthy and you can stick to, so 1200 is as good a number as any.

    https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html says :-
    8w6265i22zoy.png

    I used the same calculator but added in her exercise and got 1480 and 2050 for maintenance.

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