The Calorie Confusion Game - Advice Needed

HeyGrlHey · May 2011

Hey MFP,
Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

I have a few questions regarding calorie in-take.

How do the websites calculate how many calories you need to eat in one day?
On MFP it says that I should eat 1200 calories a day if I want to lose a pound a week.
How many calories do I need to eat if I want to lose a pound a day?

I have been working on portion control and exercising daily (jogging/walking two to three miles per day plus yard work). On average I eat about 800 - 900 calories. I have been losing one pound a day but I read somewhere that this can lead to muscle deterioration...is this true?

if so, how can I still lose a pound a day while increasing my calorie in-take to 1200cal? Just exercise longer/harder?

Thank you! My goal is to eat healthy and stay healthy...and try to fit (look good) into a bikini before my 21st birthday

M.

GLJezebel · May 2011

IMO it's not healthy or realistic to lose a pound a day. You shouldn't go under 1200 calories a day. Exercising away everything you eat is defeating the purpose of getting fit and healthy.

erickirb · May 2011

It is not recommend that you eat less than 1200 net, as your body requires fuel to function. so you should eat 1200 and eat back the calories you burn at the gym. losing more than 1 lb/week is only safe if you have a lot to lose (more than 50 lbs) if you want to lose more than 1.5 you should have more than 75lbs to lose and for 2 lbs/week 100lbs to lose. since you are not neat that you should aim for 1 lb/week.

If you wanted to lose a pound/day and your maintenance caloric intake is say 2000 you would need to eat negative 1500 caloires/day to lose a pound per day. In other words, you would have to eat nothing, and burn 1500 from exercise to mathematically lose 1 lb/day. Or if you eat 1200 you would have to burn off 4700/day from exercise to lose 1 lb/day. neither of these are healthy at all and not sustainable. Eat the full 1200 MFP suggest, slow and steady wins the race. The slower you lose weight the more likely you are to keep it off and you will lose less muscle as you lose weight the slower you lose it.

stuffinmuffin · May 2011

You need to eat at least 1200 calories and by the sounds of the amount of exercise you are doing, you also need to eat some of those calories back too.

It is not healthy to lose 1lb a day and crash diets are unsustainable and unhealthy. Aim for a 1lb a week, the results you want will come.

igora_soma · May 2011

Maybe focus a little less on the number on the scale? You will see differences that your scale might not always reflect. Keeping working hard, but make sure you fuel your body with good food!

WifeMomDVM · May 2011

Whew lots of questions... I can see why you are so confused.

I'm sure other will beat me to it by the time I finish this response but A POUND A DAY IS TOO FAST. Especially if you want to be healthy (which you say you did).

It took a long time to get overweight, it will take a long time to get an ultra healthy body again - but you can do it - but do it right, so you won't fail.

Yes, eat 1200 calories a day - and divide it into at least 4 meals per day (six is better) this will help prevent your metabolism from slowing down.

If you exercise - you need to eat 1200 calories, PLUS the calories you burn exercising. Why you ask? Because at 1200 calories you are already going to have a safe weight loss calorie deficit, if you add more calories to that deficit you may begin unsafe weight loss - and losing things like lean mass like you said.

To save me some time - check out this GREAT thread another user posted about two women - one who lost only fat and one who lost fat and lean mass:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/187973-an-email-response-that-might-help-some?page=1#posts-2493477

Take a look - worth the read and will hopefully answer many of your questions.

I understand having a goal by say your 21st birthday, but don't rush - you will likely put too high of an expectation on yourself and then risk crashing and burning (and binge eating and emotionally beating yourself up over your perceived "failure").

Take it slow - eat clean, don't go crazy with the cardio - just a mere 20 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) can give you alot of bang for your buck so to speak. Google it if you are not familiar with it.

Need a way to change your diet to eat clean? Start here:

http://www.extremely-fit.com/fitness-tips/2011/01/8week-transition-diet/

I'm also a big advocate of strength training with heavy weights 3x a week - a fantastic read and great plan to follow is found in Lou Schuler's book, "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" ($10 on Amazon).

Drink lots of water. If you follow a clean eating plan with a healthy amount of calories - weight train 45 minutes 3x a week and do cardio for 20 min 3x a week - then YOU will be successful and likely will stick with it for life.

It's a lifestyle change - always read and educate yourself on how to do better and stay motivated - but just take it one day at a time.

Welcome to MFP and add me as a friend if you'd like (or anyone else for that matter).

cruiseking · May 2011

A pound a day? Easy, eat 1200 calories and run 12 miles a day, then when you get closer to your ideal weight, up it to a 20 mile run per day to lose that one pound a day. There is no magic bullet; calories in, minus calories burned, equals weight lost. 3500 calories equals about a pound of fat. give or take. Then factor in your base metabolic rate, which will lower as you lose weight. Which means as you lose weight, you have to work harder.

apapandrea · May 2011

Losing 1lb a day is, as everyone has pointed out, unhealthy and not maintainable. The 1lb a week calculates a slow and steady loss that will prevent your metabolism from slowing and also help you to not starve yourself and end up binging.
If you are eating below 1200 calories a day this will work for a little while, but in the end your metabolism will slow- your body is trying to preserve all the calories it takes in, so if you return to even a 1200 calorie regime after continuously eating only 800-900 a day then your body will automatically store your calories, as opposed to using them. Your body is in survival mode at that point and you will have to work very hard (including gaining weight) in order to return your metabolism to an elevated state. The link below is a somewhat harsh but very interesting article on weight loss, training, and calorie cutting.
http://figureathlete.t-nation.com/free_online_article/training/4_things_your_girlfriend_should_know

TourThePast · May 2011

How do the websites calculate how many calories you need to eat in one day?

No idea how "the" websites do it, but this one does it by calculating your likely BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate = how much your body would need if you were in a coma) and adding a certain percentage based on your normal activity level to give your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

Your TDEE is what you'd need to eat to stay the same weight.

To lose 1lb you need to eat (over a short or long period) 3,500 calories less than you burn.

So to lose 1lb in one week you need to eat 3500 calories / 7 days = 500 calories a day less than you burn.
Similarly to lose 2lb in one week you need to eat 7000 / 7 days = 1000 calories a day less than you burn.

So if your BMR is 1500 and your TDEE is 2000, to lose one pound in a week the site will tell you to eat 1500 calories a day.

Because for a normal person (ie not somebody like me who is stupidly short) it's necessary to eat 1200 a day to stand a chance of getting a reasonable level of nutrition, the site is set up so it will never tell anyone to eat less than 1200 a day.

How many calories do I need to eat if I want to lose a pound a day?

Probably about five. Even with the yard work you're doing, you are at risk of losing muscle, it's really not worth it, because it would make it even harder to lose weight later on, because every pound of muscle burns about 50 calories a day even if you're not doing anything.

Sound like a good idea? Thought not.

if so, how can I still lose a pound a day while increasing my calorie in-take to 1200cal? Just exercise longer/harder?

In theory yes. However you really don't want to end up with a calorie deficit of more than about 1000 a day (2lb a week) if being healthy is your goal.

My goal is to eat healthy and stay healthy...and try to fit (look good) into a bikini before my 21st birthday

Be patient and you'll be far more likely to stick with this - AND be healthy.

The Calorie Confusion Game - Advice Needed

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