Is mfp putting my calories too low?

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snailwhale91
snailwhale91 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'3 and weight 204. I am trying to lose weight and mfp put my calories at 1200. Other calculators are saying between 1500-1600. I heard that eating too few calories can keep you from losing weight. I try to do some kind of 20 minute HIIT (I'll admit sloppily because I have no coordination) workout once a day and either walk a mile with my kids or on the treadmill a day.

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  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
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    You will definitely lose on 1600 calories, even without exercise. The other calculators may be taking your activity into account, while MFP expects you to add your exercise to your diary and will give you more calories based on that.
  • debsdoingthis
    debsdoingthis Posts: 454 Member
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    How many pounds lost per week did you enter and at which activity level?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    MFP doesn't include any exercise in your calorie target...other calculators do. With MFP, you log exercise after the fact and earn calories to "eat back".

  • debsdoingthis
    debsdoingthis Posts: 454 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I am 5'3 and weight 204. I am trying to lose weight and mfp put my calories at 1200. Other calculators are saying between 1500-1600. I heard that eating too few calories can keep you from losing weight. I try to do some kind of 20 minute HIIT (I'll admit sloppily because I have no coordination) workout once a day and either walk a mile with my kids or on the treadmill a day.
    Not true, but eating to few calories may cause you to be miserable, not nutritionally balanced, and give up easily

  • snailwhale91
    snailwhale91 Posts: 16 Member
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    I guess I've gotten bad advice all around from friends haha. So should I eat back my earned calories? I put it as 2 pounds per week.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I guess I've gotten bad advice all around from friends haha. So should I eat back my earned calories? I put it as 2 pounds per week.
    Yes, MFP is designed so that you eat back your exercise calories. (Most people tend to eat back 50-75% of them, because MFP can estimate burns on the high side).

  • snailwhale91
    snailwhale91 Posts: 16 Member
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    I also have the garmin vivo linked to my fitness pal
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    If you put your goal too aggressively, yes it will give you a base of 1200. Remember, that's a base and you will be earning more through exercise.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I guess I've gotten bad advice all around from friends haha. So should I eat back my earned calories? I put it as 2 pounds per week.

    Two separate issues here.

    1. You can start at a goal of 2 # per week and if that makes you miserable, drop it down to a deficit you can live with.

    2. Re eating back earned exercise calories, the consensus is that burns are often overestimated, so it is safer to just eat back 50% of them.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I guess I've gotten bad advice all around from friends haha. So should I eat back my earned calories? I put it as 2 pounds per week.

    you should be accounting for exercise activity somewhere...like I said...MFP doesn't consider it in your activity level and thus there is no estimate of the calories required to fuel that activity in your targets...other calculators include exercise and thus your targets are higher.

    the difficulty with MFP's method is that it is difficult to estimate calories burned accurately...couple that with people's propensity to underestimate what they're actually eating, and people really screw themselves pretty good. If you use MFP's method you' are supposed to eat back exercise calories...that's how you account for that activity...but you should have an allowance for estimation error built in.

    personally i find it a lot easier to just include my exercise in my activity level and include the calories in my targets to begin with. neither way is perfect, but people really tend to grossly overestimate their exercise burns around here.
  • snailwhale91
    snailwhale91 Posts: 16 Member
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    Thank you everyone! I am bipolar and I was obsessing over these calories. Without this I will binge beyond belief.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I heard that eating too few calories can keep you from losing weight.

    No, it can't.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    AliceDark wrote: »
    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    I guess I've gotten bad advice all around from friends haha. So should I eat back my earned calories? I put it as 2 pounds per week.
    Yes, MFP is designed so that you eat back your exercise calories. (Most people tend to eat back 50-75% of them, because MFP can estimate burns on the high side).

    This. And as others have said, that's why the difference.

    You can do 1200+exercise or 1500-1600 without eating back exercise and it should come to about the same thing. It's just whether you prefer a changing goal and eating more when you exercise or not.

    I was around your size when I started and did 1250+exercise, and now I much prefer eating a stable target (1700 currently) that factors in exercise.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    snailwhale91 wrote: »
    Thank you everyone! I am bipolar and I was obsessing over these calories. Without this I will binge beyond belief.
    Try not to worry so much about getting everything set perfectly right in the beginning, because everyone adjusts their goals as the go (as they see how their body responds). For now, eat your base 1200 calories and 50-75% of your exercise calories, and see how you feel for 4-6 weeks. If 1200 is too low (if it triggers bingeing or the desire to binge), add 100-200 calories to your base and see how that works. Being able to stay at a moderate deficit over time is MUCH more important than anything else.

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