2390 to lose 2lbs/week seems WAY too high...imo

I eat what MFP tells me and I am losing the expected 1lb per week I set as my realistic and sustainable goal. I eat a portion of my exercise calories too. Because science.

You undereat for a make, let alone a male your size even with losing weight, you've been told this numerous times but you'll still ignore it because you know better.

What you've said is, your doctors have told you to keep doing what you're doing. You have never clarified whether you have disclosed to them that what you are doing is undereating for extended and therefore dangerous periods of time.

I bring this up because I don't want other people to come here, read this and think that 1200 calories per day for a male of any size is a good idea.

Just curious - what professionals? Were these nutritionists, dietitians, or general health care providers.

1200 is extremely low - too low for a 27 year old male. You need to protect your existing muscle mass, so ensure you eat enough protein as you lose. Keep some lean meat on hand or other good sources of protein around.

I drink a log - just becomes a habit: log beer into Untappd, log beer into MFP, drink, repeat...

danieltsmoke wrote: »

Just doing what two professionals told me is fine for me..if you doubt that's ok too..but 2400 cals to lose two pounds just seems insane to me.

Um, you asked our opinion. Some of us gave you one. It just happened to be not yours.

If 2400 to lose 2lbs a week seems insane, imagine what you were eating to get the point of having to lose the weight. That's what's always boggled my mind. I lost 50lbs using the CICO philosophy years ago, eating 1500 calories to lose. It's hard for me to fathom I was eating that much more while I was heavy. MFP works if you listen to it.

My advice is to try what it says for a month...what do you have to lose? A month? Big deal.

danieltsmoke wrote: »

Just doing what two professionals told me is fine for me..if you doubt that's ok too..but 2400 cals to lose two pounds just seems insane to me.

Why, exactly?

girlviernes wrote: »

I'm a professional... 1200 is not OK unless you are being actively supervised and guided by a weight specialist (aka physician or dietitian). Eat more food.

And it is obvious from the diary you posted that you aren't following a medically directed VLCD (very low calorie diet).

Seriously, follow MFPs guidelines, track your weight for one month, then look at the last 2 weeks of the month to get a sense of your rate of loss. At that point if you aren't losing the 2 lbs/week you can make adjustments.

danieltsmoke wrote: »

healthygreek wrote: »

OP simply strikes me as another attention seeking eating way too little know it all on MFP.
I truly hope not too many people try to emulate him.

Lol how is this attention? Words typed in to this fairly obscure forum hardly seem like attention. If I could start a conversation without a name being attached I would, but I'm certainly not going to make multiple accounts..(is anonymous posting a thing, btw?)
But I am trying to get a conversation going, I know a lot of people here are MFP die hards, but I like to play devils advocate as its important for a healthy debate.

A conversation about what? A debate about what?

danieltsmoke wrote: »

But I am trying to get a conversation going, I know a lot of people here are MFP die hards, but I like to play devils advocate as its important for a healthy debate.

What do you want us to debate? MFP has set you healthy weight loss goals based on your stats, but you choose not to follow it.

It is Friday and OP has people taking d-e-b-a-i-t.

Daniel, it's just math. It's nothing personal.

MFP estimates based on the information you've given it that your average TDEE is 3390. This is just a guess; it could be wrong. Since you have a higher than average BF%, this number may be a little inflated. So let's say your actual factual average TDEE is 3100. Science and math tells us that were you to eat on average 2100 every day, you would have something around a 7000 per week calorie deficit.

All it really means is if you consume less than 3100 on average every single day, you will lose weight (until your TDEE drops below 3100 due to weight loss...). You keep complaining about not being able to fit in mashed potatoes or what-not into your diet because you're sticking to 1200 calories. True, as an obese person you might not suffer long term effects from eating 2000 calories below your TDEE. I PERSONALLY find that high of a deficit counterproductive as it leads to decreased performance, binges, bad mood, and cutting out the foods I love.

It is YOUR CHOICE to eat 1200. If you were my husband, brother or someone I loved, I PERSONALLY would urge you to shoot for more like 1800 (if you didn't have immediate medical emergency reasons to drop weight fast), since in my experience this would make my loved one a more pleasant individual to spend time with and help them establish the eating habits they'd need to sustain the weight loss long term.

Well, I maintain on 3600 so 2390 would be 1200 calorie deficit a day for me so 8400 calorie deficit a week which is over 2lbs so no, it doesn't seem insane to me at all.

The goal is too lose the weight while eating as much as possible. It'll make maintenance a lot easier. For a male your size eating 1200 calories, it is gonna be near impossible to keep that weight off when you get down to your goal weight. You'll be living on lettuce and multivitamins by that time.

danieltsmoke wrote: »

The question is could really eat everything I ate last night +400cals,and still lose 2lbs a week?? Seems a bit much

Well you need to be tracking accurately. If not, you are eating more than you think which may be why it seems like a ton of food.

You're not weighing out your food or drink so I wouldn't go all the way to your allotted amount. However, if you were to tighten up your logging and actually get to 2400 cals accurately, then yes, you could eat that much and lose 2 lbs/week. You cannot generically log 2 slices of dominoes pizza if you plan on eating up to your total allotted calories because you'd underestimate the calories (overshooting your allotment for the day). This would cause your weight loss to stall or gain lbs.

Bottom line, if you actually ate the allotted calories a day with accurate logging, then yes, you could still lose weight. If you're eyeballing your food, stick to your 1200 calories/day because it is guaranteeing that you're eating more than you think, so your probably eating closer to 1500 or 1800. Check your weight loss rate, if you're losing more than 2 lbs/week, then bump up your calories a little bit like around 200 calories (you're probably hungry at that rate of weight loss).

Eating 1200 calories a day may not kill you, but how long do you think you can really last eating that little? You'll lose more weight and more quickly without a doubt but how long will it stay off? There is something to be said for losing weight in a way that is actually sustainable.

I guess I just don't see why you bother using this app if you have no interest in listening to it, or at least following what it says for a few weeks and seeing the results, and tweaking as necessary. You don't have to eat every calorie every day, but eating half of what it recommends seems like you're not even trying.