MFP Daily Caloric Goal or BMR??

quichebradford
quichebradford Posts: 327 Member
edited 7:30AM in Health and Weight Loss
After reading a friend's post, I went online to do some research to see if I was taking in the right amount of calories. I did think that 1200 was a bit low and I couldn't really understand why I've been working out 5 to 6 days a week (30-60 minutes of cardio) with only a few ounces of weightloss. It didn't occur to me that I was "starving" my body since I was following the goal MFY set. All of the sites I've checked indicate I should be getting between 1800 & 1900 calories a day to meet my goal of 1 1/2 pound weight loss a week. I want to try and see if this works, but I'm a bit hesitant. Any thoughts on this?

Replies

  • gtm124
    gtm124 Posts: 179
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    After reading a friend's post, I went online to do some research to see if I was taking in the right amount of calories. I did think that 1200 was a bit low and I couldn't really understand why I've been working out 5 to 6 days a week (30-60 minutes of cardio) with only a few ounces of weightloss. It didn't occur to me that I was "starving" my body since I was following the goal MFY set. All of the sites I've checked indicate I should be getting between 1800 & 1900 calories a day to meet my goal of 1 1/2 pound weight loss a week. I want to try and see if this works, but I'm a bit hesitant. Any thoughts on this?

    That may be so but MFP gives you the 1200 and tells you to eat back the calories you burn. So if you burn 600 calories, MFP will tell you to eat 1800 (1200+600) the other sites give you a calories goal including what you estimate you will burn. MFP does it better, as you will lose your goal amount of weight if you exercise or not, just eat what it tells you to (more on days you workout) If you think MFP goal is too small change the goal to 1 lb/week, this will give you an additional 250 calories/day, but you are still supposed to eat back what you burn.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    IF you're eating well, working out and NOT losing -- then it is time to change something. I always tell people who are VERY low calorie wise to try raising them. Do it for 2 weeks and see if it helps. I will say that I wasn't losing weight and I upp'ed my calories - had a 4-5lb weight loss within a week of raising it.
  • sjkcarter
    sjkcarter Posts: 417 Member
    I've lost about 2 pounds a week since i've been on here. Except for the week I had a long weekend over memorial day. But I make sure I eat most of my calories back from excercising.
  • jmuzzio7
    jmuzzio7 Posts: 28 Member
    For me, I had been really watching what I was eating---limiting carbs and exercising regularly for a month before I started MFP. I lost 3 pounds in that month. The first day I started on here, I found out that I was eating too few calories. I was at a net 700 calories for the day and MFP told me my body was in starvation mode (and here I thought I was doing great). So, I listened and upped my calories and I lost 3.5 pounds the next week. So, now I'm a believer that we need to eat at least 1,200 a day to loose weight the healthy way.
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