Is losing weight on 1800 calories a day realistic?
imarie3
Posts: 10 Member
I am currently 214 and find that I can't seem to feel like 1500 calories is enough food..I am active each day but don't formally exercise but I am hoping once I lose around 20 pounds I will feel comfortable enough to get back into the gym. Is it realistic to drop about a pound a week on 1800 calories.... and any success stories would be fantastic!
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Replies
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Probably not a pound a week, but it depends on age, height, what "active" really means.0
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I couldn't. Your results may vary.0
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Assuming you're around 5'6" with a lightly active lifestyle, your TDEE is around 2000 calories per day. If you eat 1800 calories per day, you'll be creating a 1400 weekly deficit. One pound of fat is equal to about 3500 calories, which means you will lose (on average) 0.4 pounds per week. This is also assuming that you're completely accurate with what you eat -I'm shooting for a loss of about a half pound per week (250 daily deficit), and it's very easy to wipe out that deficit if I am not logging accurately.0
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I've lost most of my weight on 1800 a day. But it's SLOW. And I can't measure how much per week it is, because often it isn't any per week. Then a pound disappears.
I didn't have too much to lose. I'm 5'8".0 -
I'm also 5'8" but I tend to eat closer to 1500 calories per day, with some days being higher and other days being lower. I was losing 2 lbs per week until I got to a normal BMI, I have recently been eating closer to 1800 and have had my weight slow to about 1 lb per week.
You can lose on 1800 per day but 1500 per day would cause faster weight loss. Perhaps give yourself a window, some days are up to 1900 and others can go as low as 1400, then eat to how you feel.0 -
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I am currently 214 and find that I can't seem to feel like 1500 calories is enough food..I am active each day but don't formally exercise but I am hoping once I lose around 20 pounds I will feel comfortable enough to get back into the gym. Is it realistic to drop about a pound a week on 1800 calories.... and any success stories would be fantastic!
That would completely depend on your TDEE. For example, a 6'2 male would easily lose on that, as would a 5'8 250 lb woman, but a 5'2 150 lb woman would gain on that.
Best suggestion is to run your numbers through MFP's calculator. Home > goals > guided setup. Please note that MFP does not include exercise when calculating activity level.0 -
Everyone varies but it should be more than ideal. Think 1700-1900 would be best.0
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[/quote]That would completely depend on your TDEE. For example, a 6'2 male would easily lose on that, as would a 5'8 250 lb woman, but a 5'2 150 lb woman would gain on that.
Best suggestion is to run your numbers through MFP's calculator. Home > goals > guided setup. Please note that MFP does not include exercise when calculating activity level.[/quote]
Blankiefinder is correct. If you want to eat at 1800 calories, you need to offset with expendature. Exercising doesn't have to be grueling. However, low impact exercising doesn't burn much. You can eat back your worked off calories if you choose. Also, better food choices are less calories. You can get plenty full on lots of veggies and lean meats.
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With your body weight of of 214, depending on your height you could lose for awhile at 1800. But once you drop below 200 lbs it would be doubtful unless you are unusually tall or add some real calorie burning aerobic activity like long walks, running, biking or swimming.0
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It would really depend.
Without knowing your stats it's really hard to guess if it would even be feasible for you.
My average total intake usually falls around that (not NET; my NET is a lot lower than that), but I've had to increase my activity as I've lost weight to keep it there. It doesn't equal an average of 1 lb per week anymore though. Well okay, if I keep to the lower end of my average range (1750-1900) I can lose about a 1lb per week on average. I have a hard time doing that recently (1900-2100) and it's been equal to about a 0.5 lb per week on average. This however is coming from someone who lifts 3 x a week (ICF 5x5) and run/walks 2-3 x a week. I also aim for 12k steps per day at least and will occasionally throw in a workout dvd at home. I'm 5'4.5" and this morning the scale read 126.5 lbs (with my trend being 127.5 lbs). I'm actually expecting to gain a bit of water weight on the scale within the next week or so as I ease myself back into my workout routine (spent most of September recovering from bronchitis).0 -
I am currently 214 and find that I can't seem to feel like 1500 calories is enough food..I am active each day but don't formally exercise but I am hoping once I lose around 20 pounds I will feel comfortable enough to get back into the gym. Is it realistic to drop about a pound a week on 1800 calories.... and any success stories would be fantastic!
No one can really answer that question, because we know nothing about you. In order to just make an educated guess you would have to provide at least basic information.
I could tell you that " no, you will gain a lot " based on my experience, but that would be inaccurate, because I am almost 25 years older than you and under 4' 11" tall. My maintenance calories are only 1439.
Others would almost starve all day on 1800 calories and probably lose nicely because they are tall, heavy and maybe very active . You need to run your numbers through different calculators, share them with people ( if you want to ) here and then you can get more accurate info.
Good Luck !
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depends on your TDEE (which will factor in your height, age, weight & physical activity), but probably yes.. you could probably just do some light walking to help things along?0
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At 45, I'd say it really depends on your height and your activity.
I'm 37, 5'5" and ate 1650-1800 to lose, that was with an average of 45 minutes of exercise a day (I guess I was 34-35 when I was losing).0 -
I started at 215 lbs at 5'5 and ate around 1500 calories a day. 10 months later and nearly 40 lbs down and I'm still eating around 1500 a day, sometimes less and sometimes more. I lost about a 1 lb a week but now I'm slowly starting to peak off so I may have to adjust my intake.0
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This is all great advice thank you! I am 5'4 but I think I will try my best to stick between 1500-1800 and start to incorporate more exercise. I am on my feet for most of the day working and taking care of my family as well. It is an adjustment to eating appropriate amounts and logging food ...
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This is all great advice thank you! I am 5'4 but I think I will try my best to stick between 1500-1800 and start to incorporate more exercise. I am on my feet for most of the day working and taking care of my family as well. It is an adjustment to eating appropriate amounts and logging food ...
You are so right. Give it time, trial, error - but don't quit!! And don't be in a rush. You'll see success.
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I am currently 214 and find that I can't seem to feel like 1500 calories is enough food..I am active each day but don't formally exercise but I am hoping once I lose around 20 pounds I will feel comfortable enough to get back into the gym. Is it realistic to drop about a pound a week on 1800 calories.... and any success stories would be fantastic!
Ya, I'm almost 5'7" and am supposed to eat around 1500 calories before exercise but that's not enough for me either, so I exercise. I don't currently have a gym membership either so I hike, walk, garden, and do yoga. When it was warmer, I swam.
I understand feeling self-conscious at the gym, but really, everyone is focusing on themselves and no one will care about you.
However, you could join a women-only gym like Curves if that makes you more comfortable, or a place like Planet Fitness, whose business model is based around attracting people not comfortable going to gyms.0 -
It totally depends. I'm losing on 2200 per day. But I'm male, 6'4" and started in the mid 400s and presently in mid 300s and walking 3 miles 3-4 days per week.0
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This is all great advice thank you! I am 5'4 but I think I will try my best to stick between 1500-1800 and start to incorporate more exercise. I am on my feet for most of the day working and taking care of my family as well. It is an adjustment to eating appropriate amounts and logging food ...
Good plan. Additionally, get a food scale.-1 -
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You'd have to be very rigid to see losses at 1800/d given your stats. Absolutely no extras and no exceptions.
1800/ day might be a good maintenance level for you if your goal is 130s. It'll take a very long time to reach that goal, though. Christmas dinner alone will probably halt your progress for 7-12 days.
Osric0 -
If you want to continue eating 1800 cals id say bump up your exercise0
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I've lost 15 pounds on 1800 a day but I'm active walking all day at work (no desk job here), and I workout 3 to 4 times a week intensely. I wouldn't of lost that without the added exercise I don't believe.0
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It really depends on what ingredients or types of foods are contained in that 1800 calories. 1800 calories of meat, vegetables, and fruit is very different from cereal, bread, and dessert. Food type is the main factor, not amount of calories.0
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It really depends on what ingredients or types of foods are contained in that 1800 calories. 1800 calories of meat, vegetables, and fruit is very different from cereal, bread, and dessert. Food type is the main factor, not amount of calories.
Whoa, you do realize you're on a calorie counting website, right?
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For weight loss they're 99% identical. I say 99% because with a low enough amount of protein, a person will end up with muscle loss, and losing one pound of muscle provides less energy than losing one pound of fat.It really depends on what ingredients or types of foods are contained in that 1800 calories. 1800 calories of meat, vegetables, and fruit is very different from cereal, bread, and dessert. Food type is the main factor, not amount of calories.
Otherwise, for weight loss, calories is all that matters. Health can be a bit different.0 -
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So it all comes down to what you burn versus what you take in. Calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate), then times it by your activity factor (based on your activity level). Or you can simply calculate your EER (estimated energy requirement). Your energy balance for a week is calories in minus your EER minus calories burned in exercise. To burn a pound a week, that needs to be -3500 calories. That's equal to 500 calories per day which is totally doable!! So I'm 165 pounds, my BMR is about 1500. My EER is about 1800, then my commute (1.5 mile walk each way) burns about 400 calories per day. So if I ate 1i00 calories a day as you are inquiring about, MY daily balance would be 1800-1800-400=-400. That would make ME burn almost one pound a week. Since you are larger, your EER would be more than mine. So with a little physical activity, totally possible! Do not starve yourself, if 1500 isn't enough for you, then you should increase.0
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