Calorie Intake?

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stephieleee
stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
in Getting Started
Okay so I'm really confused.

I've logged into mfp for the first time in a while, and it asked me to update my goals etc. So I entered that I wanted to lose 1kg a week, and it increased my calorie goal to 1890/day.

I went back to change it to aim for 0.75kg loss a week and it's changed my recommended calorie intake back to 1390.

a. whyyy? it doesn't make sense to eat more calories to lose more weight.
b. is it just me or is 1390 calories/day quite low. I've found this goal very hard to stick to without having hunger pangs throughout the entire day.

Replies

  • stephieleee
    stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
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    Now I've changed it back to 1kg/week and it's saying 1200 D:
  • anthony150paolucci
    anthony150paolucci Posts: 85 Member
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    The calorie intake they recommend to you is dependent upon BMR x Activity Level and what rate you want to lose, gain or maintain your weight.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Try again, and make sure you have entered your weight correctly and don't change any other fields than weight loss goal. If the same things repeats, it's a bug, and you should report it.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    1390 is on the lower side for weight loss, but that is what some women have to do. I would start a bit higher than that. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.
  • chelseafxx
    chelseafxx Posts: 251 Member
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    You can set a custom calorie intake. I don't even deal with all of MFP's calculations. There's no need for you to have hunger pains. Find a calorie intake that feels good to you where you are satisfied but not totally stuffed and keep a record of your weight or measurements. Trial and error will help you learn more about your body
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
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    You have to find a way to make your plan sustainable for you to maintain it.
    Losing 1Kg per week is aggressive. Try starting with 0.25Kg/week to get used to logging and eating towards a goal. Then adjust it to the healthy and sustainable 0.5Kg/week goal and leave it there. When you get to within about 10 lbs of your goal, switch back to a 0.25Kg/week goal to give yourself and your body a chance to adjust again.
    You will be able to do this if you find your sustainable plan.
  • hadorsey
    hadorsey Posts: 1 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Also, if you are having hunger pangs, eat, but eat something good like an apple, carrots, etc. Weight Watchers doesn't even count fruits and veggies toward your daily intake and I lost 50 pounds doing WW a few years ago (before my twin pregnancy). I just don't want to pay to lose weight now that I have my twins. Fill your calories with nutrient dense food and you shouldn't be hungry. Good luck!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    hadorsey wrote: »
    Also, if you are having hunger pangs, eat, but eat something good like an apple, carrots, etc. Weight Watchers doesn't even count fruits and veggies toward your daily intake and I lost 50 pounds doing WW a few years ago (before my twin pregnancy). I just don't want to pay to lose weight now that I have my twins. Fill your calories with nutrient dense food and you shouldn't be hungry. Good luck!

    Weight Watchers doesn't count some fruits and vegetables because they give members a lower base calorie allotment to account for this. If one is following MFP's plan, the calories in fruits and vegetables still count.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,160 Member
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    @stephieleee welcome to MFP forums. As others have explained the numbers are software guessimations based on your input. Over the years I have learned too that getting the right macro figured out by trial and error is more key to losing weight and keeping it off long term than the calorie count.

    Yes the calorie count is important but if my macro does not enable me to escape all cravings then it is the wrong macro for me I have found in my case.

    Health will typically start to recover with the right macro it seems. Until health recovered at a base level all I ever did was yo yo weight wise moving me in the direction of a premature death. Drill down on the macro that works for you. It may be total opposite of someone else macro.

    Better health and longevity is not about what OTHERS are doing but on what works to bring you better health so any weight loss will naturally stay off for the rest of your life. At age 65 I can say my yo yo'ing weight over the past 40 years wrecked my health. If we would get our macros figured out early in life and tweak them along the way we should be able to sidestep many health issues resulting in premature deaths and enjoy life more fully in the meantime.

    Best of success.
  • benzieboxx
    benzieboxx Posts: 253 Member
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    hadorsey wrote: »
    Weight Watchers doesn't even count fruits and veggies toward your daily intake...

    For the first few servings. If you exceed a certain amount of servings of fruit (I forget the number, I think it's 5) then they would start accruing a point value. This is mostly because most fruits/veggies are so low calorie anyway it's not always viewed as "worth it" to track them. But if you're like me and you eat a ton of these things per day they definitely add up after a while.

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