Calorie deficit

deannaelaine1993
deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm 5"1 119lbs. In order to maintain my weight my calorie intake is just over 1,400. MFP has my calories at 1,200 which is only 200 less than to maintain. Should I just eat only 900 a day? Or eat 1,200 and exercise and not eat back what I burn? I wanted to lose the 6lbs I've gained before I start working out so I could better track muscle gain but 900 a day just doesn't seem possible for me

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited March 2016
    Where did you come up with a 1,400 TDEE? 1400 sounds more like a BMR (calories used if you stayed in bed all day).

    This calculator shows 1,602 as your TDEE (based on 25 years old). Younger = higher, older = lower.

    1200 calories leaves you with a 400 calorie deficit. 400x7 = 2,800 or about .8 pounds per week. Pretty reasonable.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    There will be almost no muscle gain on a calorie deficit. The bigger the cut, the more chance for muscle LOSS.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    No you should not eat 900 calories per day. At your height and weight, you should only be aiming for half a pound per week of weight loss, maximum of a pound since that's a bit less than 1% of your bodyweight, but that's being really aggressive. 1400 sounds like a really low TDEE and doesn't make sense. Everything @TeaBea said is spot on.
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    You should eat the 1200 and eat back a portion of your earned exercise calories. Because you have so little to lose, it's going to take awhile. You should definitely not decrease your intake to less than 1200 per day.
  • deannaelaine1993
    deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    Where did you come up with a 1,400 TDEE? 1400 sounds more like a BMR (calories used if you stayed in bed all day).

    This calculator shows 1,602 as your TDEE (based on 25 years old). Younger = higher, older = lower.

    1200 calories leaves you with a 400 calorie deficit. 400x7 = 2,800 or about .8 pounds per week. Pretty reasonable.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    There will be almost no muscle gain on a calorie deficit. The bigger the cut, the more chance for muscle LOSS.

    Oh geez I must have used the wrong calculator
  • christiandimitraskovic
    christiandimitraskovic Posts: 4 Member
    edited March 2016
    I wouldn't suggest eating low calorie diet, it will only negatively impact your overall goals.

    a) the metabolism slows down dramatically, body goes into starvation mode
    b) you lack the necessary macros for proper body functions, which in turn could lead to getting ill

    If I were you, I'd find your total TEE and eat 250-500 calorie bellow maintenance, you can be in deficit 10-20 % of your total calorie intake, but I do suggest you have at least 1 day where you eat at maintenance, so your body can refuel if need be.

    Just to add some facts, which can help you lose weight. 1km of walking roughly burns the same amount of calories in body weight(kilograms). Meaning that you can eat more if you move more.

    Hope this helps a bit. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, just wanted to share my insight on your goal of weight loss.

    Also, you're not that heavy at all, don't see a reason for weight loss, if anything you should rather eat in a surplus and go to the gym if you want to tighten up certain areas of your body. You're really skinny!
  • deannaelaine1993
    deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
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    This is what I based it off of. I suppose I'll take it slow!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    deannaelaine1993 wrote: »
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    This is what I based it off of. I suppose I'll take it slow!

    Okay - this is the lowest calculator I've ever seen, and there are tons of TDEE calculators out there.

    I love the "fat loss" and "extreme fat loss".......more like fat+muscle loss OR extreme fat+muscle loss.
  • christiandimitraskovic
    christiandimitraskovic Posts: 4 Member
    edited March 2016
    This seems way off, there's no way 22yo woman is only spending 1480 cals per day, perhaps if you were in coma, but I'm pretty sure it's roughly around 1700 at least~, perhaps even more, who knows, I have no idea what your diet is, how much you're active, so hard to guesstimate.
  • deannaelaine1993
    deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
    This is pretty much what I've gotten with every calculator! Am I doing something wrong? I don't know my body fat % or anything like that so I do the simple age/height/weight/activity level
  • christiandimitraskovic
    christiandimitraskovic Posts: 4 Member
    edited March 2016
    One of the ways to estimate calories consumption is by multiplying your| weight in kilograms x (30-33) > depends on activity. So, I'd say your maintenance calories are roughly 1620- 1780 ~ it's not exactly perfect, everyone's different, but you need to start somewhere, for example, I know my calorie maintenance is roughly 2150~ because I keep track of my calorie consumption, and like they say, practice makes perfect. You need time to understand your body fully, as is the case with most things.
  • StacyChrz
    StacyChrz Posts: 865 Member
    murp4069 wrote: »
    You should eat the 1200 and eat back a portion of your earned exercise calories. Because you have so little to lose, it's going to take awhile. You should definitely not decrease your intake to less than 1200 per day.

    I agree.
  • deannaelaine1993
    deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
    Well I know what I'm doing now (eating over 1,400) is causing weight gain. Increased appetite thanks to birth control. So I suppose I'll go by what you guys have been telling me and see what happens. I was 93lbs prior to my son (no I didn't have an eating disorder) so this is all new to me!
  • tiffkittyw
    tiffkittyw Posts: 366 Member
    I think maybe you entered in the wrong activity level? I entered 5'4" 38 years old 127 lbs and exercise daily for 30 minutes and it gave me about the same TDEE as my Fitbit (except my Fitbit is set to 5'3"). qban7e2liboz.png
  • deannaelaine1993
    deannaelaine1993 Posts: 65 Member
    I put in little to no exercise which is pretty true in these cold months. I think maybe the problem is I'm in a healthy weight range just on the higher end of it and I'd like to be on the lower end of it. I don't know if that makes sense but it's the only thing I can figure

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