Are 1600 calories a lot?
Replies
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Be aware too as a woman - your water weight will change - you can't really have a weight goal - will never work - except stressing you out when not at it.
Need a weight range goal.
Weight with abdomen measurement at belly button will tell if eating more is causing water weight gain, or actual fat gain, since belly is usually first place it goes on. Don't count the bloating effect of eating though.
And since your BMR literally changes through the month - you need at least a month to see what is or is not working.
The suggestion to listen to your body is fine if you have knowledge of all the ways it can fool you.
Eat a high carb snack/meal - you'll likely feel hungry very soon afterwards.
Does that mean you need to eat more?
Of course not, nothing can be based purely on that effect.
Same with finishing a certain level of exercise may leave you not hungry - but guess what your body actually needs.
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batoolnabulsi wrote: »I finally decided to maintain my weight at 121 lbs, height 5'3 ft, 19 years old, sometimes I feel like 1600 calories are not enough, many TDEE calculators gave me 1500-1600ish,but it's not enough:// like there's not enough space for food and it sucks, I don't eat junk food and I try to get my nutrition , still not satisfied. I've gone through 3 days binging this week and the week before, although I was in a deficit before the binging but I'm sure I ate all of those calories back and more, but didn't notice a difference in my weight, I don't judge from the scale because I know I'll have extra pounds from water, sodium.. Etc
I judge from my clothes and the mirror, still the same, recently I'm not active, but after a week I'll start working out again 2-3 days a week besides I'll have classes 4 days a week.
So what do you think, I need some guiding.
Hi
I use a very simple approach, some might say simplistic approach
If at 1800 calories I am losing still losing weight then I need to increase the caloric intake.
If at 1800 calories I am Gaining weight I am eating too much.
Using that approach I came to the point where 2000 calories +/- a few calories holds my weight.
FWIW I believe that Water weight changes will only occur if You have a large swing in Sodium intake for example. I also Notice that I hold water if I eat a lot of sweet calories.
Good Luck
Roger
Unfortunately if you're female then that's not the only reason for water weight!3 -
TavistockToad wrote: »batoolnabulsi wrote: »I finally decided to maintain my weight at 121 lbs, height 5'3 ft, 19 years old, sometimes I feel like 1600 calories are not enough, many TDEE calculators gave me 1500-1600ish,but it's not enough:// like there's not enough space for food and it sucks, I don't eat junk food and I try to get my nutrition , still not satisfied. I've gone through 3 days binging this week and the week before, although I was in a deficit before the binging but I'm sure I ate all of those calories back and more, but didn't notice a difference in my weight, I don't judge from the scale because I know I'll have extra pounds from water, sodium.. Etc
I judge from my clothes and the mirror, still the same, recently I'm not active, but after a week I'll start working out again 2-3 days a week besides I'll have classes 4 days a week.
So what do you think, I need some guiding.
Hi
I use a very simple approach, some might say simplistic approach
If at 1800 calories I am losing still losing weight then I need to increase the caloric intake.
If at 1800 calories I am Gaining weight I am eating too much.
Using that approach I came to the point where 2000 calories +/- a few calories holds my weight.
FWIW I believe that Water weight changes will only occur if You have a large swing in Sodium intake for example. I also Notice that I hold water if I eat a lot of sweet calories.
Good Luck
Roger
Unfortunately if you're female then that's not the only reason for water weight!
Ugh I gain 4 pounds during period because of water retention lol
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I would say 1600 is too low for a young, active person. I'm the same height and weight, but 57 years old, and use a Fitbit to monitor my activity calories. 1600 is what a person my age needs on a moderately active day; I would assume the needs for someone half my age would be considerably higher.0
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I would say 1600 is too low for a young, active person. I'm the same height and weight, but 57 years old, and use a Fitbit to monitor my activity calories. 1600 is what a person my age needs on a moderately active day; I would assume the needs for someone half my age would be considerably higher.
I thought of something like this, many MFP users who are older and the same weight eat this much or more.
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If you're really hungry then maybe it isn't enough, play around and see what works for you.
I personally have been maintaining for over a year now on 1,600 calories a day, though I live a very sedentary lifestyle! It really all depends on what you eat. If you continue eating delicious pastries and fast food burgers/fries/milkshakes yes, you will starve on 1,600 calories because they have so many calories you'll probably have next to nothing in your stomach and no real nutrients! With 1,600 calories your best friends will become veggies, leaner meats, and other low calorie substitutes! When I'm hungry and craving a milkshake, for example, the ultimate lifesaver is a protein shake blended with ice and unsweetened almond milk, maybe even a frozen banana if I have one on hand! Little changes like that will add up and help you feel full on less... Fiber and protein are my best friends when it comes to weight maintenance xD
This all being said and done, nothing is wrong with an occasional treat in moderation of course
and yes, we live in a time and age where we've been blessed with delicious low calorie alternatives to these things as well (love Halo Top ice cream and Lindasdietdelites.com as a special treat)! 0 -
If you're really hungry then maybe it isn't enough, play around and see what works for you.
I personally have been maintaining for over a year now on 1,600 calories a day, though I live a very sedentary lifestyle! It really all depends on what you eat. If you continue eating delicious pastries and fast food burgers/fries/milkshakes yes, you will starve on 1,600 calories because they have so many calories you'll probably have next to nothing in your stomach and no real nutrients! With 1,600 calories your best friends will become veggies, leaner meats, and other low calorie substitutes! When I'm hungry and craving a milkshake, for example, the ultimate lifesaver is a protein shake blended with ice and unsweetened almond milk, maybe even a frozen banana if I have one on hand! Little changes like that will add up and help you feel full on less... Fiber and protein are my best friends when it comes to weight maintenance xD
This all being said and done, nothing is wrong with an occasional treat in moderation of course and yes, we live in a time and age where we've been blessed with delicious low calorie alternatives to these things as well (love Halo Top ice cream and Lindasdietdelites.com as a special treat)!
Thanks for the answer
And today I weighed myself.. I lost 4 pounds lol1 -
I'm 57, 5'10" and well within my healthy BMI and maintain at that. So you should be eating more. AND EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES. I actually eat 500 calories or so over my alotment because I measure my steps and exercise and that gets added on.
Good luck!2 -
I'm 5'3 & I'm maintaining at 130-135 pound weight on a little over 2,000 calories. I still combine with exercise though. When I was losing weight I ate 1440-1500 a day. May need to take it up a little bit & eat more filling foods within your calorie allotment.
Hope this works for you!0 -
Where did you get that TDEE estimate from at 1600, if MFP estimated your maintenance calories at 1640? The MFP estimate would have been NEAT, which would exclude any exercise. When you did your TDEE, did you put in any planned exercise?
You said you decided to maintain this weight, does that mean you were actively losing before? What was your calorie goal set at to lose? Were you losing? At what rate?
Are you saying you do no exercise at all? You said you'd be starting again soon, what is preventing you from starting now?
For what it's worth I'm over 20 years older than you, 5'2 and maintain around 120 and my TDEE is 2200. I average 15K steps a day and do light weights, but even if I was less active, I would lose at 1600 calories, not maintain.
I think you need to recalculate better numbers for yourself, focus on getting in some exercise, even if it is walking, and don't be afraid to eat more. Maintenance is a range, and it takes time, trial and error to find the sweet spot. You could up your calories 100/week until you stop losing and then see if that level feels better for you.0 -
heleftthe99 wrote: »I just wanted to mention that how and when you eat sugar could be affecting how hungry you feel. I know for myself, if I eat a bowl of ice cream in the evening, I will not feel that well the next day and will be walking around the house looking for snacks and feeling constantly "hungry". I usually do not feel that way with the regular calorie intake I have to lose ~1 lb/week, so I know it is the sugar (usually on an empty stomach or later in the evening). It takes 1-2 days of getting rid of the high sugar stuff to feel normal and not craving all day. Hope that can help.
THIS. Sugar significantly effects the hungry/satisfied/overfull sensors in your brain. It's ok to have a little ice cream or one cookie every now and again, but truthfully it's not good for your body to have especially high fructose corn syrup and highly processed foods as part of your base diet. I'd encourage you to look for cleaner alternatives to junk food, not because you need to lose or maintain weight, but because it's better for your long-term health and wellness. You can enjoy food without it being processed or junk food. You can still get in lots of calories with cleaner foods (some types of fish and beef are higher in calories, starchy vegetables, even fruit) A few slices of pizza, some ice cream, some potato chips every now and again are ok. But it's not healthy when they are a part of your regular eating library.0 -
I put your stats in a TDEE calculator and just chose that you had a desk job with no exercise and came back with 1765 for your daily calories....but I bet you are more active...it says if you are "lightly active" (which the site classifies as 1-3 hours of weekly exercise) you should be able to eat 2000 calories... I used the scooby calculator.
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
heleftthe99 wrote: »I just wanted to mention that how and when you eat sugar could be affecting how hungry you feel. I know for myself, if I eat a bowl of ice cream in the evening, I will not feel that well the next day and will be walking around the house looking for snacks and feeling constantly "hungry". I usually do not feel that way with the regular calorie intake I have to lose ~1 lb/week, so I know it is the sugar (usually on an empty stomach or later in the evening). It takes 1-2 days of getting rid of the high sugar stuff to feel normal and not craving all day. Hope that can help.
THIS. Sugar significantly effects the hungry/satisfied/overfull sensors in your brain. It's ok to have a little ice cream or one cookie every now and again, but truthfully it's not good for your body to have especially high fructose corn syrup and highly processed foods as part of your base diet. I'd encourage you to look for cleaner alternatives to junk food, not because you need to lose or maintain weight, but because it's better for your long-term health and wellness. You can enjoy food without it being processed or junk food. You can still get in lots of calories with cleaner foods (some types of fish and beef are higher in calories, starchy vegetables, even fruit) A few slices of pizza, some ice cream, some potato chips every now and again are ok. But it's not healthy when they are a part of your regular eating library.
Disagree. Sugar doesn't affect everyone this way, it doesn't make me crave more sugar or other sweet things. And for weight loss, what matters is a calorie deficit. You can achieve that and eat clean food, junk food, pretty much any kind of food. I strive for a balance of nutrient dense foods but eat pizza, ice cream, chips on a regular basis - along with lean protein, starchy vegetables, whole grains, etc. You know, a diet of moderation... I lost the weight I set out to lose and found the transition to maintenance seamless because I didn't cut out any of the foods I loved.
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1600 cals is very little. But of course if you are sitting down all day not even going for a walk, then it may be correct that that is what you need. I have put my goal to 1500 cals(cause that's my basic metabolic rate) and then I put on top all exercise that I do, every walk I take, run, biking, dancing, anything and then I easily get to 2500-2700cals on average. I don't ever eat below 2000 so I think 1600 is very little. I would also end up binging and it is not long term possible to get enough nutrients. 1600 is classified by WHO as starvation. But get moving, just walking and daily doings get you up to have to eat at least 2000cals good luck and congrats on reaching your happy weight 0
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What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous!
I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more. 0 -
As a younger person such as you, I am not sure if that is enough. If you are working out and burning 600-800 calories an hour think about it, that's only 1000 calories worth of nutrition. JIMHO0
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batoolnabulsi wrote: »I finally decided to maintain my weight at 121 lbs, height 5'3 ft, 19 years old, sometimes I feel like 1600 calories are not enough, many TDEE calculators gave me 1500-1600ish,but it's not enough:// like there's not enough space for food and it sucks, I don't eat junk food and I try to get my nutrition , still not satisfied. I've gone through 3 days binging this week and the week before, although I was in a deficit before the binging but I'm sure I ate all of those calories back and more, but didn't notice a difference in my weight, I don't judge from the scale because I know I'll have extra pounds from water, sodium.. Etc
I judge from my clothes and the mirror, still the same, recently I'm not active, but after a week I'll start working out again 2-3 days a week besides I'll have classes 4 days a week.
So what do you think, I need some guiding.
Depends entirely on your basic metabolic rate and exercise plan. If you're exercising 2 hours a day then it might not be enough0 -
AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
Are you doing cardio beyond the strength training? Have you looked at the usual culprits for unexplained weight gain/plateau - ie tightening up your loggin
I'm same height and about the same weight and my maintenance calories are 2200. I walk 15K steps a day though in addition to some strength training.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
Are you doing cardio beyond the strength training? Have you looked at the usual culprits for unexplained weight gain/plateau - ie tightening up your loggin
I'm same height and about the same weight and my maintenance calories are 2200. I walk 15K steps a day though in addition to some strength training.
No I am definitely not that active. I work a desk job and usually only get about 5000 steps on an average day. I really have to fit in my gym sessions so I focus on the strength training. (I like to do a long cardio session once a week if I can though, it helps me destress.) But if I'm hungry I struggle with my lifts, so its been hard to find that balance. I am still working on it. Tightening up my logging certainly wouldn't hurt though.
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AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
i see a lot of cup entrees in your diary @AlisonH729 maybe you eat more calories than you think Like the peanut butter granola a 0.33 cup 160 calories ...i bet it is more. And i see a lot of these kinda entrees in your diary. Most of the time you have to tighten up your logging... I know when i started i had to get used to weighing my food and be accurate. After some weeks i got used to it. And the lbs flew o I had a lot to loose of course but still never had a plateau and never stopped with weighing my food Now i am maintianing for more than a half year and still i weigh my food. And my bet is that you can do this too. Just get accurate and you will see that it makes a big difference. And yes maybe not a high TDEE but you will lose weight 1 -
BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
i see a lot of cup entrees in your diary @AlisonH729 maybe you eat more calories than you think Like the peanut butter granola a 0.33 cup 160 calories ...i bet it is more. And i see a lot of these kinda entrees in your diary. Most of the time you have to tighten up your logging... I know when i started i had to get used to weighing my food and be accurate. After some weeks i got used to it. And the lbs flew o I had a lot to loose of course but still never had a plateau and never stopped with weighing my food Now i am maintianing for more than a half year and still i weigh my food. And my bet is that you can do this too. Just get accurate and you will see that it makes a big difference. And yes maybe not a high TDEE but you will lose weight
I do weigh most everything. (Not vegetables, so those I estimate with the cups.) The nutrition info on the granola is in grams but I don't think I could find a database entry with it in grams. (The one I use is verified too which is odd.) So a lot of those entries are weighed but I've just had to do the math for whatever units the entry is in. I just straight up eat too much.1 -
AlisonH729 wrote: »BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
i see a lot of cup entrees in your diary @AlisonH729 maybe you eat more calories than you think Like the peanut butter granola a 0.33 cup 160 calories ...i bet it is more. And i see a lot of these kinda entrees in your diary. Most of the time you have to tighten up your logging... I know when i started i had to get used to weighing my food and be accurate. After some weeks i got used to it. And the lbs flew o I had a lot to loose of course but still never had a plateau and never stopped with weighing my food Now i am maintianing for more than a half year and still i weigh my food. And my bet is that you can do this too. Just get accurate and you will see that it makes a big difference. And yes maybe not a high TDEE but you will lose weight
I do weigh most everything. (Not vegetables, so those I estimate with the cups.) The nutrition info on the granola is in grams but I don't think I could find a database entry with it in grams. (The one I use is verified too which is odd.) So a lot of those entries are weighed but I've just had to do the math for whatever units the entry is in. I just straight up eat too much.
well like i said accuracy is the key for a lot of people I weigh it all! But when you are doing good just keep going i just wanted to point out that many people fall into the logging error entrees here and the inaccuracy
btw make your own entrees solves the problem of not finding the right ones... winks
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I think my major problem right now is that my goals are conflicting. I would like to lose a few pounds because I know there is muscle under there somewhere. (I lost 8 lbs for my wedding last year and got down to 110, mostly just from a slight deficit. I only really did light lifting because I didn't have the time or opportunity to get into it the way I wanted. I am doing it now though and I love it.) It's really empowering to go to the gym and move heavy weight around. Just the other day I was squatting 150, which is only the second time I've been able to do that much, because usually I am tired or hungry or some combination of the two. Just like people have trouble trusting the bulk, I'm having a hard time changing my routine again to trust the cut. It's not like things don't fit, or that I feel heavy, I just want to have it all! Haha.0
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AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
I walk...Alot
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I work out 7 days a week, and need about 1500-1600 calories to maintain, at 5'4", 115 pounds. It isn't a lot of food. To be honest though, I'm rarely physically hungry.0
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Thanks for the answers, after this posting this, I weighed myself, I found that I lost 4 pounds, I decided to add 100 calories, so I'll try eating 1700.1
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AlisonH729 wrote: »BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »AlisonH729 wrote: »What the heck are you guys doing that you all get to eat so much! I'm so jealous! I'm 5'2, 122ish. I lift heavy (45 min-hour) 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I supposedly maintain at 1600 but have my goals set at 1400 so that I have a buffer. I try not eat over 1600 and even without eating back exercise calories I've still been steadily gaining. (Fingers crossed some of it is muscle, though.) I look and feel good so I'm not too worried, but I would LOVE to eat more.
i see a lot of cup entrees in your diary @AlisonH729 maybe you eat more calories than you think Like the peanut butter granola a 0.33 cup 160 calories ...i bet it is more. And i see a lot of these kinda entrees in your diary. Most of the time you have to tighten up your logging... I know when i started i had to get used to weighing my food and be accurate. After some weeks i got used to it. And the lbs flew o I had a lot to loose of course but still never had a plateau and never stopped with weighing my food Now i am maintianing for more than a half year and still i weigh my food. And my bet is that you can do this too. Just get accurate and you will see that it makes a big difference. And yes maybe not a high TDEE but you will lose weight
I do weigh most everything. (Not vegetables, so those I estimate with the cups.) The nutrition info on the granola is in grams but I don't think I could find a database entry with it in grams. (The one I use is verified too which is odd.) So a lot of those entries are weighed but I've just had to do the math for whatever units the entry is in. I just straight up eat too much.
That is exactly the right way to do it - others viewing the entry though may not know that is it indeed weighed and logged by weight. Making another database entry in my opinion is why the database is such a mess already. You know it's right per weight and servings, that's good enough. The only annoying thing is on entry, you have had to divide what you ate by the gram serving size already.
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AlisonH729 wrote: »I think my major problem right now is that my goals are conflicting. I would like to lose a few pounds because I know there is muscle under there somewhere. (I lost 8 lbs for my wedding last year and got down to 110, mostly just from a slight deficit. I only really did light lifting because I didn't have the time or opportunity to get into it the way I wanted. I am doing it now though and I love it.) It's really empowering to go to the gym and move heavy weight around. Just the other day I was squatting 150, which is only the second time I've been able to do that much, because usually I am tired or hungry or some combination of the two. Just like people have trouble trusting the bulk, I'm having a hard time changing my routine again to trust the cut. It's not like things don't fit, or that I feel heavy, I just want to have it all! Haha.
It is conflicting goals at some point when eating at deficit means no more advancement in lifts - means you've probably been lifting for awhile.
You could go for a mixed method:
Take 1 week a month where you eat at 500 cal deficit, and don't even attempt to increase weight that week.
Other 3 weeks you eat at maintenance, normal advancement as able.
Or alternate every other week - depends on how much you are willing to tradeoff.0 -
Include your exercises in your diary0
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1600 cals is very little. But of course if you are sitting down all day not even going for a walk, then it may be correct that that is what you need. I have put my goal to 1500 cals(cause that's my basic metabolic rate) and then I put on top all exercise that I do, every walk I take, run, biking, dancing, anything and then I easily get to 2500-2700cals on average. I don't ever eat below 2000 so I think 1600 is very little. I would also end up binging and it is not long term possible to get enough nutrients. 1600 is classified by WHO as starvation. But get moving, just walking and daily doings get you up to have to eat at least 2000cals good luck and congrats on reaching your happy weight
Wait, what? Look at my diary. I think anyone who is genuinely starving would be thanking God for my regular menu. I'm sure you researched that statement, so I'm going to go ahead and give you the benefit of the doubt. But trust me when I tell you, I am not starving. I'm not even hungry. I do 1500 cals to maintain + I eat all of my exercise.0
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