calorie allowance

Where is the settings for this to be deducted from your calorie balance?

tacotaco123 wrote: »

With my calorie allowance set at 1200 it increases as the exercise increases. My question is should I stay at my 1200 calorie goal because I'm not loosing at all when I eat the additional calories allowed

Your going to get alot of people who will tell you yes but my experience over the last 5 months has definitely said no. For the first 3.5 months I strictly ate 1200 cals a day and lost between 2.5-3lbs a week. Now I am in my 5th month and take in around 1350 and I have lost 43lbs (242-199) to date. I workout 3 times a week do cardio 3 times a week. For example today I did an hour of cardio in the am and then lifted heavy after work and burned around 1000 cals.. before I eat dinner tonight I have consumed 1030 cals.. I will have around 3-400 cal dinner and be full. If you want to lose weight you need to have a deficit. This works for me.. it may not work for you or other people but i have found a system that I can stick to that works so that is what I do..

I would also like to add that I am in a cutting phase and once the extra body fat is burned off I will switch over and start eating to build muscle.

Tsartele wrote: »

tacotaco123 wrote: »

With my calorie allowance set at 1200 it increases as the exercise increases. My question is should I stay at my 1200 calorie goal because I'm not loosing at all when I eat the additional calories allowed

Your going to get alot of people who will tell you yes but my experience over the last 5 months has definitely said no. For the first 3.5 months I strictly ate 1200 cals a day and lost between 2.5-3lbs a week. Now I am in my 5th month and take in around 1350 and I have lost 43lbs (242-199) to date. I workout 3 times a week do cardio 3 times a week. For example today I did an hour of cardio in the am and then lifted heavy after work and burned around 1000 cals.. before I eat dinner tonight I have consumed 1030 cals.. I will have around 3-400 cal dinner and be full. If you want to lose weight you need to have a deficit. This works for me.. it may not work for you or other people but i have found a system that I can stick to that works so that is what I do..

I would also like to add that I am in a cutting phase and once the extra body fat is burned off I will switch over and start eating to build muscle.

You won't have to build as much muscle in the end if you preserve what you have now. Drastic calorie deficits sacrafice muscle.

There is no way in the world a man should be eating 1200 calories, especially when exercising.


MFP is set up that you are already at a deficit with their calorie goal *without* exercise. When you log it and add it in, you create a larger deficit.

Larger deficits may mean faster weight loss, but there are also downsides that come with it, like muscle loss. People often have a hard time sticking to very low calories. It can also affect your workouts.

Of course, estimating the calories you burn and how much to eat is only as good as your food estimates. If you are underestimating your food, leaving off exercise calories can make up for it.

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Tsartele wrote: »

tacotaco123 wrote: »

With my calorie allowance set at 1200 it increases as the exercise increases. My question is should I stay at my 1200 calorie goal because I'm not loosing at all when I eat the additional calories allowed

Your going to get alot of people who will tell you yes but my experience over the last 5 months has definitely said no. For the first 3.5 months I strictly ate 1200 cals a day and lost between 2.5-3lbs a week. Now I am in my 5th month and take in around 1350 and I have lost 43lbs (242-199) to date. I workout 3 times a week do cardio 3 times a week. For example today I did an hour of cardio in the am and then lifted heavy after work and burned around 1000 cals.. before I eat dinner tonight I have consumed 1030 cals.. I will have around 3-400 cal dinner and be full. If you want to lose weight you need to have a deficit. This works for me.. it may not work for you or other people but i have found a system that I can stick to that works so that is what I do..

I would also like to add that I am in a cutting phase and once the extra body fat is burned off I will switch over and start eating to build muscle.

You won't have to build as much muscle in the end if you preserve what you have now. Drastic calorie deficits sacrafice muscle.

There is no way in the world a man should be eating 1200 calories, especially when exercising.


MFP is set up that you are already at a deficit with their calorie goal *without* exercise. When you log it and add it in, you create a larger deficit.

Larger deficits may mean faster weight loss, but there are also downsides that come with it, like muscle loss. People often have a hard time sticking to very low calories. It can also affect your workouts.

Of course, estimating the calories you burn and how much to eat is only as good as your food estimates. If you are underestimating your food, leaving off exercise calories can make up for it.

How would you explain significant increases in strength and added muscle mass in my chest and arms ? I weigh everything and log everything. I believe that I have lost body fat while adding strength and muscle.. granted not as much if i would have been consuming more cals but that was not the goal.. Phase I is drop a ton of body fat and weight.

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Tsartele wrote: »

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Tsartele wrote: »

tacotaco123 wrote: »

With my calorie allowance set at 1200 it increases as the exercise increases. My question is should I stay at my 1200 calorie goal because I'm not loosing at all when I eat the additional calories allowed

Your going to get alot of people who will tell you yes but my experience over the last 5 months has definitely said no. For the first 3.5 months I strictly ate 1200 cals a day and lost between 2.5-3lbs a week. Now I am in my 5th month and take in around 1350 and I have lost 43lbs (242-199) to date. I workout 3 times a week do cardio 3 times a week. For example today I did an hour of cardio in the am and then lifted heavy after work and burned around 1000 cals.. before I eat dinner tonight I have consumed 1030 cals.. I will have around 3-400 cal dinner and be full. If you want to lose weight you need to have a deficit. This works for me.. it may not work for you or other people but i have found a system that I can stick to that works so that is what I do..

I would also like to add that I am in a cutting phase and once the extra body fat is burned off I will switch over and start eating to build muscle.

You won't have to build as much muscle in the end if you preserve what you have now. Drastic calorie deficits sacrafice muscle.

There is no way in the world a man should be eating 1200 calories, especially when exercising.


MFP is set up that you are already at a deficit with their calorie goal *without* exercise. When you log it and add it in, you create a larger deficit.

Larger deficits may mean faster weight loss, but there are also downsides that come with it, like muscle loss. People often have a hard time sticking to very low calories. It can also affect your workouts.

Of course, estimating the calories you burn and how much to eat is only as good as your food estimates. If you are underestimating your food, leaving off exercise calories can make up for it.

How would you explain significant increases in strength ? I weigh everything and log everything. I believe that I have lost body fat while adding strength and muscle.. granted not as much if i would have been consuming more cals but that was not the goal.. Phase I is drop a ton of body fat and weight.

you can add strength without adding muscle. There will come a point where you won't progress on such a steep cut.

Given how overweight he was, it's not outside of the norm. I experienced the same when I was going from 265 to 200 on 1200-1600 kcal (both strength and muscle mass up, but I was completely detrained at the start). I did have to gradually increase my intake as my bodyfat reduced, obviously. By the time I was in the 180s, I was up closer to 1800.

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Tsartele wrote: »

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Tsartele wrote: »

tacotaco123 wrote: »

With my calorie allowance set at 1200 it increases as the exercise increases. My question is should I stay at my 1200 calorie goal because I'm not loosing at all when I eat the additional calories allowed

Your going to get alot of people who will tell you yes but my experience over the last 5 months has definitely said no. For the first 3.5 months I strictly ate 1200 cals a day and lost between 2.5-3lbs a week. Now I am in my 5th month and take in around 1350 and I have lost 43lbs (242-199) to date. I workout 3 times a week do cardio 3 times a week. For example today I did an hour of cardio in the am and then lifted heavy after work and burned around 1000 cals.. before I eat dinner tonight I have consumed 1030 cals.. I will have around 3-400 cal dinner and be full. If you want to lose weight you need to have a deficit. This works for me.. it may not work for you or other people but i have found a system that I can stick to that works so that is what I do..

I would also like to add that I am in a cutting phase and once the extra body fat is burned off I will switch over and start eating to build muscle.

You won't have to build as much muscle in the end if you preserve what you have now. Drastic calorie deficits sacrafice muscle.

There is no way in the world a man should be eating 1200 calories, especially when exercising.


MFP is set up that you are already at a deficit with their calorie goal *without* exercise. When you log it and add it in, you create a larger deficit.

Larger deficits may mean faster weight loss, but there are also downsides that come with it, like muscle loss. People often have a hard time sticking to very low calories. It can also affect your workouts.

Of course, estimating the calories you burn and how much to eat is only as good as your food estimates. If you are underestimating your food, leaving off exercise calories can make up for it.

How would you explain significant increases in strength ? I weigh everything and log everything. I believe that I have lost body fat while adding strength and muscle.. granted not as much if i would have been consuming more cals but that was not the goal.. Phase I is drop a ton of body fat and weight.

you can add strength without adding muscle. There will come a point where you won't progress on such a steep cut.

I get tested regularly and have put on 4.3% more lean muscle mass while dropping 43 lbs. I agree that this is not an ideal method for putting on lean muscle but to say that it can't be done is not true. It was also not the goal as was to lose as much body fat as possible.