How do I lose weight with my new calorie intake goal?

amamcras
amamcras Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Okay so my reduced calorie intake is 1,410 calories a day. If I reach that will I lose weight or do I need to be below that?

Replies

  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    edited January 2017
    There is no way to answer your question with the data you have provided. You need to know what your TDEE or total calorie burn is in a given day. There are calculators on this site and many others that will help you get a basic start. Keep yourself in a deficit and you will lose weight over time. I wouldn't go more than a 20% deficit at most.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    If you told MFP that your goal was weight loss when you setup your profile, then it set your calorie goal with that in mind. You can eat right up to your goal and still lose weight (assumimg that everything you've inputted is accurate and you don't have any medical conditions that would mess with the calculations).
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    amamcras wrote: »
    Okay so my reduced calorie intake is 1,410 calories a day. If I reach that will I lose weight or do I need to be below that?

    You can eat up to that! It's suggested to not eat below 1,200 at any point. Also, if you work out, they suggest to eat back only HALF of the given exercise calories because MFP is known to overestimate.
  • joemac1988
    joemac1988 Posts: 1,021 Member
    amamcras wrote: »
    Okay so my reduced calorie intake is 1,410 calories a day. If I reach that will I lose weight or do I need to be below that?

    If you eat 1410, you need to burn more than that in a day. Without you saying what you burn in a day, I'd guess that you burn more than that as it's not a lot of calories. There's apps you can get to find out what your TDEE is.
  • amamcras
    amamcras Posts: 2 Member
    What's TDEE?
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    Total Daily Energy Expenditure - it's the total calorie burn per day with all activity included.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    If you entered your info correctly and MFP gave you that goal to lose weight them yes, you should lose weight eating that amount. Don't over complicate it.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    TDEE might confuse you, so a bit of an explanation.
    There are 2 ways to approach this.

    The MFP way. Figure out your base metabolic rate (BMR) and adjust for your normal (non exercise) activity to get NEAT (non exercise active thermosomethingoranother), which is the amount of calories you burn in a day without exercising (brushing your teeth walking to work, walking around at work). You make this adjustment in MFP by picking an appropriate activity level (I'm sedentary). Then you deduct from this the amount of calories needed to lose your target weight loss (500 per lb per week). If you exercise, you add those calories back and eat them as well (adjusted down somewhat for inaccuracies in estimating the exercise burn, so eat back 50-75%). Note that even if you tell MFP what your exercise plans are, it does not include it in the calculation.

    TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure and is, essentially, the same thing but it includes exercise so it gives you a higher calorie number then MFP does, but it includes your exercise calories so you don't eat them back. Again, you eat under this number to lose weight (still 500 calories per 1 lb per week).

    Both are correct and based on the same math.

    Which to use is your choice.

    But, in my opinion, TDEE is useful when you have a regimented weekly workout routine that is consistent and you are sure of the calorie burn (based on chest strap, months of experience etc.)

    MFP is better if you don't have the regimented exercise routine and exercise periodically. I use my treadmill for 30 mins every weekday, but may use it when watching hockey at night, may use it on the weekends, or may do an outside activity (trying to snowshoe), and I'm trying to lift weights at home but finding I really dislike it and am not doing it consistently. For me, the basic MFP system works better. Plus I know 30 minutes on the treadmill more than covers a glass of wine in the evening that I hadn't allowed for otherwise.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Assuming you entered your info into MFP (gender, age, weight, height, activity level) and indicated you want to lose X pounds per week, and MFP gives you a daily goal of 1410: then eating around 1410 per day should result in weight loss over time.
    amamcras wrote: »
    Okay so my reduced calorie intake is 1,410 calories a day. If I reach that will I lose weight or do I need to be below that?

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