1959 calories a day! Yikes.
sinma
Posts: 6 Member
Hello,
I am currently training with my personal trainer three times a week. My goal is to lose 50 pounds. My personal trainer says that in order to do so I must eat 1959 cal per day. Since I am new to this, I am very hesitant in eating that much food. I have currently been eating 1200 cal per day and I don't see any changes in my weight loss so far. Has anyone done something like this before where they have eaten more and seen positive results?
I am currently training with my personal trainer three times a week. My goal is to lose 50 pounds. My personal trainer says that in order to do so I must eat 1959 cal per day. Since I am new to this, I am very hesitant in eating that much food. I have currently been eating 1200 cal per day and I don't see any changes in my weight loss so far. Has anyone done something like this before where they have eaten more and seen positive results?
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Replies
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Well, my starting weight was 254 lbs and I'm a 45-year-old woman standing 5'3". MFP gave me an initial calorie goal of 1720 and I did lose weight. Five months and 41 lbs later, my calories have been revised to 1520 and the weight is still coming off. (And I've become more active and usually eat back about half of the calories I burn off. If I don't, I get hungry.)2
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How long have you been eating 1200, and how did you choose that number?
I have been eating around 1600 a day and losing. I started at 173 and I'm around 165 now.3 -
What's is your height/weight? I'm 5-7, 150 and run 5 miles 5x per week plus lifting and Pilates. I maintain at 2000, so for me, that would be a really slow loss.1
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It does seem like a lot - but we'd need to know your age, height, etc. Go to a TDEE calculator or two and explore the numbers you get.
For me, I would probably maintain eating about 1900 calories. I am 24, female, lightly active, and 5'7. I've been losing by eating 1600 calories and for a while I was losing eating 1400.
(Eta) Regarding not losing at 1200, you might have to give that a little more time depending on how long you've been trying it. And, always make sure your logging is accurate by weighting everything you eat with a food scale. Nearly everyone would lose weight eating 1200 consistently! As long as it's truly accurate.0 -
Hello,
I am currently training with my personal trainer three times a week. My goal is to lose 50 pounds. My personal trainer says that in order to do so I must eat 1959 cal per day. Since I am new to this, I am very hesitant in eating that much food. I have currently been eating 1200 cal per day and I don't see any changes in my weight loss so far. Has anyone done something like this before where they have eaten more and seen positive results?
If you have 50 pounds to lose and are actually eating 1200 calories per day, you ought to be losing weight quite quickly. The fact that you're not suggests that one of a few things is happening:- You're actually eating more than 1200 calories/day and are seriously underestimating how much you're eating. The fact that you think that 1959 calories/day is a lot of food suggests that this is the most likely option. 1959 calories isn't actually that much food. How are you measuring your food? Do you weigh everything? Use measuring cups? Estimate based on what the package says? Do you include things like cream in coffee?
- You haven't been trying to lose weight for very long yet and have unrealistic expectations of how much weight a person can reasonably lose in a week or two. If you've actually lost 2 pounds in a week (or 5 pounds in 2-3 weeks) then that's the fastest weight loss you should reasonably look for.
- You have a medical condition that is dramatically lowering your metabolism. Something like an untreated thyroid condition. You'd want to see a doctor about this. Be aware, though, that this is much less likely than the other two possibilities.
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Thank you all for your wonderful feed back. I will keep all your suggestions and tips in mind0
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I'd lose weight (although rather slowly, about 200g per week) at 1959 kcal. But I'm pretty fat.
It depends on your stats (height, weight, activity level) and I would hope that your trainer would have taken these into account before spitting out that calorie number for you. 
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Without more information we don't really know if you'd lose, maintain or gain at that #.
It depends on your current stats, how active your 'life' is, how much you work out.
Personally I am at a healthy weight, 5' 5.5" and 127ish, 42, and on days I run ~30 minutes I burn a total of about 2100. Days I don't run, its about 1950. If I run an hour and do massive yard work, it may be 2500+.
Assuming this trainer knows what he's doing, knows your stats and your workouts: its reasonable to think he knows how to suggest a reasonable goal for you. Try it. For 6-8 weeks and see how it goes.3 -
Okay great
I'm 5'5 and currently 182 pounds. I do weight training 3 times a week and 2 days cardio on a a machine.0 -
Okay great
I'm 5'5 and currently 182 pounds. I do weight training 3 times a week and 2 days cardio on a a machine.
Oddly, with those stats I'd expect you to be maintaining at the number the trainer gave you to lose at. I'm 5'6, 212ish lbs, and my sedentary maintenance number is around 2150. You're both shorter and lighter than me, and weight lifting doesn't burn a lot of calories. How much cardio do you do in your two sessions per week? Thirty minutes? An hour? What intensity?0 -
I do 2 x a week / 45 mins / burn between 400-460 calories0
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I do 2 x a week / 45 mins / burn between 400-460 calories
That's not a bad calorie burn, but it doesn't give you a large cushion or deficit for a whole week. I ran your stats through a TDEE calculator, and I got 2050 as your maintenance number for your current weight. Maybe you should ask your trainer why he/she gave you such a high number--maybe they're trying to run you through a recomp rather than weight loss?0 -
I did the same and I will definitely ask. How many days of cardio do you recommend? Also did your calculations state how many calories I should be consuming in order to loose ?0
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I did the same and I will definitely ask. How many days of cardio do you recommend? Also did your calculations state how many calories I should be consuming in order to loose ?
I don't have any recommendations, that's definitely your trainer's area!
You don't have to do ANY cardio to lose weight, it's all about how many calories you eat. Any number under the (estimated) 2050 calories per day will cause you to lose weight, and the cardio and weight training will give you a further buffer. Assuming that the 2050 is accurate, 1959 will give you approximately 0.25 lbs per week of loss, as long as you're logging very accurately. The cardio and any calories burned via weight training and extra daily activity (i.e. going for walks) will increase your loss, but those are harder to pinpoint.
Since I'm sure your trainer had some reasoning behind the number he/she gave you, I'd talk it out with them before making any decisions. Note that even if 1959 sounds like a lot to you, you WILL still be in a deficit so there's no harm in eating that number for a few weeks to see how it goes.2 -
Thank you so much . A lot to learn! Best of luck with your journey0
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It also depends on your day job/hobbies/lifestyle. If you're sitting at a desk and/or long commute so you're on your seat for 10 hours a day, that is different than if you're a server and working 6-8 hour shifts where you're on your feet constantly. Sedentary vs lightly active vs active vs etc.3
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I'm 5'1'' and currently 180 lbs. I started at 215 have been eating about 2000 per day, do little to no cardio, and losing about a pound per week. I'm fairly active and lift hard 4-5 times per week. (I also did a few months at maintenance and was maintaining on about 2500.) So I don't find 1959 unreasonable at all.
You will likely have to lower that number as you lose weight, but there's no harm in starting there to get a feel for what you personally need. I prefer to eat as much as possible, so I'd much rather be able to eat 1900-2000 and lost before I would want to eat 1200.4 -
Your trainer may be trying to kickstart your body by upping your calories to near maintenance so you can build some muscle.
I personally am losing substantial weight eating at about 2200 calories (+/-150) daily while eating back exercise calories. I don't exercise much because I am a busy mom to a young baby. You definitely can lose weight as long as you are at a calorie deficit.2 -
Why not do it the way your trainer has suggested and see? I mean S/he knows your lifestyle and your exercise intensity. We, quite frankly, do not. 2
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StaciMarie1974 wrote: »It also depends on your day job/hobbies/lifestyle. If you're sitting at a desk and/or long commute so you're on your seat for 10 hours a day, that is different than if you're a server and working 6-8 hour shifts where you're on your feet constantly. Sedentary vs lightly active vs active vs etc.
This. A person who is on their feet for much of the day will burn more calories than someone who spends most of the day sitting but runs for half an hour every day.1 -
I eat 1950ish cals a day and have been losing. I only have 10 pounds to lose and have lost two pounds in the last 23 days. I prefer slow and steady. When I was eating 1200 cals I lost a lot of weight a lot faster but gained it back probably twice as fast when I went off track.2
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I'd also caution, that if you haven't seen results at 1200 (how long have you been eating that low?) then there may a problem with inaccurate logging and upping your goal by 700 calories is not going to be the solution.5
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Hello,
I am currently training with my personal trainer three times a week. My goal is to lose 50 pounds. My personal trainer says that in order to do so I must eat 1959 cal per day. Since I am new to this, I am very hesitant in eating that much food. I have currently been eating 1200 cal per day and I don't see any changes in my weight loss so far. Has anyone done something like this before where they have eaten more and seen positive results?
I'm assuming the trainer is referring to the total number of calories (rather then the NET calories tracked by MFP). Depending on your workouts, the difference between 1200 NET and 1959 could potentially be quite small. If you are exercising, then 1200 total is not enough.1 -
I am interested in what kind of cardio you are doing on a machine that burns 400 to 600 calories in 45 minutes!?? The best I can do is a sweat drenched 50 minute spin class that estimates a 350 burn.1
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I am interested in what kind of cardio you are doing on a machine that burns 400 to 600 calories in 45 minutes!?? The best I can do is a sweat drenched 50 minute spin class that estimates a 350 burn.
Keep in mind this is also relative to the size of the person... The only way I can burn 600 in an hour is to run for an hour. And even then it might not quite be 600. I am ~127 pounds.2 -
I am interested in what kind of cardio you are doing on a machine that burns 400 to 600 calories in 45 minutes!?? The best I can do is a sweat drenched 50 minute spin class that estimates a 350 burn.
I could do that on the elliptical and I'm 5'5" and 140 lbs. I'd have to go fast though and even then, definitely closer to 400 than 600 for 45 minutes, lol.
OP, 1200 is probably too low, but IMO 1950 is too high, I suggest you go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and pick lightly active to give you a more appropriate goal.
That being said, 2 workouts a week isn't much at all, but your general activity matters too.1 -
I'm 5'3". 149(ish) and have lost 10lbs since November taking in between 2100 and 2400 a day (avg to about 2250) - some weeks I work out 5 days a week, others it is more like 2, depending on my work schedule - normally 45min to an hour1
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I am interested in what kind of cardio you are doing on a machine that burns 400 to 600 calories in 45 minutes!?? The best I can do is a sweat drenched 50 minute spin class that estimates a 350 burn.
At OP's weight & height (which is very near my height and starting weight (183)) a 45 minute spin class would burn around 400, according to my heart rate monitor. Rowing machine would burn more in the same time period for me (uses more body parts). And any exercise burn is very weight dependent. Now that I'm in the 120s rather than the 180s, I'm lucky to burn above 250-275-ish in the same spin class - same instructor, same exertion, etc.
OP, I lost most of my weight (at your height) at 1400-1600 net calories (around 1700-1900 gross calories most days), and I was 59/60 years old at the time (but I do have a higher than average calorie requirement for my age/size).3 -
VintageFeline wrote: »I'd also caution, that if you haven't seen results at 1200 (how long have you been eating that low?) then there may a problem with inaccurate logging and upping your goal by 700 calories is not going to be the solution.
This.
Can you open your food diary for us to look at? There are many erroneous entries in the database, unfortunately. With your stats, you should have been losing at 1200, so making sure you don't gain when you increase your calories.
By "no results", do you mean you weren't losing at all, or just slow?2
All the best to you, too! 
This discussion has been closed.
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