I believe my cal count is too high! 1600!
datbrittish
Posts: 14 Member
I really feel uncomfortable doing 1600 cals a day. I mean I want to lose weight not gain! Has anyone lose weight by sticking to the recommended cal count being over 1200?
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Replies
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What is your current height/ weight? How much are you looking to lose? What do you have your activity level set to?
To answer your question, I lost the majority of my weight (80 lbs) on 1500 calories net per day. I'm 5'6", started at 241 lbs.8 -
Yes, absolutely. 1200 calories is only an appropriate target for a small population of people under some very specific circumstances. What are your stats? (Height, CW, GW, desired rate of loss).4
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Yes. A huge number of women here eat more than that and lose. I didn't log calories from 202 down to the 170s but from there to 150 ate 1750-1850 per day. Now I eat more than that while losing.7
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Plenty of people do not need to eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight. I have never eat anywhere near that low and have lost consistently. There are a ton of variables (height/starting weight/activity level) but I doubt 1600 is too low. 1600 calories is not a lot of food.1
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I'm losing at 1800cal a day sometimes more. I started at 230 and I'm 5'5 so I do have a good amount to lose.3
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MFP gave me 1200, but I hated that with a passion. No wiggle room for treats, and all too often ended up going over and felt like a failure. I manually overrode it to 1600 and happily lose at that intake.
Whether or not that is appropriate for you will depend on several things, such as the answers to the questions posed by the posters above.3 -
Lost 50# on 1500 in 5 months. 5'5" started at 245.3
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I was at 1710 when I started MFP. Granted, my starting weight was 254 lbs. I'm a 5'3" woman with a goal of 130.
Currently at 191.6 and on 1380 calories to lose 1 lb/week. (I typically eat about 1600, because I exercise more and eat back half of those calories.)0 -
My weight loss intake amount is 1840 calories - that gives me a deficit for roughly 0.75-1lb of loss weekly. Yep. Lots of food.
Could I do it faster at less calories? Sure. But I don't want to so I'm not. I'd rather do this slow and steady and succeed long term and feel healthy while losing than try to lose it fast and yo yo back up.9 -
I'm 5"8, 148lbs, age 45, lightly active, and 1500-1600 calories is the lowest i have to go to lose weight.3
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I eat 1720 daily, plus my exercise cals, so it's really more like 2000.1
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I couldn't continue my workouts if I ate only 1200 calories a day. As long as I NET below 1500 I lose. I eat between 1600-2000 a day depending on activity to NET that number.
Your personal stats will determine the number for you. I'm 5'7", 37yr, and work out 4-6 days a week. I'm also 9lb from goal and alternate losing with muscle building phases. This is relevant because the calorie goal for me would be very different than someone 5' with 50+lbs to lose who doesn't work out.2 -
I manually set mine to 1500 and I eat more with exercise. I'm a 162 lb middle aged female and losing fine.2
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1840 at a 2lb loss per week. So... Many lose at higher than 1200. 1600 sounds fine, without knowing your stats.1
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I find this somewhat funny.....if I was told to eat 3000 cals a day to lose weight, I'd do it without question, because I like food. The more calories the better! Of course, if I didn't get results after a decent amount of time, then I'd question it.
OP, you win when you lose on as many calories as possible. Food is your friend, not an enemy to avoid. Eating less is not better - it may make you lose faster, but you'll have less energy, less nutrients, as well as struggle to fit foods in that make life enjoyable. Try the 1600, see how you react after a few weeks, then make changes if necessary.13 -
I eat 1600. 5'4" and 142lbs. I lose slowly but I lose.4
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1500 plus exercise calories. And I am losing. Some days I want to eat everything and some days it is hard to eat all I need to.2
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I eat 1800- 2100 depending on if it's a low carb (rest, yoga or HIIT training days) or high carb day (heavy leg day) . I'm 5'10 170 lbs down from 286 lbs. I mainly track macros and not calories so much and that seemed to work better for me2
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I can't eat below 1500 or I get hangry. Lost on 1600-2000 net at 1.5 pounds per week with an active job.1
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datbrittish wrote: »I really feel uncomfortable doing 1600 cals a day. I mean I want to lose weight not gain! Has anyone lose weight by sticking to the recommended cal count being over 1200?
The calorie suggestion from MFP is set based on the original information you put in when you start the program. Maybe you were inaccurate and could make some adjustments. Of course, most people need to be higher than 1200 calories per day.
I ate at 1810 for a whole year and reached my goal. Then I made some adjustments in my profile and am now allowed 1980 for a new slightly lower goal weight.1 -
I'm currently doing 1200 a day, have for 60 days and I've lost 6.8 kg so far. I don't find it hard at all. It's not for everyone's but works for me right now. Once I lose a bit more I hope to go upto to 1400-1500 as get more fit.1
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You're good, I'm 5'2 and eat around 2000 calories a day. I am slightly active some days and sedentary others. Just focus on whole foods that will keep you satisfied for long because the amount of calories your body takes to digest food depend greatly on the quality being consumed.3
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You're good...I know it's hard to trust the numbers, but test it and you'll see it's ok. I'm 5'2 129lb and eat well over that most days (1700-2000) and still lose considerably...yes I am active, but at the end of the day the numbers don't lie.3
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Wow!!! I feel special so many people gave me incite!! Thanks guys!!
Okay so I weight 251 I'm 5'5 and I work out at least 5 days a week. I try to do a min of 30 mins cardio some form of weights and the sauna. I'm studying for the bar exam so I only have about 1hr 1.5hr max in the gym. My goal weight is to get back to 170-160.6 -
datbrittish wrote: »Wow!!! I feel special so many people gave me incite!! Thanks guys!!
Okay so I weight 251 I'm 5'5 and I work out at least 5 days a week. I try to do a min of 30 mins cardio some form of weights and the sauna. I'm studying for the bar exam so I only have about 1hr 1.5hr max in the gym. My goal weight is to get back to 170-160.
With your current weight and height, I'm confident that you can trust the MFP numbers. Remember that you get to eat the exercise calories too! Although they tend to be inflated for many people, so start with 50-75% for now, particularly if you are otherwise sedentary. Give that 4-6 weeks (it takes time to develop a trend when monitoring your weight) and then adjust up or down depending on your results. I would also recommend a weight trending app, Trendweight, Libra, Happyscale (I think), so you can watch the trend over time, rather than get caught up in fluctuations. Best of luck on the bar!10 -
I lose on 2300. That's more than MFP gives me (but consistent with my planned rate of weight loss and Fitbit burns).
Your calorie goal will depend very much on your stats - height, weight and activity level most of all; age and gender a bit. At 250 pounds, you can most certainly lose weight eating more than 1200. 1200 is for short, light women who are not particularly active (and/or have a medical condition like hypothyroidism that affects their base metabolic rate).2 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »datbrittish wrote: »Wow!!! I feel special so many people gave me incite!! Thanks guys!!
Okay so I weight 251 I'm 5'5 and I work out at least 5 days a week. I try to do a min of 30 mins cardio some form of weights and the sauna. I'm studying for the bar exam so I only have about 1hr 1.5hr max in the gym. My goal weight is to get back to 170-160.
With your current weight and height, I'm confident that you can trust the MFP numbers. Remember that you get to eat the exercise calories too! Although they tend to be inflated for many people, so start with 50-75% for now, particularly if you are otherwise sedentary. Give that 4-6 weeks (it takes time to develop a trend when monitoring your weight) and then adjust up or down depending on your results. I would also recommend a weight trending app, Trendweight, Libra, Happyscale (I think), so you can watch the trend over time, rather than get caught up in fluctuations. Best of luck on the bar!
This is perfect!!! Thanks so much for the advice! I'll definitely check out those apps. Anything to keep me going. I finally hit my breaking point and I have to get this weight off. Law school just took me thought a rough unhealthy patch in life. I can't wait to post an update!!3 -
datbrittish wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »datbrittish wrote: »Wow!!! I feel special so many people gave me incite!! Thanks guys!!
Okay so I weight 251 I'm 5'5 and I work out at least 5 days a week. I try to do a min of 30 mins cardio some form of weights and the sauna. I'm studying for the bar exam so I only have about 1hr 1.5hr max in the gym. My goal weight is to get back to 170-160.
With your current weight and height, I'm confident that you can trust the MFP numbers. Remember that you get to eat the exercise calories too! Although they tend to be inflated for many people, so start with 50-75% for now, particularly if you are otherwise sedentary. Give that 4-6 weeks (it takes time to develop a trend when monitoring your weight) and then adjust up or down depending on your results. I would also recommend a weight trending app, Trendweight, Libra, Happyscale (I think), so you can watch the trend over time, rather than get caught up in fluctuations. Best of luck on the bar!
This is perfect!!! Thanks so much for the advice! I'll definitely check out those apps. Anything to keep me going. I finally hit my breaking point and I have to get this weight off. Law school just took me thought a rough unhealthy patch in life. I can't wait to post an update!!
I understand. I'm heading into the final year of my first graduate degree, and it's been rough at times. There is plenty of information here, but I don't know how much more reading you are interested in adding to your plate. So I will recommend some inspirational stuff instead:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest1 -
I lost 80 lbs never eating under 1650 calories (didn't eat exercise calories back though). Honestly I pretty much just ate 1700 the whole time, I was just more active as I went, so I maintained a deficit.3
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i lost 5kg in 3 weeks eating 1800 a day. I can't imagine you could gain on 16005
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