Eating 2000 calories? Too much?

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rach__b
rach__b Posts: 34 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Rightio then guys, I'm a bit confused. I'm 27, female, 5 foot 6 and weigh 11 stone.

My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week and eventually get down to 9 stone.

On another thread, I mentioned I worked out my calorie intake as being 2000. I workout 6 days a week and burn 700 calories a session.
It was suggested that I would struggle to lose 2lb a week by doing this. However, my net amount would only be 1300 calories! I thought the bare minimum was 1200.

I'm worried my body would go into starvation mode and screw it's metabolism.

Thanks for the help guys!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    This will be hard to answer without knowing the rest of your activity level. Your exercise sessions are only part of your daily calorie needs and that will vary depending on what you're doing the rest of the day.

    700 sounds like a high burn for someone of your weight for a daily workout (I could be wrong depending on what you're doing and how long you're doing it). What are you doing exactly to burn that?

    If you're currently eating 2,000 are you gaining? Losing? Maintaining?



  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    Don't worry about putting your body into starvation mode. Its impossible to do without actually starving yourself.
    How are you calculating your calorie burns during your workouts?
    I would set your diary to lose 1 pound a week instead of 2 to preserve as much muscle mass as possible.
  • rach__b
    rach__b Posts: 34 Member
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    I've been reading the other threads on here and the term 'starvation mode' seems to be a touchy subject! Oops!

    I'm using a polar ft7 heart rate monitor. Just out of curiosity, how would losing 1lb a week better preserve muscle as opposed to losing 2lb?
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    Don't worry about putting your body into starvation mode. Its impossible to do without actually starving yourself.
    How are you calculating your calorie burns during your workouts?
    I would set your diary to lose 1 pound a week instead of 2 to preserve as much muscle mass as possible.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    rach__b wrote: »
    I've been reading the other threads on here and the term 'starvation mode' seems to be a touchy subject! Oops!

    I'm using a polar ft7 heart rate monitor. Just out of curiosity, how would losing 1lb a week better preserve muscle as opposed to losing 2lb?
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    Don't worry about putting your body into starvation mode. Its impossible to do without actually starving yourself.
    How are you calculating your calorie burns during your workouts?
    I would set your diary to lose 1 pound a week instead of 2 to preserve as much muscle mass as possible.

    Because there is a limit to how much stored fat your body can break down in a day. When you hit this limit, you'll still need energy but your body has to use muscle to make up the difference.

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
    edited June 2017
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    If your net is 1300 then this would be about 300-400 deficit which equals 0.7lbs per week.
    To lose 2lbs a week you need a 1000cal deficit per day. For your stats that is about 700cal net left to eat.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
    edited June 2017
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    2lbs/wk is 1k calorie deficit a day. If you take in 2000 calories, you would have to burn 1000k per day in exercise (ETA or in other daily activity) which may difficult to do for normal (not elite athlete levels) people to do. You may burn that much every once in a while on a long run or bike ride, but doing that every day is probably not feasible and could make you prone to injury.
    If your current net is 1300, that IS within the healthy range, but that's more like a 1.2 pound per week loss, not 2 - if you're hitting that net every day.

    Also - there is no such thing as "starvation mode"
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    rach__b wrote: »
    I've been reading the other threads on here and the term 'starvation mode' seems to be a touchy subject! Oops!

    I'm using a polar ft7 heart rate monitor. Just out of curiosity, how would losing 1lb a week better preserve muscle as opposed to losing 2lb?
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    Don't worry about putting your body into starvation mode. Its impossible to do without actually starving yourself.
    How are you calculating your calorie burns during your workouts?
    I would set your diary to lose 1 pound a week instead of 2 to preserve as much muscle mass as possible.

    Is it all steady state cardio or does it include weight training? A HRM isn't a good guide to how many calories one is burning in certain types of exercise.
  • rach__b
    rach__b Posts: 34 Member
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    For work, I work in a hospital so I'm on my feet all day for 6 hours (according to the pedometer, I walk 6 miles on average a day)
    Some evenings I go mountain biking and some hiking on the weekends.

    At the gym I'm just focusing on cardio at the moment, bike, rowing and the eliptical machine. I'd love to start lifting weights but my confidence isn't there yet.
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    This will be hard to answer without knowing the rest of your activity level. Your exercise sessions are only part of your daily calorie needs and that will vary depending on what you're doing the rest of the day.

    700 sounds like a high burn for someone of your weight for a daily workout (I could be wrong depending on what you're doing and how long you're doing it). What are you doing exactly to burn that?

    If you're currently eating 2,000 are you gaining? Losing? Maintaining?



  • rach__b
    rach__b Posts: 34 Member
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    Missed this bit - usually an hour and 10 minutes at the gym.

    I know it sounds daft, but in the first few weeks of cutting down/exercising I never bother to weigh myself as my weight fluctuates so much. After a month to 6 weeks it settles so I'll weigh my self then
    janejellyroll wrote: »

    700 sounds like a high burn for someone of your weight for a daily workout (I could be wrong depending on what you're doing and how long you're doing it). What are you doing exactly to burn that?

    If you're currently eating 2,000 are you gaining? Losing? Maintaining?



  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    rach__b wrote: »
    Missed this bit - usually an hour and 10 minutes at the gym.

    I know it sounds daft, but in the first few weeks of cutting down/exercising I never bother to weigh myself as my weight fluctuates so much. After a month to 6 weeks it settles so I'll weigh my self then
    janejellyroll wrote: »

    700 sounds like a high burn for someone of your weight for a daily workout (I could be wrong depending on what you're doing and how long you're doing it). What are you doing exactly to burn that?

    If you're currently eating 2,000 are you gaining? Losing? Maintaining?



    A net of 1,300 wouldn't be unsafe but I would base your net on your total calories burned in a day (including at work) instead of just the gym sessions. Your results are going your best guide, so if you begin weighing yourself regularly you can change your calories based on whether you're losing faster or slower than expected.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    rach__b wrote: »
    Rightio then guys, I'm a bit confused. I'm 27, female, 5 foot 6 and weigh 11 stone.

    My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week and eventually get down to 9 stone.

    On another thread, I mentioned I worked out my calorie intake as being 2000. I workout 6 days a week and burn 700 calories a session.
    It was suggested that I would struggle to lose 2lb a week by doing this. However, my net amount would only be 1300 calories! I thought the bare minimum was 1200.

    I'm worried my body would go into starvation mode and screw it's metabolism.

    Thanks for the help guys!

    2000 calories will be too much to lose 2 pounds a week. 2 pounds a week is not an appropriate goal for you. At 154 lbs, you are at a healthy weight. A goal of 1/2-1 pound a week should be doable and sustainable. People repeat that 1-2 pounds per week is a good rate of loss all of the time but the truth is that for many many many people, that's not accurate.
  • Luna3386
    Luna3386 Posts: 888 Member
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    [/quote]

    2000 calories will be too much to lose 2 pounds a week. 2 pounds a week is not an appropriate goal for you. At 154 lbs, you are at a healthy weight. A goal of 1/2-1 pound a week should be doable and sustainable. People repeat that 1-2 pounds per week is a good rate of loss all of the time but the truth is that for many many many people, that's not accurate.[/quote]

    I agree. Pick .5 or 1 pound to lose. Eat all of mfp calories and at least half of exercise calories. 2000 depends on your height, weight, activity, etc. Can't say for sure. Mfp has been successful for so many, follow their guidelines.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    edited June 2017
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    jemhh wrote: »
    rach__b wrote: »
    Rightio then guys, I'm a bit confused. I'm 27, female, 5 foot 6 and weigh 11 stone.

    My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week and eventually get down to 9 stone.

    On another thread, I mentioned I worked out my calorie intake as being 2000. I workout 6 days a week and burn 700 calories a session.
    It was suggested that I would struggle to lose 2lb a week by doing this. However, my net amount would only be 1300 calories! I thought the bare minimum was 1200.

    I'm worried my body would go into starvation mode and screw it's metabolism.

    Thanks for the help guys!

    2000 calories will be too much to lose 2 pounds a week. 2 pounds a week is not an appropriate goal for you. At 154 lbs, you are at a healthy weight. A goal of 1/2-1 pound a week should be doable and sustainable. People repeat that 1-2 pounds per week is a good rate of loss all of the time but the truth is that for many many many people, that's not accurate.

    QFT

    2,000 calories/day sounds like a good goal for you given your active job; however, you need to adjust your expectations in terms of weight loss. You ought to be able to lose about 1 pound/week eating 2,000 calories/day given your stats, job and workout routine. That's as fast as you should be losing. If you find you are losing faster than 1 pound/week, you should slowly increase your calories until you are losing 1 pound/week.

    I have similar stats and a routine comparable to your job. I lose 0.5 pounds/week on an average of 2350 calories/day. That's total calories (including all the exercise calories "eaten back").

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