MyFitnessPal's 1200 calorie daily intake - too low?

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  • MrsWibbly
    MrsWibbly Posts: 415 Member
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    There seem to be loads of responses that are not taking into consideration one of the basic principles of MFP which is that you MUST eat back your exercise calories. So if you burn 750 calories on a day where you work out a lot and your MFP mininum calories is 1200 then you should eat 1950. If you only burn 150 calories on a light day then you should eat 1350. If you don't eat your exercise calories then yes 1200 is too low.

    EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES!!
  • CarolineT82
    CarolineT82 Posts: 71
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    I found that I wasn't losing as much as I would have liked when I was religiously sticking to 1200 cals a day, I was probably only losing about 1lb a week max..... this week I've not been as good, I've not been going over by much, but I haven't been sticking to 1200 - and I've lost 2lbs. I was just thinking this morning that perhaps 1200 is too low for me.......
  • CARNAT22
    CARNAT22 Posts: 764 Member
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    Unless I do zero exercise (which is very rarely) do I stick to 1200 calories.

    I have always eaten back my exercise calories so on average am between 1300 - 1500 cals per day.
  • nextrightthing
    nextrightthing Posts: 408 Member
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    bump
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    If you set your daily calories limits to 1200 and don't eat back your exercise calories, you're not using MFP as it's designed.

    MFP will set your daily calories based on your current weight, height, sex and (non exercise) activity level and give you the appropriate calories per day to lose your target amount, which it recommends you set at 1lb a week. For instance when I started it set my calories at around 1600, but when I got lighter it reset them to 1360.

    The activity level you set does NOT include your exercise, so MFP suggests you eat back all or most of your exercise calories. That's why it gives you a running net total, not to make you do difficult sums to stay under some arbitrary amount.
  • lcarter25
    lcarter25 Posts: 286 Member
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    I am zig zagging an only on one day do I eat 1200 most days is more
  • Trixtabella
    Trixtabella Posts: 471 Member
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    I manage to stick to mine ok, some days I have trouble hitting it and sometimes I may be slightly over. I just try to make a healthier choice so instead of going to Mcdonalds and having burgers ect I will just make my own burgers at home.
  • JoelleMonique
    JoelleMonique Posts: 107
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    oh dear, looks like I've been eating too little! I eat 1200 everyday and very seldom eat back my exercise calories :( Will have to make some adjustments. I do feel satified with 1200 calories do I have to force myself to eat?
  • ingeh
    ingeh Posts: 513 Member
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    I dont eat back all my exercise calories. I sometimes have around 2-300left at the end of the day. Is that too much? I do however sometimes eat more then the 1200 anyway. If I eat more its usually around 1,300 though. Like Joelle I dont feel hungry enough to eat over 1200

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