Is 1200 enough for stay at home mom?
Nykkismommy21
Posts: 224 Member
Hi, I have been here for a few weeks,having nice results, but my calories are at 1200. It's working ok for the most part ,but im afraid that when I get closer to my goal if I reacha plateau I won't have anywhere to go from there. Until recently I was adding to my diary ,my Workout I do with Jillian Michaels Beginner Shred and also my hour walk usually 3x a week. I am a stay at home mom of 3 children two of them 3,and 4. I feel like now that my kids are in school, the older one turned 10, I will be busier,getting them ready and walking them to and from school im the morning, then again in the afternoon, at least for my 4 yr old. I redid my setting to lightly active to include this new routine,instead of logging that everyday,and will only add my hour walk and Jillian's workout. The school walking is about 30 min,to and fro, in the a.m. and another 30 min in the p.m. Do you think I am doing ok in doing this. My calories only went up by 190. Any advice, or point of view is welcomed. Thank you.
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Replies
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1200 is a default minimum before exercise. Many women get this goal because their weekly weight loss goal is an aggressive one. This is a better goal for petite or elderly AND inactive women. Because you are young and active....nope it's not enough. 1390 is an improvement. You could bump up workout (Jillian) days a bit too.
A plus for slower weight loss is you keep a larger % of existing lean muscle mass. Fast weight loss make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass.1 -
You will never reach a plateau if you eat accurately measured 1200cal.9
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How much weight are you losing per week?0
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The entire purpose of MFP is to answer that exact question as accuracy as possible. What does the site tell you?2
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gebeziseva wrote: »You will never reach a plateau if you eat accurately measured 1200cal.
I disagree with the "woo"s this comment got - absent medical issues, most "plateaus" seem to be due to inaccurate measuring, so assuming the OP's maintenance calories are above 1200, this statement seems about right (if a bit broad). Your weight loss won't be linear of course, but there seems to be a lot of people who think plateaus happen for some weird mystical reasons when usually it's just that they're eating more calories than they think.9 -
Unless you are really short and have a BMR less than this to begin with.......gebeziseva wrote: »You will never reach a plateau if you eat accurately measured 1200cal.
Plateaus can also happen when people are not adjusting their calorie intake and burn to their new weight which means their deficit has gone out the window. There is so much less wriggle room for error to closer to your goal you get.3 -
1200 is a default minimum before exercise. Many women get this goal because their weekly weight loss goal is an aggressive one. This is a better goal for petite or elderly AND inactive women. Because you are young and active....nope it's not enough. 1390 is an improvement. You could bump up workout (Jillian) days a bit too.
A plus for slower weight loss is you keep a larger % of existing lean muscle mass. Fast weight loss make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass.
I do Jillian Michaels workout everyday. I just got through the first 10 days. Yesterday, being Sunday was the first day of not doing a workout. I took that day off, to mentally prepare for workout 2. Which i just did.did you mean bump that up in a different way. Maybe im confused lol?0 -
1200 is a default minimum before exercise. Many women get this goal because their weekly weight loss goal is an aggressive one. This is a better goal for petite or elderly AND inactive women. Because you are young and active....nope it's not enough. 1390 is an improvement. You could bump up workout (Jillian) days a bit too.
A plus for slower weight loss is you keep a larger % of existing lean muscle mass. Fast weight loss make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass.
I see why maybe you said bump it up. Yes I walk 3x a week, but Jillian I have been doing everyday for 10 days, minus one day after tge end of workout 1. Sorry I should have been more clear
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »
Unless you are really short and have a BMR less than this to begin with.......gebeziseva wrote: »You will never reach a plateau if you eat accurately measured 1200cal.
If you fall into this category you shouldn't use MFP to start with as it's minimum allowed calories are 1200.
Also how big do you think is the chance that OP falls into this category realistically?3 -
Did you set your profile activity level at "sedentary", "lightly active", "active", "very active"?
I'm also a stay-at-home-mom. I set it to "lightly active". I rarely sit during my day. I'm always moving. House cleaning & gardening raise the heart rate & tone some muscles. If I were a better house keeper/gardener I might even move it up to "active", but I'm not. Some sahm's might watch TV all day, but if you don't, don't list yourself as "sedentary".
That might move your calorie needs up a bit.0 -
Maybe you should set your rate of loss slower.
Set it for 1 lb a week instead of 2 and get more calories to work with.
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GottaluvFood wrote: »Did you set your profile activity level at "sedentary", "lightly active", "active", "very active"?
I'm also a stay-at-home-mom. I set it to "lightly active". I rarely sit during my day. I'm always moving. House cleaning & gardening raise the heart rate & tone some muscles. If I were a better house keeper/gardener I might even move it up to "active", but I'm not. Some sahm's might watch TV all day, but if you don't, don't list yourself as "sedentary".
That might move your calorie needs up a bit.
I moved it up to lightly active,I do clean and stay up after my boys but the biggest motivator for moving it to lightly active is walking my 4 yr old to school everyday now,it takes about 15 min with him in a stroller, but now he is walking, so maybe 20 minutes, and me walking back by myself 10 -15 minutes ..then in the afternoon walking to go pick him up, then he and I walking back together. I don't want to log this every day. I already log my walk for an hour 3x a week for my exercise, so I decided to include my son going to school and having to get him ready and taking him as lightly active. So im hoping my calories are ok now. I just want to be sure that my extra calories or my reason for being lightly active is justified lol.0 -
How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?0
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kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
I am 5 '4 and 3/4. And my first goal is to get to 150.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
And im at 190 currently. I started off a few weeks ago at 196.0 -
Nykkismommy21 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
I am 5 '4 and 3/4. And my first goal is to get to 150.Nykkismommy21 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
And im at 190 currently. I started off a few weeks ago at 196.
Thanks! With 40 pounds to lose, do use 1 pound per week for your weekly weight loss goal.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Nykkismommy21 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
I am 5 '4 and 3/4. And my first goal is to get to 150.Nykkismommy21 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »How tall are you and how many pounds do you have to lose until you reach your goal weight?
And im at 190 currently. I started off a few weeks ago at 196.
Thanks! With 40 pounds to lose, do use 1 pound per week for your weekly weight loss goal.
Can I ask why it'd be better at the 1lb and not the 1.5 -2lb instead ? Thanks.0 -
It gives you a smaller deficit - 1lb per week is 500 calories a day below maintenance, 2lbs per week is 1000 calories a day below maintenance.
2lbs per week isn't always sustainable some numbers as an example: At my current height and weight my maintenance is 1710 so losing at a rate of 1lb per week gives me 1210 calories a day, if I tried to lose 2lbs per week the calories I'd be required to eat would be waaaaay under the minimum recommended level.
Generally the less you have to lose the smaller your deficit should be, it makes sure you minimise muscle loss (you heart is a muscle, you want to protect it as well as the fact that maintaining decent muscle mass is what stops you from looking "skinny fat" in the end), gives you more calories to eat and makes your diet more sustainable.
I know there's a desire to lose weight as fast as possible but I've seen it said several times that you didn't gain the weight in a few weeks, you shouldn't expect to lose it that quickly either.3 -
gebeziseva wrote: »Lillymoo01 wrote: »
Unless you are really short and have a BMR less than this to begin with.......gebeziseva wrote: »You will never reach a plateau if you eat accurately measured 1200cal.
If you fall into this category you shouldn't use MFP to start with as it's minimum allowed calories are 1200.
Also how big do you think is the chance that OP falls into this category realistically?
So I should not have been using this app in the first place simply because my BMR is under 1200? What a load of rot. You just need to know your body and how the app works to make necessary adjustments. For me that was only eating back 1/2 my exercise calories.0 -
Nykkismommy21 wrote: »GottaluvFood wrote: »Did you set your profile activity level at "sedentary", "lightly active", "active", "very active"?
I'm also a stay-at-home-mom. I set it to "lightly active". I rarely sit during my day. I'm always moving. House cleaning & gardening raise the heart rate & tone some muscles. If I were a better house keeper/gardener I might even move it up to "active", but I'm not. Some sahm's might watch TV all day, but if you don't, don't list yourself as "sedentary".
That might move your calorie needs up a bit.
I moved it up to lightly active,I do clean and stay up after my boys but the biggest motivator for moving it to lightly active is walking my 4 yr old to school everyday now,it takes about 15 min with him in a stroller, but now he is walking, so maybe 20 minutes, and me walking back by myself 10 -15 minutes ..then in the afternoon walking to go pick him up, then he and I walking back together. I don't want to log this every day. I already log my walk for an hour 3x a week for my exercise, so I decided to include my son going to school and having to get him ready and taking him as lightly active. So im hoping my calories are ok now. I just want to be sure that my extra calories or my reason for being lightly active is justified lol.
That seems like a sensible plan. You will soon tell if it works by your weight loss. I'd also consider dropping your goal down to losing 1 pound a week as 2 pounds isn't as sustainable.1
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