amount of calories
mandy220750
Posts: 65 Member
Hi I thought I would check my goals and input my current weight.
Given 1200 but this seems too low
I am female currently 252 pounds and 5 foot 6 and do little exercise
I have lost over 60 pounds
Had to adjust back to 1340 calories
Surely 1200 is too low for my size? or is this correct?
Given 1200 but this seems too low
I am female currently 252 pounds and 5 foot 6 and do little exercise
I have lost over 60 pounds
Had to adjust back to 1340 calories
Surely 1200 is too low for my size? or is this correct?
2
Replies
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Did you choose an aggressive goal like 2 pounds a week?3
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Yes I chose 2lb per week, but with the amount of weight I have still to lose do not think its aggressive?0
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That's pretty dang low. You don't have to go with the suggestion if you don't want to. Start at a deficit that feels comfortable and work from there. I aim for TDEE less 20% and find it very doable. I'm 184 and losing more than a pound a week on 2000/day plus modest exercise, aiming for 1900 next month. And I certainly never intend to go as low at 1200!
ETA: just because you have a lot to lose doesn't mean you have to start off fast! If anything, you've got further to go in terms of permanently changing your eating patterns, so starting off slow and building momentum may be your best bet.7 -
It's most likely because of the sedentary setting, I'm only about 10 lbs lighter, and tried setting it to sedentary and 2 lb loss, and was only given 1200 cals. I would suggest setting it to 1lb loss a week and throw in exercise daily5
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mandy220750 wrote: »Yes I chose 2lb per week, but with the amount of weight I have still to lose do not think its aggressive?
It's not that an aggressive goal is bad (they work well for some people), but if choosing an aggressive goal gives you a calorie goal that seems daunting or too hard to regularly hit, it's probably better to choose a different goal.12 -
If you've recently lost 60 pounds, you know how much you need to eat, right? Were you previously keeping track?
You don't mention your regular activity...if you have any kind of job or go to school or have kids - don't set it to Sedentary. A higher "activity" setting will give more calories.
On this site, when/if you exercise, enter that into the Exercise page and you will be given more calories to offset that increased need. This site is different from almost every other site in that way.
So, use your past data/experience to set your calorie goal. Adjust in a month if something isn't working.1 -
I took a guess on your age (30) - but a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator gave me (using 1-3 days exercise a week) - a TDEE of 2630cal
if you wanted to lose a lb a week - then you would need to eat 1000cal under that - so 1630 a day - but DO NOT eat back exercise calories (TDEE is different to the MFP calculator)4 -
I agree it is because of your current active setting. To lose 2lbs per week, that is about a 1000 per day deficit. From my own use I figured that MFP calculates sedentary lifestyle as burning about 2000 calories per day with normal activity. (my steps and calories burned are estimated on my step tracker, and synced to MFP)
Unless you know how many calories you actually burn in a day it is hard to tell how many calories you should consume in order to keep your goal of 2lbs per week.
I am not working out at this time. So I can use my fitness tracker to get a good estimate of how many calories I have burned through the day.
Cal Burned Steps MFP Cal Earned
2551 11,141 171
2530 10,153 0
2565 11,258 164
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I am trying to lose 2 lbs a week and given 1091 for my calorie intake daily, im on week three and am sustaining it so i think 1200 is sustainable9
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Thanks for all the advise. I am in my fifties and due to medical issues cannot do much in the way of exercise.
I thought 1200 was the lowest MFP would let you go so don't understand 1091 calorie given goal. I will keep at 1340 and see what happens. One pound a week will be good. Guess I want to lose a little quicker but slow and steady wins the race7 -
bentleytino2010 wrote: »I am trying to lose 2 lbs a week and given 1091 for my calorie intake daily, im on week three and am sustaining it so i think 1200 is sustainable
You have no idea how much you are eating because you aren't weighing measuring stuff...I'll lay odds you are over 12005 -
My goal is 1200 and I weigh and measure everything, I try to eat very clean and I usually come in under 1100. I do have binge days. I am 150, 5'5" with a job that has me sitting a lot, my goal was 2 pounds a week. 1200 is easily done with meal prep and loads of vegetables, fruit are sneaky buggers.2
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I forgot to mention I do cardio 4 to 5 days a week and burn about 400 to 500 cals so in actuality I'm eating 1300 to 1500 cals0
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bentleytino2010 wrote: »I am trying to lose 2 lbs a week and given 1091 for my calorie intake daily, im on week three and am sustaining it so i think 1200 is sustainable
Do you have a picture that shows that system error? Because a woman would never be given less than 1,200, so there's a bug if you got 1091. If you're male, it's especially wrong, considering the system minimum for men is 1,500.
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It's most likely because of the sedentary setting
Agree with this, I started with similar stats so should have similar numbers to you. If set to sedentary 1200 calories would be 2 lbs/week for me. But, my personal history indicates I burn more than sedentary calories just going to work and bopping around cooking in the evenings, no intentional exercise included. My TDEE is closer to 2400 so 2lbs/week would be 1400ish for me . Very few non disabled people are actually sedentary.1 -
Hi I set my stats to sedentary because I have severe arthritis in my knees so do little walking and my job is in a office so sitting all day. I am not classed as disabled but I only do a small amount of physical activity so the nearest option for my stats is sedentary. I tried to input honest stats nearest to my situation and was given 1200. But I am keeping to 1340 to see if I lose. Thanks0
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This seems very low to lose 1 lb. 1000 deficit would be 2 lbs/week....500 kcal deficit = 1 lb week.deannalfisher wrote: »I took a guess on your age (30) - but a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator gave me (using 1-3 days exercise a week) - a TDEE of 2630cal
if you wanted to lose a lb a week - then you would need to eat 1000cal under that - so 1630 a day - but DO NOT eat back exercise calories (TDEE is different to the MFP calculator)
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charlenekapf wrote: »This seems very low to lose 1 lb. 1000 deficit would be 2 lbs/week....500 kcal deficit = 1 lb week.deannalfisher wrote: »I took a guess on your age (30) - but a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator gave me (using 1-3 days exercise a week) - a TDEE of 2630cal
if you wanted to lose a lb a week - then you would need to eat 1000cal under that - so 1630 a day - but DO NOT eat back exercise calories (TDEE is different to the MFP calculator)
Yeah I realized after I screwed up the 1lb a week number - still much better than 12-1300 though0 -
charlenekapf wrote: »This seems very low to lose 1 lb. 1000 deficit would be 2 lbs/week....500 kcal deficit = 1 lb week.deannalfisher wrote: »I took a guess on your age (30) - but a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator gave me (using 1-3 days exercise a week) - a TDEE of 2630cal
if you wanted to lose a lb a week - then you would need to eat 1000cal under that - so 1630 a day - but DO NOT eat back exercise calories (TDEE is different to the MFP calculator)
I think that was a typo. I agree, it should read "one pound" for a 500 calorie daily deficit.
*edit to say, oh, maybe I should refresh before hitting post.
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cmriverside wrote: »charlenekapf wrote: »This seems very low to lose 1 lb. 1000 deficit would be 2 lbs/week....500 kcal deficit = 1 lb week.deannalfisher wrote: »I took a guess on your age (30) - but a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator gave me (using 1-3 days exercise a week) - a TDEE of 2630cal
if you wanted to lose a lb a week - then you would need to eat 1000cal under that - so 1630 a day - but DO NOT eat back exercise calories (TDEE is different to the MFP calculator)
I think that was a typo. I agree, it should read "one pound" for a 1000 calorie daily deficit.
*edit to say, oh, maybe I should refresh before hitting post.
I tried to math while caffeine deprived....
So 500 deficit with TDEE would be 2100 cal a day1 -
dammit. I did it too!!
I edited my post. . . from now on remind me to mind my own beeswax.0 -
mandy220750 wrote: »Hi I thought I would check my goals and input my current weight.
Given 1200 but this seems too low
I am female currently 252 pounds and 5 foot 6 and do little exercise
I have lost over 60 pounds
Had to adjust back to 1340 calories
Surely 1200 is too low for my size? or is this correct?
It's just math based on averages, not a personalized recommendation in the way people sometimes think.
If you are doing well on 1340, stick with that. Consistency at a sustainable goal is much better than aiming for a more aggressive goal and burning out or not being as consistent. Also, I think when you have a lot to lose you sometimes burn more even not doing a lot of intentional exercise so can burn more than expected. That's what happened to me when I first started.
Anyway, using a calculator, your burn if truly sedentary is likely under 2200, so subtract 1000 (for 2 lb/week) is going to get you the 1200. So at 1340 you might on average lose 1.8 lbs or 1.5 lbs or the like. But that's not bad, and you may find that you keep losing a bit more quickly anyway.
Sounds like you know what you're doing from past results, so don't worry about that goal recommendation and good luck! Welcome to MFP.1
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