Is 1600 calories too much when trying to lose weight for a woman?

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  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
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    Athena98501 wrote: »
    gamespriteicon wrote: »
    If your hitting 10,000 steps a day. Try going to MyFitnessPal, "Goals" (on the Home Tab), and set the activity level to "Lightly Active". That number is where you should probably work on hitting. Mine says 1,400 but I'm working on any number from 1,200 - 1,600, just depends on the day's meal choices. Defiantly in-taking less then I was before. And working within a range is more motivating and less stressful in my opinion.

    I also work to get 11,000 steps 6 days a week. That is defiantly more than the 2,000-5,000 I used to get when I just wore my tracker instead of paying attention to it.

    Good luck on the rest of your journey!

    This is incorrect. 10,000+ steps is considered active, as in, between (which is above lightly active) somewhat active and highly active. I've also read it's approximately equivalent to walking 5 miles.

    With the intake and progress I listed above for myself, and considering myself lightly active, the OP could eat more than I do, and could lose a similar amount.

    Well today(it's 9 in the evening where I live) I've taken 14 thousand steps, which is pretty good I guess? I've almost walked 10 kilometers
  • Aerona85
    Aerona85 Posts: 159 Member
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    My calorie goal for losing 1 pound a week is 1680 and that is right on the mark for me. I am 5 foot 9 and closing in on 2000. My maintenance at goal weight should be between 1800 and 2000 so I don’t think 1600 to lose is too crazy. Everyone is different though.
  • Athena98501
    Athena98501 Posts: 716 Member
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    liljakaren1997 wrote: »
    Athena98501 wrote: »
    gamespriteicon wrote: »
    If your hitting 10,000 steps a day. Try going to MyFitnessPal, "Goals" (on the Home Tab), and set the activity level to "Lightly Active". That number is where you should probably work on hitting. Mine says 1,400 but I'm working on any number from 1,200 - 1,600, just depends on the day's meal choices. Defiantly in-taking less then I was before. And working within a range is more motivating and less stressful in my opinion.

    I also work to get 11,000 steps 6 days a week. That is defiantly more than the 2,000-5,000 I used to get when I just wore my tracker instead of paying attention to it.

    Good luck on the rest of your journey!

    This is incorrect. 10,000+ steps is considered active, as in, between (which is above lightly active) somewhat active and highly active. I've also read it's approximately equivalent to walking 5 miles.

    With the intake and progress I listed above for myself, and considering myself lightly active, the OP could eat more than I do, and could lose a similar amount.

    Well today(it's 9 in the evening where I live) I've taken 14 thousand steps, which is pretty good I guess? I've almost walked 10 kilometers

    If that's typical for you, it's considered highly active. I believe that's 12,500+ for that category. If I might ask, how in the world do you hit that many steps (lol)? I don't think I could manage it even if someone paid me $10/step.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
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    Weight loss is just not linear. For a 20 year old weighing 185, 1600 calories does not sound like too many to me ... as long as you are reasonably confident that you are tracking accurately. If after 6 weeks the scale has not budged, then however you are tracking your food, you are eating more or less at maintenance.
  • gamespriteicon
    gamespriteicon Posts: 66 Member
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    Athena98501 wrote: »
    gamespriteicon wrote: »
    If your hitting 10,000 steps a day. Try going to MyFitnessPal, "Goals" (on the Home Tab), and set the activity level to "Lightly Active". That number is where you should probably work on hitting. Mine says 1,400 but I'm working on any number from 1,200 - 1,600, just depends on the day's meal choices. Defiantly in-taking less then I was before. And working within a range is more motivating and less stressful in my opinion.

    I also work to get 11,000 steps 6 days a week. That is defiantly more than the 2,000-5,000 I used to get when I just wore my tracker instead of paying attention to it.

    Good luck on the rest of your journey!

    This is incorrect. 10,000+ steps is considered active, as in, between (which is above lightly active) somewhat active and highly active. I've also read it's approximately equivalent to walking 5 miles.

    With the intake and progress I listed above for myself, and considering myself lightly active, the OP could eat more than I do, and could lose a similar amount.

    Yes, I understand. For me 10,000 is less then 5 miles. I'm 5 ft 1in. It depends on the person and the level of activity when doing the steps, I didn't want to over estimate. I have a desk job (Sedentary), so I just increased it one level to "Lightly Active" since I just go for a 10-15 min walk 1-2 times during working break and then get the rest in the afternoon while taking care of my family / watching tv / (video workout 2-3x a week).

    If I get to 13,000 I will increase the level, but I'm not there. It is all trial and adjustment until you find your spot.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Apparently if I ever get to my "ideal" weight I will maintain it on more than 1600 calories a day (more like 1800). So if I just ate 1800 a day for a long time I'd get there.

    If you entered all your info into MFP and it says 1600, then in a perfect world it would work.

    Why is the world not perfect? Because human beings aren't perfect. In particular, we stink at math, measuring, and being honest.

    The vast majority of people don't log accurately, and unsurprisingly, the errors are almost always in the direction of eating more than they think they are. IS there anything at all that you eat or drink regularly that you don't bother to log?
    (example: If I didn't log my coffee at work I'd be really inaccurate, because it turns out that coffee creamer plus a packet of sugar add up to quite a few calories if you drink as much coffee as I do)
  • liljakaren1997
    liljakaren1997 Posts: 22 Member
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    savithny wrote: »
    Apparently if I ever get to my "ideal" weight I will maintain it on more than 1600 calories a day (more like 1800). So if I just ate 1800 a day for a long time I'd get there.

    If you entered all your info into MFP and it says 1600, then in a perfect world it would work.

    Why is the world not perfect? Because human beings aren't perfect. In particular, we stink at math, measuring, and being honest.

    The vast majority of people don't log accurately, and unsurprisingly, the errors are almost always in the direction of eating more than they think they are. IS there anything at all that you eat or drink regularly that you don't bother to log?
    (example: If I didn't log my coffee at work I'd be really inaccurate, because it turns out that coffee creamer plus a packet of sugar add up to quite a few calories if you drink as much coffee as I do)

    Well I usually don't track things with low calories like vegetables(cucumbers, lettuce etc.) and if I put a little butter on a cracker I usually don't log it.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    liljakaren1997 wrote: »
    savithny wrote: »
    Apparently if I ever get to my "ideal" weight I will maintain it on more than 1600 calories a day (more like 1800). So if I just ate 1800 a day for a long time I'd get there.

    If you entered all your info into MFP and it says 1600, then in a perfect world it would work.

    Why is the world not perfect? Because human beings aren't perfect. In particular, we stink at math, measuring, and being honest.

    The vast majority of people don't log accurately, and unsurprisingly, the errors are almost always in the direction of eating more than they think they are. IS there anything at all that you eat or drink regularly that you don't bother to log?
    (example: If I didn't log my coffee at work I'd be really inaccurate, because it turns out that coffee creamer plus a packet of sugar add up to quite a few calories if you drink as much coffee as I do)

    Well I usually don't track things with low calories like vegetables(cucumbers, lettuce etc.) and if I put a little butter on a cracker I usually don't log it.

    If you do feel like your weight loss is standing still, it might be worth tightening up your logging to see if that makes a difference. I'm not sure what "a little butter" is, but given that it's a calorie dense food, you might want to keep track of it.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    a serving of crackers is only 5 crackers and is usually at least 80-100 calories. A tablespoon of butter is 100 calories, and a "pat" of butter is about 40 calories. So one cracker with a smear of butter might be 40 calories. Not a LOT, but definitely not nothing.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    I lose eating over 1600 calories per day. I’m 115 lbs and pretty active.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
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    I lost weight on 1800 calories a day. That was me, everyone is different.

    Your weight loss will depend on 1) how accurately you're logging those 1600 calories -- tons of people on here don't measure their portions, and if you're one of them you could be hitting much more than your target, 2) and what your total calorie burn is (essentially "at rest" calories and exercise calories).
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Athena98501 wrote: »
    gamespriteicon wrote: »
    If your hitting 10,000 steps a day. Try going to MyFitnessPal, "Goals" (on the Home Tab), and set the activity level to "Lightly Active". That number is where you should probably work on hitting. Mine says 1,400 but I'm working on any number from 1,200 - 1,600, just depends on the day's meal choices. Defiantly in-taking less then I was before. And working within a range is more motivating and less stressful in my opinion.

    I also work to get 11,000 steps 6 days a week. That is defiantly more than the 2,000-5,000 I used to get when I just wore my tracker instead of paying attention to it.

    Good luck on the rest of your journey!

    This is incorrect. 10,000+ steps is considered active, as in, between (which is above lightly active) somewhat active and highly active. I've also read it's approximately equivalent to walking 5 miles.

    With the intake and progress I listed above for myself, and considering myself lightly active, the OP could eat more than I do, and could lose a similar amount.

    I walked 13k steps today and got 550 calories extra from MFP. I believe 500 calories would be what MP would add for active, so 10k is still lightly active IMO.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,681 Member
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    Could you be double counting your exercise? i.e. including time on the TM or intentional walks in your fitness journal, plus the total steps you do in the day. If you list yourself as active and then add in walks to work etc. and then sync your Garmin with its step counts, you could be double or even triple counting.

    I am basically sedentary, but I exercise intentionally for a couple of hours a day - walking and running mostly, plus some biking. My Garmin will give me 15,000 - 20,000 steps. I don't sync that with MFP, because it includes my intentional exercise, which I log separately, as well as steps around the house or the grocery, which is part of my essentially sedentary lifestyle. I like eating back my exercise calories but don't want to assume I'm more active than I actually am.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    hesterific wrote: »
    It's not about your calories, they're not all created equal. It's what you're eating. Anything that spikes your insulin will tell your body to 1) store fat and 2) not release your stored fat for energy. If you are insulin sensitive it won't matter as much, if you are more insulin resistant it matters MORE THAN ANYTHING. Figure out what's in your diet that spikes your insulin, remove it, replace it with something that doesn't have an insulin response.

    Everything you ever eat spikes your insulin to some degree or another. Please explain and support with scientific evidence how insulin would cause someone in calorie deficit to store fat.

    Also to say calories are not all created equal means what to you? Are all pounds not created equal? How about all miles? A calorie is a measurement of a unit of energy. Each calorie measures the same.

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