Confusion on calorie linit to start with a lot to lose

kchuch77
kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
edited November 26 in Getting Started
Hi guys -

I’m confused on this...

If you have a lot of weight to lose & you are just starting your weight loss journey, you can probably expect to safely lose 2 lbs a week. Does that mean you set your weight loss goal at 2 lbs a week then? If I do that, mfp gives me 1200 as my calorie limit to start. So lets say I stick to this for a few months, drop some weight, am I supposed to reset my goal at say...1 lb per week? If I do that, mfp will give me a higher calorie limit. But, this is where my confusion comes in. I thought in order to keep losing, you would have to keep cutting calories even further the closer you get to your goal weight, not adding more, no? I would think I would eat more calories now at the beginning of my journey, then gradually cut calories as I lose in order to continue losing?

I hope I made sense. Can anyone clear up my confusion? Thank you!! :-)

Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    The point is that you will be losing slower. MFP will not let you drop below a goal of 1200. If losing 2lb./week already sets you at 1200, you probably don't have that much to lose. Either that or you are kind of short.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    When you get to point slower weight loss is smarter - it is taking into account the fact you weight less.

    So indeed, it is more calories than before, but not as much as if you weighed the same.

    Still eating to lose weight.

    And something you didn't mention which is part of it too - that goal is ONLY on days you don't exercise.
    Exercise - you eat more - and still lose at same rate.
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
    I'd set your weight loss for 1 pound loss per week, just so you could eat a little more. And if you log your exercise, you'll get to eat some more calories that you've earned.
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    Sorry guys...

    I am short, 5’2”, and I am 41 years old. Right now I weigh 194 and would like to get down to 125 lbs, so about 70 lbs.

    Thanks!
  • JannRochelle
    JannRochelle Posts: 3 Member
    Hi:) I’m 5’2” as well and just started this wk ... it set my calorie count at 1200 as well and i put it at losing 1 lb per wk. doesn’t answer your question but maybe it has something to do with our height?
  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    JannRochelle wrote: »
    Hi:) I’m 5’2” as well and just started this wk ... it set my calorie count at 1200 as well and i put it at losing 1 lb per wk. doesn’t answer your question but maybe it has something to do with our height?

    Yep, I think its our height. Darn it! Hopefully after a couple weeks, my stomach will have adjusted to eating less. Water def helps! :-)
  • Sherilyncava
    Sherilyncava Posts: 1 Member
    Hi I’m new too. 5’2 & 225lbs. I put in goal to lose 1.5lbs/wk. Mfp set me at 1200 calories. I was still very hungry so I changed my goal to 1lb/wk and it gave me 1450 calories. This is more realistic for me. I want to lose 75lbs. When I get to losing & get my appetite under control then I’ll change my goal back to lose 1.5lb/wk and my calories will go back down to 1200 calories.
  • stacybaker707
    stacybaker707 Posts: 126 Member
    It also has to do with your activity level. I set mine to 2/week and it gave me 1200. I moved it to lightly active and it gave me 1430. I'm doing keto so I stay full on very little calories.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    kchuch77 wrote: »
    I thought in order to keep losing, you would have to keep cutting calories even further the closer you get to your goal weight, not adding more, no?

    No :)

    In order to keep losing AT THE SAME RATE you would have to keep cutting calories. But what you actually do is just lose weight a lot more slowly - 0.5 lb a week or so - when you’re close to your goal.

    People who have a lot to lose - and by ‘a lot’ I mean like over 150 lb - can start off by losing 2lb per week on a calorie allowance that’s higher than the maintenance amount for their goal weight. THEY will have to readjust lower somewhere along the line. But your 1200 kcal sounds like it’s below the maintenance for your goal weight, so you’ll continue to lose weight on it right to the end.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Not sure where I picked up that advise but it works for me: Check how many calories you should eat with your ideal weight, that's your goal. If I do ( IF... ) strenuous exercise, then myfitnesspal tells me by how many calories I should increase my food intake for that day. No exercise, and I am back to the goal weight calorie calculation.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    edited April 2018
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    Not sure where I picked up that advise but it works for me: Check how many calories you should eat with your ideal weight, that's your goal. If I do ( IF... ) strenuous exercise, then myfitnesspal tells me by how many calories I should increase my food intake for that day. No exercise, and I am back to the goal weight calorie calculation.

    I think this is a really simple and good rule of thumb.

    Eat the way you'll be eating when you get to goal weight.

    When I first started weight loss I was 5'8" and 220 pounds. Of course I chose "lose 2 pounds per week," because that's what we all do, right?

    I had a super hard time with the 1200 the site gave me. So I started exercising and that gave me 300 more on exercise days. 1500 including exercise is do-able. That extra 300 is another whole meal, and makes a huge difference.

    After I lost about 40 pounds at that rate I started to crash on a regular basis because I simply was not eating enough. So I did some reading and decided to go up in calories to "lose 1 pound per week." That gave me I think a little over 1600 on rest days and 1900-2000 on exercise days. I stayed at that until I got to within ten pounds of my goal. Then I only went up a couple hundred calories, to 1800 on rest days, and 2100-2200 on exercise days. I'm still at that ten years later.

    Turns out that's close enough to maintain my current weight of 140. I still have one or two days per week that I go quite a bit over that, and I still maintain. I kept good records and figured out what to do based on how I felt and my results.

    That worked well for me.

    I think if you try to get a bit of exercise it helps in a lot of ways, not the least of which is MOAR food.


    Just pay attention to food choices, water, and accurate logging. It's really easy to lose weight in the beginning, so it pays to learn to use the tool and be as accurate as possible when you're just starting - because it gets harder as you get smaller. There is just little room for error at the end.

  • kchuch77
    kchuch77 Posts: 31 Member
    edited April 2018
    You guys are all so awesome!!!! Thank you so much for taking time to help me understand & all your good advice!!! I really appreciate your help guys! :-) :-) :-)
  • booksgiver
    booksgiver Posts: 149 Member
    edited April 2018
    I'm vertically challenged too. 5'1 and it gave me a starting calorie goal of 1490 to lose 2 pounds a week. The fact that my starting weight is 340 is why it allows me that much. Now is not my first rodeo so I know that as I lose more it will change to 1200, but it never goes below that. I lost 118 pounds a few years ago and I averaged a loss of about 8 pounds a month. I hope this helps.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    kchuch77 wrote: »
    JannRochelle wrote: »
    Hi:) I’m 5’2” as well and just started this wk ... it set my calorie count at 1200 as well and i put it at losing 1 lb per wk. doesn’t answer your question but maybe it has something to do with our height?

    Yep, I think its our height. Darn it! Hopefully after a couple weeks, my stomach will have adjusted to eating less. Water def helps! :-)

    Your weight (and activity level) play a bigger role in how many calories you need to maintain (and hence to lose) than your height does.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    Not sure where I picked up that advise but it works for me: Check how many calories you should eat with your ideal weight, that's your goal. If I do ( IF... ) strenuous exercise, then myfitnesspal tells me by how many calories I should increase my food intake for that day. No exercise, and I am back to the goal weight calorie calculation.

    This is fine at first if you are obese or significantly overweight. But as you get within 20 lbs or 30 lbs of your goal weight, your rate of loss will slow to a crawl, and many people will get very frustrated. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but it's only for someone who is willing to be patient (it could easily take you a year to lose the last 10 lbs eating at maintenance for your ideal weight).
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