Do I really have to eat 1400 calorie forever?

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Replies

  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Buy a fitness monitor and measure your activity. Eat those calories. But yeah, maybe. I am 5'10". I've been logging more than 5 years and maintaining at a great weight. But I net 1300 calories. And I'll have to keep doing that. I EAT more than that because I walk and exercise. But not a lot more.

    OTOH, I'm good. I eat everything I love, just not a lot of it. I've dropped a few big things from my diet (whole milk, cheese, bread) and just eat them in smaller quantities. But yeah, a few big cookies and I'm over for the day. Good news is that I'm also not hungry and my body knows that I don't need it. So it really DOESN'T bother me.
  • Lovelifeyoulive
    Lovelifeyoulive Posts: 19 Member
    Tabbycat00 wrote: »
    lol. 1400 is my goal and I find it hard to eat that many! I'm 5'2 and trying to maintain no less than 98 lbs. I say listen to your body. Eat a few more calories if that's what feels right and pay attention to your weight. Everyone is different.

    Have you maintained on 1400 healthily? Have you had any negative affects?
  • FarmerCarla
    FarmerCarla Posts: 470 Member
    If you're eating 1400 calories daily and losing weight, eat more to maintain. You can experiment to find what's right for you. Congratulations on being at a maintenance point!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,971 Member
    Yes, if that's what it takes to maintain your weight where you want it to be.

    If you feel too hungry on so few cals, then you have to burm more cals to eat more so that the net is the same.

    That's how it is for me.

    I'm male, 5'8", currently weigh 155 and maintenance level at this wt is 1850 cals but I find myself getting too hungry if I only eat 1850 cals or less.

    So, I row 5k meters and burn roughly 250 cals/day so that I can eat 2100 cals/day instead. I don't feel deprived or hungry as a result.
  • cookie7777
    cookie7777 Posts: 3 Member
    I was trying to respond to the person who said “ do I have to only eat 1100 calories daily forever to maintain my weight” as an option what I do. This is an open community with comments so open feedback is welcome from what I understand.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    cookie7777 wrote: »
    I have been doing the every other day eating plan I only do it 3 days a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday eating only 500 calories and tracking what I eat those days only on MyFitnessPal. I lost weight as eating plan and book on alternate day diet says you will and kept it all off. The other days I eat what I want no real restrictions but in general I don’t eat red meat or much sweets as that’s not stuff I want anyway. Brownies and some sweets once in a while. I kept weight off and don’t exercise as with kids after work and this has really helped me and my hubby doing it lost and kept weight off a lot easier as only eating low calorie half the time. I urge you to try it get the book it’s called The Every Other Day Diet or The Alternate Day Diet. It works and no you won’t have to count calories forever and only stay at a certain number daily just restrict for 3 days or you can be strict and so every other day if you want to. Hubby and I separately lost 13-15 lbs each on this and still losing. Go off it for 1 week over holidays or on business trip weeks then get right back on.

    you may not be counting calories but your body is. if you arent overeating on the days you eat what you want ,and eating 500 on the other days, and you are losing weight then you are eating in a deficit. if you keep it off you are eating enough to maintain your weight. for some though eating 500 calories a couple days and then eating what they want the rest of the time could for them result in weight gain due to wiping out their deficit.

    eating like you are may not work for everyone. I know for me if I could eat what I wanted the other 4 days I would overeat without counting my calories and wipe out any deficit I had. but thats me. also for me I may have to count my calories the rest of my life and for me thats fine whatever works. if what you are doing works for you thats fine and great. but its not going to be that way for everyone.
  • Violette_Qin
    Violette_Qin Posts: 6 Member
    The short answer to your question is: Yes, you are off with your calculation.

    The 1400 calories you mentioned is the "bottom line" needed to keep your body functioning + maintaining a sedentary lifestyle output such as desk work, eating meals, etc.

    In addition to those 1400 calories, you can eat whatever you burn EXTRA. This includes the calories you burn while walking your 10,000+ steps, or gym training.

    The more extra activities you add to your day, the more extra calorie allowances you get to eat that day.

    I recommend to use an activity tracker (what I use is Fitbit Versa) to know your correct daily calorie output.

    Pair it with MFP's monitoring of your daily calorie input and MFP's real-time feedback on how much you can still eat for the day, you should be able to eat your way slim in a fulfilling way (as I am experiencing).
  • m4rtys
    m4rtys Posts: 1 Member
    I have a question regarding the daily calories..... i am trying to lose fat whilst attempting to maintain weight and add muscle. My BMR calculated by the fancy machine at the gym is roughly 1800 and MFP has set me 1500 calories a day.

    My question is do i try to stick to the 1500 calories a day (Gross), or as long as the adjusted calories (Net) are below the 1500 I should be hitting the goal?

    I am active throughout the week - gym (weights), Spin and walking, so some days MFP adds 1000 calories plus to my total. I am using my Garmin watch to record all activities which is linked to MFP so should be accurate.