1200 calories a day will be the end of me

No matter how many pounds I tell FitnessPal I want to lose per week, I still end up getting 1200 calories a day. Ok fine, but I seriously feel hungry at the end of the day. I work out but because I don't have a fancy watch or fancy workout equipment, Idk how many calories I am losing so I don't know if and how many I should eat back. Help!

I am 5ft and 151 pounds.
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Replies

  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    edited February 2019
    are you logging your exercise and eating back those exercise calories?

    ETA:

    Just pick something from MFP's exercise database that sounds similar and log that. Try those calories for a while.


    Also: how much are you currently losing per week?
  • Suly09
    Suly09 Posts: 88 Member
    edited February 2019
    No I am not because as silly as I sound, I don't know all the proper terms for the exercises I am doing. Also to be honest, I do a few sets of different exercises and I guess I am too lazy to input each one individually.

    Just started back up about two weeks ago. Lost about .5 this past week.
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    I usually have it set to lose 0.25kg a week (roughly half a pound), on either lightly active or active. That should get your threshold set above 1200. Then see if you lose on that amount.

    I don't have an activity tracker either. You can use the exercise diary database to enter your exercise manually. It works just like the food diary. So, for example, you can put in "jump-rope, moderate", step-ups, walking and so on. That will add exercise calories onto your day for you.
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    Suly09 wrote: »
    No I am not because as silly as I sound, I don't know all the proper terms for the exercises I am doing. Also to be honest, I do a few sets of different exercises and I guess I am too lazy to input each one individually.

    Just started back up about two weeks ago. Lost about .5 this past week.

    You may be better off figuring out your deficit from a TDEE calculator which takes into consideration your exercise as well as non exercise activity. You subtract calories from that number and, manually input your goal into MFP and eat that amount whether you exercise or not that day. That way, you dont have to log exercise but still get to enjoy those extra calories.
  • Suly09
    Suly09 Posts: 88 Member
    Thank you all very much for taking your time out of the day to help me. Many people charge for exactly this.

    Yes, I work at an office and sit all day. I am very sedentary but I do try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week.
    I do weight training with small 8 pound weights, or HIIT threadmill, or elliptical and sometimes also circuit training.
    I do all this at home.

    I find myself most hungry when I do the weight training exercises which I assume means I am losing more calories with those workouts.

    I guess I just hoped that maybe 1200 calories a day was in fact too little and wrong.

    Also this is very true. Thank you for confirming what I always thought but wasn't sure was true: "Also, some women find themselves ultra-hungry for a few days at some point in their menstrual cycle, and adapt by eating at maintenance on those days."
  • ouryve
    ouryve Posts: 572 Member
    edited February 2019
    It's tough being a small woman in a world where portions are geared towards much bigger people. How filling those 1200 calories are will depend on what they're made of. 1200 calories of good protein, lots of veg, complex carbs and including some fats will be more satisfying than muller lights, mugshots, smoothies and ryvitas, for example.

    For steps, you can get a good approximation with the step counter built into your phone. You can get inexpensive watches like the Mi band but it doesn't sync directly with mfp. For specific exercises, if you've done 15 minutes of a shred type workout, then log it as aerobics, or similar. If the name of an exercise is unfamiliar to you, then Google it.

    It can be a steep learning curve if you're not confident, but you will get the hang of it.

    I'm 4" taller than you but the exact same weight and at "lightly active" which is a slow day for me - I almost always gain a few calories - I'm allocated just shy of 1600 kcal to lose 0.5lb per week.
  • Suly09
    Suly09 Posts: 88 Member
    "Weight training actually burns fewer calories than cardio" I really did not know this. I thought for sure weight training burned more calories since I have always heard that it keeps your heart rate up even well after youre done working out. I will incorporate more cardio now.

    I do have the step counter on my iphone but I do not always carry my iphone so it isnt too accurate.

    Should I be eating all my exercise calories back or just some?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    edited February 2019
    Suly09 wrote: »
    "Weight training actually burns fewer calories than cardio" I really did not know this. I thought for sure weight training burned more calories since I have always heard that it keeps your heart rate up even well after youre done working out. I will incorporate more cardio now.

    I do have the step counter on my iphone but I do not always carry my iphone so it isnt too accurate.

    Should I be eating all my exercise calories back or just some?

    Minute for minute, weight training burns fewer calories than most cardio. It may burn a higher percentage of calories post-workout, but in the sense of being a bit higher percentage of the workout calories . . . a bigger percentage of a smaller number can be a smaller absolute number than a smaller percentage of a bigger number.

    Weight training is still worth doing: It will help you retain as much existing muscle as possible while you lose weight, which is very worthwhile, and it will burn a few calories.

    Heart rate doesn't directly determine calorie burn, by the way: If it did, people would burn extra calories watching scary movies. Sadly, they don't. ;)

    How many exercise calories to eat back, at the start, is a function of your confidence in the accuracy of your estimates. MFP means for you to eat back every (actual) exercise calorie, but all we have is estimated calories. I estimated mine carefully, and usually ate all of them while losing weight (certainly do, now, in maintenance). Some people aren't very confident of their exercise calorie estimates, so eat back 50% or some such thing to start.

    The "at the start" thing is important: We are supposed to take MFP's estimate of calorie needs as a starting point, estimate/eat the exercise calories in a consistent way (be it 100%, 50% or something else), then monitor our actual results while logging carefully for 4-6 weeks. After that point, we can look back at our average weekly loss rate, and adjust as necessary. The initial estimates just provide the starting point.

    That said, if someone appears to be losing weight very fast in that first 4-6 weeks, and begins to feel otherwise unexplained fatigue or weakness, I'd strongly encourage them to eat more. That's a sign that calorie needs are underestimated, or exercise eat-backs are too lowball. Since too-fast weight loss is unhealthy, it makes sense to be conservative in that scenario. If one is losing "too slowly" at first, I'd still suggest hanging in there for the 4-6 weeks . . . sometimes water weight is weird, at the start, particularly if exercise changed.
  • ouryve
    ouryve Posts: 572 Member
    Agreeing with above. I've lost 4lb in 3 first 3 weeks of being back to being set at 1/2lb per week and I've been horribly hungry and a bit light headed, this week. As a result, I'm happy to eat at maintenance 2-3 times a week.

    In my case, I'm only logging steps and don't do any specific exercises due to some physical issues but I'm constantly pottering and fidgeting so probably do a lot that doesn't register.
  • Suly09
    Suly09 Posts: 88 Member
    ouryve wrote: »
    Agreeing with above. I've lost 4lb in 3 first 3 weeks of being back to being set at 1/2lb per week and I've been horribly hungry and a bit light headed, this week. As a result, I'm happy to eat at maintenance 2-3 times a week.

    In my case, I'm only logging steps and don't do any specific exercises due to some physical issues but I'm constantly pottering and fidgeting so probably do a lot that doesn't register.

    I fidget a lot too! and am constantly shaking my leg (idk why)... but hey your'e right, I guess those are a bit of extra calories one doesn't consider.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    Suly09 wrote: »
    ouryve wrote: »
    Agreeing with above. I've lost 4lb in 3 first 3 weeks of being back to being set at 1/2lb per week and I've been horribly hungry and a bit light headed, this week. As a result, I'm happy to eat at maintenance 2-3 times a week.

    In my case, I'm only logging steps and don't do any specific exercises due to some physical issues but I'm constantly pottering and fidgeting so probably do a lot that doesn't register.

    I fidget a lot too! and am constantly shaking my leg (idk why)... but hey your'e right, I guess those are a bit of extra calories one doesn't consider.

    Your fitness tracker may not "see" or count those calories, but your body absolutely counts them. ;)

    More ideas here:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
    I'm a little taller (5'2) and a little lighter (133), and I can't live with 1200 calories per day. The last time I calculated it out (based on my food logged and weight loss over a period of months) my TDEE was a little over 1800. This is with an office job and not a lot of intentional exercise. That puts me in the 'lightly active' (plus a little) bracket of MFP activity levels. I lose slowly on 1500, which is far better than starving on 1200, IMO. It's also more sustainable.

    Just because you're small doesn't mean you must, or even should, eat 1200 calories per day to lose weight! Commit to eating a set portion of your exercise calories and log your food faithfully for several weeks. After you have a decent amount of data, you should be able to see what is most appropriate for you.
  • Smacfit_
    Smacfit_ Posts: 101 Member
    I calculated mine on the IIFYM website and put it into MFP custom....you input your activity levels age height etc so it already factors in your exercise. I find this way easier...it has me at about 1550 cal