1000 calories per day is BAD???

OhSoFancy · February 2019

I am 29 years old, female, 141 pounds, and 5 foot. I’ve read that eating 1000 calories per day is not good for the body. I spend 16 minutes per day on a recumbent bike doing hills (6 minutes is warm up/cool down and the other 10 minutes is actual work). The machine says I burn 20 calories. Other than that, I get in around 4500 steps per day. BMR is 1423. If I have a caloric deficit of 423, then I am eating 1000 calories per day.... but is that BAD? Help! I want to lose weight but I want to be safe about it. Thank you for being a community I can reach out to.

MichelleSilverleaf · February 2019

1000 cal generally isn't enough to get all your required nutrients in. Your BMR is what you'd burn if you were in a coma. Your actual calories will be higher than your BMR because you're up and about. See what number MFP gives you to lose 1lb/week based on your daily activity excluding exercise and eat to that number.

cwolfman13 · February 2019

OhSoFancy wrote: »

I am 29 years old, female, 141 pounds, and 5 foot. I’ve read that eating 1000 calories per day is not good for the body. I spend 16 minutes per day on a recumbent bike doing hills (6 minutes is warm up/cool down and the other 10 minutes is actual work). The machine says I burn 20 calories. Other than that, I get in around 4500 steps per day. BMR is 1423. If I have a caloric deficit of 423, then I am eating 1000 calories per day.... but is that BAD? Help! I want to lose weight but I want to be safe about it. Thank you for being a community I can reach out to.

You don't take your deficit from BMR. BMR is the calories you burn merely existing and doing nothing else. BMR is the calories you would burn in a coma. Your deficit is taken off of your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is your BMR+Day to day stuff+Exercise.

For example, my BMR is around 1800 calories...but with my day to day stuff and regular exercise, my total energy expenditure is 2800-3000 calories per day and thus I lose about 1 Lb per week eating 2300-2500 calories per day.

1200 calories is typically the lowest recommendation for a sedentary female to provide for adequate nutrition and energy.

savithny · February 2019

As said: BMR is not your total burn. Its your BASAL metabolism, without activity.

OhSoFancy · February 2019

Thank you all for the good information. I have located a website to calculate TDEE: https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&g=female&age=29&lbs=141&in=60&act=1.2&bf=32&f=2 I have also adjust MFP to reflect the web sites data for sedentary lifestyle (TDEE =1571(-500 caloric deficit)=1071 cal/day mandatory) and I will adjust per day reflecting the activity level. How often do you all update your MFP calories/macros? I am thinking I will recalculate using the mentioned URL per 5 pounds dropped, but I would like your recommendation as well. Thank you all for your support through my weight loss journey.

Redordeadhead · February 2019

500 calories might be too high of a deficit for you if you're not very active. Try 250, and then eat back a portion of any exercise calories burned.

Can I ask, why are you only doing 16 minutes on the bike? It's an oddly specific number. If you can fit in more exercise, it will allow you to eat more.

MichelleSilverleaf · February 2019

I don't touch my calories or macros. My calories adjust as I update my weight. But I would echo that maybe a 500cal deficit is too much and 250cal might be better. Also consider as to whether you're actually sedentary or not, some people pick it when they don't actually fit that.

OhSoFancy · February 2019

I did set MFP to add the calories burned that is being tracked by my fit bit to the total caloric daily need. I will add 250 calories back to the MFP goal as well (thank you for that suggestion!) The recumbent bike I have at home asks how long I would like to do a set program (I always chose “hills”). Since I am new to working out, I have set the bike to 10 minutes of hills each day for the last 3 days. This is to gain consistency. I will be increasing the bike to 11 minutes today and so on. I could make more time to work out, but right now I am working on getting into the habit of being active for the first week of this journey. Thank you for the question. Dialogue leads to education.

shadow2soul · February 2019

I used a different calculator and got this for you:

Scooby
TDEE = 1690
20% Deficit = 1352
Projected weight loss = 0.7lbs per week

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/#charts

FitnessFrog

TDEE = 1690

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html/

IIFYM
Recommends 1486 based on your stats (I guessed at goal weight, so that might change it)

This last calculator is unique in that it asks about daily life, strength training, and cardio separately.

OhSoFancy · February 2019

I greatly appreciate the information that you have provided shadow2soul! I went to both websites and filled out my information and what I have found is: fitness frog has TDEE at 1690 and has wonderful video resources on exercise techniques. Scoobys workshop took the cake though with the in depth questions. TDEE 1812, caloric deficit of 20%=1449. I think the custom meal plan it provides is beneficial. For macros, it gave only one variation: 35g protein, 45g carb, 20g fat. At TDCalculator.net they gave multiple macro varietions and asked for my body fat percentage (which is 32% according to the RENPHO scale) which adjusted TDEE from 1543 (with no % incl.) to 1571 (w/32% incl). What I have concluded with the websites that have TDEE with the caloric deficit auto calculated is 1. The TDEE (w/o body fat incl.) has a difference of 241 calories. Does anyone know why the TDEE would be different per website? I would assume they use the same formula, but if they did, the TDEE would be closer in deviation (theory). Thank you once again to shadow2soul for providing me with wonderful resources!!

MichelleSilverleaf · February 2019

OhSoFancy wrote: »

I greatly appreciate the information that you have provided shadow2soul! I went to both websites and filled out my information and what I have found is: fitness frog has TDEE at 1690 and has wonderful video resources on exercise techniques. Scoobys workshop took the cake though with the in depth questions. TDEE 1812, caloric deficit of 20%=1449. I think the custom meal plan it provides is beneficial. For macros, it gave only one variation: 35g protein, 45g carb, 20g fat. At TDCalculator.net they gave multiple macro varietions and asked for my body fat percentage (which is 32% according to the RENPHO scale) which adjusted TDEE from 1543 (with no % incl.) to 1571 (w/32% incl). What I have concluded with the websites that have TDEE with the caloric deficit auto calculated is 1. The TDEE (w/o body fat incl.) has a difference of 241 calories. Does anyone know why the TDEE would be different per website? I would assume they use the same formula, but if they did, the TDEE would be closer in deviation (theory). Thank you once again to shadow2soul for providing me with wonderful resources!!

All calculators are estimates when you get down to it, even MFP. You try one, give it about 4-6 weeks and see how your progress is.

1000 calories per day is BAD???

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