Do I really have to eat 1400 calorie forever?
Replies
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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.2 -
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.8
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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.
I understand this works for you but if the OP is concerned that 1400kcal is too restrictive I don't think living half of the rest of her life on 500kcal is going to seem better.8 -
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.4
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You know every body is different. I'm 5'5" and my maintenance calories are around 1300. I am also 62 years old I walk 6 days a week for at leat 8,000 steps (often 10,000 or more) and have a desk job. Over the last year I have maintained a weight loss of 100 lbs. I originally lost 108 so in actual fact I have gained about 8 pounds. The only answer to what your final maintenance calories should be is experience.
I hear people all the time saying they are such and such height and maintain at much more than the person asking. Then they continue to tell them they can eat more. The proof is in trying a level and watching what your weight does. If it stays the same you are where you need to be if it goes up you need to drop it, if it goes down you get to raise it. Give it 4 to 6 weeks to see where you are going as small fluctuations can be caused by so many things, eg: water, food in your system or hormones etc.
Some people will assume I am not weighing all my food or logging the right entries thus only 1300 at my height and activity level but the bottom line is find a level that works for you and stick with it. If I overestimate my burns or underestimate my intake it really won't matter as long as I am consistent and sitck to the level that keeps my weight constant.
Don't worry about the future if you are still losing. The only other thing I would suggest is be smarter than I was and do some weight lifting exercise to maintain your muscle mass so that when you DO get to maintenance you will need more calories to maintain.19 -
cheryldumais wrote: »You know every body is different. I'm 5'5" and my maintenance calories are around 1300. I am also 62 years old I walk 6 days a week for at leat 8,000 steps (often 10,000 or more) and have a desk job. Over the last year I have maintained a weight loss of 100 lbs. I originally lost 108 so in actual fact I have gained about 8 pounds. The only answer to what your final maintenance calories should be is experience.
I hear people all the time saying they are such and such height and maintain at much more than the person asking. Then they continue to tell them they can eat more. The proof is in trying a level and watching what your weight does. If it stays the same you are where you need to be if it goes up you need to drop it, if it goes down you get to raise it. Give it 4 to 6 weeks to see where you are going as small fluctuations can be caused by so many things, eg: water, food in your system or hormones etc.
Some people will assume I am not weighing all my food or logging the right entries thus only 1300 at my height and activity level but the bottom line is find a level that works for you and stick with it. If I overestimate my burns or underestimate my intake it really won't matter as long as I am consistent and sitck to the level that keeps my weight constant.
Don't worry about the future if you are still losing. The only other thing I would suggest is be smarter than I was and do some weight lifting exercise to maintain your muscle mass so that when you DO get to maintenance you will need more calories to maintain.
Wow you maintain on 1300 with exercise? I can't imagine having to eat so little every day for the rest of my life. I was miserable at 1500-1600 when I thought that was my maintenance. (I now cycle throughout the range of 2100-2600) I am smaller than you too and sedentary outside of formal exercise.
I maintained 2 years on 1400-1600 but was miserable. I then tried to push my calories to the limit and see how much I could really maintain on. I slowly upped to where I am now without increasing my intentional exercise. I felt 100x better and gave me the energy I needed to actually burn more. Before, I was a sloth and my body felt slow and sluggish, I would take the elevator, park close, avoid lifting groceries in many trips, no energy to dance in the car when a song comes on, etc. My workouts also were suffering because I would go super slow on the elliptical and take the "easy way" during yoga, not engaging my muscles at all so I naturally got less out of every workout.
I think there is benefit in increasing until you start to gain because you might find you have more energy (thus more unintentional output calories) and can actually maintain on more.14 -
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.2 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »You know every body is different. I'm 5'5" and my maintenance calories are around 1300. I am also 62 years old I walk 6 days a week for at leat 8,000 steps (often 10,000 or more) and have a desk job. Over the last year I have maintained a weight loss of 100 lbs. I originally lost 108 so in actual fact I have gained about 8 pounds. The only answer to what your final maintenance calories should be is experience.
I hear people all the time saying they are such and such height and maintain at much more than the person asking. Then they continue to tell them they can eat more. The proof is in trying a level and watching what your weight does. If it stays the same you are where you need to be if it goes up you need to drop it, if it goes down you get to raise it. Give it 4 to 6 weeks to see where you are going as small fluctuations can be caused by so many things, eg: water, food in your system or hormones etc.
Some people will assume I am not weighing all my food or logging the right entries thus only 1300 at my height and activity level but the bottom line is find a level that works for you and stick with it. If I overestimate my burns or underestimate my intake it really won't matter as long as I am consistent and sitck to the level that keeps my weight constant.
Don't worry about the future if you are still losing. The only other thing I would suggest is be smarter than I was and do some weight lifting exercise to maintain your muscle mass so that when you DO get to maintenance you will need more calories to maintain.
Wow you maintain on 1300 with exercise? I can't imagine having to eat so little every day for the rest of my life. I was miserable at 1500-1600 when I thought that was my maintenance. (I now cycle throughout the range of 2100-2600) I am smaller than you too and sedentary outside of formal exercise.
I maintained 2 years on 1400-1600 but was miserable. I then tried to push my calories to the limit and see how much I could really maintain on. I slowly upped to where I am now without increasing my intentional exercise. I felt 100x better and gave me the energy I needed to actually burn more. Before, I was a sloth and my body felt slow and sluggish, I would take the elevator, park close, avoid lifting groceries in many trips, no energy to dance in the car when a song comes on, etc. My workouts also were suffering because I would go super slow on the elliptical and take the "easy way" during yoga, not engaging my muscles at all so I naturally got less out of every workout.
I think there is benefit in increasing until you start to gain because you might find you have more energy (thus more unintentional output calories) and can actually maintain on more.
That's before exercise calories and frankly I'm up 8 pounds from my low point so adding more calories is not an option. I have tried weighing absolutely everything that crosses my lips and still can't eat more so I suspect I'm in the ballpark with my logging. My exercise currently is mainly walking which gives me around 130 - 150 extra calories a day. I also suffer from low thyroid although I'm medicated for it. Just the luck of the draw I guess. Currently working with a trainer to build some muscle as I suspect I lost quite a bit while losing 100 lbs. I'm hoping that will increase my metabolism.
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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).4 -
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.0 -
I only make several trips to the bathroom per day. I am sedentiary. You aren't.
Eta: I'm 5'7 and 140lbs and maintain on 1550 as a result of my lifestyle. This sucks.1 -
Violette_Qin wrote: »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).- How accurate are these activity trackers? Also how about the cheaper ones - do you think they are just as accurate? Do they work out your calories burned just by looking/measuring your heart rate? TIA
0 - How accurate are these activity trackers? Also how about the cheaper ones - do you think they are just as accurate? Do they work out your calories burned just by looking/measuring your heart rate? TIA
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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.
If you are not trying to lose weight, you should be eating all the calories you burn. Which means your BMR (this is what you would burn in a coma), daily activity and exercise. Given what you posted, no way is 1500 correct.
Did you put a weight loss goal in MFP when doing your setup? Something isn't making sense here.
And watches like Garmin are not very good at estimating calories for anything except steady state cardio. I cut the calories given pretty much in half for anything except running.1 -
Unfortunately, I too am sedentary - desk job. Not sure how many steps, but I only lose weight when I eat 1050-1200 calories. I do household work, I do some gardening, I do work out in the pool 3 times a week. Once I'm over that calorie level, I'm in maintenance mode. I am however 5'6 and 46 years old. Age has a lot to do with it as well. I was saddened with the realization that my maintenance will likely be 1400-1500 (at least at this weight it would be, I still have more to lose). Also are your steps really full steps, or just other movement. I saw a lady moving around to get her steps, but it wasn't exactly a brisk walk.1
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Violette_Qin wrote: »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).- How accurate are these activity trackers? Also how about the cheaper ones - do you think they are just as accurate? Do they work out your calories burned just by looking/measuring your heart rate? TIA
HR is actually only a decent estimate for calories for aerobic steady-state exercise, same HR for 2-4 min.
So no intervals, no lifting, no anaerobic, ect.
And even that decent estimate has known limitations because HR will change due to several factors that have nothing to do with your level of effort and calorie burn during aerobic exercise. (dehydrated, tired, caffeine, stressed, genetics, ect)
Steps giving a distance, and pretty accurate formula for distance and pace and weight leads to pretty decent estimate for daily calories outside of exercise.
If the steps are seen accurately, and the impact leading to a distance calculation. (like a wrist unit gripping a cart handle)
It can be good for average user - obviously a smallish error in those base calc's turns big if you do a lot of steps.
Or if you do few steps outside exercise but a lot of exercise - and it's got bad estimate for exercise calories.
Some things best manually logged - like lifting, even walking/running a known distance for time. Otherwise knowing the limits for workouts.
The cheaper units aren't using the propriety formulas for trying to determine that point where daily activity stops and exercise starts in order to start using HR-based calorie burn.
And getting resting HR stat's can improve that too for nicer formula's if used.
It's how some cheap treadmills may not ask your weight but provide a calorie burn based on who knows what weight.
Really nice ones ask weight, and watch the incline and do the math with pace.1 - How accurate are these activity trackers? Also how about the cheaper ones - do you think they are just as accurate? Do they work out your calories burned just by looking/measuring your heart rate? TIA
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Yes, yes, you do....and so do I.
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Me too0
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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.
I understand this works for you but if the OP is concerned that 1400kcal is too restrictive I don't think living half of the rest of her life on 500kcal is going to seem better.
I mean, yes it can work for some I guess, but I agree with smolmaus. Eating 500 calories a day 3 days a week is basically advocating a part-time eating disorder (it's why I'm so glad the 5:2 diet seems to be on the way out now). And if you're way over maintenance on the other days (say eating 3,500 or 4,000 instead of 2,000-2,500 for maintenance), then you're essentially in a binge/purge cycle to try and even it out (the purge being fasting). I used to get trapped in this type of cycle and my doctors diagnosed me with bulimia. When I ate like that, I maintained a healthy weight but my period stopped. I eat more regularly now but it still hasn't come back. Maybe some can be healthy eating like that, but I definitely was/am not.
Even when I was medically emaciated from anorexia I ate more than 500 calories a day. I think it's dangerous to suggest this way of eating to strangers.8 -
@staticsplit explain what the 5:2 is. is it completely not eating for 5 or 2 days then eating regular for the other portion? I thought I knew IF. I do the Lean Gains....16:80
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Eat at normal maintenance 5 days - 2 days during the week eat at 1/4 that amount.
Time it well with workouts and life and you can have no impact.
For those not needing to diet - it means they eat a tad more on the 5 days to balance out.
The Woo's to those comments is because these eating methods don't lead to eating disorders automatically as suggested. Many many find them to be beneficial, and there are health benefits found in the 5:2 study besides weight loss.
In fact in the studies they did not log food on the 5 days, they only had to prepare for the 2 days well.
There were no purge/binge cycles going on.
Then again studies rarely allow in people with medical history of eating disorders.
Then again someone with eating disorder could easily find attempting to take a reasonable deficit for a diet to be too much and slip into bad habits.5 -
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Everyone's maintenace level is different.
Yours (and anyone else's) is whatever it takes to maintain your weight where you want it based on your normal activity and exercise level.
If that's 1400 for you then that's what it is whether you like it or not. The only way to change it is to exercise more so that you can eat more.
For example, I've determined that my maintenance level is currently only1500 cals/day but I'd "starve" on only 1500 cals/day.
So, in order to eat more, I row 5k or 10k meters/day so that I can eat 270 or 540 cals more/day w/a total intake of 1770 or 2040 cals/day instead, while still maintaining my weight at the desired level.
Maintenance is a zero sum game and there's no way around it.7 -
Eat at normal maintenance 5 days - 2 days during the week eat at 1/4 that amount.
Time it well with workouts and life and you can have no impact.
For those not needing to diet - it means they eat a tad more on the 5 days to balance out.
The Woo's to those comments is because these eating methods don't lead to eating disorders automatically as suggested. Many many find them to be beneficial, and there are health benefits found in the 5:2 study besides weight loss.
In fact in the studies they did not log food on the 5 days, they only had to prepare for the 2 days well.
There were no purge/binge cycles going on.
Then again studies rarely allow in people with medical history of eating disorders.
Then again someone with eating disorder could easily find attempting to take a reasonable deficit for a diet to be too much and slip into bad habits.
I'm not saying they automatically lead to eating disorders (I said in the post some can be healthy that way), but they easily can (as in my case). I'll admit I could have phrased that better but I was having a particularly tough day food-wise so was more sensitive to that type of comment than I'd usually be.
500 calories in a day is very low and can be considered purging via fasting. A lot depends on your mindset as eating disorders are mental health issues more than physical, though obviously there are physical side effects. I still think it's dangerous to suggest as a matter of course compared to a mild deficit, as it can contribute to an all or nothing mentality common in bulimics.1
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