Need opinions onweight loss and calories
Mugs203
Posts: 26 Member
Hoping to get some advice.
Trying to lose weight and MFP says I shoud be eating 1200 calories per day. I like to workout and can burn 500-600 per day in spin class or on elliptical machine etc. Because my calories are low to begin with, I am not sure if I should be eating back those calories. What are your thoughts?
Trying to lose weight and MFP says I shoud be eating 1200 calories per day. I like to workout and can burn 500-600 per day in spin class or on elliptical machine etc. Because my calories are low to begin with, I am not sure if I should be eating back those calories. What are your thoughts?
1
Replies
-
MFP intends you to eat back exercise calories. If you are confident that they're calculated correctly, eat them all. If not, start by eating half to account for possible overestimation, and adjust from there.
What is your height, starting weight, and how much are you trying to lose? Unless you're a very short, older, and/or sedentary woman, 1200 is likely too few calories for you. Women often get a recommendation of 1200 calories when they enter a pace of weight loss that's too fast for their stats.8 -
MFP intends you to eat back exercise calories. If you are confident that they're calculated correctly, eat them all. If not, start by eating half to account for possible overestimation, and adjust from there.
What is your height, starting weight, and how much are you trying to lose? Unless you're a very short, older, and/or sedentary woman, 1200 is likely too few calories for you. Women often get a recommendation of 1200 calories when they enter a pace of weight loss that's too fast for their stats.
I am only 5'2" and 147 lbs. Want to get down to 130.
0 -
I do not eat back my calories. Because of this I’m actually at the lowest weight I’ve been in years I weighed myself the other day for the first time in a really long time. I actually do not need to lose any more weight.15
-
I do not eat back my calories. Because of this I’m actually at the lowest weight I’ve been in years I weighed myself the other day for the first time in a really long time. I actually do not need to lose any more weight.
But does MFP recommend more than 1200 for you? Thats what concerns me
2 -
MFP intends you to eat back exercise calories. If you are confident that they're calculated correctly, eat them all. If not, start by eating half to account for possible overestimation, and adjust from there.
What is your height, starting weight, and how much are you trying to lose? Unless you're a very short, older, and/or sedentary woman, 1200 is likely too few calories for you. Women often get a recommendation of 1200 calories when they enter a pace of weight loss that's too fast for their stats.
I am only 5'2" and 147 lbs. Want to get down to 130.
With a small amount of weight to lose, you should be targeting 0.5 lb/week rate of loss. Set MFP to that and you should get a slightly higher calorie allowance. Get a food scale, weigh all solid food, and be patient. The weight will come off.9 -
Hoping to get some advice.
Trying to lose weight and MFP says I shoud be eating 1200 calories per day. I like to workout and can burn 500-600 per day in spin class or on elliptical machine etc. Because my calories are low to begin with, I am not sure if I should be eating back those calories. What are your thoughts?
That 1200 goal is for a non-exercise day ONLY.
Doesn't matter if your goal is low or medium or high - the goal is always plus exercise calories as that part of your calorie needs isn't factored in until you do the exercise and log it.
Why wouldn't you eat back your exercise calories if you believe them to be reasonable? That is how this tool is designed after all.
How will you expect to maintain when you get to goal weight if you ignore a perfectly valid energy need?
10 -
...and yes, your calorie goal is NET calories. You should eat back some or all of your exercise calories. And I say ‘some’ mainly because most exercise calories are overestimated.4
-
MFP intends you to eat back exercise calories. If you are confident that they're calculated correctly, eat them all. If not, start by eating half to account for possible overestimation, and adjust from there.
What is your height, starting weight, and how much are you trying to lose? Unless you're a very short, older, and/or sedentary woman, 1200 is likely too few calories for you. Women often get a recommendation of 1200 calories when they enter a pace of weight loss that's too fast for their stats.
I am only 5'2" and 147 lbs. Want to get down to 130.
With so little weight left to lose, you want to lose slowly so you don't risk too much muscle loss and don't mess with your hormones. 0.5-1 lb per week. Eat the MFP goal + at least some of your exercise calories. Log accurately and consistently and be patient
Check out the Most Helpful Posts threads pinned to the top of each forum and Good luck! 3 -
Hi! Sounds like a great thread! Currently, I'm at 166 - the lowest in 30 yrs! I am 59yo female, 5'7", exercise about 2x/wk on elyptical 20-30 min HIIT which for me is less 1 1/2 mins sustained top speed to heart rate target then back down and rest. Also, do resistane for 15 min. twice a week. My BP has gone from 139/89 to 95/65 in a year. I'm eating a caloric defecit to about 1,100-1,200 which is hard to get bc I'm fat adapted keto,... have to really push in cal bc I am not hungry and have tons of energy. Autophagy during IF (intermittent fasting) stops at 15g of protein (recycles protein and fats) but I push in about .7 or .8 x my weight in ptotein so my hair doesn't fall out and i don't eat my own lean mass. Here is my eating roughly: 46% fat, 48% protein, rest dense carbs. Thoughts? Calorie ideas? Protein intake? Goal 138 lbs. Most online calcs and TDEE don't fit my approach. Thanks! All the best! ps - down 100lbs as of yesterday, feel great. 2 meals a day - don't want my metab to slow so iwant to go into autophagy 2x week fasting to drive up metabolism and counteract its reduction from reduced caloric intake. my nutrition is very dense and mostly organic - carn/veg/lacto ovo . Thanks, again!
10 -
If you are hungry eat, if not just make sure to get your 1200 in.2
-
The calorie burn listed for exercise are really not accurate. If you eat them all back, you can end up not losing anything. My dietitian says to never eat the calories back unless I do a really hard workout that exhausts me and leaves me feeling famished.13
-
njitaliana wrote: »The calorie burn listed for exercise are really not accurate. If you eat them all back, you can end up not losing anything. My dietitian says to never eat the calories back unless I do a really hard workout that exhausts me and leaves me feeling famished.
So zero is more accurate? :noway:14 -
njitaliana wrote: »The calorie burn listed for exercise are really not accurate. If you eat them all back, you can end up not losing anything. My dietitian says to never eat the calories back unless I do a really hard workout that exhausts me and leaves me feeling famished.
I can run 15 miles without feeling exhausted or famished (quite the opposite actually) but I guarantee you that I burned 1400+ calories anyway.
Figuring out how many calories to eat and how many you burn takes some time. Start by eating all or most of the calories back for a couple weeks and see if you get the results you expect. If not, then adjust.11 -
Yes, you should definitely eat the calories back, or else you will be way under a healthy goal for the day and it won't be sustainable and could lead to negative health consequences. The way MFP, unlike some other plans, works is by setting a goal for days on which you do not exercise.
That said, at your weight 500-600 seems like a lot for a spin class or elliptical session, at least if we are talking 60 min or less. I'd start by eating back about 2/3-3/4 of the calories.
I lost a good bit of weight eating 1250+exercise calories (MFP gave me 1200, but I didn't like that it would say I was undereating at 1195 and overeating at 1205, so I gave myself some leeway). Once I was convinced that my exercise was pretty consistent from week to week I just raised my goal and didn't eat back exercise calories, but with the MFP 1200 goal, please do eat them back.
I also would not aim for more than 1 lb/week loss, but at your height and weight you easily could get 1200 even with only 1 lb, especially if you said sedentary (if you are at all active, for example walk 5000+ steps or more before workout, you should probably be lightly active rather than sedentary, however).5 -
Hoping to get some advice.
Trying to lose weight and MFP says I shoud be eating 1200 calories per day. I like to workout and can burn 500-600 per day in spin class or on elliptical machine etc. Because my calories are low to begin with, I am not sure if I should be eating back those calories. What are your thoughts?
If you're eating 1200 calories and burn 500-600, you are providing your body a net intake of 600-700 calories to perform all of it's other functions...like being alive.
You should probably take a look at the sticky threads and learn how this tool is designed to be used. Your 1200 calorie target is your deficit and assumes sedentary with NO exercise...your exercise goals in MFP have no impact on your calorie target...exercise is not accounted for...common sense would dictate that it should. That is why you eat back exercise calories with MFP...that's how you account for that activity since it's not included in your activity level.8 -
njitaliana wrote: »The calorie burn listed for exercise are really not accurate. If you eat them all back, you can end up not losing anything. My dietitian says to never eat the calories back unless I do a really hard workout that exhausts me and leaves me feeling famished.
I hope that dietitian is calculating your calorie goal using TDEE, which is not the method MFP uses. Otherwise, I would fire them for giving you potentially dangerous advice.
If you are using MFP’s calorie goal, you need to eat exercise calories. This is not an opinion question; it is the way the program is designed.14 -
Thanks, Carpar1. I do listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry AND i push in calories even if i'm not. Sometimes my body calls for more fat% and I give it. Just wondering how much calories bc TDEE has me at 1,641 Cutting and 2,141 at maintenance (500cal deficit) and PerfectKetocalc has me at 1,154, and I don't know how to get MFP numbers - only what I give to MFP. Where does one get MFP to calculate for you? Thanks! Also, just looking at the gap between TDEE and PerfectKetocalc is confusing - there's quite a discrepancy. If TDEE has me 1,641 cutting and PerfectKeto has me at 1,154, not sure where the middle ground is. I just readjusted macros to 45% fat, 40% protein and 15% carbs. I welcome anyone's feedback. Thanks! 2
-
PerfectKetocalc, with those stats, puts me at a weight loss of about 3lbs per month0
-
i just don't want to funk up my metabolism on low caloric intake and i constant tweek my macros and listen to my body. I'm thinking Fasting will help buoy my metabolism so it doesn't start crashing on low caloric intake. Your thoughts? Any ketoers out there? Thanks!8
-
promisesstandin wrote: »Thanks, Carpar1. I do listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry AND i push in calories even if i'm not. Sometimes my body calls for more fat% and I give it. Just wondering how much calories bc TDEE has me at 1,641 Cutting and 2,141 at maintenance (500cal deficit) and PerfectKetocalc has me at 1,154, and I don't know how to get MFP numbers - only what I give to MFP. Where does one get MFP to calculate for you? Thanks! Also, just looking at the gap between TDEE and PerfectKetocalc is confusing - there's quite a discrepancy. If TDEE has me 1,641 cutting and PerfectKeto has me at 1,154, not sure where the middle ground is. I just readjusted macros to 45% fat, 40% protein and 15% carbs. I welcome anyone's feedback. Thanks!
Maybe start your own thread for advice that is specific to you.8
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 901 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions