Staying below calorie target?

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Trish9201
Trish9201 Posts: 10
in Food and Nutrition
My husband tells me I need to stay 400 cal below my target in order to loose weight....is that true?

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  • Schwarzeaugen
    Schwarzeaugen Posts: 129 Member
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    I've lost 24 lbs in about a month, and some of the time I had 5 calories left, and other times I had 400. The key is to exercise and eat whatever amount you feel comfortable with.
  • girard5
    girard5 Posts: 109 Member
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    You need a deficit of 3,000 cals to lose 1 pound. So if you base it on 2,500 cals a day and say your target is 1,200 ( a deficit of 1,300) and you meet this then you will lose about 2 1/2 lbs a week. Consuming too few cals can be dangerous and can cause you to not lose weight!
  • SarzWix
    SarzWix Posts: 21 Member
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    No, your target is already set at a 'deficit', ie less than the standard calorie intake for an adult. This is calculated when you fill in your weight etc and your usual amount of daily activity. If you go much below the stated target, your body will stop burning and go into 'storage' or 'starvation' mode.
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
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    No, MFP works out the deficit for you. IOW they already deduct 500 cals per day if you're aiming to lose 1lb per week........

    Good luck :flowerforyou:
  • pnieuw
    pnieuw Posts: 473
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    If you set up your profile in MFP and told it your goal, activity level, etc. it would have automatically set your daily target to what is required to lose the amount of weight per week that you indicated. So, you need to hit that target each day, and you should lose what you set as your goal.

    Eating 400 under after MFP set your goal is a recipe for starving yourself, and potential health problems.

    Oh, and nice to see another fellow Canuck on the board!
  • Pinkavenue
    Pinkavenue Posts: 5
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    I am always way under my caloric goal and I've only lost 2-3 pounds in my first week I started using this website. I am 5'9, exercise 30-50 minutes most days of the week, and consume about 1400-1500 calories after exercise. I noticed I feel a bit dizzy sometimes and my moods are on the cranky side of the scale.
  • robpett2001
    robpett2001 Posts: 320 Member
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    The target that MFP gives you builds IN the deficit that your husband's talking about, so it's already accounted for in your calorie target.
  • Trish9201
    Trish9201 Posts: 10
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    Thank you all for the replies...that explains why I am so hungry! Congrats to you all on the weight loss! And, pnieuw, Canucks rule!

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