How many calories does everyone eat?
Options
Replies
-
I don’t count calories. It’s possible to lose without counting. Are you just starting? How’s it going for you?
It drove me up the wall.1 -
cuteangelkitten wrote: »cuteangelkitten wrote: »Honestly, I don't know lol I don't keep track
You don't know how many calories you eat?
Yep you got it! I don't keep track of it or measure anything
@cuteangelkitten what are you doing to lose weight?0 -
I'm lightly active looking to lose 2lbs per week.
I walk 30 mins each day and MFP gave me 1,220WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
You have not provided enough information for anyone to make this determination. See my questions above.
0 -
kathyloveslife wrote: »I'm lightly active looking to lose 2lbs per week.
I walk 30 mins each day and MFP gave me 1,220WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
You have not provided enough information for anyone to make this determination. See my questions above.
How tall are you? It's hard to say exactly where 185 falls in terms of weight for you without knowing your height, but 2 pounds a week could be too aggressive. You are better off with 1.5 pounds a week (possibly even 1 pound depending on height) which would give you an extra 250 calories (500 if you did 1 pound). It's better to do this a bit slower and sustainably at a calorie level you will feel more comfortable eating.6 -
kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
I would never go that low, unless I was pretty much immobile. Just my personal preference. I think of weightloss in terms of long term. I know if I cut too low, I wouldn't be able to keep it up long term.
I was dropping too fast at 1410, so I upped. Now I'm losing at a more normal rate. .5-1lb a week.
Good luck, starting too low also doesn't leave wiggle room. If I hit a longer plateau and want to drop 50-100 calories for a couple of weeks, I couldn't do that if I started at 1300... I personally would feel like I was starving at 1200-1250. I try to start at as high of calories as I can get away with and still lose. But I'm also a foodie, I love my foods.5 -
5'5 and generally eat around 1200 most days
0 -
kathyloveslife wrote: »I'm lightly active looking to lose 2lbs per week.
I walk 30 mins each day and MFP gave me 1,220WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
You have not provided enough information for anyone to make this determination. See my questions above.
2 lbs per week is generally only recommended for those with 75 or more pounds to lose.
You may be better off changing your goal to 1 or 1.5 lb/week which will give you extra calories to work with and also give you room to reduce if needed.6 -
kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
This is the problem with asking what everyone else is doing.
No two people lose weight the same way.
I would gain extra calories by lowering your rate of loss as mentioned above.5 -
I am 5’4”, 29, female, lightly active, and current weight is 130 lbs. I maintain on an average of 2200 calories a day.7
-
@cuteangelkitten what are you doing to lose weight? [/quote]
I am not working to lose weight, I am working on self acceptance and a healthy relationship with food and myself
I focus on a whole food diet focusing on grains, veg, fruit, nuts, legumes, with eggs, and dairy. I allow myself cookies and cake when I want it, working on not feeling bad about it and enjoying life
5 -
WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »I'm lightly active looking to lose 2lbs per week.
I walk 30 mins each day and MFP gave me 1,220WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »I'm 5'8" 45 years old. Started at around 230 lbs eating 1410 calories (give or take 100).
Current weight around 185, upped calories to 1689 (give or take 100), still losing.
Goal weight is around 165.
Thanks! Did if benefit you to up the calories? Do you think I could get away with losing at 1300? Or should it be higher
You have not provided enough information for anyone to make this determination. See my questions above.
2 lbs per week is generally only recommended for those with 75 or more pounds to lose.
You may be better off changing your goal to 1 or 1.5 lb/week which will give you extra calories to work with and also give you room to reduce if needed.
I lowered to 1.5 and it gave me more calories so that should be sustainable3 -
I'm a bit lighter than you and a lot older but my calorie goal today to maintain weight is 4,524 calories.
Which underlines @LyndaBSS post - don't worry about what other people have as their goal, my advice would be work out a sensible goal for yourself using this tool, log consistently, fully and as accurately as reasonably possible and then make adjustments after a month if you don't get the results you expect.
4,524? WOW, I assume 1524?
He's a very active man who is maintaining, so while I cannot assume 4,524 is accurate, I'm sure 1,524 would not be.
@sijomial ?3 -
so surprised to see such low numbers like 1200, my understanding is eventually your body will slow down its metabolism so you don't starve and it can survive on those numbers.
I have taken a similar approach to "gallicinvasion"
i eat 1900-2000 a day, i exercise 5 times a week for 1 hour, otherwise i'm on my bum in the library full time.
its been really slow weight loss i've lost 6 kg over 5 months but the flip side is if i have an intense month at uni and my diet and exercise slips i don't gain it back rapidly like on a diet.
the slow method has been really good for me being busy and feeling like i need fuel all the time, i would struggle to get through my life hungry.
i used to be a hardcore dieter eating around 1400 a day but my whole life revolved around meal times, i still think about food a lot ha but not as intensely. I weighed about 68 kilos before uni then shot up to 81 over two years of not dieting and only focusing on study, convinced i needed to have enough food to keep my studying all the time + STRESS . then when i confronted my weight gain i set my limit to 2000 and use exercise to compensate that number.
Id be cautious about going too low instead focus on whats in your food, are you eating more protein and less carbs, research the role of insulin in weight loss, its super informative.
6 -
sarshadawn wrote: »so surprised to see such low numbers like 1200, my understanding is eventually your body will slow down its metabolism so you don't starve and it can survive on those numbers.
I have taken a similar approach to "gallicinvasion"
i eat 1900-2000 a day, i exercise 5 times a week for 1 hour, otherwise i'm on my bum in the library full time.
its been really slow weight loss i've lost 6 kg over 5 months but the flip side is if i have an intense month at uni and my diet and exercise slips i don't gain it back rapidly like on a diet.
the slow method has been really good for me being busy and feeling like i need fuel all the time, i would struggle to get through my life hungry.
i used to be a hardcore dieter eating around 1400 a day but my whole life revolved around meal times, i still think about food a lot ha but not as intensely. I weighed about 68 kilos before uni then shot up to 81 over two years of not dieting and only focusing on study, convinced i needed to have enough food to keep my studying all the time + STRESS . then when i confronted my weight gain i set my limit to 2000 and use exercise to compensate that number.
Id be cautious about going too low instead focus on whats in your food, are you eating more protein and less carbs, research the role of insulin in weight loss, its super informative.
Thanks for your insight! Ive been eating low calories for awhile and ithink my body stopped losing because it got so use to it so now im eating more! Hopefully i can lose again0 -
kathyloveslife wrote: »sarshadawn wrote: »so surprised to see such low numbers like 1200, my understanding is eventually your body will slow down its metabolism so you don't starve and it can survive on those numbers.
I have taken a similar approach to "gallicinvasion"
i eat 1900-2000 a day, i exercise 5 times a week for 1 hour, otherwise i'm on my bum in the library full time.
its been really slow weight loss i've lost 6 kg over 5 months but the flip side is if i have an intense month at uni and my diet and exercise slips i don't gain it back rapidly like on a diet.
the slow method has been really good for me being busy and feeling like i need fuel all the time, i would struggle to get through my life hungry.
i used to be a hardcore dieter eating around 1400 a day but my whole life revolved around meal times, i still think about food a lot ha but not as intensely. I weighed about 68 kilos before uni then shot up to 81 over two years of not dieting and only focusing on study, convinced i needed to have enough food to keep my studying all the time + STRESS . then when i confronted my weight gain i set my limit to 2000 and use exercise to compensate that number.
Id be cautious about going too low instead focus on whats in your food, are you eating more protein and less carbs, research the role of insulin in weight loss, its super informative.
Thanks for your insight! Ive been eating low calories for awhile and ithink my body stopped losing because it got so use to it so now im eating more! Hopefully i can lose again
If people stopped losing when they cut calories too low, how do you think people become malnourished or die from starvation?
It just doesn’t work like that.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread yet is if you’re using a food scale for logging accuracy?14 -
WinoGelato wrote: »kathyloveslife wrote: »sarshadawn wrote: »so surprised to see such low numbers like 1200, my understanding is eventually your body will slow down its metabolism so you don't starve and it can survive on those numbers.
I have taken a similar approach to "gallicinvasion"
i eat 1900-2000 a day, i exercise 5 times a week for 1 hour, otherwise i'm on my bum in the library full time.
its been really slow weight loss i've lost 6 kg over 5 months but the flip side is if i have an intense month at uni and my diet and exercise slips i don't gain it back rapidly like on a diet.
the slow method has been really good for me being busy and feeling like i need fuel all the time, i would struggle to get through my life hungry.
i used to be a hardcore dieter eating around 1400 a day but my whole life revolved around meal times, i still think about food a lot ha but not as intensely. I weighed about 68 kilos before uni then shot up to 81 over two years of not dieting and only focusing on study, convinced i needed to have enough food to keep my studying all the time + STRESS . then when i confronted my weight gain i set my limit to 2000 and use exercise to compensate that number.
Id be cautious about going too low instead focus on whats in your food, are you eating more protein and less carbs, research the role of insulin in weight loss, its super informative.
Thanks for your insight! Ive been eating low calories for awhile and ithink my body stopped losing because it got so use to it so now im eating more! Hopefully i can lose again
If people stopped losing when they cut calories too low, how do you think people become malnourished or die from starvation?
It just doesn’t work like that.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread yet is if you’re using a food scale for logging accuracy?
Yes I use a scale0 -
Hey Winogelato
What did you mean by this comment?
“
If people stopped losing when they cut calories too low, how do you think people become malnourished or die from starvation?
It just doesn’t work like that. “
I think some other important things to consider when selecting your limit is what is a sustainable number in the long term, and also if your number is too low it’s easy to systemically underestimate the calories you consume in order to maximise how many you can have, just be carfeful to be honest anout what you eat and a scale is an excellent idea because it provides an objective measure
2 -
I’m female, 5’4”, 162lbs and 26 years old. I could never drop down to 1200 unless I was being a couch potato (I do have odd lazy days!). I’m losing weight on 1800 calories on exercise days. On my non-exercise days I would eat 1400. If I’m even more active, I would eat 2000 calories. This is not a race, more like a sprint. I’ve done starving my self, over feeding myself. Trying to find a happy medium here. I try to exercise 5 times a week: 3 days of full body weights circuits, 1 upper body workout, 1 cardio day, 2 sessions of power yoga/vinyasa flow. I also eat lower carb, around 100-120g a day. It’s NOT just about calories. Macros matter too. Eat sufficient protein so you don’t lose muscle mass and do resistance training. I started IIFYM a few months ago and it was the worst idea for me. Never again. Do what works for you. Me and my sister are doing a sugar free challenge (for health reasons) and its going well so far.4
-
I've been eating 1,500 on sedentary days, and eating back my exercise calories. I've been losing weight a bit faster than I'd planned (~0.75kg a week, with a plan of 0.5kg), which sounds great, but I want to give my body a chance to adapt to the cycling I've started doing so have increased it to 1,700 from today.1
-
sarshadawn wrote: »Hey Winogelato
What did you mean by this comment?
“
If people stopped losing when they cut calories too low, how do you think people become malnourished or die from starvation?
It just doesn’t work like that. “
I think some other important things to consider when selecting your limit is what is a sustainable number in the long term, and also if your number is too low it’s easy to systemically underestimate the calories you consume in order to maximise how many you can have, just be carfeful to be honest anout what you eat and a scale is an excellent idea because it provides an objective measure
Oh believe me, I’m a huge proponent of eating the most calories one can while still losing weight. I am a petite woman mid 40s with a desk job but through concentrated efforts to raise my NEAT I was able to lose eating between 1600-1900 calories and maintenance at 2200-2300 at my most active. I think 1200 is too low for the vast majority of people and that a modest deficit is more sustainable long term.
I was responding because it seemed like OP might be thinking of a commonly misunderstood concept of starvation mode where people mistakenly believe that their body will stop losing or storing fat when they cut calories too low for prolonged periods of time.
Adaptive themogenesis is a thing, and refeeds/diet breaks can be very important especially in a long term weight loss plan. But without knowing more details of OPs approach its more likely that any issues with losing weight are due to inaccurate logging rather than calories are too low.
The advice I would give to OP is the same as what we give all new members or those struggling with losing weight.
Enter your stats and a reasonable rate of loss goal in MFP (OP still hasn’t provided height or what rate of loss she’s chosen to know if this is reasonable).
MFP will provide a NEAT calorie target.
Eat a variety of foods within that calorie goal focusing on those that provide nutrition, satiety and enjoyment.
Log everything you eat as accurately and honestly as possible ideally using a food scale.
If you exercise, log and eat back at least a portion of those calories.
Be patient and give this 4-6 weeks before making any adjustments
11
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 390 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
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 922 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions