Your Limit

Frankiesgirl52 · November 2021

I try to track as best I can .. Do you all eat all your calories and just get as close as you can to your limits ....

nossmf · November 2021

Note: any and all responses below are subject to being overridden by a doctor's medical advice. In event of apparent conflict between doctor and MFP post, doctor always wins.

As a general rule, slow and steady weight loss wins the race. Sure, the lower your calories are the faster you will lose, but often this is not a necessarily good thing... it may be unsustainable, or cause other physical problems. So going way under is likely not a good thing if done too often.

That said, any given day will vary. Some days I get all my nutritional needs met, and have a couple hundred calories under budget. Other days I will be over budget for the day. What's important to realize is this isn't a sprint, but a way of life, and it's the long term average which matters most.

So I recommend treating your limit as a GOAL, not a LAW.

As you gain experience in both logging and adjusting your diet to the new life routine you chose for yourself, you will get better at coming close to your normal calorie goal. Don't beat yourself up if you are over, or force feed yourself if under. Just figure out where the difference came from and move forward. Maybe you ate a high-fiber meal and feel full; maybe you enjoyed a large dinner with family and friends; maybe your goal itself needs to be adjusted higher or lower.

Life happens. One day will not be like another; your needs today will likely differ from your needs six months from now. Use MFP logging as a tool to help you reach a life goal, not as a straight-jacket to focus your every waking thought and hate yourself if not perfectly achieved. Weight loss (or gain) is a PART of you; it is not the ENTIRE you.

Lietchi · November 2021

MFP gives you a goal, not a 'limit'. I've always eaten all of my calories, on average anyway (some days over, some days under) while losing 70lbs.

Whether or not MFP's number is correct for you, time will tell: follow the goal for at least a month and then adjust, eat less if losing more slowly than the rate you selected, eat more if losing more quickly than selected.

kenziestabes · November 2021

Personal habit here, once again, doctor's advice overrules: I give myself a range of calories. The limit I set on MFP is the upper end of that range, and there's usually about a 200 calories gap in that range. If I'm in that range, great!

I need to eat at least x calories, but I don't want to eat more than y calories. On days where I work out, I want to be as close to y calories as possible, even if it means going a little over. Under no circumstances to I go below x calories.

As for what x and y are, the general consensus I've heard is that between 0.5-1% of your body weight per week is sustainable for weight loss. So I try to calculate my caloric intake for 0.5% weight loss and 1% weight loss and make those my bounds. If I'm lazy, I tell myself I have to eat above my BMR but below my maintenance.

I, personally, find using the range approach helpful. It gives room for variety of food and experience, and it helps me from falling into the pitfalls of eating too little to lose weight faster or eating too much because I got snacky.

Frankiesgirl52 · November 2021

thank you everyone ... Really good advice ... I appreciate it

westrich20940 · November 2021

The calorie goal on MFP isn't a 'limit'....it's a 'goal'. That's the case generally speaking when you are shooting for a calorie amount per day --- it's a goal. Eat at least that much. MFP (if this is what you used to calculate your calorie goal - and stated you wanted to lose weight) already figures in a deficit so there's no need to be eating UNDER that goal.

When I started I logged (weighed and measured) everything religiously. It was good practice to even just get an idea of what I was eating. Now I sort of only spot log --- and then it's more to make sure I'm eating enough.

I'm maintaining now --- and yes, if I do/log a cardio workout I eat all of those calories back. More or less...like I said I'm not really logging religiously now. I don't want to fall into a habit of being obsessed with calorie counting. I weigh myself once ~2-3 weeks and as long as I stay within a +/- 5lb range I'm good.

Your Limit

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