inaccurate calorie requirement?

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btchang
btchang Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hello! This is my first time on this forum and I've been using myfitnesspal for about 2months now. It has helped me a lot in judging how many calories all of my foods are and to see how much energy I really need each day.

My question is that I am actually gaining weight on this even though I am eating 1200cal/day, which is the recommended amount for me (4'10, 103lbs). I was wondering if 1200cal/day is the minimum that a website can recommend according to government regulation...? And according to my height, should I actually be eating less? Is there a resource that can more accurately determine how many calories I need per day?

Thanks so much,

Replies

  • PBmaria
    PBmaria Posts: 854 Member
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    I feel the shorty's pain. I'm only 5'0 and 111lbs. I tried to look at your diary but it's closed. Are you tracking yout sodium? Are you exercising? If so, are you eating your calories back?

    Also, I noticed you wanna lose 8 pounds? that seems like a lot but you are quite short, so idk.
  • sgibney78
    sgibney78 Posts: 19
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    I'm starting to ask the same question. It seems every woman on here regardless of height, wieght or age is given the same minimum.
  • paperpromisesx3
    paperpromisesx3 Posts: 67
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    No website will ever recommend lower than 1200. I am 4'10" and 113 lbs, looking to get down to 100-105. I eat 850-1000 calories a day.
  • New_Hope
    New_Hope Posts: 84
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    I think that MFP has to set it to 1200 calories automatically. According to the BMR calculator here, you burn 1102 calories just to be alive, so I figure your daily activity would at least put you around 1200, if not more. Maybe you should go ask your doctor how much you should be eating and then set MFP manually.
  • mmensah
    mmensah Posts: 42 Member
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    are you working out? are you eating the right foods?
  • MaryStregger
    MaryStregger Posts: 73 Member
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    Are you exercising? What are your net calories at the end of the day? If your net calories are less than 1200 you may want to consider upping your calorie intake. That's what I had to do - even though I found it hard to believe that it would work, it did. If you are not exercising, you should start. Also, it really depends on what your calories are made up of - if you are only taking into consideration the calorie value of each food that you eat, then you need to consider many other factors as well. Getting all of your nutrition in only 1200 calories is actually pretty tricky. Personally, I make sure that every snack and meal that I eat contains at least some protein. All of my carbs are either whole grain, or they are fruit. I never drink my calories, except for the meal replacement shake that I have for breakfast and I always take omega 3 fish oil and a multivitamin. Plus, I exercise, a lot. These are my rules, and they work for me.
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    You could try this:
    http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/

    This says if you want to lose 8 lbs in 3 months at your size, your daily would be around 1150
    8lbs in 4 months would be 1230/day


    MFP will never show under 1200 though - you'll have to set it manually.
  • adamcf
    adamcf Posts: 126
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    to maintain your current weight for your age, height, and sex, you need 1510 calories per day. That's without doing any exercise and with little activity. if you are gaining weight on 1200 calories per day, it would seem likely that you body is in starvation mode. increasing calories will likely cause you to lose weight. I know it seems counter intuitive, but our bodies are complicated and often think for itself in a sense.

    Another likely factor could be how often you eat. eating once a day will cause starvation mode. eating the same amount of calories spread throughout the day can fix that. Most importantly, eating when you first wake up is key to controlling weight. Breakfast, really is the most important meal.

    If you were to make your food diary public, we could see what might be going on.
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    I'm starting to ask the same question. It seems every woman on here regardless of height, wieght or age is given the same minimum.

    Only if they choose "lose 2lbs a week" when they shouldn't :)

    If you have 30 or less you should choose 1/2lb a week --- 1lb at the most -- but most poeple just pick 2 thinking they'll get there faster.
  • paperpromisesx3
    paperpromisesx3 Posts: 67
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    to maintain your current weight for your age, height, and sex, you need 1510 calories per day. That's without doing any exercise and with little activity. if you are gaining weight on 1200 calories per day, it would seem likely that you body is in starvation mode. increasing calories will likely cause you to lose weight. I know it seems counter intuitive, but our bodies are complicated and often think for itself in a sense.

    Another likely factor could be how often you eat. eating once a day will cause starvation mode. eating the same amount of calories spread throughout the day can fix that. Most importantly, eating when you first wake up is key to controlling weight. Breakfast, really is the most important meal.

    If you were to make your food diary public, we could see what might be going on.

    This really is inaccurate -- starvation mode isn't the same for everybody. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but you can't make a blanket statement. Especially for people our height. Zig Zagging calories on a daily basis does help to lose weight though.
  • mebegreen
    mebegreen Posts: 37
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    You may not be eating enough calories. All the reading I have done says that you should NOT eat less than 1200 calories a day. Your body might be going into survival mode and holding onto that calories so it can sustain itself... just a thought :smile:
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I've always had a hard time believing that 1200 calories per day is the minimum for EVERYONE. It only seems logical to me that a 4'10" woman will need fewer calories to support her body than a 6'0" woman needs, but I don't know how much fewer. I have seen other short women post here that their doctor or nutritionist gave them a lesser calorie goal (around 1000-1100 calories). Perhaps you should get some professional advice for yourself.
  • lolainlondon
    lolainlondon Posts: 160 Member
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    Just out of curiousity, at your weight (both the OP and the person at 5') why are you looking to lose? You are within your perfect weight range, and slightly under the general target. Wouldn't you be better focusing on toning?
  • adamcf
    adamcf Posts: 126
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    This really is inaccurate -- starvation mode isn't the same for everybody. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but you can't make a blanket statement. Especially for people our height. Zig Zagging calories on a daily basis does help to lose weight though.

    i do see your point, but it really is the same for everybody. I mean every... body. This is how the human body works. There are really no exceptions. However, there are difference in what state our individual bodies are currently in that respond differently to starvation mode. Circumstances like being very over-weight, might prevent more fat from being stored. from this post, 103 for someone 4'10" is a good weight. It's not over weight or under weight. Trying to get lower than that could be problematic. That's where genetics comes in. Her body may prevent her from losing more weight. But ultimately our bodies all try to adjust for external circumstances the same way.
  • paperpromisesx3
    paperpromisesx3 Posts: 67
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    This really is inaccurate -- starvation mode isn't the same for everybody. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but you can't make a blanket statement. Especially for people our height. Zig Zagging calories on a daily basis does help to lose weight though.

    i do see your point, but it really is the same for everybody. I mean every... body. This is how the human body works. There are really no exceptions. However, there are difference in what state our individual bodies are currently in that respond differently to starvation mode. Circumstances like being very over-weight, might prevent more fat from being stored. from this post, 103 for someone 4'10" is a good weight. It's not over weight or under weight. Trying to get lower than that could be problematic. That's where genetics comes in. Her body may prevent her from losing more weight. But ultimately our bodies all try to adjust for external circumstances the same way.

    I agree with you. Being 4'10" myself, I think 103 is a good weight .. but who's to say it's her ideal weight? I'd like to be 100-105. 105 is my goal weight, and I plan on setting myself to maintenance (and toning) once I get there.
  • btchang
    btchang Posts: 2
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    Thank you so much for all of the replies! I'm glad to have generated a good, productive conversation with this, and I'm happy to see I'm not alone in my curiosity.

    I've changed my diary to public now so you can see what I eat. I'm actually kind of embarrassed about it because there are days where I just forget to log some meals and days where I get intense sugar cravings and eat my 1200cal in sweets :(. I don't log my exercise regularly, but I bike for about 20min everyday because that's how I get to and from work.

    103lbs is considered a "healthy" weight for my height in terms of my risk for future cardiovascular disease and such. To be honest, I am looking to get rid of my rounding face, which I think requires a bit of caloric deficit + toning. (Then again, the only part I care about toning is my face and upper arms and I don't believe in targeted toning. It has to be all over or nothing, and I can't afford all over because my shoulders are like swimmer shoulders already.)

    Is it the snacking? I snack throughout the day and I eat small meals so my body never feels hungry even if my caloric intake is <1200cal for that day. (For me, snacking = 25 almonds per day.) It may potentially be salt intake and water weight but I consider water weight to be benign and my blood pressures are always around 90/60-100/70. Is it the survival mode? I'm not sure--as far as I've heard, the research is still on-going and no one knows precisely the relationship between metabolism changes and activities/ins-and-outs. Please share if you know more about this one.

    Thanks again for all your input! I think I'm going to try increasing my exercise to running once a week and see if I can keep that up. Time is a problem :(.
  • kikkipoo
    kikkipoo Posts: 292 Member
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    I think you may have answered some of your own questions. One, you're not faithful to tracking, either skipping days entirely, or leaving entries out. Two, a sweet tooth is very detrimental to weight loss. Sugar has no nutritional value, and what doesn't get burned turns into fat rather than having additional uses like protein does for muscle repair. I personally modified all of my goals manually. I'm 7 years post-op from gastric bypass and was told that I would have to stay under 1,000 calories to lose what I was never able to achieve. 65 grams is my minimum daily protein. When you eat very few calories it's that much more vital that you eat balanced, nutrient rich choices. I created a really cool interactive excel worksheet to use with mfp so i know at all points int the day where I stand on being balanced, as well as where I'm in need of some cutting back. Anyone who would like to have a copy themselves is welcome to it. inbox me your email address and I'll send it out. It's been a lifesaver for me. I have been in this same weight range never really gaining or losing for years, and with some serious commitment to mfp and my balance, I've dropped 6 pounds in 4 days. Best of luck to you!

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