How many calories does your MFP tell you to eat?

kayovercomer
kayovercomer Posts: 98
edited September 19 in Food and Nutrition
I think my recommendation of 1200 is too low.
Does MFP give anyone else here a recommendation of 1200 calories a day?

Replies

  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    I think my recommendation of 1200 is too low.
    Does MFP give anyone else here a recommendation of 1200 calories a day?
  • Mom_To_5
    Mom_To_5 Posts: 646 Member
    mine is 1200 also, and some days i find it hard to get them in.
  • Venusjems
    Venusjems Posts: 88 Member
    mine is 1200 too, but i think that is because i put in that i want to lose 2 pounds a week. But yeah, once breakfast, snack, and lunch is in there, i have about 300-400 calories left.. which is nothing for dinner
  • FitnessGeek
    FitnessGeek Posts: 487
    1200 is what MFP gives me as well, which is a 324 daily calorie deficit for me. But with exercise, I end up eating a lot more than that each day (1700-2000).
    That's supposed to be 1.5lbs loss a week, but I've been losing 2 lbs a week pretty steadily.
  • kd_0115
    kd_0115 Posts: 10
    My recommendation from MFP is 1200 calories a day. When I exercise, that number increases and I take advantage of it. 1200 calories a day can be pretty tough to follow, but I try to eat a lot of vegetables (broccoli escpecially) because they are low in calories but fill you up.
  • debmac63
    debmac63 Posts: 459 Member
    i have 50 pounds to lose and I am given 1380 without exercise. you probably only get 1200 because you have only 10 lbs to go.
  • GearJammer
    GearJammer Posts: 47 Member
    I think my recommendation of 1200 is too low.
    Does MFP give anyone else here a recommendation of 1200 calories a day?

    That does seem too low. You might have set the time frame to reaching your goal weight too short.. If you can, try adding time to reaching your goal..
  • aprilvet
    aprilvet Posts: 724 Member
    Depending on your height, weight, lifestyle, and goal, 1200 cals a day seems right. This does not count exercise. I am a believer in the "eat your exercise calories" theory. I am 5' 1", and I started with 24 pounds to lose. I'm lightly active. MFP gave me a daily goal of 1200 cals- this is a 500 cal per day deficit. giving me about 1 pound a week loss. However, I exercise 6 days a week, burning anywhere from 200-800 cals a day. I rarely eat less than 1400 cals per day, even on my off days. If I am less, it's by 20 cals or so. I usually eat about 1500 cals a day. This is actually plenty of food! I eat clean, whole foods, including good carbs- whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc.

    Good luck! Everyone is different, so experiment with your calories to seee what works for you. However, I do not think you should eat less than 1200 per day, IMHO!:flowerforyou:
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thanks so much everyone. I let them choose it for me, with a one pound a week recommendation.
  • hiddensecant
    hiddensecant Posts: 2,446 Member
    1200 calories can be a lot when you pick the right foods. Fill it up with whole foods and whole grains, limit those condiments, look into soy substitutions for dairy (tofutti really is better than cream cheese!), find a kind of fiber you enjoy ... my sons can eat Fiber One with Honey Clusters dry like they were potato chips.

    Go to your food diary and switch to yesterday ... then add all the foods you have in your fridge to each section ... it makes it easier to plan your meals instead of constantly having to type and find your foods every day. It will also get you looking at your food in terms of calories and nutrients. If you like cucumbers you're already off to a good start ... a full cup is only 16 calories and very filling (I normally have 1/2 cup with salads).

    This is my favorite snack so far, a very filling vegetable curry: chop up 1 roma tomato, 6 romaine lettuce leaves, 3 cups of baby spinach, and 1/2 sweet yellow pepper. Boil a small pot of water and add 1tsp cumin and 1tsp ginger. Cook veggies until tender and add a splash of lime juice. How's that for a 100 calories?

    Yum, I think I know what I'm having for my afternoon snack today!
  • BR1986FB
    BR1986FB Posts: 1,515 Member
    It was 3000 but it's adjusted down to 2600 with weight loss.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    I'm going to try this snack. It really sounds good. Thank you!

    1200 calories can be a lot when you pick the right foods. Fill it up with whole foods and whole grains, limit those condiments, look into soy substitutions for dairy (tofutti really is better than cream cheese!), find a kind of fiber you enjoy ... my sons can eat Fiber One with Honey Clusters dry like they were potato chips.

    Go to your food diary and switch to yesterday ... then add all the foods you have in your fridge to each section ... it makes it easier to plan your meals instead of constantly having to type and find your foods every day. It will also get you looking at your food in terms of calories and nutrients. If you like cucumbers you're already off to a good start ... a full cup is only 16 calories and very filling (I normally have 1/2 cup with salads).

    This is my favorite snack so far, a very filling vegetable curry: chop up 1 roma tomato, 6 romaine lettuce leaves, 3 cups of baby spinach, and 1/2 sweet yellow pepper. Boil a small pot of water and add 1tsp cumin and 1tsp ginger. Cook veggies until tender and add a splash of lime juice. How's that for a 100 calories?

    Yum, I think I know what I'm having for my afternoon snack today!
  • Jennnnnnnny
    Jennnnnnnny Posts: 373 Member
    mine is 1200 too, but i think that is because i put in that i want to lose 2 pounds a week. But yeah, once breakfast, snack, and lunch is in there, i have about 300-400 calories left.. which is nothing for dinner

    same for me. i put in that i want 2 pounds lost. but if i ever go over by a couple hundred i don't fret too much
  • DivaLisa
    DivaLisa Posts: 29
    mine says 1610 cals

    with 3 days a week @ 30 mins workout.

    i have 140+ poudns to lose

    i am shooting for 2 pounds a week
  • hiddensecant
    hiddensecant Posts: 2,446 Member
    You're welcome! Everyone here seems to have different types of meal plans. Mine has breakfast, lunch, and dinner with 2 snacks in between. I keep the snacks around 100 calories and the meals between 300-400. Others have 4-5 "equal" meals or whatnot. I had my meal plan before I got here so I'm sticking to it.

    I tend to go for smaller snacks these days but I try to make one of them a big veggie snack, normally in the afternoon. You'll find that some parts of the day you'll be hungrier than others, but always eat every 2-3 hours (and never within 4 hours of bedime).

    By the way, my favorite "small" snack is 1/2 a whole wheat english muffin with 1tbs tofutti and 1/2 cup of cucumber slices (4 slices on top and the rest I'll eat while the muffin is in the toaster, hehe) which comes to 103 calories.

    Oh yeah, I'm on 1200 calories also before exercise. You get a bigger allowance once you start logging your workouts.

    What type of exercise are you doing?
  • porka29
    porka29 Posts: 868 Member
    1200 calories can be a lot when you pick the right foods. Fill it up with whole foods and whole grains, limit those condiments, look into soy substitutions for dairy (tofutti really is better than cream cheese!), find a kind of fiber you enjoy ... my sons can eat Fiber One with Honey Clusters dry like they were potato chips.

    Go to your food diary and switch to yesterday ... then add all the foods you have in your fridge to each section ... it makes it easier to plan your meals instead of constantly having to type and find your foods every day. It will also get you looking at your food in terms of calories and nutrients. If you like cucumbers you're already off to a good start ... a full cup is only 16 calories and very filling (I normally have 1/2 cup with salads).

    This is my favorite snack so far, a very filling vegetable curry: chop up 1 roma tomato, 6 romaine lettuce leaves, 3 cups of baby spinach, and 1/2 sweet yellow pepper. Boil a small pot of water and add 1tsp cumin and 1tsp ginger. Cook veggies until tender and add a splash of lime juice. How's that for a 100 calories?

    Yum, I think I know what I'm having for my afternoon snack today!


    Mine too is 1200, I went to 1.5 lbs a week and now I haved 1260 plus exercise calories. With that said, about the favorite snack, I like something similar to this myself. College Park (think that's the right seocnd part) has a great new stock in the chicken broth section it's Thai coconut curry and replaces water nicely to cook those veggies.
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    it tells me 1300 to lose 1 lb a week, but I eat 1400 instead because 1300 is just a tad low for me.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thank you folks so much. I think I am all set now.
  • xbonbonx
    xbonbonx Posts: 170
    mine says 2300 :noway: that's too high for me, in my opinion... then I'd need to burn 2900 to lose 2 pounds a week.

    I personally don't even think that the math works anyway. and I don't want to overthink what I'm doing.

    so I do 1500 calories consumed, and don't think about how many I'm burning- I just do as much exercise as I can handle.
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