1,500 calories a day

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  • eeebee
    eeebee Posts: 471 Member
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    Are we talking net calories after exercise or just gross consumption?

    calories before acounting for any exercise calories. if i burn say 600 caloires in a day, my goal changes to 2100 calories which is beautiful to see, means I can have a bigger dinner and i'd often come in at around 1,500 total anyway so if that doesnt help me lose weight, i dont know what will.
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
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    MFP set mine at 1200 and after2 weeks, I HAD to up it to 1500. I was eating back all my exercise calories and still starving and feeling weeny. After I upped it, felt soo much better AND started dropping almost 2 lbs. a week. Everyone is different, but I definitely needed to up the amount!
  • sophieshaped
    sophieshaped Posts: 228 Member
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    I'm on 1200 as my maintenance is only 1640 so there's not a lot of room for a deficit!

    I do exercise most days, even if it's just squeezing in a 20 min walk, but mostly I run or gym it – because I want the extra calories for food! 1200 is just about do-able on a non-exercise day but the weekend? Forget it!
  • nifnif
    nifnif Posts: 22
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    I set my food calories to 1600 per day, and my net calories to 1300 per day.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    1500 calories isnt that much. I eat 2600 calories and i still lose. Its really based on your basal metabolic rate and the amount of energy you expend throughout the day including exercise.
  • cptnjck0209
    cptnjck0209 Posts: 47 Member
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    This is very strange for me, I eat roughly 3 meals a day and I seem to average 1100 and have to make up the next 100 with snacks that I wouldn't normally eat?

    And just to show that I'm not under-eating I'll write out yesterday which was pretty average:

    Breakfast
    2 slices wholemeal bread, toasted with butter
    banana

    Lunch
    Jacket potato and cottage cheese with chives
    1 slice of garlic bread

    Dinner
    Linda McCartney Vegetarian Lasagne

    Snacks
    Go ahead - fruit bakes - rasberry

    That totalled 1,317 but only because I added in the go-ahead and garlic bread to up it... I do roughly 600 cals of exercise a day (I walk a LOT haha)....

    I think you might be able to eat more if you eat totally healthy foods, I'm always full :)

    Or it could be because I'm a 5ft2" female haha. 1500 would be a food-overdose for me I think. So far 2lbs lost in my first week so it's going well :)
  • Tigermad
    Tigermad Posts: 305 Member
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    I am 5ft 4 and MFP has set mine to 1200 before exercise. I am sticking to this fairly easily but if I fancy a little 100 cal treat at the end of the day I have it.

    I lost 7 stone nearly 8 years ago and I am sure I stuck to 1500 cals a day and the weight dropped off. (but I put it all back on over time!)

    I am losing approx 2 lbs per week now on 1200 (with some excercise and eating cals back when required). I do wonder though if I ate 1500 cals if I would still lose the same weight since it worked years ago. I am a little scared to try to be honest. Don't want to try it only to stay the same.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    Low calorie works however I question if any of us can sustain it for long term. Use it as a tool but eventually you'll need to find a better way to eat.

    1200 cals... is a DIET. not a lifestyle change. You can make a lifestyle change, but eating 1200 a day shouldn't be it. The quality of your food should be. Cals NEED to go up to maint every couple of months to give your body a break.
  • DzyIzy
    DzyIzy Posts: 22 Member
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    I was just thinking about this the other day. COuldn't imagine just eating 1200 (I am tall and active though)
    My goal is a permanent change that I can sustain, so that means slower to me. I am practicing pretty close to what I will do at goal weight.

    I am set just over 1500, + exercise calories. Set at a 500 calorie deficit or 1lb/wk loss. I do go over and do go under (meaning I occasionally don't eat all my exercise calories). On the weekend I don't worry about it much at all (I just try to stay under 2000+ex so I don't gain)
    But, I am also just trying to lose another 5 to 10 lbs, and have never been more than 40 lbs overweight so have not needed to lose weight faster than 1 lb/wk. I probably average just under a 1 lb/wk loss. Any time I have lost faster than 1lb/wk I gained the extra I lost back.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I'm in maintenance at 1400 calories, but I also work out and try to aim for 2000.
  • eeebee
    eeebee Posts: 471 Member
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    This is very strange for me, I eat roughly 3 meals a day and I seem to average 1100 and have to make up the next 100 with snacks that I wouldn't normally eat?

    And just to show that I'm not under-eating I'll write out yesterday which was pretty average:

    Breakfast
    2 slices wholemeal bread, toasted with butter
    banana

    Lunch
    Jacket potato and cottage cheese with chives
    1 slice of garlic bread

    Dinner
    Linda McCartney Vegetarian Lasagne

    Snacks
    Go ahead - fruit bakes - rasberry

    That totalled 1,317 but only because I added in the go-ahead and garlic bread to up it... I do roughly 600 cals of exercise a day (I walk a LOT haha)....

    I think you might be able to eat more if you eat totally healthy foods, I'm always full :)

    Or it could be because I'm a 5ft2" female haha. 1500 would be a food-overdose for me I think. So far 2lbs lost in my first week so it's going well :)

    Well done for the weight loss!

    Unfortunately I am not the type of person that can eat 3 meals a day and be satisfied. If I was, I'm sure I'd weigh less by now. I prefer to eat around 6 times a day, obviously smaller meals.

    Also I see you dont have hot drinks - I like a couple of mocha coffees and a couple of white (sweet) tea a day plus often a glass of wine (I know, I know....it's my one vice in life!).

    Plus, you're lucky that you find it a chore to have to eat 1500 cals a day. I am the opposite!

    If it was healthy to do so (and viable for weight loss) I would eat 3,000 cals a day happily and easily....and then some :laugh:
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    This is very strange for me, I eat roughly 3 meals a day and I seem to average 1100 and have to make up the next 100 with snacks that I wouldn't normally eat?

    And just to show that I'm not under-eating I'll write out yesterday which was pretty average:

    Breakfast
    2 slices wholemeal bread, toasted with butter
    banana

    Lunch
    Jacket potato and cottage cheese with chives
    1 slice of garlic bread

    Dinner
    Linda McCartney Vegetarian Lasagne

    Snacks
    Go ahead - fruit bakes - rasberry

    That totalled 1,317 but only because I added in the go-ahead and garlic bread to up it... I do roughly 600 cals of exercise a day (I walk a LOT haha)....

    I think you might be able to eat more if you eat totally healthy foods, I'm always full :)

    Or it could be because I'm a 5ft2" female haha. 1500 would be a food-overdose for me I think. So far 2lbs lost in my first week so it's going well :)
    i would suggest looking into eating higher calories but healthy foods. if you eat 1200 calories and burn 600 calories, essentially, it's the equivilant of eating 600 calories and doing nothing.


    The problem with low calorie is muscle sustainment (which in turn means maintaining your metabolism). On lower calorie diets and huge deficits, you tend to lose muscle mass as a part of your weight loss. Is this an issue, well maybe not at first, but as you age, you inevitably lose more muscle (natural progression of life). Less muscle means slower metabolism. Which means you are more susceptable to gain weight (this is one reason people cycle in weight loss).

    Also, once people hit their weight goal, what is the next step? In many cases it's definition and tone. Well not you have to gain all the muscle back and do one of two things. 1. Turn fat into muscle (this can be difficult to do a one for one). 2.. Gain weight to gain muscle mass to form definition (makes a lot of people freak out).


    The science is there. And really you need to look at what your true end state is. Is it definition or do you really only care about a number on the scale?



    Some stuff to think about.
  • semekorucker
    semekorucker Posts: 1
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    Hello, I am so new to all of this. I am on 1420 calories a day and I am trying to come up with meals to eat. Its kind of hard for me right now, but hopefylly I can come up with some great meals:smile:
  • eeebee
    eeebee Posts: 471 Member
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    Hello, I am so new to all of this. I am on 1420 calories a day and I am trying to come up with meals to eat. Its kind of hard for me right now, but hopefylly I can come up with some great meals:smile:

    I'll be more than happy to help - but 1420 a day is pretty good and you can more or less eat any healthy and filling meals you like, obviously not burger and fries and pizza and sausages etc every night, but you've got a decent amount of leeway.
  • SueGremlin
    SueGremlin Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Slow and steady wins the race. If you're starving, you're not gonna stick with it, right?
  • eeebee
    eeebee Posts: 471 Member
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    Slow and steady wins the race. If you're starving, you're not gonna stick with it, right?

    exactly, and then resent the whole idea of dieting or changing your eating habits permanently.
  • Punkedpoetess
    Punkedpoetess Posts: 633 Member
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    Since I am almost at my goal, I am at .5 loss per week and have a daily target of 1550. I normally exercise and eat those calories as well. The lowest I was ever set for was 1310 and that was to lose 1 pound a week. That was tough, luckily I ate all of my exercise calories then too. I cannot imagine ever doing 1200 calories a day. I would starve.
  • Uerzer
    Uerzer Posts: 273
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    Low calorie works however I question if any of us can sustain it for long term. Use it as a tool but eventually you'll need to find a better way to eat.

    1200 cals... is a DIET. not a lifestyle change. You can make a lifestyle change, but eating 1200 a day shouldn't be it. The quality of your food should be. Cals NEED to go up to maint every couple of months to give your body a break.

    Diet is the sum of food consumed by a person

    im on 1200 kcal also... its about losing weight, isnt it?

    I need 2.500 kcal each day to be alive and do my normal stuff
    I eat 1.200 kcal each day
    =
    Deficit: 1.300 kal/day

    Since 1 Kg of fat = 7000kcal --> I am losing 1.3 kg each week


    Once i'm done... ill have to eat the same thing i need to live: 2.500kcal No more no less!! (actually 2.400 because of the 5kg less i would have)

    I call it a lifestyle change because i'm eating healthy and in a controlled manner :P
  • eeebee
    eeebee Posts: 471 Member
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    I'm learning recently that calling it a lifestyle change is so much more effective than calling it a diet and it's much easier to stick to than dreading the ryvita and porridge and fruit/veg meals for the rest of next week etc.

    Life without any treats would not be one worth living, to me.
  • ashleycat23
    ashleycat23 Posts: 43
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    My loss has slowed (and stalled a couple times).. One question i have is- how long do you stick with a increase to see if it is working? a week, 2 weeks, a month?
    I did make the mistake of sticking with the 1200 for a while. I felt deprived and it no longer made sense once i realized my bmr was higher than that ( i felt deprived because i was! ) I'm currently aiming for 1400, but i've been thinking of increasing that.

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