Why so much difference in calories allowed?

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Tigermad
Tigermad Posts: 305 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

I started my journey 5ft 4 and 231lbs. This was the second week in August this year. MFP allowed me 1200 calls per day as a base. I want to get down to about 140 lbs.

I am seeing many people on here with a base of 1700 calls and some over 2000 cals with no exercise with a similar amount of weight to lose as me. Surely these people can't lose weight at these levels? If they do why have I been put at 1200 cals. I know everyone ones body is different but that is quite a drastic difference.

8 years ago I lost 7 stone over a period of a year. I was on 1500 cals a day.

I am now losing around 2 lbs per week which is great but do you think I could up my calories and still lose this? I go to the gym 3 times a week and do 40 mins cardio each session. I sometimes eat some of the exercise calories back.

Replies

  • ShanaJo87
    ShanaJo87 Posts: 76 Member
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    depends on how active they are. I have a 1400 calorie diet because my dogs keep me moving. id have lower due to having a desk job but taking my dogs out a few times a day and running with them, which i dont log... then on top of that... i do exercise that i log!
  • Tigermad
    Tigermad Posts: 305 Member
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    depends on how active they are. I have a 1400 calorie diet because my dogs keep me moving. id have lower due to having a desk job but taking my dogs out a few times a day and running with them, which i dont log... then on top of that... i do exercise that i log!

    Thanks. I think the diaries should also show you normal activity level so it doesn't cause confusion.
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    It really depends how agressively you have set your weightloss target - if you have set it to "I want to lose 2lbs" or even more you will get less calories to eat......mine is only set to "I want to lose 0.5lbs per week" so I get more calories....

    Obviously as you are a bit shorter that will play a role as well..... And then some of us actually choose to eat more calories than MFP suggests - yes - some of us have found out that eating more is actually working and we are losing weight ;-).....

    Also the amount and type of exercise you do can give you some more calories to play with - yah!!
  • subela
    subela Posts: 76
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    Did you program yourself to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week? That could be the difference. Also your activity level will effect the base calories. Definitely eat your exercise calories if you are hungry.
  • perceptualobfuscator
    perceptualobfuscator Posts: 159 Member
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    You didn't mention the height or weight of the other people you mentioned. Taller people need more calories, so this could be why. As well, someone who is trying to lose 100 lbs but starting from 331 rather than 231 will need to eat more, even if you are losing the same amount of weight.

    The other likely option is that they have their weight loss settings at one pound or half a pound per week. This way, they eat more and lose slightly less. As well, they may be eating back their exercise calories when you don't, and therefore eat more.

    I did nearly this entire thing on half a pound per week, and I still lost - just much slower. I couldn't handle the hypoglycemia issues eating so little meant. So you can still make meaningful progress while losing less, especially if you can't cope with your body thinking it's starving (headaches, dizziness, etc). That's probably what's going on - they just have a lower setting than you.

    You can also automatically set MFP so that you have 'workouts' throughout the week. This helps determine your calorie intake, but won't show up as 'exercise' in your diary. This could also be a factor. So if you set it to sedentary, with five 30 minute workouts, these would be factored into your calorie calculations.

    Could be any of these reasons!!
  • klynn22091
    klynn22091 Posts: 47 Member
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    I also depends on how many pounds you want to lose a week, if i want to loose 1lb them i get 2000 cal, if I want to loose 2lbs then i get 1500, and im about the same height and weight as you.
  • Deathwithab
    Deathwithab Posts: 462 Member
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    depends on the other persons height, weight, activity level, age. a lot of things play into key. i however am at 1200 cals at 5'2 and 200 pounds so it sounds pretty normal to me to hear yours would be arond the same
  • Karen_145
    Karen_145 Posts: 57
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    If you don't like it being that low I'd change your goals. It all depends on how active you are and how fast you want to lose weight. I'm you're height but a lower weight and I get 1590 cal per day. My goal is 1lb a week or less and very minimal exercise. My poor mother has to get by on 1200 as she's much much lower in weight than I am (she fooled around with MFP settings and found she'd get 1600 to just maintain).
  • Tigermad
    Tigermad Posts: 305 Member
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    Thanks for all your replies. I am quite happy with 1200 cals and 2lbs per week. I am never hungry and go slightly over if necessary if I want a little low cal treat. May be it is that the peoples diaries I have seen only have it set to lose .5lbs per week.

    This site is great :-)
  • subela
    subela Posts: 76
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    That sounds about right then. Best of luck with your weight loss.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Hello

    I started my journey 5ft 4 and 231lbs. This was the second week in August this year. MFP allowed me 1200 calls per day as a base. I want to get down to about 140 lbs.

    I am seeing many people on here with a base of 1700 calls and some over 2000 cals with no exercise with a similar amount of weight to lose as me. Surely these people can't lose weight at these levels? If they do why have I been put at 1200 cals. I know everyone ones body is different but that is quite a drastic difference.

    8 years ago I lost 7 stone over a period of a year. I was on 1500 cals a day.

    I am now losing around 2 lbs per week which is great but do you think I could up my calories and still lose this? I go to the gym 3 times a week and do 40 mins cardio each session. I sometimes eat some of the exercise calories back.

    Eat all your exercise calories!

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