1200 to 1220? aww, thanks MFP for the 20 cals....? (over 50)

MFP goes by the 250 calorie defecit for every half pound you want to lose. It takes your calculated TDEE (BMR plus an estimated number for what you put in for your activity level) and subtracts that from there, however, it will not go below 1200. For example, if your TDEE is calculated out at 1970, a 1000 calorie defecit (2lbs a week) would give you 970 calories a day, and MFP will not do that, it will automatically give you 1200. A lesser defecit (750 for 1.5lbs) will give you 1220.


Also, if you are exercising, have a search for "eating exercise calories"

I'm not over 50, but I joined MFP almost a year ago and I've lost 69 pounds (a little over a pounds a week) and I'm 5'9". I started off sedentary with a goal of losing 1.5 pounds a week. I was given 1550 to begin with and I ate back half my exercise calories. There have been months where I've lost nothing and it's ben because I'm eating under 1400 cals a day.

For the last six months I've given myself a calorie goal (1460) and eaten that amount regardless of whether I exercise or not. When I do exercise, though, I dont eat the cals back unless I burn over 350 (at which point I'll add a banana and some peanut butter at the end of the day) and this has worked the best.

I hope this helps some. It sounds to me.like youre motivated and doing a really great job, just trying to find the right settings for your body... Once you find those your motivation and exercise are going to bring you some fantastic results.

Add me as a friend if you'd like!

I am over 50, actually will be 60 next year. I really believe it's the quality of the calories you eat rather than the number. I personally cannot eat a lot of carbs. Even if I stay under 1200 calories, but say 25% if I eat any processed carbs (cereal, bread, pasta, so-called low fat snacks) I absolutely will not lose weight.

Try making those 1200 calories really count and cut out processed/packaged foods for a while and see if it helps - if it comes in a box or a package, don't eat it. Also, water intake is major. Diet coke, diet iced tea, Crystal Light, etc. is not water. Make sure you are getting your vitamins - multi-vitamins, Omegas, CoQ10. Finally, make sure you are getting good sound sleep. Your body heals itself from the exercise when you sleep. And take a day off from exercise every week -- you need to recover and avoid inflammation.

That's all I've got... I have been struggling since menopause and I feel your pain!

Well I started out at the 1200 a day and super slow on the loss, bumped it down to 1 lb per week and upped my calories and surprise I started losing. I am well over 50 but I do have a job where i am on my feet most of the day and work out at least 6 days a week, so I am probably not a good model. But if I were you, you might try bumping your calories by like 100 for a week then if you gain you cut back. Just keep at it, took me two months of 1 week at a time tweaking to start losing.

I'm not over 50, but I joined MFP almost a year ago and I've lost 69 pounds (a little over a pounds a week) and I'm 5'9". I started off sedentary with a goal of losing 1.5 pounds a week. I was given 1550 to begin with and I ate back half my exercise calories. There have been months where I've lost nothing and it's ben because I'm eating under 1400 cals a day.

For the last six months I've given myself a calorie goal (1460) and eaten that amount regardless of whether I exercise or not. When I do exercise, though, I dont eat the cals back unless I burn over 350 (at which point I'll add a banana and some peanut butter at the end of the day) and this has worked the best.

I hope this helps some. It sounds to me.like youre motivated and doing a really great job, just trying to find the right settings for your body... Once you find those your motivation and exercise are going to bring you some fantastic results.

Add me as a friend if you'd like!

but were those months that you lost nothing the first 2 months you joined? lol, it is like a started in a plateau- just makes no sense. pretty discouraging, kwim?
the only difference i've noticed is that i'm getting way stronger, not yet back to pre-accident strength but getting there. i can see way more muscle definition in mirror.....which makes me wonder since i've read so many times that one can't add muscle in calorie deficit.... maybe 1200 cals isn't a real deficit for my body? (no, i don't under estimate cals - if anything i overestimate them on log). all these BMR's and TDEE's are just estimates here, there must be ppl that don't fit into the box.
raise cals? lower them? stay the course? i dunno.

Yes, there are definitely people who don't fit the calories that MFP gives. As a sports nutritionist, I customize calories for my clients all the time. Even with a more accurate formula from my nutrition certifications, I sometimes have to go back and tweak the plan based on how the client responds. But even in making those changes, I've only recommended a 1200 calorie plan for 1 person in my career. She was only 90 pounds of lean body mass at 140 pounds of total body weight. The formula I use goes by lean body mass and activity level but not age. You don't burn any fewer calories because you're over 50 then I do at almost 40. The difference is in the amount of muscle that is burning calories and the amount of activity you do that is burning calories. Most people lose a pound of lean body mass (muscle) per year after age 30, but that can be counteracted by resistance training. If someone doesn't do the weight training necessary to maintain their muscle mass, then they may feel like their metabolism is slowing with age, but it is actually the loss of muscle not their age that is causing it.

When you begin resistance training you gain the ability to store more glycogen before you actually gain muscle mass. That's why a lot of people who are just starting out will see a gain when they first start weight training because of the extra glycogen and the water it is stored in showing up on the scale. This is actually a good water weight gain, though, so you don't want to lose it. After a few months of resistance training, that will level off and then any gains will be from actual muscle fiber growth. But, that is why you are able to gain lean body mass even on a deficit because it is glycogen and water, not actual muscle yet.

when i got here 2 months ago i set my weight loss for 2 lbs/week since i have like 60-65 pounds to lose to get back to what i was before the accident a couple of years ago that left me in hosp bed, body cast, then wheelchair for couple of years. the day i got rid of the crutches i joined MFP.

I know I'm not a woman (but i'm over 50) but... the math on weight loss is pretty simple. 1g of fat needs 9 calories to burn off. There are about 454g in 1 pound. 9 x 454 is 4086 calorie deficit between what you eat and what your body needs to maintain weight. If you do not eat enough protein then your body will burn off muscle and fat during weight loss. If you are supposed to have about 2000 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week you will give up about 2 days worth of eating per week to make that happen. This is why programs like this one try to suggest 1 pound a week weight loss.

Add to that you should have probably changed your activity level upwards from sedentary and recorded that difference in your MFP profile; as you become more active your muscles will tone and build. Since muscle is heavier than fat in your body you will lose more inches than actual weight early in your program(as in several months) plus more muscle means more passive calorie burning.

SO- if you are more active, exercise easier, feel better and are losing inches eventually the scale will change more like you wish if you continue to work the program. Getting enough protein, calcium and iron are your keys to keep you healthy as you reduce so keep at it and I'm sure you'll see the results you desire.

aww, thanks funky camper.
yes there was muscle atrophy during the long immobile period and i still have to take meds that i am sure lower my trashed from accident metabolism even further. but i'm still confused as to how many cals i should eat, lol? during the long recovery period is the first time i've ever gained weight in my (extremely active previously) life so all this is new to me.
no problem on the good nutrition - have always eaten very very clean. that and the fact that i was in such good shape is what probably saved my life.

With the amount you want to lose, you are also better at focusing on only losing 1# or 1.5# a week. Actually, for you, I would suggest 1#. My reason gets back to your accident and how damaged your body has been. You have a lot of repair work to do and your body probably needs extra calories and nutrients to do that.

haha, i think i gave it waaay more than enough calories (and nutrients) over the past 2.5 years of recovery, like 65 pounds more.. 23 of the 24 fractures are totally repaired, just have one left on joint of ankle that isn't all filled in yet hence the walking cast still.

It's been widely reported here at MFP that many people actually lose weight faster by eating more, as long as they are also doing proper exercise, because their bodies are properly nourished and not fighting to hold onto fat due to lack of enough daily calories.

that's the whole starvation mode thing that i've read about- however it *seems* to apply to ppl that are closer to goal weight and to ppl that have plateaued after eating too few calories.....i don't fall into either category. i didn't stall, i never got out of starting gate in 2 months. i'm not sure i understand how eating MORE w/ a now trashed metabolism (being 51, on meds, and flirting w/ menopause sometimes, doesn't help to repair that quick) will help me get back to what i used to weigh/look like.
~i just read the 'if you're not losing weight you're not in a deficit' thread which only confused me more.::sad:

i could exercise more, i've been forcing myself to leave gym after 2-3 hours because it feels soooooo good to be moving and using muscle again that i get real euphoric there~ like i get so wired that i have hard time eating or sleeping after. i could easily stay longer....?

stay the course, eat more, exercise more, i just don't know what is the right answer for me. my gut is saying exercise more but i'm not sure i should trust it- think it just like the exercise high too much, rofl.

Your body has been through tremendous stress over the last couple of years. Exercising and eating in a calorie deficit are also stresses on the body. Your body can't differentiate the various types of stress, i.e. physical, emotional, mental, but I'm sure you've had all three of those with what you have been through. Stress causes hormonal fluctuations that make it far more difficult to lose weight as your body is dealing with the stress and, thus, having a harder time releasing the fat. It has to do with cortisol (sp?) and some of the other hormones but, I believe, that is the main one. I really don't understand this phenomenon enough to explain it but enough very knowledgeable people here at MFP and elsewhere have posted about it to make me believe it does have significant impact. You might google around and see what you find. I wish I had some links handy for you.

Anyway, while your bones and other tissues may have healed from all your surgeries, that doesn't mean that your body is done healing and is done dealing with the stress it has been through so all those stress hormones might still be higher than optimal for weight loss. I really think this might be an issue for you. If you are stressing about what the scale says, you are contributing to keeping those hormones out of whack.

So the answer to this is to relax and be patient. Maybe even ditch the scale for awhile. I find I do much better if I only weigh about once a month. As long as I'm working my program, I also see a loss when I wait that long to way and that makes me happy and keeps me on my program. When I weigh weekly, I may be in a short stall, weigh on a day when I have a bit more water weight and not see a loss at all, or not see as much of a loss as I was hoping for, and then the scale number might make me unhappy and this might derail me a bit and cause me to feel some stress. So I avoid it and just focus on the fitness progression I'm seeing combined with clothes getting looser. May not work for you but might be worth a try. Anything to keep the stress levels low.

I also think you're over-exercising. 2-3 hours a day is way too much for someone who is working their way back to being in shape. Again, your body just knows this is stress on it and you could very well be messing up those hormonal levels even more by exercising for so long each day. Plus, your body needs to rest and heal in-between workouts in order for you to see the full benefit of the workouts. If you're not giving your body proper rest and recovery, your muscles will not adequately heal enough from one workout session to the next and you won't see the progress you desire. Intense, shorter exercise sessions with adequate recovery work far better for fitness and weight loss than over-training.

Add to that, even just eating in a deficit also adds stress. I just think you're trying to do too much at once for your body to handle at this point in your recovery process. I know I probably sound like a bit of a broken record but learning these things and applying them has made a huge difference for me and has helped my weight loss/fitness progress immensely.

I really think you should shift your focus to doing proper exercise/recovery for awhile until your body gets used to that and does more healing from the last few years. It might only take a month or two for your cortisol and other stress hormones to return to proper levels. Then focus a bit more on finding out what deficit level works best for you to achieve weight loss while retaining as much of your muscle mass as possible.

I also wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you find that you actually start losing when you start eating more. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but a lot of people find success doing that. Once your body is properly nourished, it will more readily let go of the fat.

One of the major reasons why I think this is all important for you is that you haven't been losing inches while increasing your exercising. Anyway, it's worth a shot, imho.