Nutritionist Recommended Calories, To Many?

AnotherJenn
AnotherJenn Posts: 62 Member
edited November 7 in Food and Nutrition
My nutritionist is recommending I eat 1750 calories a day. I usually eat 1200, if I didn't workout and 1400 if I did. I'm so afraid to eat that much but she's saying that I'm stalling my metabolism and my body if hanging on to every calorie because it's not getting enough. She also asked me to just try it for one month and to stay off the scale for one month. Is this crazy? MFP says I'm going to gain every week, not lose. Also, she said my workouts have already been figured into the number so I'm not supposed to add my workouts on MFP just track my food intake. Any thoughts?

Replies

  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    You're paying her for her professional expertise - so give it a try. I'm sure 1200 is too low for many people, maybe it is for you.
  • boo59
    boo59 Posts: 5
    Your body will go into a shutdown mode if it senses it is being starved. Listen to your nutritionist and know that as your weight loss is to continue you have to fuel the engine that consumes the excess! Good luck!
  • LesliePierceRN
    LesliePierceRN Posts: 860 Member
    What is you base setting? I set mine low, so the days I work out I can add that in, but if I miss a day, the exercise isn't built in, I just get my base calories. She may be right, if you overestimated your basal setting. It sure wouldn't hurt to make sure your settings are accurate, then get rid of the scale and see what happens. It's only a month. It's not like you'll be binging and going crazy. See if a few more calories of good,quality nutrition help. I know I lose faster the more I eat.. If I try to lower my settings, I begin to retain like crazy.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    My nutritionist is recommending I eat 1750 calories a day. I usually eat 1200, if I didn't workout and 1400 if I did. I'm so afraid to eat that much but she's saying that I'm stalling my metabolism and my body if hanging on to every calorie because it's not getting enough. She also asked me to just try it for one month and to stay off the scale for one month. Is this crazy? MFP says I'm going to gain every week, not lose. Also, she said my workouts have already been figured into the number so I'm not supposed to add my workouts on MFP just track my food intake. Any thoughts?

    It all depends on what your BMR is. If your BMR is, say 1600 per day, then yes, you will gain weight. If, however, it is something like 2000 per day, then you will be at a deficit of 250 per day - 1750 per week, which equates to just over 1/2 lbs weight loss per week.
  • Cal28
    Cal28 Posts: 514 Member
    Give it a go. She's a professional. If it doesn't work you can re-discuss it with her, I've just upped mine by 100kcal to 1300 but I don't move much (day to day) apart from the gym classes I do.
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
    My nutritionist is recommending I eat 1750 calories a day. I usually eat 1200, if I didn't workout and 1400 if I did. I'm so afraid to eat that much but she's saying that I'm stalling my metabolism and my body if hanging on to every calorie because it's not getting enough. She also asked me to just try it for one month and to stay off the scale for one month. Is this crazy? MFP says I'm going to gain every week, not lose. Also, she said my workouts have already been figured into the number so I'm not supposed to add my workouts on MFP just track my food intake. Any thoughts?

    It all depends on what your BMR is. If your BMR is, say 1600 per day, then yes, you will gain weight. If, however, it is something like 2000 per day, then you will be at a deficit of 250 per day - 1750 per week, which equates to just over 1/2 lbs weight loss per week.

    You are a bit wrong here. You are confusing BMR with total daily energy expenditure. BMR is the base amount of calories when you do nothing but lay in the bed all day. Your math is wrong also. (1750 -1600 = 150)

    Op: thats how much I eat and I lose weight. 1200 calories is not the major bullet for weight loss. Most people need more.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
    nutritionists are worthless.

    go on the harris benedict formula. this should calculate your bmr, then you can add your activity level in for your TEE (total enegy exenditure). if you exercise everyday and its a routine then this should be calculated as your activity level. so your exercise should already be accounted for (another reason you shouldnt eat back)..anyways...after you calc your amount of calories, you can subtract from there for how ever much weight you want to lose. your body doesnt shut down..your metabolism always works! you dont store fat, you dont gain weight if eat to little. all these are diet myths, and unfortunately even perpetuated by so called 'experts'.

    you shouldnt also go on that silly 1200 cals a day thing either..its all bs too. everyone's body is different, everyones activity level is different. everyones muscle mass is different, hormones etc etc..there is no magic arbitray number that works for everyone..certainly not this 1200 cals a day stuff. sometimes it takes a little time and tweaking to find the perfect amount of calories to lose fat. and all these formulas are just an approximation. it took me a few months to find the right amount of cals to steadily gain weight while building muscle..finally it settled on 2000-2200. gained 10 lbs in 4 months. now i'm cutting, so i've lowered my cals to 1700. Just enough to lose fat slowly, but still maintain muscle mass. of course i'm still tweaking and that could go up or down if i find i'm losing to fast.

    i cant say exactly what you should be eating, because i dont know your stats..but you should calculate it yourself..harris benedict is the most recognized and trusted formula.
  • MsFat2Fit
    MsFat2Fit Posts: 59
    My nutritionist recommended earlier 1300 calories but changed that today 1550 calories; usually I exercise at least 400 calories per day; in the best days 1400+ calories. I think the extremely low calories are if you don't do anything but if you are exercising normally in my opinion 1750 should be ok.
  • debswebby
    debswebby Posts: 326
    I would listen to the nutritionist and give it all you got for a month. If it doesn't work, you get to tell them they are rubbish. Its very satisfying
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
    Its true. I was eating too few calories (average at the time was 1400) and MFP's goal was 1650. I wasn't losing weight. My body adjusted to the lower intake and worked to maintain my fat levels because it thought I wasn't eating enough. I upped my calories to within 50 of my goal and weight started falling off all of a sudden. My Mom-in-Law wont listen to me either about not eating enough. She is obese, but hardly eats. She told me how when she started having a slice of toast with tea in the morning, she lost a little weight. YES! Its because she wasn't eating enough calories and she added a few. But of course, she wouldn't listen... its only because its better to have breakfast of course! *sigh*
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
    a professional nutritionist? what do they know?!?!!? just ask random people on the internet instead, and follow their advice.
  • DizzyLinds
    DizzyLinds Posts: 856 Member
    a professional nutritionist? what do they know?!?!!? just ask random people on the internet instead, and follow their advice.

    Brilliant! lol
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    You should take her advice. You might be pleasantly surprised. Even if it doesn't work out, there is no deadline to lose the weight other than what you impose on yourself. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself and your body because it does still maintain some control and might refuse to cooperate. I know its crazy to say that your body acts on its own, but it is true. The body is designed to survive and will adjust to things that you put it through to avoid dying. Listen to your nutritionist.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    A nutritionist need not have any medical training or an official qualification to set up in business.

    Read here how Ben Goldacre got his dead cat Henrietta a qualification as a nutritionist - in fact the same one as a well-known British TV nutritionist:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/feb/12/advertising.food
    She even sneaked one into this very newspaper, during a profile on her: "Doubt has also been cast on the value of McKeith's certified membership of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, especially since Guardian journalist Ben Goldacre managed to buy the same membership online for his dead cat for $60. McKeith's spokeswoman says of this membership: "Gillian has 'professional membership', which is membership designed for practising nutritional and dietary professionals, and is distinct from 'associate membership', which is open to all individuals. To gain professional membership Gillian provided proof of her degree and three professional references."

    Well. My dead cat Hettie is also a "certified professional member" of the AANC. I have the certificate hanging in my loo. Perhaps it didn't even occur to the journalist that McKeith could be wrong. More likely, of course, in the tradition of nervous journalists, I suspect she was hurried, on deadline, and felt she had to get McKeith's "right of reply" in, even if it cast doubts on - I'll admit my beef here - my own hard-won investigative revelations about my dead cat. I mean, I don't sign my dead cat up to bogus professional organisations for the good of my health, you know.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    That aside, it does not sound like too many calories if you have a lot to lose or if you're working out a lot. I'm on 1,340 calories as per MFP's recommendations to lose 1lb a week, but after exercise I can easily eat between 1,700 and 2,500 and still lose weight.
  • lh12xx
    lh12xx Posts: 111 Member
    Try it, it's only a month. Worst case scenario you'll plateau. I doubt you'd gain.
  • AnotherJenn
    AnotherJenn Posts: 62 Member
    a professional nutritionist? what do they know?!?!!? just ask random people on the internet instead, and follow their advice.

    LOL! Point taken, thanks.
  • AnotherJenn
    AnotherJenn Posts: 62 Member
    My nutritionist is recommending I eat 1750 calories a day. I usually eat 1200, if I didn't workout and 1400 if I did. I'm so afraid to eat that much but she's saying that I'm stalling my metabolism and my body if hanging on to every calorie because it's not getting enough. She also asked me to just try it for one month and to stay off the scale for one month. Is this crazy? MFP says I'm going to gain every week, not lose. Also, she said my workouts have already been figured into the number so I'm not supposed to add my workouts on MFP just track my food intake. Any thoughts?

    It all depends on what your BMR is. If your BMR is, say 1600 per day, then yes, you will gain weight. If, however, it is something like 2000 per day, then you will be at a deficit of 250 per day - 1750 per week, which equates to just over 1/2 lbs weight loss per week.

    She said my BMR is 1350 and I workout 6 days a week, she added 5 days in case I miss a day. So I guess this plan could be accurate. :-)
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    My nutritionist is recommending I eat 1750 calories a day. I usually eat 1200, if I didn't workout and 1400 if I did. I'm so afraid to eat that much but she's saying that I'm stalling my metabolism and my body if hanging on to every calorie because it's not getting enough. She also asked me to just try it for one month and to stay off the scale for one month. Is this crazy? MFP says I'm going to gain every week, not lose. Also, she said my workouts have already been figured into the number so I'm not supposed to add my workouts on MFP just track my food intake. Any thoughts?

    It all depends on what your BMR is. If your BMR is, say 1600 per day, then yes, you will gain weight. If, however, it is something like 2000 per day, then you will be at a deficit of 250 per day - 1750 per week, which equates to just over 1/2 lbs weight loss per week.

    She said my BMR is 1350 and I workout 6 days a week, she added 5 days in case I miss a day. So I guess this plan could be accurate. :-)

    Well, fingers crossed it works :flowerforyou:
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