Those on 1200 calories...

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Stephanie2167
Stephanie2167 Posts: 83
in Health and Weight Loss
I just joined MFP on Sunday. Monday was my first day tracking. I only have 10 pounds to get to my goal and I'm 5'4". I have my account set to 1 pound a week. I can stick to 1200 calories a day but should I be eating my exercise calories burned?

Who else is on 1200 calories a day? How is it working for you?
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Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!
    ^^^^^^This!!
  • avonchik
    avonchik Posts: 106
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    Bump:drinker:
  • CarrieAnne22
    CarrieAnne22 Posts: 231 Member
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!

    agreed :)
  • Tudrase
    Tudrase Posts: 55
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    I'm on 1200 cal a day. i'm 5'3" and want to lose 30lb :-P first weigh in on friday! I'm aiming to lose 2lb a week
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    I eat mine back most of the time. It's 1:17 pm where I live and I have already eaten over 1100 calories today. Thankful to get to eat the 744 calories I burned today later on!
  • maru84
    maru84 Posts: 128
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    ^^ well said!
  • kedgin
    kedgin Posts: 29 Member
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    I just joined MFP on Sunday. Monday was my first day tracking. I only have 10 pounds to get to my goal and I'm 5'4". I have my account set to 1 pound a week. I can stick to 1200 calories a day but should I be eating my exercise calories burned?

    Who else is on 1200 calories a day? How is it working for you?

    Welcome to MFP! I am currently eating 1200 calories a day as well. It is working for me, but it can also be a bit of a challenge. I eat most if not all of my exercise calories.

    I am also 5' 4" but have about 50 lbs to lose.

    Feel free to add me as a friend.
  • sammi402
    sammi402 Posts: 232 Member
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    How do you do that? I can barely eat my calories once, let alone twice!
  • kathyc609
    kathyc609 Posts: 258 Member
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    just be careful if you are going to eat back your calories because MFP calories burned for exercise is really exaggerated.
    Good luck with your loss!
  • Ashleysh22
    Ashleysh22 Posts: 209
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!

    well said! I too just switched to 1250 a week. Its REALLY hard! yesterday I kinda blew it. but I definately allow myself to eat back all of my workout calories. and I am trying to do 4 meals a day of roughly 300 calories with LIGHT snacks if I am dying.

    Friend me if you want! perhaps we can learn from each other?
  • SafireBleu
    SafireBleu Posts: 881 Member
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    You should eat most of them back if you can.
  • butjuli
    butjuli Posts: 56 Member
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!

    The second part..I've been wondering this myself. I want to lose about 20 more lbs. Should I be eating back all the calories I burn? And the 1200..this might sound like a stupid question, but I've been looking at it more as an elotted amount rather than a goal to reach. Should I make sure I'm eating all 1200 (or close to it)?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I agree with what Rainbowbow said. One pound a week is not gonna happen The last 10 pounds (first 10 in your case) takes forever!

    Eat back all your exercise calories ... you want to be losing fat (not muscle). I'm at 1200 calories too - it's plenty of food provided I make good choices. I don't burn tons of calories, but it's enough.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    I'm on 1200 cal a day. i'm 5'3" and want to lose 30lb :-P first weigh in on friday! I'm aiming to lose 2lb a week

    That might be aggressive. You should aim for 1 lb a week as you want to minimize muscle loss.

    Btw, if using mfp to calculate exercise calories only eat 75% of the calories. It tenda to be high for many people.
  • amyrobynne
    amyrobynne Posts: 64 Member
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    What's the reasoning behind dropping to only .5 lbs a week when someone is close to their goal? To adjust to what maintenance will be like?
  • rxwoman
    rxwoman Posts: 23 Member
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    I started out on MFP trying to lose 30 pounds and I'm 5'3". It said I could eat 1380 calories. I lost very slowly at this (7 pounds over 3 months) and have since changed my activity level to the lowest setting and now it has me eating 1200 calories a day. I'm now averaging 1 pound/wk. I eat my calories plus my exercise calories. I usually only earn 200-300 calories/day in exercise. I do allow myself 1 day a week to eat what I want also.
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
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    Hi, welcome to MFP, I'm Andrea

    I'm pleased you asked this question as I've been struggling lately. I'm 5'4 and have around 10lbs to lose also and my cals were set at 1270. I did really well before Christmas but since then have put back on a few pounds and even though I've been really good and exercising more, I've stuck the last few weeks, but I haven't been eating my exercise cals, for which I use an HRM to work them out. It seems I may have been undereating a bit judging by what everyone has advised you
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Two things.

    1.) you do not have a lot of weight to lose. In this case I suggest you lower your goal to .5 pounds per week.

    2.) eat back ALL of your exercise calories. Creating too large of a deficit combined with the fact you do not have much to lose will hinder or even stop your weight loss.

    Best of luck!

    YEP! This
  • Stephanie2167
    Stephanie2167 Posts: 83
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    What's the reasoning behind dropping to only .5 lbs a week when someone is close to their goal? To adjust to what maintenance will be like?
    I was wondering this too. I thought 1 pound a week was good.

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