Those on 1200 calories...
Stephanie2167
Posts: 83
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?
Who else is on 1200 calories a day? How is it working for you?
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Replies
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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!0 -
^^^^^^This!!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!0 -
Bump:drinker:0
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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
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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 week0
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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!0
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^^ well said!0
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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.0 -
How do you do that? I can barely eat my calories once, let alone twice!0
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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!0 -
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?0 -
You should eat most of them back if you can.0
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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)?0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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?0
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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.0
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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 you0 -
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! This0 -
I was wondering this too. I thought 1 pound a week was good.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?0 -
I'm struggling with this as well. I can barely get to the 1200 mark, let alone what I have for exercise. What could I do without packing on the pounds?0
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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)?
1200 calories is NET calories. NET means the difference between calories IN and calories OUT. Someone who does ZERO exercise still gets 1200 calories ...... this is as low as is deemed safe. Your body needs 1200 calories to FUNCTION.
Adding exercise calories makes sure you do not go below 1200. Think of the "extra food" as fuel for your workouts. Build (or keep) muscle ...... lose fat ONLY.0 -
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?
To minimize the loss of lean muscle mass, and to prevent your metabolism from slowing down.0 -
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!
I was going to bring up the same point (or my hesitance rather) regarding eating back all the calories that mfp calculates. I do not have a heart rate monitor so this is all I have to go by. I do either Zumba or Kickboxing in the gym everyday and my calculations range from 300-600 (get Zumba calories from zumbacalories.com) but I usually try to stay around 1400 everyday (I am set for 1200) just to be safe. I'm not saying this is right or wrong...just what I am doing. Good luck!0 -
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?
If you're close to your goal, you don't have enough excess body fat to support a larger calorie deficit. If your body can't pull enough energy from your fat, it'll go from your muscle. When you lose muscle, you look heavier and mushier than if you kept your muscle.
Years ago, with too large of a calorie deficit, I got down to 130# and wore a size 8. This time, with a smaller calorie deficit, I'm around 133# and a size 2 or 4, depending on brand. Here's my old jeans with a pair of jeans I wear now.
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Yes - I have stopped losing weight recently - on 1200 but never eat back my calories - just not hungry and as I train in the evening I don't want to eat after as its late - I am A LITTLE CONFUSED?0
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They way I see it is look at your calories like a bank account budget
Have 1200 calories in your bank
You eat/spend that 1200 calories all day
Let's say you go into overdraft (over your calories)
Work out to earn more calories.
You're still getting 1200 calories a day.
Also think of food like feul and working out as managing your metabolism.
I've been doing this and I've been loosing about 1 lb a week.0 -
I was going 1200 calories, but I found it to not be sustainable. I plateaued because I wasn't eating enough. I too am in the "last legs" of getting to my goal, and I found that it was much more helpful to up my calories to about 1400 in order to better sustain my activity, enable muscle growth, and make me feel better. I have lost weight and body fat SO much more quickly on the higher intake than I ever did at 1200.
Anyway, I think that if you feel like 1200 is enough for you, that's great, but if you find yourself too hungry, lagging in workouts, plateauing, etc, try increasing your intake a tad. Also keep in mind that the "last few pounds" sometimes aren't necessary to lose. The tape measure is much more accurate than a scale at that point 0 -
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I joined this site on 9FEB and weighed in one pound lighter that day. I'm anxious to see if I lose any weight this week. At my job I joined this Life Balance group and we get weighed in at every meeting (on Thursday). I want to lose 30 lbs and have been keeping up with 1200 calories a day. I will start excersining next week.....been in a slump lately.0
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