Losing weight at 1800 cals per day?

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  • VeganPanda
    VeganPanda Posts: 582 Member
    I steadily lost on MFP eating around 1000-1100 calories. I lost about 15 lbs in 2 months. Now that I am eating around 1300 I seem to be just maintaining and I am plateauing... I am 5'7 and light to moderate activity level. I would be way too afraid to bump up my cals...
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
    The past couple of weeks I seem to have stalled out so yesterday I set my weight loss goal to 1 pound a week and MFP upped my calorie goal to 1550. I try to do some form of exercise everyday. Either a 30 minute power walk, 30 minutes on a treadmill or elliptical, and some workout DVD's. I wear a HRM to determine calories burned.

    I am 64 years old, 5' 4", current weight is 216 pounds. Do you think that the new calorie goal of 1550 is right for me?

    Any advice gratefully accepted.

    Well, not somehow 1200. You selected sedentary and 2lb week, MFP did the math but won't suggest under 1200. So you and it seems the majority of women who of course select 2lb week all get 1200.

    Well, your current BMR is 1515, so you just set your goal to protect that free burn every day! Very smart.
    And once your metabolism recovers, your daily activities will take more calories too, compared to slower metabolism.
    There's the real weight loss you've been missing.

    Oh, that difference of 350 cal, only eat an extra 150 day each day for a week, and then add in the other 200 a day for the next week.
    You want your body to see this is something to increase the metabolism, not as a gift to store in case the insanity was to continue.

    And now when you eat back your HRM calorie estimate - that will actually be based on a fully burning metabolism. See, it was wrong with a slower metabolism.

    Thank you so much for responding! I will do as you say and only add 150 each day for a week and then bump it up.

    Just to make sure that I am getting this right...having added the extra 150 I would still eat my exercise calories?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Thank you so much for responding! I will do as you say and only add 150 each day for a week and then bump it up.

    Just to make sure that I am getting this right...having added the extra 150 I would still eat my exercise calories?

    Have you not been doing that?
    So in reality, your body has had much less than 1200 to operate the BMR on?

    If that is the case, I would suggest no workouts for a week when you raise the calories, and do 200 for first week. Just gentle walking for the time you had available. That is mainly fat burning and doesn't get fed.

    And then 2nd week add in 150 cal. And start workout much easier than normal so the eat-back is minor. Actually, if you could make sure some good time is spent on weights, dumbells, kettle balls, machine, something to work the muscle. Also mainly fat burning for hours later, but not much calorie burn to eat back.

    And the 3rd week do your normal intensities and eat back the calories.

    Because that is a big jump then. There is one case study of 51 yr woman raising BMR 35% back up to normal, took gal 6 wks, but still lost 5lb bodyfat during recovery time. So 2 weeks is nothing.

    And do expect that glucose stores that might be running low will finally be topped off in the muscles, that could be upwards of 3lb of glucose/water weight. And body will finally be able to repair/rebuild muscle too.

    So weight loss will probably begin in 3rd week. Unless your BMR was not lowered as badly as it sounds.
  • carolemack
    carolemack Posts: 1,276 Member
    Thank you so much for responding! I will do as you say and only add 150 each day for a week and then bump it up.

    Just to make sure that I am getting this right...having added the extra 150 I would still eat my exercise calories?

    Have you not been doing that?
    So in reality, your body has had much less than 1200 to operate the BMR on?


    Actually, I had or at least I tried to eat as much of them as possible. Today, I did a little more than normal for exercise and had bumped up the calorie goal to 1550 so I was unable to eat enough of my exercise calories. I'll get it together over the next couple of days to make sure I have planned out my food properly for the day.

    Thank you so much for your help.
  • Woooolywool
    Woooolywool Posts: 136 Member
    I would definitely recommend eating more, or increasing your calorie intake, just give it a go for a month or so, so you can figure out what works best for your body.
    I was on 1,200 calories a day, but decided to decrease the amount of weight that I wanted to lose per week to 0.5 lbs, and that brought me up to 1,600 calories (more if I've been exercising). And although I've only been on the increased intake for one week, I've already lost some weight! (0.8lbs is a amazing for me!) Just give it a go, and see if it works for you. :)
  • Lolli1986
    Lolli1986 Posts: 500 Member
    I was at 1200 for a while, then recently increased it to 1350. Normally, I exercise 2-3 times per week for 30-60 mins each time. Moderate level (circuit training sometimes with weights, Zumba type exercises)

    I would definitely eat more while exercising more. 30 mins every day (with a low-impact walk day, or two in there, if need be), or 60 minutes most days, with rest days. I personally aim to lose weight at 1800 with an hour a day of moderate-high level exercise (ie, my 500 deficit), with 1-2 low impact walk days. I never used to count calories when I was fit, but I definitely ate more than I do now, and I currently eat about 1350 (i'm injured and cannot move much, and i maintain at this)
  • ekeledo
    ekeledo Posts: 15
    bump!
  • mukamom
    mukamom Posts: 207 Member
    bump
  • J_Daawwg
    J_Daawwg Posts: 61 Member
    Bump!
  • Yori1
    Yori1 Posts: 142
    Bump
  • Birder150
    Birder150 Posts: 677 Member
    Bump for encouragement. :smile:
  • tashaa1992
    tashaa1992 Posts: 658 Member
    I showed this to my sister as she is looking to lose weight, which I think is completely uneccessary but. We're both a bit confused though, it seems to good to be true.
    Her stats:
    She's 96 pounds.
    She's 5.1/2 ft.
    She has an active job and is on her feet at least half of her ten hour shift. She exercises at 40-60 minutes per day, but just walking.

    She's spent most of her life switching from one diet to the next, and she binges regularly:( Rebekah can honestly gain so easily, which I think it why she is so sceptical.

    What should she do? Any advice would be great
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I showed this to my sister as she is looking to lose weight, which I think is completely uneccessary but. We're both a bit confused though, it seems to good to be true.
    Her stats:
    She's 96 pounds.
    She's 5.1/2 ft.
    She has an active job and is on her feet at least half of her ten hour shift. She exercises at 40-60 minutes per day, but just walking.

    She's spent most of her life switching from one diet to the next, and she binges regularly:( Rebekah can honestly gain so easily, which I think it why she is so sceptical.

    What should she do? Any advice would be great

    She should realize that if you have slowed your metabolism down, you have less ability to increase calories slightly and have no effect.
    We all know people with great metabolism that can eat some huge meal out of the ordinary and it doesn't effect them.

    400 cal binge with normal diet at 1200 is 33% of normal calories. At 2000 diet it is only 20%. Plus when you eat more, there is more room for adjustment. Big eater makes next meal smaller by decent amount. Small eater probably feels hungry still.

    For your sister and that routine, she easily uses up glucose stores all day long, and the workout compounds it, and she probably runs at a low level all the time. This just means the next workout can easily slip into low glucose with no stores, and therefore muscle must be broken down to provide that.
    Now with less muscle, less metabolism.
    When she finally binges, the glucose finally goes up. If she binged on like 1500 cal worth of carbs, that would finally store up with water to the tune of 3 lbs.
    That is the "slice of wedding cake and 3lbs heavier the next day" syndrome. Just required energy and water weight she had been artificially low on.

    Without an age, can't get true BMR figure for sis, but guessing younger than you, so if 18.
    BMR 1216.
    So that is the body's calorie needs if sleeping all day. Which she obviously doesn't do.

    And 96lbs is underweight already.

    If she isn't happy about body imagine, then you should probably help her since you already went through the same thing and should see where this is going - don't support that direction.

    She needs to do strength training if she doesn't like the flab. And that flab would be a result of burning off muscle on probably too low calorie diet, and glucose stores running out.

    She needs to eat at 1800 to support that weight and level of activity, and allow strength training to gain her some muscle.
    She will lose fat as she gains muscle, and scale should stay the same.
  • Gmblin
    Gmblin Posts: 1
    I couldn't stand to loose on such low numbers. I would feel so hungry! So I exercise a lot and that way I can eat more. I don't have a problem with not exercising. My problem is eating so, I keep it about 1900 cal and loose about 400 with exercise. having an eliptical helps.
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