Little confused? Calories 1200

lindsay1502_
lindsay1502_ Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi All

I am a little confused. I have been sticking to my 1200 calorie each day as close as possible.
and they say if you can stick to your daily 1200 you can lose half a kilo to a kilo a week just by doing this????

but this is the thing that is confusing me, when i finish my logging each day and it says usually if you keep eating this you will be 69 or 70kg in 5weeks???? I just thought this was unusual as I thought if you kept to your calories you could lose a little more than 3kg in 5weeks eg.

Or should I not worry about the report and has anyone else lost atleast a kilo a week from just sticking to their diet calories?


If anyone could clarify or tell me about their succes on calorie counting would be much appreciated :)


eg of the daily report.
Totals 1,014 81 31 93
Your Daily Goal 1,200 165 40 45
Remaining 186 84 9 -48
Calories Carbs Fat Protein
If every day were like today... You'd weigh 69.8 kg in 5 weeks Make Additional Entries
*Based on your total calories consumed for today, you are eating too few calories. Not only is it difficult to receive adequate nutrition at these calorie levels, but you could also be putting your body into starvation mode. Starvation mode lowers your metabolism and makes weight loss more difficult. We suggest increasing your calorie consumption to 1,200 calories per day minimum.

Replies

  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    MFP doesn't recommend less than 1200 cals for anyone, as this is considered a generally safe minimum number of calories for an adult to lose weight and stay healthy. It doesn't mean it's the perfect number for everyone, but it's a good general guideline. Because all of us are at a different starting point, there is no guarantee about how much weight you will lose when eating 1200 cals vs what happens for someone else.

    I suggest that you don't worry too much about the numbers - if you don't have a lot of weight to lose, it's not going to come off super fast, and if you are adding more exercise into your routine you might find that you get stronger and fitter and look better without seeing the scales change as much as you expect.

    Focus on eating well and exercising moderately. You don't have to eat less than MFP recommends, if you eat the full amount (plus what you burn from exercise) and are logging accurately you are bound to lose weight.
  • Pilotgirl86
    Pilotgirl86 Posts: 30
    Hi All

    I am a little confused. I have been sticking to my 1200 calorie each day as close as possible.
    and they say if you can stick to your daily 1200 you can lose half a kilo to a kilo a week just by doing this????

    but this is the thing that is confusing me, when i finish my logging each day and it says usually if you keep eating this you will be 69 or 70kg in 5weeks???? I just thought this was unusual as I thought if you kept to your calories you could lose a little more than 3kg in 5weeks eg.

    Or should I not worry about the report and has anyone else lost atleast a kilo a week from just sticking to their diet calories?


    If anyone could clarify or tell me about their succes on calorie counting would be much appreciated :)

    Firstly, don't worry too much about the end report, its an extrapolation that really means nothing without actually numbers

    Secondly, you should eat at least 1200 calories per day. Doing less than this will actually slow your metabolism over time, and make weight loss harder. Sure you might notice an initial large weight drop, but it will be harder to keep the pounds off and won't well in the end.

    As the PP said, focus on eating right, tracking what you eat and getting in good exercise. Focusing on the end report won't be helpful because it isn't necessarily true. Up your calories so you are eating 1200 + exercise calories and aim for loss of 1-2 lbs per week. It might take longer to lose, but you're more likely to keep it off in the end.
  • obamafan1980
    obamafan1980 Posts: 3
    Most labels on food say "2,000 calorie diet" i have no clue how much food is 2000 calories? or what that means?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Most labels on food say "2,000 calorie diet" i have no clue how much food is 2000 calories? or what that means?
    2000 calories is a typical adult (female ?) calorie requirement for maintenance of weight and fuelling activities, maybe 2500 for males.

    So the references on labels are percentages of that daily diet or food intake - if it says 10% next to protein for example then one serving of that food item gives you 10% of the daily protein expected in a 2000 calorie diet.

    2000 calories might be 250g of carbohydrates, 125g of protein and 56g of fats/oils.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    but this is the thing that is confusing me, when i finish my logging each day and it says usually if you keep eating this you will be 69 or 70kg in 5weeks
    this means that in 5 weeks of your current food intake and exercise (as recorded on that day) you would lose enough weight to get to 70kg at 7700 calories deficit per kg lost.

    So if for example you are 80kg now and it says 70kg in 5 weeks that's 2kg a week (which may be optimistic !!). 10kg @ 7700 = 77 000 calories over 5 weeks = 2200 calories per day. So you've told MFP things that lead it to believe you are burning 2200 calories per day more than you are eating, in this example.

    In general smaller deficits are more achievable, 500 calories a day less eaten than used should give you a loss of about 0.3kg per week and is more likely to happen than 2kg per week.

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