How much could I lose if I stick to 1200-1400 calories a day?

[carrottopper]

I'm female, 40, 5'6" and 11stone 6. I'd love to get under 11 stone in the next 3 weeks. I'm so disappointed that I've tipped over 11stone. I'd love to lose more but I know I few more comfortable at 11stone than I am now.

I have an ankle injury which means I've had to stop the exercising I was doing at home so more exercise is out of the question.

I've cut out snacks and having normal portion sizes and trying to cut back on the nightly glass of wine.

How much could I expect to lose if I stick to 1200-1400 calories and calorie count?

[countchuckula]

You would need to put your information into a fitness app.

I use Lose It! which is free. You put in your current size, what weight you want to be, your current level of exercise and so on. It tells you when you will meet your goal which varies with how many calories you want to live on.

[IWouldPreferNotTo]

You can use an app but it's worth knowing the maths behind it,.

First we'll use the Mifflin St Jeor formula to work out your Basal Metabolic Rate which is the amount of energy you'd use just lying in bed awake.

10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x Age – 161 = BMR in KCal

(10 72.5) + (6.25 167.5) - (5 * 40) - 161 = BMR in KCal

725 + 1047 - 200 - 61 = BMR in KCal

1411 = BMR

Then for a largely sedentary life you multiply it by 1.2 to give 1693Kcal which is what you'd eat to lose weight.

Round that up to 1700KCal/day and pick 1300 KCal/day as your average eating gives a defecit of 400KCal/day

To lose 1 Kg of weight you need a total deficit of 7700Kcal

So 7700 / 400 = 19.25 days to lose 1Kg

To lose 0.5Kg a week (just over a pound) you'd need a deficit of 550Kcal/day

So you would need to eat 1150Kcal/day if doing no exercise

[IWouldPreferNotTo]

Error correction

Then for a largely sedentary life you multiply it by 1.2 to give 1693Kcal which is what you'd eat to lose weight. maintain weight

[whitehalleve]

I only lose if I drop below 1000

[carrottopper]

Wish I could exercise. 1200 calories isn't easy to stick to. I seem to be able to manage on 1300-1400. On 1200 I feel a bit faint.

How do you manage 1000??

[Georgiemcgeorgeface]

I lose a pound a week on 1200 ish calories a day

[IWouldPreferNotTo]

The posters saying "I lose weight on x calories" are missing the point.

The amount of weight you lose per week is the cumulative calories deficit which is massively influenced by your sex, weight, age, height and activity level.

What is true for one person is not true for another

As an obese man I need 2,300 KCal a day to maintain my weight.

If I ate 1200 KCal/Day that would be a 1,100KCal/day deficit or 7,700Kcal/week which would have me losing over 1Kg a week (2.2lbs)

What I do is track my weight in Libra (android application) and plot a 10 day moving average, from this I can calculate what my actual deficit is and the compare that to what MyFitnessPal is showing I've eaten and Garmin Connect is showing me what I've burned to work out if I need to adjust food or exercise.

[MoreSlidingDoors]

I low carb and eat 800 cals a day (inc 60g minimum protein to protect against metabolic damage). Lost 7lbs last week!

[carrottopper]

My issue has always been snacking and portion size. Now I can't exercise, the pounds have piled on.

Long term, I'm hoping to just eat normally and just be careful with portion size and cut chocolate and crisps which I was having every day to just treats.

Short term, I'm trying to stick to 1200 calories to see if I can lose a bit in the next 3 weeks. However, I've had 2 weetabix, blueberries, strawberries for breakfast, a 333 calories 'healthy option' meal from Sainsbury's (veg risotto) and I'm feeling a bit faint. Won't be having tea (pasta) until hubby comes home after 7. Should I power through, or have a snack of some sort? Please bare in mind this is short term and I'm not planning on living off 1200 calories strictly every day

[MrsTerryPratchett]

The amount of weight you lose per week is the cumulative calories deficit which is massively influenced by your sex, weight, age, height and activity level.

And luck. I lose loads then nothing.

You're also having carbs, carbs, carbs, then a few carbs. They make you hungry. I've lost a lot of weight recently low-carbing (lots of fat and some protein, a few vegetables) and don't feel hungry.

[sleepyhead]

I used my fitness pal to track c.1200-1400 per day and was losing a couple of pounds a week. I was 11st 6lbs and 5' 6" but was walking about 6000 steps a day.

The key for me was being ultra strict with myself in weighing and measuring food if it wasn't a pre-packaged product, and constantly forcing myself to record literally everything that passed my lips - my mind kept trying to get me to cheat.

Snacking is fine as long as you count it and eat less at other times to compensate. I found that eventually I was put off snacking during the day as it left me short at mealtimes and I'd inevitably end up starving. I started preferring protein/fat rich foods as I knew they'd fill me up for longer.

I found the first couple of weeks really hard and then got into a rhythm. 10 months in, I've lost 2 stone and I (think!) I've changed my eating habits for the long term. I still find that if I eat too much sugary, snacky food then I crave more but I'm much more disciplined than I used to be and can eat 1 biscuit rather than a whole packet...

[MoreSlidingDoors]

Wow. You need to cut most of those carbs out.

[sleepyhead]

Remember to weigh your pasta. A 75g portion of dry pasta is dismal I'm afraid and still 260 bloody calories...

[Ikeameatballs]

You need to distract yourself and power through. If you want to lose weight and can’t exercise then you will feel hungry at some point. Eventually you will get used to smaller portions. You are also eating a carb heavy diet which will not satisfy you for long.

I’d really suggest eating a vegetable based diet with some small portions of high protein foods eg lean meat, cheese, nuts.

[carrottopper]

We have the tortellini filled pasta as a family for a meal tonight. I was going to have 1/2 a pack which is around 400 calories. That with the 333 calorie lunch and weetabix makes up under 1000 calories. I will add lots of veg to the pasta.

[DangerMouse17]

It's still a lot of carb and I'm not sure you're counting all the cals. So you must have had milk with your weetabix for example? Did you have coffee or tea today...with milk? How much strawbs/berries did you have? You need to be measuring properly.

Had any water? 2 to 3L is what you need to speed up the loss.

[carrottopper]

I've been logging the calories on my fitness tracker.

It says tea with skimmed milk 23 calories
2 weetabix 134 calories
1/2 cup skimmed milk 40 calories
Raspberries 10 (10)
Strawberries 20 (5)
Blueberries 5 (5)

Then Mediterranean risotto 333calories on the box
Handful of spinach 14 calories

579 calories.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

How many carbs is that on MFP?

What proportion?

[Flobochin]

Following

[ADayAlwaysHasToEnd]

It's about eating the right stuff. If you eat lots of veg it's low calories but a lot of food

[carrottopper]

On MFP carbs are showing as 97g and goal is 155g. 57g left. I haven't set that goal so I'm presuming it's what is suggested

[MoreSlidingDoors]

That’s about 4 times the carbs I eat.

[Georgiemcgeorgeface]

Definitely up your veg intake. If you can buy an eatwell plate or use a template and be majority of the food on your plate should be carbs. I was hungry a lot at first but found it easier as I got into the swing. Good luck

[Georgiemcgeorgeface]

That should say veg. Not carbs! Doh!

[BentNeckLady]

It’s easy to lose weight low carbing it isn’t easy to keep it off and it makes for a life of dull samey food.

Have you ever tried intermittent fasting? I lost 4 stone with SW and have kept it off for 18 months IF and I can eat chips if I want to.

It really gets on my wick when people say you need to eat less carbs

You need to eat less calories. That’s all there is to it.