Help please with MyFitnessPal 1200 calories

[Honey1975]

I’ve just signed up to MyFitnessPal and have been doing the diary for 3 days. It’s already making me think so much more about what I eat.

When I ser it up it said my daily calories should be just over 1200 but each day so far I’ve been over by at least 200. I’m still getting the hang of it but I just wondered how does it decide what your daily calorie allowance should be and is this realistic?
It doesn’t seem like very much and I’m not sure what sort of things to eat so that I’m not still hungry and therefore going over the 1200. I’m a bit confused, could anyone explain for me how it works?

It's not very much is it? I think it depends on whether you 'eat your exercise calories' - if you put in what exercise you've done it sort of gives you more calories IYSWIM.

I gave up on MFP tbh, too much like hard work and I'm not good with numbers!

There is a good Facebook group - My Fitness Pal UK support group. Have a look for that and join. Very supportive.

MFP tends to give everyone 1200 cals. It’s too low really. How tall are you? How much do you have to lose? Have you put you want to lose 2lb a week? If you change that you will get more calories. Or you can just decide yourself. While you get used to try 1500 cals a day and see how you go. You will still lose.

Going too low can trigger binges so it’s important not to get to that stage.

I like MFP, but you can custom adjust your calories. I have an Omron scale, which works out my resting metabolism (basic calories) based on weight, muscle mass etc. so I use this as a rough estimate, I don't usually use theirs.

If you want to eat 1200, you could set your goal higher and gradually reduce it over time, so it's not such a shock. Is it based on how much you want to lose?

I’m not sure how it works out, I sent mine to lose 1lb a week and that I was lightly active (nurse so on my feet all day but on days off I’m usually at home) and it’s allocated 1620 cals per day. I don’t have my Fitbit attached as I’m waiting for a new one but if I gain extra cals I eat them too.

If you don't have a lot to lose and set it to lose 2lb a week, it will always set it at 1200. I think 0.5lb is more realistic as a percentage of bodyweight to lose and it means you'll lose less muscle mass along with the fat.

That said, if you are short and light, you may find that you need to eat close to that to lose, and exercise for wine more food!

A sample day if I had 1200 cal to eat:

50g porridge oats, 100g water, 100g semi skimmed milk. Warmed in microwave for 90s and served with either a chopped apple, handful of blueberries, cocoa powder, honey, or just plain. Around 250 cal

I've just made this Spivey Carrot and Lentil Soup. Around 250 cal for a portion.

Evening meal of around 500cal - meat and 3 veg, stew, casserole etc.

Coffee (with sweetener and semi skimmed milk) and squash (sugar free) throughout the day - Around 100 cal.

Possibly some plain yoghurt and/or fruit as desert to one meal, if needed. Around 100 cal

In fact I usually have around 1000 cal per day so don't usually eat this much food. I'm 5"4' and 10st 0 (having lost over 7 1/2 stone) with the aim to lose another 10lb ish.

If I log as I go, throughout the day, I always go over.

What works best for me is to plan my day’s food in the morning (or the night before), put it all in MFP so I can tinker with amounts and swapping things to make sure it’s within my 1200 cals and then stick to it. I do sometimes go over by 50-100, but I’m breastfeeding so it doesn’t seem to make a difference (i.e. I still lose weight).