Is it ok to be under your Food goal

[ChristieEliz]

I am always under my Food goal, is that ok. I'm on the hard plan to loose two lbs a week and it says to only eat 1000cal a day but it always says to eat a lot more calories! I can't eat that many calories!?  I'm 5'2 136lbs. I've been using Fitbit for about a week and a half and have ramped up my exercise some.

[Dominique]

First of all one comment on your energy expenditure (calories out): for a female your size, it takes a lot of activity to expend 3000 calories or so: even at age 20 (I take it you’re a bit older than that), the Mifflin St Jeor equation (used by Fitbit, MyFitnessPal and most online calculators such as this one) would put TDEE at 2546 at the highest activity level. You did say you ramped up your exercise: indeed, your profile shows a step count between 13 and 22k steps, which is more active than most people. Fitbit may be overestimating your calories out, however. This can be the case especially if you have an HR-enabled tracker.

If Fitbit believes you burn around 3000 calories and you told it you wanted to lose 2 lb per week (1000 calories deficit), it would want you to eat about 2000 calories. Now, that’s probably too much, but I’d say you should eat at least 1500 calories given your activity level, even if you think that too is too much.

Since you only have 10 days of tracking (as per your profile), I’d suggest you go on for a while before jumping to conclusions (especially regarding changes in weight). Also make sure your activity level is sustainable in the longer run, so as not to burn yourself out.

[Esya]

As suggested by @Dominique go on for a little while (4 weeks) to see how things turn out for you. I would just like to add that for weight tracking you can create a free account at trendweight. It is a very helpful tool to see how your weight is trending and you can login using your FitBit account.

[ChristieEliz]

Yes I just started with Fitbit, have an HR enabled tracker, and I use MyFitnessPal to log food. I'm 40 so I was thinking maybe it was something to do with a slower metabolism. 

[TurquoiseTurtle · Accepted solution]

Like you, I'm 5'0", 136 pounds, and 40 years old.  I am always under budget on calories.  If I eat the number of calories in my budget, I gain weight or stay the same.  If I stick to around 1000 calories a day, I lose a couple of pounds per week.  

[ChristieEliz]

Thank You! I will stay within the 1000/1200 range then for sure!

[Dominique]

@TurquoiseTurtle: you calculated BMR would be 1208. Your profile shows an average step count around 15k, based on which I’d put your activity level somewhere between moderate and high. This in turn would put your calculated TDEE between 1900 and 2100. Your eating around 1000 calories would be inline with that (daily deficit about 1000). I personally think it’s not optimal to eat at that level (50% of what your body needs) for a longer period of time. It’s often suggested you eat at least your BMR, and perhaps a bit more if you’re very active. OTOH, if you’re losing 2 lb a week and starting from 136, it shouldn’t take too long before you reach your goal.

[TurquoiseTurtle]

@Dominique I agree with you that it seems like it should be eating more. I ate 1500 to 2000 calories per day for months (same activity level as now) without losing. Sometimes gaining.  I'm going to stick with what I'm doing for a little while since I don't have mich to lose.  

[carcand]

Sometimes if you eat too little your body goes into fat saving mode. I found my weight loss halted when I do not eat enough.

[ShaneGraves]

For a woman, any less than 1200 Calories is considered the threshold of starvation. A sustained diet of fewer than 800 Calories will make you weak, tired and dizzy and at some point, you'll likely need medical attention. I'd recommend trying to maintain at least 1200 Calories a day.

[elderwanda]

I'm wondering how you are physically able to burn 3000 calories in a day.  I'm 5'3" and 140 pounds, and I can just barely manage to burn 2000 calories if I work hard at being physically active all day. I can only assume that, unlike me, you've got quite a lot of muscle and not much fat.  In which case, do you really want to lose weight?  

[Dominique]

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@elderwanda wrote:

I can only assume that, unlike me, you've got quite a lot of muscle and not much fat.  

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@elderwanda: actually, Fitbit doesn’t use body composition (how fat or muscular you are for your size) when estimating energy expenditure. Even if it did, the difference would be far smaller than what most people think. Yes, all things being equal (same height, same weight), a leaner/more muscular person does expend more energy that one who carries more fat and less muscle, both when doing nothing (BMR) and when doing something (formal activity, NEAT), but it would be a couple hundred calories at most.

[ShaneGraves]

@elderwanda you guessed it😊. I strength train. Over the winter I "bulked" and now I'm cutting. It helps to build muscle. But, when I'm in maintenance, I'll eat as much as 3800 Calories a day depending upon my level of activity.

[ShaneGraves]

[Dominique]

@ShaneGraves: I think @elderwanda’s answer was directed at @ChristieEliz, the original poster of this topic, who is a woman roughly the same age and size as her.

[ShaneGraves]

Oh, I see...my bad! I got a notice on my phone about her post and assumed it was directed at me. Noob mistake. My apologies @elderwanda. Please disregard my rambling self.

Thanks for the heads-up @Dominique. I'll be aware of that in the future.

[JennyRebecca]

My Fitbit says I'm under my target everyday.  But I think it overestimates my burn by a couple of hundred.  I'm 5'7", 43 year old and weigh 194.  Five days a week I eat about 1500.  Two days a week I eat between 1800-2000.  I hit my Fitbit goals every day and my burn is about 2900 a day (or so it says).  I'm losing on average 1.70 lbs a week for 14 weeks now. 

[Dominique]

@JennyRebecca: with 5 x 1500 + 2 x 1900 you’d be eating 1614 a day in average. An average weekly loss of 1.7 lb implies a daily deficit of 850. This would suggest your actual expenditure would be 2464. Your Fitbit would thus be inflating your expenditure by about 18% (not too bad IMO).

Using the Mifflin St Jeor equation, you’d expend 2430 calories at moderate activity level (3 on a scale of 1 to 5). I think this would be in line with a daily step count of 10 to 15k.

In any case, you’ve been doing great figuring out the level of eating and of activity it takes for you to lose slightly less than 2 lbs per week, which I think is a very sensible and sustainable pace. And 14 weeks is long enough to eliminate most of the meaningless short-term fluctuations.

Just keep the good work!

[ChristieEliz]

@elderwanda 40yrs old 5'2 and 135lbs eating between 1000 to 1200cal a day and twice a week I eat more calories and yes I do need to loose weight. I carry it all in my stomach and my breasts and puts strain on my back. I work as a dog groomer and is physically demanding with large dogs. I go to the gym five days a week using arc trainer for 37 min burning around 500cal and try to walk at least two miles a day. I keep moving all day and spend one hr in front of couch before bed.