Who shall I believe? 🤔

[Jingle_berry]

Hi lovely people- could you help me with a quick query!

Calorie allowances- MFP tells me to lose 1lb a week in average to eat 1600 calls.

NHS tells me my calorie intake should be between 1800 and 2200 ( plus a few odd ones!)

Common sense tells me try and see what works for me, eating more and cutting down if it doesn't work...😏

Has anyone else found similar discrepancies and how did you overcome them ? 😘

Thank you thank you thank you xxx

[IndigoBlue61]

The main difference being MFP allows you to 'earn' back calories for exercise, whereas the NHS one already allows for physical activity. I have also found MFP to be a little bit on the low side calorie wise, especially as it's quite difficult to accurately guage how many calories are burned by exercise.

But as you rightly say, at the end of the day, it's trial and error to find your own personal calorie range that works for you. I would suggest starting towards the higher end so you have 'some where to go' as you lose weight. 😊

Best wishes

Anna

[Jingle_berry in reply to IndigoBlue61]

Thank you IndigoBlue61 . I wasn't planning on using my 'exercise' calories but a 600 cal difference is a meal!!!

I'm going to try 2000 to start and review in a week x

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to Jingle_berry]

That's an excellent idea 😊 Eating too little is counter-productive, you won't lose fat any quicker and probably get really hungry 😊

[HubbysMissMouse]

I know that by eating too little when I used to, you end up with body fat and putting weight on quite often so I would start with the NHS bmi calculator. I have done this and lost 2 1/2st and I don't even exercise. When I used to go by the amounts of the mfp I never lost anything and put weight on at times. If you don't eat enough your body thinks you are starving it and turns what you do eat into body fat and this weighs more than eating the extra calories does so it stops you losing weight and sometimes puts weight on instead. Good luck with your journey.

[Jingle_berry in reply to HubbysMissMouse]

Thank you HubbysMissMouse . I've gone straight in at the middle amount working on the theory that I can move up or down if needed. Early signs show this seems to be working- the weight is coming down already, but slowly, and that's just the way I want it xxxx