how many calories do you eat a day?
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leahraskie wrote: »MFP has me at 1200 5'0, 128lbs, which is only a problem if I go out to eat. I feel like recently I've just been eating filler calories to get up to around 1200 though. Does 1000 seem like enough or will that make it harder to lose?
You at a good range of calories for your size but if you are trying to lose quickly then up your exercise routine and go to 1500 calories a day0 -
I suppose to eat 1000 calories a day but I am ranging between 500 to 700 calories a day. I want to lose 60 lbs and I am on a vegan keto diet. So, Yeah getting calories and staying at my 50g carb level is becoming a challenge for me.
500-700 is NOT enough calories, vegan or keto or otherwise.
Just how fast are you trying to lose weight? It is usually not recommended to lose any more than 1.5-2 lbs/week. The MINIMUM that women should be getting is 1000-1200 a day, and probably more than that if you aren’t petite.
I’m not trying to lecture, just concerned about your health. I invite you to read this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p15 -
This is an excerpt from the following article... its LONG but I thought very informative... don't just count calories. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/metabolic-damage
The physiology of weight loss is complicated, but the best strategies for losing fat and keeping it off don’t have to be.
1. Eat plenty of protein.
Protein is essential when trying to losing weight / fat for a few reasons.
Protein significantly increases satiety, which means you feel fuller despite eating less.
Just by eating more protein you burn more calories, because of the increased thermic effect of eating.
For example, if you’re eating 2,500 calories daily, 15 percent from protein, 50 percent from carbs, and 35 percent from fats (roughly average for US adults), you’re burning approximately 185 calories per day through digestion.
Maintain your total calorie intake but increase protein to 30 percent, drop carbs to 40 percent, and whittle fat to 30 percent, and your TEE goes up to roughly 265 calories per day.
2. Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, quality carbs, and healthy fats.
Vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, water, and fiber to help you fill up during meals, stay full between meals, keep you healthy, and recover from your workouts.
We recommend 4-6 fist-sized servings per day for most active women.
The carbs will fuel training, boost leptin (a super important hormone), keep up sex hormones, and prevent feelings of deprivation.
And the fats also keep up sex hormones, boost the immune system, suppress excess inflammation, and make food taste really good.
For most active women, 4-6 handfuls of quality carbs and 4-6 thumbs of healthy fats per day.
3. Adjust your intake as you plateau, or to prevent plateaus.
As your weight loss progresses, you will need to lower your calorie intake further to continue to progress, as your smaller body will burn fewer calories, and your body is adapting to your diet.
Be ready, willing, and able to adjust portion amounts by removing 1-2 handfuls of carbs and/or 1-2 thumbs of fats from your daily intake. Then reassess and continue to adjust as needed.
However, one study found that weight loss plateaus have less to do with metabolic adaptations and more to do with “an intermittent lack of diet adherence”. In other words, not actually sticking to a nutrition plan consistently.
Research shows that we usually think we’re eating less and exercising more than we truly are. So do an objective review of your actual energy in and out before assuming your body is blocking your efforts.
4. Understand that this is complex.
So many things influence what, why, and when we choose to eat.
Too often, eating and body size / fatness are blamed on lack of knowledge, lack of willpower/discipline, or laziness. In reality, food intake and body composition are governed by a mix of physiological, biological, psychological, social, economical, and lifestyle influences, along with individual knowledge or beliefs.
One of the simplest ways to make your decision processes easier is to create an environment that encourages good food choices and discourages poor ones. This can mean making changes to your daily routine, who you spend time with, where you spend time, and what food is readily available to you.
But remember that weight loss can and should be relatively slow, so aim to lose about 0.5-1 percent of your body weight per week.
This helps to maintain muscle mass and minimize the adaptive metabolic responses to a lower calorie intake and resulting weight loss. Faster weight loss tends to result in more muscle loss without extra fat loss, as well as a larger adaptive response.
5. Cycle calories and carbs.*
For folks who are trying to get quite lean, at some point you can’t just rely on linear dieting to get you there. By strategically cycling calories and carbs, you can help to limit how much the metabolism-regulating hormone leptin drops (or temporarily boost it back up) – attenuating the adaptive and hunger response.
*Note: This is a higher-level strategy for fitness competitors and elite athletes who need to get very lean (i.e. ~6-9 percent body fat for men, and ~16-19 percent for women). It’s not something for the average person.
6. Refeed periodically.**
When getting to extreme levels of leanness, even strategic calorie and carb cycling might not be enough. So take out the big guns, and employ some periodic re-feeds to temporarily boost leptin and insulin and keep fat loss going.
**Note: This is a higher-level strategy for fitness competitors and elite athletes who need to get very lean (i.e. <6 percent body fat for men, and <16 percent for women).
7. Do a mixture of resistance, cardiovascular, and recovery activity.
Resistance training helps you maintain vital muscle mass, burn calories, and improve glucose tolerance. Cardiovascular exercise improves the health of your cardiovascular system, helps you expend energy, and can improve recovery.
But don’t overdo either one.
Recovery work (e.g. foam rolling, walking, yoga) helps you maintain consistency and intensity with resistance and cardio training, making them more effective. And it helps to decrease stress (lowering cortisol), which also helps you lose body fat and keep it off.
Aim for 3-5 hours per week of purposeful activity.
8. Find ways to increase NEAT.
Even small increases in activity can account for hundreds of daily calories, and therefore make a big difference in fat loss efforts.
Some ideas: Get a stand-up desk or a treadmill desk; fidget; pace while on the phone; take the stairs; park your car farther away from where you’re going.
9. Develop a solid nightly sleep routine and manage your stress.
Sleep is just as important to your success as nutrition and activity levels. Don’t pretend that you can get by with less. It simply isn’t true.
Often, when people lower their stress, they lose a lot of body water. Then they also notice that they may have lost fat too. (Plus, they may discover that chronic inflammation goes down — another win.)
This includes mental and emotional stress. Research on cognitive dietary restraint (i.e. worrying and stressing out about food) shows that constantly and negatively fixating on what you eat (or don’t) can have the same unhealthy effect as actually dieting stringently.
Yet we need some stress to actually help with progress and growth, so find your stress sweet spot.
10. Have some self-compassion.
There are going to be meals or days where you don’t eat as you “should”. It’s OK. It happens to everyone. Recognize it, accept it, forgive yourself, and then get back on track.
Research actually shows that self-compassion and flexible eating is associated with lower BMI and a healthier body weight, lower self-reported calorie intake, less anxiety and stress, and a better relationship with food.7 -
I try to stay between 1,400. - 1,500. On week days and 1,500 - 1,700. On weekends. With one cheat day a week. Well more like a cheat meal with a glass of wine or 31
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1200-1300 calories but trying to up it to 1400 or 15000
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1200 - which most of the time I don't eat that.1
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I was doing 1200 successfully for awhile, then not so successfully, and now that I’m aiming to lose .05 per week I’m at 1390 and feeling satisfied. Next week I go back to working out after a month off due to an injury. I’ve noticed when I’m focused on eating to build muscle I feel much less deprived (protein!) and still lose fat.0
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5'8" and try to net 1400 a day. So, I usually eat around 1700, but try to burn 300 of that w/ exercise.1
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I suppose to eat 1000 calories a day but I am ranging between 500 to 700 calories a day. I want to lose 60 lbs and I am on a vegan keto diet. So, Yeah getting calories and staying at my 50g carb level is becoming a challenge for me.
Why so low? Eating too little can be just as harmful as eating too much. Just like your car needs gas to run, you need fuel (food) to function. Being vegetarian is not so much about what you can't eat as it is about enjoying the foods you can eat. Just do a little homework. You'll be pleasantly surprised by some of the wonderful meals you can create under your diet.
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I am 5'1", 24 years old. Goal weight is 125 lbs, current weight 139.8 lbs. When I was last 125 lbs, my body fat was 17% and I wore a US size 0. My TDEE averages at around 1700 calories, I'm currently aiming for 1200 calories/day for a loss of 1 lb/week.0
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I'm 5'1 and am supposed to not exceed 1037 calories per day. I'm doing Keto and am only supposed to take in 13 carbs a day. I found if I up my carbs slightly (still under 25) - I feel better. At 13 I was tired all of the time and would fall asleep at 7 pm every night. I'm currently in my 5th week and have dropped 2% body fat and 8 pounds. 12 more to go and I'll be happy. I'm lifting 2-3 times per week and doing cardio 4+ times per week.0
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5'10" 51 years old 149 lbs - MFP has 1450 to lose .5 a week, I aim for 1300 because to lose 1 lb a week it's 1200 which is hard to stick to.0
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5'10" 51 years old 149 lbs - MFP has 1450 to lose .5 a week, I aim for 1300 because to lose 1 lb a week it's 1200 which is hard to stick to.
At 5’10”, there’s no way you should be doing 1200! It would definitely be below your BMR which typically should be the lowest limit. I’m glad you recognized that. I couldn’t even do 1200 and I’m 5’3” LOL.0 -
I'm currently shooting for 1600 cal/day, with macros 40% carb, 40% protein and 20% fat. These numbers were provided by my personal trainer. I do heavy lifting (crossfit style) 4-5 times a week. I've been at 1600 for 2 weeks now and I'm seeing a big difference in subcutaneous fat (more definition) but haven't seen much scale movement. I went from 177 to 175, but could just be water fluctuation.
To be honest... I was hoping to see more marked decrease in weight, but logically I know I'm losing fat and even if it is a true 2lb weight loss, in 2 weeks that's good!
I'm working hard to change my unrealistic expectations!
When I first joined MFP, it suggested 1320 cal, but I believe that was user error. I set my activity level to sedentary based on my desk job. I'm sure I'd be losing faster on 1320 but I'd be miserable!0 -
1370, I'm 5'3" and started at 140 now 128 trying to get to a strong lean body, what ever that weighs. If I make my own food it's no problem staying within my limits. The days I exercise I find I can't eat anymore and have a surplus. The problem is when I eat out.0
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MFP has me at 1200 net calories. I probably shoot for closer to 1500 gross calories.. assuming at least 300 calories add back for most of my workouts. I'm torn on just putting in the 1200 and not inputting my workouts since that kind of jacks up my macros (I know it's proportional.. but it still changes the "plan" for the day. I'm 5'8 and 141 and trying to get to 135-137, but SLOWLY. My macros are 35% protein, 30% carbs and 35% fat0
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I also am eating between 1000 and 1200 a day. Trying to keep my macros at 40-30-30. I am postmenopause, and work out at least 3x week, usually 4x, daily yoga. I am not hungry. I am also not losing:(1
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1800 calories - healthy eating - exercise - Just want to lose 10 lbs and it isn't happening (yet)0
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My son is doing the Keto diet (because he has 5 kids and no time to exercise) and lost 15 lbs in one week. Debating1
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1570 right now - meant to lose a half pound a week. I work out and eat back my exercise calories. I'm hoping it will work! 1300 was too low and disheartening. Having trouble controlling my eating lately.1