Would this work?

Originalcool

Hello! I am a 5'2 female that is 105 pounds. So would me eating 1,500 calories a day with no exercise have me maintain my weight? Thanks for reading!

xcalygrl

Put your stats into MFP and set your goal to "maintain" and see what it says.

msalamun

Other than putting it into MFP, you could calculate it yourself as well. Personally, I prefer the Harris-Benedict formula which is as follows:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

You can use this site to quickly calculate your BMR:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

You then multiply your BMR by your activity level - which if you are not exercising would be by 1.2. So BMR x 1.2 would be about the number of calories you need to maintain if you do little to no exercise.

Originalcool

Thank you!!!

bwogilvie

msalamun wrote: »

Other than putting it into MFP, you could calculate it yourself as well....

Keep in mind, though, that this equation (or any other) will produce an estimate, based on the average for study subjects. Individuals can vary up to 10% over or under such estimates.

The only way to really figure out how many calories you need to maintain is to start with an estimate of BMR and activity level, eat that many calories for a month, and see whether your weight changes. If it goes up, the estimate is too high, and you need to eat less. If it goes down, your estimate is too low, and you need to eat more.

A lot of people think of online calculators as oracles that tell them the truth. That's not the case. For that matter, calorie estimates on food packaging, recipes, exercise machines, HRMs, exercise databases, etc. are all estimates. One secret for success is to recognize this and to make changes based on results (or lack of results).

Originalcool

Thanks for reminding me