how did you decide how many calories to consume?

akitagirl2015

When I signed up, MFP automatically gave me a 1200 limit. I am a female, 5'2, 140lbs and I want to lose 25 pounds. I would love for it to come off as fast as possible, but I know slow and steady is more reasonable and better in the long run.

I work a desk job, but I go to the gym at least 3 times a week and workout for 45 minutes. In my last post, some people mentioned that 1200 is kind of low.

How am I supposed to determine how many calories I should be eating? And if it is different than 1200, how do I change it so my food diary is accurate and doesn't say I am going over?

Thanks!

brookesdsu

What do you have your goals set at? To lose 2 lbs a week or .5?

mamafazz

I am having the same problem, 5'4 and it gives me 1200 calories per day, I can do it for a few days, then the constant hunger overwhelms me and I end up binging. I am going to try 1500 per day, I wonder if I will lose weight with that? I used a tdee calc and different ones give me 1700-2000 per day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jenncornelsen

im 5'4 and when i wanted to lose 2lbs a week it gave me 1200. i knew i couldnt survive on that long term so i went down to wanting to lose 1.5lbs. that allowed me 1300 cals plus i work out for about 30 min to give myself an extra 100 or so. you will still lose if you eat a bit more but it will just be slower unless u also seriously up your working out

StaciMarie1974

Did you put in a 'slow and steady' weight loss goal, or a fast & furious? The MFP recommendation is determined by the details you entered.

Based on your stats (height, weight, gender, age) MFP estimates your BMR from a standard formula. It then estimates what you'll burn thru normal daily activity based on your stated activity level. The last step, to create a deficit, MFP subtracts 500 calories for every pound per week you indicate is your goal for weight loss. So if you put 2 pounds/week, MFP subtracts 1000. If the value is less than 1200, you get 1200. But keep in mind: this is 1200 + exercise calories. If you work out 3 x 45 minutes a week, that's probably an extra 700-900 calories per week. If you average that, it works out to an extra 100 calories per day roughly.

Alternatives: aim for slow and steady. Input a 1 pound per week weight loss goal. Move more. On days when you can't go to the gym, fit in a 30-45 minute workout session at home for another ~100/day calories earned. Either of these would put you a little higher intake daily.

Personally I lost on 1400-1600 for most of my 'journey' then 1600-1800 for the last 2 months or so before maintenance. Now I maintain on 1800-2000.

af_wife2004

I used http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ to calculate my calories and macros. It was right on point with what my nutritionist recommended. I'm steadily losing 1.2 lbs per week.

YalithKBK

I used this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/931670/bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide/p1
It was very helpful. MFP put me at 1200 also, but after 5 weeks of that, I was depressed, exhausted, irritable, shaky, and generally hating life. I used the method mentioned in the thread I linked (used the Fat2Fit TDEE calculator) and I'm now eating ~1600 cals/day. I feel a little hungry sometimes, but not anything near what I was feeling at 1200 cals/day. I'm losing about 1lb/week too! Once I got my TDEE from Fat2Fit, I lessed out 20% as I have a bit to go (also discussed in the thread) and entered that number into MFP as a "custom" setting.

Just read the thread carefully and recognize that Fat2Fit and MFP refer to daily activity differently. MFP does not include exercise (assuming you will log it separately) while Fat2Fit is asking how often you exercise.

SwankyTomato

I am 5' 3" and 136. My GW is 120. Currently eating 1450 cal/day. Set at .5/week.

It was a bit of trial, error, and tweaking. 1200/day is just not realistic for me for me to do.

I went and calculated my TDEE which is 1562cal/day then sort of matched it up in MFP with manipulating the settings. It is not a perfect system and I am still tweaking. I will up my cal/day when I start exercising on a set schedule.

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

laliwheels

for those of you losing, do you eat your work out calories?

BiggyFuzz

1200 calories a day for anyone is too low...i mean what if your day starts at 530am and ends at 10pm, how can anyone only eat 1200 calories during that long period of time.

If i were you i would stick with around 1500,1700 a day...up your protein intake, lower your carb intake...workout 30 minutes a day

youtube has sooooooooo many exercise videos to choose from

mamafazz

ferziano wrote: »

1200 calories a day for anyone is too low...i mean what if your day starts at 530am and ends at 10pm, how can anyone only eat 1200 calories during that long period of time.

If i were you i would stick with around 1500,1700 a day...up your protein intake, lower your carb intake...workout 30 minutes a day

youtube has sooooooooo many exercise videos to choose from

No doubt, after luch I only had like 300-400 calories left, how am I going to make it until bedtime on that!!

Thanks everyone for the advice...keep it coming, love hearing from different people's perspectives

eshults89

I honestly don't trust anyone or anything to tell me how many calories I need other than the BodPod. If you can get this test done nearby, it will tell you how many calories you burn. Try to do that! I need to get tested again. Good luck!

akitagirl2015

Thank you, all of your comments are very helpful A light bulb just went on and I realized that a big reason I haven't been able to stick to dieting in the past for very long is because I wasn't eating enough.

kennie2

i try and aim for -750 from TDEE

slucki01

1200 wasn't enough for me but I kept it there (it's what MFP calculated based on my stats and my goals). I also exercise every day to "earn" some more calories. That gives me enough to be able to sustain long term

LeslieB042812

ferziano wrote: »

1200 calories a day for anyone is too low...i mean what if your day starts at 530am and ends at 10pm, how can anyone only eat 1200 calories during that long period of time.

If i were you i would stick with around 1500,1700 a day...up your protein intake, lower your carb intake...workout 30 minutes a day

youtube has sooooooooo many exercise videos to choose from

That's not true for everyone. As a short female (5'2"), I maintain at less than 1700. I have my calories set at 1250 and I aim to get between 1100 and 1300 most days. This still ends up being a slow weight loss level (less than 1 pound per week) because there are special occasion days where I go over (usually around 1500-1700, in my maintenance range). I find that keeping things closer to 1200 on more typical days balances out those overage days (typically 1 or 2/week).