Help determining calorie goal?

saelidy
saelidy Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey! So MFP has my calorie goal set at around 1300 - I am 5'0" so it is a pretty small amount. I'm obese, wanting to lose relatively quickly. I estimated my activity level at lightly active. I have a desk job but I work out at least 5 times a week. M/W/F I do a 5x5 beginning strength training program followed by ~25 minutes of interval cardio, T/Th I do ~45 minutes of cardio and some core strength. Do I need to eat more than 1300 to compensate? I'm so hungry all the time haha. If 1300 is enough... Any tips to help me feel satisfied longer?? Thanks in advance guys :)

Replies

  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    I would just go with TDEE - 20 % using your actual activity level and be done with it. Presumably it's higher than 1300. Why make it hard on yourself? You'll still get results
  • saelidy
    saelidy Posts: 5 Member
    This is true. I guess I can always start higher and adjust down as needed also. I'll calculate it that way and try it for a while to see. Thanks!
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Sounds good :) Good luck :)
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
    edited July 2015
    Yeah, you could select the highest activity setting in MFP to get a larger calorie goal, then see how you do and adjust as needed.

    Do you input your exercise in MFP and eat back your exercise calories?

    For the TDEE method, you'd need to find out your TDEE (you can google for online tdee calculators), manually set your goal in MFP, and not eat back any exercise calories earned.

    ETA: Protein (25%-30%) and fiber (25g or more) help me feel fuller longer.

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,131 Member
    I would start at the active setting and re evaluate based in real life losses after a few weeks (and continue to re evaluate every few weeks). Or you can enter your real non exercise activity level, and add and eat back the exercise calories. Initially at 50% as most of what you list is non steady state cardio and again re evaluate based on losses after a few weeks.

    Weeks in my opinion is 3-4 for guys, 4-8 for gals so as to include more than one monthly cycle due to potential water retention variations.

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