Calories too high, too low, just right?

hiitsscott

Hi everyone, I'm not new to dieting, macros tracking, weight lifting, etc. Been doing it since 2012 but still never exactly sure where I stand. I got told by someone who seems to be an expert that for lifting weights five times a week to lose fat I should be eating less than 1700 calories a day. I am 5'5 ft tall, 30.5 inch waist and weight 146 lbs. That seems awfully low, but then again I am small and in between gym sessions I don't do an awful lot.

seska422

You are the expert on you. If you ask for opinions from 15 people, you'll get 15 different opinions.

bpetrosky

These TDEE calculators are a good starting point:

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

But eyeballing your stats, the calories look reasonable or only a little low. You're probably about 300-400 cals below maintenance.

hiitsscott

seska422 wrote: »

You are the expert on you. If you ask for opinions from 15 people, you'll get 15 different opinions.

I was planning on collecting all of the different opinions, writing them on a piece of paper, putting them in a hat and drawing one out at random and going with that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's someone suggesting I can magically burn fat by eating 4000 calories a day. Here's hoping.

hiitsscott

bpetrosky wrote: »

These TDEE calculators are a good starting point:

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

But eyeballing your stats, the calories look reasonable or only a little low. You're probably about 300-400 cals below maintenance.

Scooby Doo calculator seems to think more of me than iifym, thanks.

arb037

Calculators are simply a starting point estimate. Pick a number in between all of em and try it for 3 weeks and see if you lose. If so continue, if not lower calories by 100-200 and repeat.