Question about Calories?

alejandrajoy193

Hi, so I'm worried I may not be eating enough calories and I was hoping someone could help me out! I'm currently 5'1" and 197 pounds. I try to work out 5-6 times a week. Depending on the day I do two fitness classes a day (for example 60 mins of zumba and 60 of bodypump) OR a 60 minute class and 30 minutes of strength training. I'm estimating I probably burn 700 cals on average a day from exercise (I'm not sure how much because I don't have a HRM so I could be wrong). MFP has me eating 1300 calories a day, and I try to eat back exercise calories although I don't always eat all of them back. Is this enough to lose weight? I'm worried I'm eating too little because I calculated my BMR on another website and it said I should be eating around 1800 a day not including the calories I eat back from exercise.

Hoping someone can help please

elvensnow

TDEE calculators are a good way to estimate.

Try IIFYM.com, or read here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

MinnieInMaine

That sounds high for your BMR. Not sure what site you used but I just plugged your numbers into this website:

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

and came up with a BMR of 1699. I think maybe what you calculated was your TDEE minus calorie deficit which is the total number of calories you burn in a day including normal activities and exercise, minus a certain percentage (10, 15 or 20%).
BMR is the number of calories you body needs for basic function at rest (as if you were in a coma).

Personally I would try to shoot for at least your BMR then try to eat back at least half of calories burned. You BMR number will change as you lose weight - recalc every 10 pounds.