How many calories should I eat in a day?
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NotGoingDown90
Posts: 22 Member
Hi guys so I decided to give this another try after almost giving up but when I look at the calories I should eat to lose 0.5 pound or 1 pound it's the same on mfp 1200 calories, this can't be right, right? Can someone help me out with this? I'm 25, female and 5'1 and I weigh 141, my ultimate goal is 125 but as far as I'm concerned now I just want to see 139 because it's a number I haven't seen in 6 months. Thanks
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Replies
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Go through the guided setup and choose 0.5 lb/week for loss. At the bottom of the page, it should tell you how much weight you'll lose each week. What does it say there?
As a shorter person, you're going to get a lower calorie allowance, especially if you set MFP to Sedentary (have a desk job/get fewer than 5000 steps in per day). There's a good chance you can't lose 1lb/week without going below the minimum calories.
I'm 5 feet tall, 113 lbs and MFP will give me 1200 calories when I set it for 0.5lb/week with a Sedentary activity level.
~Lyssa0 -
The reason MFP is giving you 1200 calories for .5ppw and for 1ppw is because it's the lowest recommended calories for a female. MFP won't go any lower. So 1200 may be your number. I entered your stats in a TDEE calculator and if you're lightly active you would eat approx 1318 to lose 1ppw if you're sedentary then .5ppw would be approx 1336.0
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1200 is the lowest goal that MFP will give a woman. So if your maintenance calories less the # of calories you need to cut to meet your weekly goal equals less than 1200, MFP will still give you 1200. That's because 1200 is generally thought to be the minimum number of calories you need to meet your basic nutritional requirements.
I would suggest starting at 1200 and eating half of any exercise calories you earn. So if you burn 200 calories exercising, eat 1300 calories. After 3-4 weeks evaluate whether you should eat more or less, based on your results.0 -
Thank you guys, I'm going to take all your advice into consideration. I work a desk job but I try to move a lot at work and at home I'm usually around 10-16 k steps on my Fitbit and although I didn't work out much this week I usually go to the gym for about an hour and work on strength training0
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NotGoingDown90 wrote: »Thank you guys, I'm going to take all your advice into consideration. I work a desk job but I try to move a lot at work and at home I'm usually around 10-16 k steps on my Fitbit and although I didn't work out much this week I usually go to the gym for about an hour and work on strength training
Do you have your Fitbit synced up to MFP? If so, you can probably eat back a good chunk of those calories and still lose.
Do you weigh your food and double-check entries when you're logging? Make sure the calories for your serving match at the very least. Avoid "generic" and "homemade" entries.
I was about the weight you are when I lost weight last year. The food scale really helped!
~Lyssa0 -
Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!0
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DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.
Those calculators are terrible from my experience with them..I had one that said my maintenance was over 2,500 Calories and I am 5"1 106 pounds! Crazy!
I eat on average around 1800 calories on training days and around 1500-1600 on non-training days and I am losing around 1 pound a week which is a healthy rate. And of course with a macro split and it works great for me! Maybe its not for everyone but I would say give it a try!
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DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.
Those calculators are terrible from my experience with them..I had one that said my maintenance was over 2,500 Calories and I am 5"1 106 pounds! Crazy!
I eat on average around 1800 calories on training days and around 1500-1600 on non-training days and I am losing around 1 pound a week which is a healthy rate. And of course with a macro split and it works great for me! Maybe its not for everyone but I would say give it a try!
you are probably really active in that case which is why.But i know that those calories helped me in the beginning and were pretty good. everything is an estimate though even mfp which is why sometimes people have to tweak their settings. but for some people 185 carbs would be too much,especially those with a health issue that need lower carbs.also why would she jump from 1200 to 1900-1950? if she enters her info into mfp and it gives her 1200 then she needs to try that for awhile and see what happens. if she plugged in her daily activity/job description into mfp it may give her a little more than that as well.0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.
Those calculators are terrible from my experience with them..I had one that said my maintenance was over 2,500 Calories and I am 5"1 106 pounds! Crazy!
I eat on average around 1800 calories on training days and around 1500-1600 on non-training days and I am losing around 1 pound a week which is a healthy rate. And of course with a macro split and it works great for me! Maybe its not for everyone but I would say give it a try!
you are probably really active in that case which is why.But i know that those calories helped me in the beginning and were pretty good. everything is an estimate though even mfp which is why sometimes people have to tweak their settings. but for some people 185 carbs would be too much,especially those with a health issue that need lower carbs.also why would she jump from 1200 to 1900-1950? if she enters her info into mfp and it gives her 1200 then she needs to try that for awhile and see what happens. if she plugged in her daily activity/job description into mfp it may give her a little more than that as well.
I feel like 1200 is sooooo little calories. From my experience I have had days where I would eat 1300 Calories and it was terrible, energy was down and overall just drained from
being hungry. But everyones body is different so just experiment with your calories and see what works best for you!
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DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.
Those calculators are terrible from my experience with them..I had one that said my maintenance was over 2,500 Calories and I am 5"1 106 pounds! Crazy!
I eat on average around 1800 calories on training days and around 1500-1600 on non-training days and I am losing around 1 pound a week which is a healthy rate. And of course with a macro split and it works great for me! Maybe its not for everyone but I would say give it a try!
you are probably really active in that case which is why.But i know that those calories helped me in the beginning and were pretty good. everything is an estimate though even mfp which is why sometimes people have to tweak their settings. but for some people 185 carbs would be too much,especially those with a health issue that need lower carbs.also why would she jump from 1200 to 1900-1950? if she enters her info into mfp and it gives her 1200 then she needs to try that for awhile and see what happens. if she plugged in her daily activity/job description into mfp it may give her a little more than that as well.
I feel like 1200 is sooooo little calories. From my experience I have had days where I would eat 1300 Calories and it was terrible, energy was down and overall just drained from
being hungry. But everyones body is different so just experiment with your calories and see what works best for you!
now this I can agree with.(the see what works best for you part)0 -
DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DHLFITNESS25 wrote: »Assuming you are at least somewhat active, I would recommend starting off by eating approx 1900-1950 Calories. The macro breakdown: 141g protein/ 70g fat/ 185g carbs. And weigh yourself often, see your progress in 1 week. If you don't see your weight going down reduce your calories slowly by 100. Good luck!
No,this is not going to work for everyone,and it depends on their activity level as well. and the macros? again not going to work for everyone.I put her stats into a TDEE calculator(I know they are estimates) and her maintenance calories would be 1586 for sedentary,1818 for light exercise. for her to lose she would have to eat about 15-20% less than that(her TDEE). 1900-1950 she would be gaining most likely unless moderately active.
Those calculators are terrible from my experience with them..I had one that said my maintenance was over 2,500 Calories and I am 5"1 106 pounds! Crazy!
I eat on average around 1800 calories on training days and around 1500-1600 on non-training days and I am losing around 1 pound a week which is a healthy rate. And of course with a macro split and it works great for me! Maybe its not for everyone but I would say give it a try!
you are probably really active in that case which is why.But i know that those calories helped me in the beginning and were pretty good. everything is an estimate though even mfp which is why sometimes people have to tweak their settings. but for some people 185 carbs would be too much,especially those with a health issue that need lower carbs.also why would she jump from 1200 to 1900-1950? if she enters her info into mfp and it gives her 1200 then she needs to try that for awhile and see what happens. if she plugged in her daily activity/job description into mfp it may give her a little more than that as well.
I feel like 1200 is sooooo little calories. From my experience I have had days where I would eat 1300 Calories and it was terrible, energy was down and overall just drained from
being hungry. But everyones body is different so just experiment with your calories and see what works best for you!
1200 is low, but if the women on it exercises and burns 500 calories, then they eat 1700, that is how it is supposed to be done on Myfitnesspal.
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