If you weigh 143 at 5'6...

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Losewtforlife4him
Losewtforlife4him Posts: 422 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am 44 yrs old and have lost weight. I started at 168 and now 143, 5'6.
I would love to get to 135. Where would you put your settings. 1200 calories the lowest? Or lose at 0.5, 1lb a week? If I put my settings at 1200 and would eat back my exercise calories which would be an extra 300-400 calories if I ate them all or @200 if I ate half. Does it really matter having my setting at 1200 as long as I eat my exercise calories or do you all think that's too low? Thanks!

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  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    I am currently aiming for 135 and have set it for .5lb per week, which gives me 1450 per day (41yo female, 5'6", 150). I typically eat anywhere from 25-50% of my exercise calories on top of that.

    I found 1200 to low to maintain for long. Especially with exercise. I barely had the energy to work out some days.
  • Losewtforlife4him
    Losewtforlife4him Posts: 422 Member
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    capaul42 wrote: »
    I am currently aiming for 135 and have set it for .5lb per week, which gives me 1450 per day (41yo female, 5'6", 150). I typically eat anywhere from 25-50% of my exercise calories on top of that.

    I found 1200 to low to maintain for long. Especially with exercise. I barely had the energy to work out some days.

    Thank you so much. When I was 168 lbs, it wasn't hard to stick to 1200 calories a day but I've noticed that I get very hungry (and tired!) keeping it this low and have been increasing above to 1200 and playing around with the numbers. I appreciate your feedback.

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    You have less than 10lbs to lose. Set your loss at 0.5lb per week at this point. You'll enjoy the extra calories and it'll get you ready for maintenence :smiley:

    Well done on your progress so far :smile:
  • Losewtforlife4him
    Losewtforlife4him Posts: 422 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    You have less than 10lbs to lose. Set your loss at 0.5lb per week at this point. You'll enjoy the extra calories and it'll get you ready for maintenence :smiley:

    Well done on your progress so far :smile:

    Thank you so much! Would you eat back all of the calories then or just half in addition to keeping it set to 0.1 lb a week?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Eat back 50-75 % of your exercise calories...I mean proper exercise, not things like cleaning /cooking/ironing etc - yes people do log those! (But these are normal things we have to do anyway imo) I mean log anything from walking /cardio /strength workouts. mfp over estimates the cal burn which is why it's best to not eat all of them :smile:

    I see people log silly every day activities as exercise all the time and they're kidding themselves thinking they can eat more because of it.

    Oops got off on a tangent there!

  • aubreyjordan
    aubreyjordan Posts: 276 Member
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    I'm 143.4 lbs, 5'6", and 27. My goal is 130. I'm currently set to 0.5 lb/week loss and lightly active. It gives me a base of 1750. I have a Fitbit and it usually adds another 300-600 calories depending on my steps for the day. I typically eat between 1500-1700 calories a day. I have been having success with this. 1200 is way too low for me. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint :smile:
  • Losewtforlife4him
    Losewtforlife4him Posts: 422 Member
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    aubreyjordan wrote: »
    I'm 143.4 lbs, 5'6", and 27. My goal is 130. I'm currently set to 0.5 lb/week loss and lightly active. It gives me a base of 1750. I have a Fitbit and it usually adds another 300-600 calories depending on my steps for the day. I typically eat between 1500-1700 calories a day. I have been having success with this. 1200 is way too low for me. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint :smile:

    You're right and I agree. So I wonder why my base calories for losing 0.5lb/week is 1590. Is it because of my age, 44 yrs old do you think?

  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    Losewtforlife4him wrote: »
    aubreyjordan wrote: »
    I'm 143.4 lbs, 5'6", and 27. My goal is 130. I'm currently set to 0.5 lb/week loss and lightly active. It gives me a base of 1750. I have a Fitbit and it usually adds another 300-600 calories depending on my steps for the day. I typically eat between 1500-1700 calories a day. I have been having success with this. 1200 is way too low for me. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint :smile:

    You're right and I agree. So I wonder why my base calories for losing 0.5lb/week is 1590. Is it because of my age, 44 yrs old do you think?

    Could be. Your base metabolic rate goes down as we age. I'm 41 and set at sedentary as I work a desk job and outside of deliberate exercise, not very active, hence 1450 for .5lb loss per week.

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