how many cals to eat

curvygirly911

Hi there,

This is embarrassing but I just wanted to get an idea of how many calories I need to eat to be eating a 500 calorie deficit daily.

Some details:
30 years old, female, 5'3, 190 lbs. job is sedentary as I am usually at a desk.

I plan on working out daily for an hour but I do not want to factor that in yet. I would rather just eat back my workout calories accordingly.

Thank you in advance:)

jemhh

Just fill out your MFP profile to lose 1 pound a week and it will tell you.

laurens47

You should set everything up based on your stats through MFP.

I would say, based on the information that you provided, that it would be around 1,361 calories per day, which is a 500 calorie per day deficit from your maintenance of 1,861 calories per day.

Ready2Rock206

What did MFP set your goal at? That's always a great place to start.

JaydedMiss

I've been at 1200-1300 calories and im similar stats. IT should set it up for you though go through the set up -my home-under goals should be at the top guided set up

curvygirly911

Well, MFP said to eat 1200 calories to lose 1.5 lbs a week. However, my trainer told me to eat 1800 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week, and on days I workout to eat 2100 calories.

1200 vs 1800 calorie is a prettybig diff so I'm unsure.

TavistockToad

Yep, MFP will tell you if you put your stats in

singingflutelady

curvygirly911 wrote: »

Well, MFP said to eat 1200 calories to lose 1.5 lbs a week. However, my trainer told me to eat 1800 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week, and on days I workout to eat 2100 calories.

1200 vs 1800 calorie is a prettybig diff so I'm unsure.

No sorry misread

SusanMFindlay

curvygirly911 wrote: »

Well, MFP said to eat 1200 calories to lose 1.5 lbs a week. However, my trainer told me to eat 1800 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week, and on days I workout to eat 2100 calories.

1200 vs 1800 calorie is a prettybig diff so I'm unsure.

Your trainer is pretty delusional telling you you'll lose 2 pounds/week on 1800 cals/day (plus extra on workout days) if you have a desk job. That would mean you'd need to burn 2800 cals/day (3100 on workout days). Which would be a reasonable estimate if you were getting 20K steps/day.

MKEgal

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain that weight.
If you enter your healthy goal weight, this will help you plan your food intake. It takes activity into account, so if you want the most conservative estimate, tell it "sedentary". Exercise is for health anyway.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.cfm

And other useful links:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1

MKEgal

my trainer told me to eat 1800 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week, and on days I workout to eat 2100 calories

First off, what are your trainer's qualifications to be giving this advice?
What national body certifies him/her, and does their training program include nutrition, does their scope of practice include nutritional advice?
Most likely this person does not have any training in the science & would face censure & possible loss of his/her license (if actually in possession of one) if the certifying body found out about the attempt to instruct on nutrition.
For one thing, 2 lb a week is a very ambitious goal. You might be able to do it for a few weeks to start with, assuming you're looking to lose 70 lb, but pretty soon it will be more realistic to aim for 1 lb, and then 0.5 lb.

Was there any advice about composition, macros, etc?
percentage of carbs, fat, & protein.
Here's a table which explains the healthy ranges, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/1/1/T1.expansion.html
carbs, 45 - 65% of calories (4 cal per gram)
fat, 20 - 35% of calories (9 cal per gram)
protein, 10 - 35% of calories (4 cal per gram)

So for someone with a calorie goal of 2000 per day, that would be
50% carbs, 1000 cal, 250 g
25% fat, 500 cal, 56g
25% protein, 500 cal, 125 g
(just to take the simplest example as a starting point; adjust for your own needs, to see where you feel best)

Play with that BCM.edu calculator, play with the MFP inputs to tell it a more reasonable weekly goal, see what you come up with.
Try it, see how you feel, see what happens, make adjustments, try it again.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you get the results you want.