What Should my Calories be??

MakingItHappen2017

Hi there. Currently 101kg at 5'3 female. Wanting to loose 2lbs per week. Not active at all - desk job and couch potato. What would my recommended calorie intake be please. Had it set to 1200 calories but 2 weeks in already had a couple days where I binge. Don't want to do that anymore. Have adjusted my weight and goal but I thought it would change my calorie intake but hasn't. Can somebody help with my calorie intake please for my 2lbs a week goal. Also plan on using my treadmill starting tomorrow so will I have to eat back my calories also? Any advice much appreciated. Thanks in advance

rachelr1116

If you're finding 1200 calories too hard to stick to and ending up binging then I'd suggest changing your goal to 1.5 or even 1 lb per week. That should give you extra calories and help you feel more satisfied. And yes, if you are exercising you should be eating at least some of the calories you earn.

ladyreva78

Do the guided set up.

Select 0.5kg (1lbs) rate of loss
Set yourself a sedentary

Eat the calories this gives you.

According to this calculator, you should be able to lose weight eating between 1600 and 1700 calories per day.

There's no need to starve yourself. Try the numbers MFP gives you for sedentary/1lbs loss rate for 4 weeks and then reevaluate.

ETA: 2lbs loss per week is nice in theory, but it's hard to stick to. I started at 115kg and never went above the 1lbs loss rate. I just couldn't deal with eating that little. Yes it'll take longer, but the risk of binging is so much less.

ladyreva78

As for your second question:

Yes, eat back a portion of what you burn on the treadmill. The calories MFP gives you are WITHOUT exercise.

I recommend starting at 50% of the calories the machine/MFP give you and then adjust from there. The numbers are sometimes over-inflated and that way you're on the safe side.

Spliner1969

Sounds like 2lbs per week is too aggressive. Think of it in terms of life long goals. If it takes an extra year to reach your goal weight then so be it, because you want to learn habits and ways of eating along the way to your goal that you can sustain long after you reach that goal. I'd say drop to 1lb a week loss, start exercising regularly. Be consistent with the exercise and you'll do much better. Yes, you should eat back the exercise calories just keep in mind they are usually over-estimated so eat back only 50-60% of them at first and see what your weight loss trend looks like over a month or two. Don't forget to take at least one rest day a week from exercising as well. Your body will need to recover.

Typical long term success looks like this (in my opinion):

1) Set your weight loss goals, and eat at a deficit of around 1lb per week loss plus exercise. Weigh all solid foods with a food scale to be accurate. No need to do any special diets, just eat at a deficit.
2) Any time a holiday is approaching, or an event where you want to eat more calories, increase your deficit daily for a week prior to 100 less calories a day, that gives you an extra 700 on that day to enjoy yourself. If you eat more than that, simply continue with the extra deficit for a few more days to compensate. Think of things in terms of weekly deficit, not days. Mistakes happen, just learn to fix them. We are all human.
3) When you are getting close to your goal weight, consider going past it.. maybe 5 lbs past for a safety net.
4) Once you get to where you want to be, start adding 100 calories a day per week until you reach your maintenance calories (gives your body time to adjust to your new calorie goal). You are going to gain a little weight doing this, don't panic, this is why you went 5 lbs past your goal weight.
5) No matter what you do, never stop the exercise. This is something you want to do the rest of your life on a regular basis, especially with a desk job/sedentary life style.
6) Expect this all to take a year, two, even more. Don't get in too big a hurry. Weight loss is not linear, sometimes it'll stop, sometimes it'll accelerate, and sometimes it'll go backward. Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll get to your goal.
7) Every time you lose 5 lbs adjust your calorie goal. As you lose weight you require less calories. Otherwise your weight loss might stall out eventually.
8) Eventually you'll want to stop logging food every day, and that's fine. But remember, any time you eat a lot, you should probably increase exercise and eat a little less for a week afterward to make up for it, or better yet, prepare for it ahead of time and exercise more and eat less prior to the event. Otherwise you'll end up back here again before you know it.

At least all of this has been successful for me. I lost 110 lbs my first year, and am just now on my 2nd year and have been in recomp mode for about 8 months maintaining my weight within +/-5 lbs. Good luck!