Women weighing about 220lbs - How many calories are you aiming for?

MySweetLavinia

I'm 5'3", and eat about 1300/day. Getting great results and not often hungry. I'm very sedentary because of health issues though, so ymmv.

nurseratchet46

HI,Im 5 2 1/2 at 265 lbs....my cals are at 1690..for 2 lbs loss a week...I lost 3 the first week...also Im on a fat burner,and started working out today at the gym....I have to go very slow,because of a back injury and osteoarthritis in my knees.....I have a trainer for a month so this helps.......Ive been sticking to my diet very well.....so far so good....I see my belly fat going way down,and fat loss on my flanks....so im very excited...

tinkerbellang83

I'm around 235 just now, I am quite tall too (5'8") and eating 1600 plus all my exercise cals. 1400 should be fairly sustainable if you eat back at least some exercise cals.

ejsilvi

Look at the Zig Zag diet

Jthanmyfitnesspal

littlecrunchy190 wrote: »

Correct, and it sets other macros as well but those are not what I am using either!

I have always found that following the calorie goals produced the about the predicted results (weight maintenance, gain, loss). It sounds like this may not be true for people posting to this thread. Is that the case?

glassofroses

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

littlecrunchy190 wrote: »

Correct, and it sets other macros as well but those are not what I am using either!

I have always found that following the calorie goals produced the about the predicted results (weight maintenance, gain, loss). It sounds like this may not be true for people posting to this thread. Is that the case?

When I first started I put in I wanted to loose 2lb a week at sedentary level and it gave me 1200 calories (I didn't stay like this for longer than a week I think). For a 5'10 woman that is ridiculous. I wouldn't even be that low if I was in a coma. For shorter women, the goals tend to be more accurate.

firef1y72

Think I was eating around 2250 at that weight (losing approx 1.5lb/week), mind I still eat around the same now (169lb), just don't lose anywhere near as much, what can I say I like to eat

oolou

People will be able to help more if you give a bit more info such as your activity level, your height, your current weight and how much you are hoping to lose each week.

jessicaaxo25

I'm currently 209 lbs and have 1400-1500 calories per day, low carb, moderate protein and high fat. I don't have any sugar and drink lots of water. So far I have lost 9lbs in a week! No working out other then daily 30 min walks with my kids.

jessicaaxo25

205 lbs***

Francl27

I lost 80 lbs and I never ate less than 1650, and I was 213 lbs when I started. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight, and losing slower is better in the long run than giving up because you're hungry all the time or feel too deprived.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

glassofroses wrote: »

When I first started I put in I wanted to loose 2lb a week at sedentary level and it gave me 1200 calories (I didn't stay like this for longer than a week I think). For a 5'10 woman that is ridiculous. I wouldn't even be that low if I was in a coma. For shorter women, the goals tend to be more accurate.

I think what you are saying is that trying to lose 2lbs a week is very difficult!

It requires a 1000kcal deficit per day, yikes! Its more reasonable to shoot for 1lb a week, which only requires a 500kcal deficit per day, which isn't too bad. (I think MFP should warn people when they select more than 1lb per week. It seems like one of the biggest issues with the settings.)

savithny

Yeah, I'm shooting for 1700 or so.

birdtobe

You can try this, which I found helpful and still use as I lose and adjust my calorie needs:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I started at 217 and have eaten anywhere from 1200-1450 a day, depending. I don't do any real exercise (unless you count the walk involved in commuting by subway), but this seems to result in a 1-1.5 pound loss for me if I'm super diligent in logging. I have lost 30 pounds in 6 months (though lost not a single pound in months 6 because I fell off the wagon!).

kshama2001

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

littlecrunchy190 wrote: »

Correct, and it sets other macros as well but those are not what I am using either!

I have always found that following the calorie goals produced the about the predicted results (weight maintenance, gain, loss). It sounds like this may not be true for people posting to this thread. Is that the case?

When I weigh my food on a digital food scale, eat the calories MFP gives me, eat some (but not all) of my exercise calories, I lose as expected over the course of a month.

Tweaking macros is really just for satiety, though, not weight loss.

hlblakeley

I'm 42, 5'4" and 220, and for me to loose 1.8 lbs a week MFP puts me at 1200, (I have a desk job and am really bad about exercise so I stick with sedentary) to loose 1.5 lbs a week it puts me at 1340 so that's where I keep it to allow myself some wiggle room.

ashliedelgado

At 220, I had my activity level set to sedentary, and was at 1400 for 2lbs/week. I added exercise manually and ate half of what MFP estimated my burn was. So really I was probably eating 16-1700 on active days.

glassofroses

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

glassofroses wrote: »

When I first started I put in I wanted to loose 2lb a week at sedentary level and it gave me 1200 calories (I didn't stay like this for longer than a week I think). For a 5'10 woman that is ridiculous. I wouldn't even be that low if I was in a coma. For shorter women, the goals tend to be more accurate.

I think what you are saying is that trying to lose 2lbs a week is very difficult!

It requires a 1000kcal deficit per day, yikes! Its more reasonable to shoot for 1lb a week, which only requires a 500kcal deficit per day, which isn't too bad. (I think MFP should warn people when they select more than 1lb per week. It seems like one of the biggest issues with the settings.)

Your point was my point. If you go into this journey alone, like I did, you can fall into all kinds of traps. Sometimes I wish I knew what I knew now but then I wouldn't be where I am if I did, y'know. I just feel, if it were me, I'd want to eat as much as I could. Eat better. The key to be high calorie and still losing, imo, is to eat the right foods; not too many carbs (I'm high carb but I don't go above 280g on training days), enough good fat and protein the top priority in terms of reducing your muscle mass loss.

It's a marathon not a race despite our want of the weight to be gone yesterday.

twinzmom172

I'm 45, 5'6" and started at around 254lbs - I've been doing 1200 calories/day with occasional cheat days for 3 months and am down just over 30lbs - I'm now at 219lbs. It's coming off slower, maybe 1.5lbs/week. I use my elliptical almost daily (I try to do a 1/2 hr) and aim for 7000 steps/day which also pulls from the elliptical). I don't eat my exercise calories unless I'm having a hungry day. I went to a nutritionist for a while and she was good with the 1200 calories. I have also eliminated almost all beverages outside of one cup of coffee, the rest is all water with lemon - this took a few days to get used to, but now I crave the water and can't stand the thought of soda or iced tea which I used to drink.

amtyrell

I started at 218 lbs and eating around 1800 calories in February and now I am at 197lbs and eating around 1600 calories a day more on exercise days.
1400 would be very low and very very aggressive. You should enter your stats into mpg and pick 1lb or 1.5 lbs a week and see what they come up with. Following their calculations I have been doing great over 20lbs down.

cmonroe50

I have only been at it for about two weeks. I'm 5 foot 2. I went with the calculator for 2 pounds a week it said 1220. I walk about a mile a day so that subtracts 129 for me. For the first time in a long time, I'm losing. Already 11 poiunds. I actually had gastric sleeve surgery about 10 years ago but had chronic back pain for several years. Gained weight back. The one thing that is different this time is I am really paying attention to the protein. At least 60 grams a day. Sometimes I substitute a 30 gram protein drink. Premier from Costco. If you can do 1400 and lose more power to you. I couldn't lose much with that calorie intake. I am 64 years old so metabolism sucks. Good luck

Verity1111

littlecrunchy190 wrote: »

So at some point I used a nutritional calculator and it told me in order to lose weight I should aim for 1400 calories a day. Does that seem right to you?

I used https://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm whenever I needed to calculate anything...when active, walking 5-15miles in a day I was burning like 2500-2700 calories per day and then it seemed to go down a bit without exercise to about 2000-2300. I aim for 1200-1600 calories per day. When I eat 1500-1600 average per day (net) I lose about 2.2lbs per week if I am exercising at all... I seem to burn more than freedieting says actually but I seem to burn more than normal for my height and weight so I think a lot of people around 220 burn about 2300 per day if they're a little active?

kellyfeb78

I'm 14 stone 186lb I think and I'm on 1600 a day but with lots of gym trip during the week to give me extras and I'm losing 2lb a week

ladysmart

My calorie intake is about 1420... it takes getting used to.

SueSueDio

amtyrell wrote: »

I started at 218 lbs and eating around 1800 calories in February and now I am at 197lbs and eating around 1600 calories a day more on exercise days.
1400 would be very low and very very aggressive. You should enter your stats into mpg and pick 1lb or 1.5 lbs a week and see what they come up with. Following their calculations I have been doing great over 20lbs down.

Not necessarily. I think it really does vary a lot between individuals. I'm 5'6" and started at 217lbs, and was given a goal of 1500 cals for a 1lb per week loss. I was losing okay on that amount. Soon after I started, I got a fitness tracker which told me (after getting a few weeks of data) that I was burning on average around 1900 per day and not 2000. So I adjusted my goal down to 1400. I am very sedentary, averaging less than 3000 steps most days, and do very little deliberate exercise. Obviously someone who was more active would be able to eat more!

Although my weight loss hasn't been consistent and there have been "whooshes and stalls", it averaged out at a little less than 1lb per week for the whole of last year. I take regular diet breaks and my calories are automatically adjusted downwards every time I reset my weight (smaller bodies need less calories), and by January I was down to 1260 per day. I began to find it hard to feel satisfied with that amount, and I was around 20lbs from my goal, so I changed my settings to lose 0.5lbs per week and got a few more calories back! I wouldn't have been able to deal with a 1200 calorie day when I started this, but my appetite adjusted as I went along. It was only recently that I found it harder to stick to my goal.

OP, depending on how tall you are and how much you want to lose, I'd say set up your profile to lose 1lb a week and see how it goes. You can change your macros if you want to, as well, if you're not happy with the defaults. Choose the activity level that fits your day to day life, and add in any extra exercise you do. Re-evaluate after a few weeks to see what kind of loss you're getting and how you feel on the amount of food you can fit into your day... adjust as needed until you get something that works for you.

Good luck!

Fflpnari

On April first I weight 234, today I weighed in at 221. Eating at 2000 plus a few cheat days thrown in there.

KosmosKitten

I started at 1690 and 216 in Jan. I only set out to lose 1 lb a week. I'm down to 198 and 1560 now, I think. Still set to only lose 1 lb a week. I didn't want to set myself up for failure, so I chose to go easy. I admire those who can do the 2lb a week and lose without crashing/burning.

cppeace

When I weighed 220- 5 years ago. I was on an active job and exercising 5 days a week burning 300-600 calories a day. I was eating 1600-2000 calories most days. I was losing way slower but did get down to 206 before I gave up and quit- much to my now over 300lb regret.

amusedmonkey

I'm a little bit lighter, but I eat about 1400-1500 calories plus exercise calories, so all in all I find myself dieting on 1700-2300 calories to lose steadily, but I tend to take maintenance breaks often and end up at a higher number. I also have occasional days where I'm not within calories, days that are much higher or much lower but average to a net of 1400-1500 overall.

tramaine_21

I'm 5'8 228 lbs and my thing is if you're super active (and it depends on your body/metabolism) aim for 2080-1600 calories...If you're sedentary or not active at all and you're just dieting, then I would stay between 1,200 to 1,600 calories...and that maybe a little low. But the moment you start working out--eat more because your body needs the fuel. More water, less salt--and keep moving!