Calorie intake

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denise_oberholzer
denise_oberholzer Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I am in need of advice and help figuring out how many calories I should take in to lose some weight. The internet wasn't all that helpful. If you have any insight or can help me get a number, I would really appreciate it.

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    What number did MFP give you, and why does that seem wrong?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    Hi everyone. I am in need of advice and help figuring out how many calories I should take in to lose some weight. The internet wasn't all that helpful. If you have any insight or can help me get a number, I would really appreciate it.

    My Fitness Pal gives you a number based on your height, weight, age, gender and activity level (before exercise).....
    then they subtract calories based on "I want to lose xx pounds per week." My Fitness Pal will add calories when/if you add exercise.

    ALL calculators are estimates. For example - activity level is a range....but a calculator uses an average. People with a larger % of lean muscle to fat will burn more calories sitting still. A calculator again used an estimate.

    If your exercise is consistent you could use a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculator that includes exercise up front. That way you don't have to log that. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    Hi everyone. I am in need of advice and help figuring out how many calories I should take in to lose some weight. The internet wasn't all that helpful. If you have any insight or can help me get a number, I would really appreciate it.

    there are literally hundreds of calculators online (not to mention MFP)...why do you not trust those?? and how exactly would someone on here be able to give you a number while knowing absolutely nothing about you??
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    if you go to "goals" there is a guided goals setup where you input your information and MFP will give you a daily calorie goal.

    I also like this calculator (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and find it is close to calculations from MFP, but breaks down your caloric needs a little bit better if you are curious. Just realize there will be some discrepancy between your calorie goal using this and MFP because of the way they account for weight loss. In MFP you select a lbs/week goal, whereas this calculator uses a % of your intake which will not usually equate to well rounded lbs/week number.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    Hi everyone. I am in need of advice and help figuring out how many calories I should take in to lose some weight. The internet wasn't all that helpful. If you have any insight or can help me get a number, I would really appreciate it.

    The amount of calories you need to lose weight depends on your gender, height, current weight, goal weight, and desired loss per week. Put all that info accurately into your MFP profile and it will give you a calorie goal. Start logging your intake accurately and consistently. Log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. Give it several weeks and then tweak from there if you need to.

    All calculators are just estimates. You need to pick a number and try it out for a while and go from there. Don't make the mistake of aiming super low just because you think it's the "right" number though. Too many women make themselves miserable and burn out because they are convinced they need to starve to lose weight.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Have you tried using the number MFP gave you? If so, how did it not meet your expectations and how long did you try it? If you haven't, what is your reasoning for not trusting it? With a little more info we can be more helpful.
  • denise_oberholzer
    denise_oberholzer Posts: 7 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I've done several of the calculations online and I come up with them hundreds off. Other calculators won't go less than the recommended allowance for women. I am also using the free version of the app. I looked for the calculations within the profile and wasn't able to locate it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    Hi everyone. I am in need of advice and help figuring out how many calories I should take in to lose some weight. The internet wasn't all that helpful. If you have any insight or can help me get a number, I would really appreciate it.

    This calculator will calculate that for you...that's what this does...
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    Thanks everyone. I've done several of the calculations online and I come up with them hundreds off. Other calculators won't go less than the recommended allowance for women. I am also using the free version of the app. I looked for the calculations within the profile and wasn't able to locate it.

    Why would you want lower than the recommended allowance? What are your stats?
  • denise_oberholzer
    denise_oberholzer Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm 45 F, 5ft and at 125. The calculation I got from the suggested site was 1188 (I think).
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
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    Good afternoon! I did some work for you.....and here are the results based on the details that you provided:

    Gender: Female
    Age: 45yo
    Height: 5'0"
    Weight: 125lbs

    Basal Metabolic Rate 1,133 calories per day
    Sedentary 1,360 calories per day
    Light Exercise 1,559 calories per day
    Moderate Exercise 1,757 calories per day
    Heavy Exercise 1,955 calories per day
    Athlete 2,154 calories per day

    Keep in mind that the above are numbers based on a formula (the BMR from Mifflin-St. Jeor from 1990) and a PAL (Physical Activity Level). As such, these are simply a "best guess" that you should consider as a starting point.

    This is **NOT** from MFP. Are you using MFP?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    denise_oberholzer wrote: »
    I'm 45 F, 5ft and at 125. The calculation I got from the suggested site was 1188 (I think).

    So you are at the high end of the healthy weight range for your height. Set your goal to lose one-half lb per week, and you need to log super accurately because you don't have much wiggle room. You might be able to do 1 lb per week if you get in plenty of extra activity to add some calories to your "calories out". I would start with the calories mfp gives you with that info, give it a couple of months and tweak from there. When you are smaller, you need to lose slow, if you routinely eat under 1200 calories it is really difficult to get enough nutrition. I specifically started taking longer and more frequent walks and increasing the intensity of my exercise to buy myself more calories.
  • denise_oberholzer
    denise_oberholzer Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you! I really appreciate your help and guidance! There's so much information out there and it becomes so confusing. Thank you again!

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