I’m 5’1” and not sure how many calories

emastringer
emastringer Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
I’m 5’1” 208lbs not active. Being short I am severely overweight. (Obese) How many calories does everyone else eat if you’re around the same stats. ? 1200 is too low for me but also don’t want to take 5 years to get to 125 ish pounds. Suggestions?

Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited July 2018
    Under the Settings button, edit your Diet/Fitness Profile with your height, weight, activity level, which is sedentary, and goal weight as well as your hoped-for rate of loss per week. The software calculates your calories. There's no need to poll the users.

    The less you hope to lose each week, the more your daily calories. You might find that makes the process easier to manage.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Plug your stats into MFP, set your goal to lose 1 or 1.5 lbs per week, and MFP will give you a calorie goal. When you exercise, log it and eat back some of those calories too. After 6-8 weeks, tweak your calories if you are losing faster or slower than you should. Lather, rinse, repeat. Check out the Most Helpful Posts pinned to the top of each forum, lots of great beginner info there. Good luck!
  • sharunza
    sharunza Posts: 32 Member
    I don’t know your age and am assuming you are female, but an online TDEE calculator suggests 1600 per day for one pound a week.

    I am 4’11” and I find it hard/annoying to figure out my calories.
  • sharunza
    sharunza Posts: 32 Member
    Whoops! I entered you in as male. For a female, the calculator says 1420. Sorry. :/
  • Debgreasby2018
    Debgreasby2018 Posts: 30 Member
    I’m also 5’1 and started at 208. My calories were 1420. I’ve lost 19lb in 10 weeks. Currently on 1340 calories per day.
  • cinnabondelights
    cinnabondelights Posts: 121 Member
    I'm also 5'1'' and ate around 1200 cals. Got down from 151 lbs to 100. Took about 2 years, but tbh I wasn't super trying hard and that's why I lost weight slowly.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    sharunza wrote: »
    I am 4’11” and I find it hard/annoying to figure out my calories.
    I'm 5'3" and find it hard/annoying to not exceed my calories :D
  • mnbvcxzlkjhgfdsa12
    mnbvcxzlkjhgfdsa12 Posts: 204 Member
    I’m 5ft2 and my target calories are 1200, in reality I aim to eat 1100 a day. My fitness tracker says I consistently burn between 1250 and 1350 calories a day, I am barely in deficit at this target, so I am losing weight slooowly....

    1100 is a really manageable target for me, provided I plan and make sensible choices. I volume eat, filling up on mountains and mountains of veg! I enjoy them, it’s healthy and I sm never hungry. I have space in my calories for a little treat in he evening - my current favorite is halo top oatmeal cookie dairy free ice cream!

    If you struggling keeping to a low calorie target maybe rethink what you’re eating. Yes you can eat anything you want, but if you’re choosing high calorie items you won’t be able to have much.

    Good luck! The most important thing is to make changes you can live with for life.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    Debgreasby2018 wrote: »
    I’m also 5’1 and started at 208. My calories were 1420. I’ve lost 19lb in 10 weeks. Currently on 1340 calories per day.

    We are weight loss twins. <3 I'm also 5'1'' and at 1340 per day.
  • khlokins
    khlokins Posts: 31 Member
    I'm 5'3" and I go based off what mfp sets up for me. Basically it's default at 1200 for us shorties because 1200 is the lowest a person should technically eat, and we're smol so our BMR is usually kind of low.

    I start from there and let my phone count my steps, which automatically adds it to mfp which = more calories I can have. Or when I log workouts I bank that as extra food I can eat.

    So on my super lazy days when I don't feel like doing jack, I can still take solace in the fact that I'm creating a deficit.

    However, if you're frustrated, this could help:

    https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm

    Calculating your BMR will give you your standard number of how many calories your body burns doing its basic bodily functions throughout the day.

    There are 3200 calories in a lb of fat, in order to lose weight you need to create a deficit of what your burning in a day.

    So I for example, burn about 1706 calories doing nothing all day. So if I eat 1200 in a day that creates roughly 500 calorie deficit. 500x7= 3500, or a little more than a lb a week.

    If you're trying to lose 2-3 lbs a week, you're gonna have to put in a little bit of effort on the workout brigade. Sorry :P

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