Does 1800 - 2000 calories sound about right for me?

lydslaura
lydslaura Posts: 8 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Basically, I am a 20-year-old female and I weigh around 8.6-8.9 stone, depending on when I weigh myself, etc) and I want to maintain my weight. I have a history of disordered eating and I've never really known what a good amount for me to maintain a healthy weight is. I am a uni student so spend a lot of time sitting in lectures and revising in the library but I walk to and from uni and try to go to an exercise class at the gym about 5 times a week. MFP gave me an estimate of around 1800 calories but I was wondering what others think and if that sounds about right. I have been eating 1500 for a while now but this lead to me being constantly hungry and struggling with binges so I think it was too few calories for me.

Replies

  • chornak05
    chornak05 Posts: 135 Member
    I would say it depends on how tall you are. I maintain on around 2200 at 5'6'', 125 lbs but am very active.
  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,022 Member
    Need to know what your height is to give an educated guess what your maintenance might. You can also plug you stats into sailrabbit.com and see what you get for daily maintenance calories.
  • lydslaura
    lydslaura Posts: 8 Member
    Sorry ,forgot to say I'm about 5'6.5 :)
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    I second the recommendation to try a few different calculators, pick an average, try it for a few weeks, and see if you’re losing weight, gaining, or maintaining. Then adjust up or down by 100 cals and see if you maintain over the next few weeks. Rinse and repeat till you found the right number. I’m doing that currently. Started with 1800, still lost so tried 1900, still lost, so now I’m trying 2000.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    edited April 2019
    At 62 and sedentary, I maintain at 1600 plus my exercise calories. I'm 5'6" and 123 lbs. My actual calorie needs are around 2300 day since I do some sort of exercise daily. So for you, as a much younger person who probably does a lot of walking around campus, etc. 1800 plus exercise calories is probably about right. Try it and see what happens. If you are losing, eat more. If gaining, cut back.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Remember when comparing estimates from other sources MyFitnessPal's estimate is only for a non-exercise day - so in your case the estimate is 1800 + exercise calories.

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