How many calories should I eat per day?

mrs_kurz
mrs_kurz Posts: 185 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I'm about to start logging again (have about 30lbs to lose) but I'm not sure what to set my daily goal at.

I used one of those fancy scales that calculates your BF% and Metabolism, and it came out at 1479. I guess that's what my body burns on it's own without any exercise on top?

Should I do a deficit from that, or eat that exactly?

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    edited May 2019
    Set your goal to lose 1 lb/week on this site... eat that many calories plus what you burn from exercise.

    most likely that scale was estimating your BMR. You should be taking a deficit from TDEE, which is usually a multiple of BMR... (1.2 to 1.9, depending on your activity level)
  • mrs_kurz
    mrs_kurz Posts: 185 Member
    Interesting, when I use the MFP calculator, it says 1200 and I know 1200 calorie diets are disputed. When I set to lose 1lb a week I get 1330, so I'll stick to that + exercise cals. Thank you everyone!
  • mrs_kurz
    mrs_kurz Posts: 185 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    A scale can't calculate your metabolism, and is pretty bad at calculating BF% as well.

    What is your height, starting weight, goal weight and age? What did this site give you as a calorie goal when you did the guided set-up?

    I suspect you should not take a deficit from 1479.

    It gave me:
    1200 at 2lbs a week
    1200 at 1.5lbs a week
    1330 at 1lb a week
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,520 Member
    Here is my two cents. It is better to not put too fine a point on these targets. If like me you are 30+ lbs overweight, sort of active, sort of not, person, you can do much better by figuring it out slowly. For instance, at first, try something like: the first 10 days or two weeks lock on a simple 1700 cal/day. Practice weighing and measuring, figure out how to time your meals, avoid triggers, start some routines. Just centerpunch that number every day for two weeks...no exercise adjusting.
    weigh yourself everyday for two weeks.

    After two weeks put all your weight data on a graph, pencil in a line, and if you have lost about a pound a week, eating 1700/day without any adjustments, you have some deeply meaningful data. Better than any of these formulas.

    You get to think "hey that worked, I can do that for 28 more weeks" or "it would be easy for me to try two weeks at 1600/day"

    What you shove in your mouth is the most important thing, so try to do something very simple with your daily food to get on some sustainable pattern. Once you are in a good stable pattern with food, you can start tweaking it here and there, and if things go off a bit you can easily reset to you original, simple, 1700/day plan to reset.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,520 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Based on your avatar ...

    And of course yours is set to private @lynn_glenmont

  • mrs_kurz
    mrs_kurz Posts: 185 Member
    chris_in_cal wrote: »
    Here is my two cents. It is better to not put too fine a point on these targets. If like me you are 30+ lbs overweight, sort of active, sort of not, person, you can do much better by figuring it out slowly. For instance, at first, try something like: the first 10 days or two weeks lock on a simple 1700 cal/day. Practice weighing and measuring, figure out how to time your meals, avoid triggers, start some routines. Just centerpunch that number every day for two weeks...no exercise adjusting.
    weigh yourself everyday for two weeks.

    After two weeks put all your weight data on a graph, pencil in a line, and if you have lost about a pound a week, eating 1700/day without any adjustments, you have some deeply meaningful data. Better than any of these formulas.

    You get to think "hey that worked, I can do that for 28 more weeks" or "it would be easy for me to try two weeks at 1600/day"

    What you shove in your mouth is the most important thing, so try to do something very simple with your daily food to get on some sustainable pattern. Once you are in a good stable pattern with food, you can start tweaking it here and there, and if things go off a bit you can easily reset to you original, simple, 1700/day plan to reset.

    This is really helpful, thank you
  • mrs_kurz
    mrs_kurz Posts: 185 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    OP as a few others have said - MFP does a pretty good job of giving you a calorie goal that should be appropriate for your stats and activity level (excluding exercise) as long as you choose a reasonable rate of loss. With 30 lbs to lose that should be 1 lb/week. You said you did that and your calorie goal was 1330 - that’s a good starting point.

    Now from there - focus on accuracy of logging, do you have or plan to use a food scale? It’s not a requirement but many find it to be an incredibly helpful tool to ensure accuracy of calorie intake. Log everything you eat as accurately and honestly as possible. Eat a variety of foods, focusing on those you find satiating, nutritious and enjoyable. If you exercise, log and eat back some of those calories as well.

    Be patient, monitor and adjust as needed after 6-8 weeks of your own data and results.

    Oh and read the stickied most helpful forum posts at the top of each section they’ve got great info.

    Good luck!

    Thanks for the encouragement. Yes I do have a food scale and plan to use it all the time haha!

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