Help! How many calories should I eat to lose?

pinkcandies
pinkcandies Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
I put this under the fitness and exercise boards because it has to do with exercise lol :)
But recently, over two months I gained approximately 10 pounds, which is not fun :(
So I've been for the last few weeks exercising like a mad woman to try and lose it and get back in shape. I was just wondering if I was eating enough to lose weight because I know that if I don't eat enough I won't lose, right? My BMR is approximately 1550 calories and was wondering if was bad to NET less than that and how much I should consume?
This is what I currently do in the week to exercise:
Monday: Spinning 2x (1 hour each)
Tuesday: Bootcamp w. weights (1 hour) and Zumba (1 hour)
Wednesday: Spinning (1 hour)
Thursday: Bootcamp w. weights (90 minutes). Occasionally do a 1 hour zumba class as well.
Friday: Spinning (45 minutes)
Saturday: Bootcamp (90 minutes) and sometimes spinning for 45-60 minutes
Sunday: Rest
Occasionally I take Fridays or Wednesdays off as well!

So I'm wondering how much I should be eating to lose weight. I feel like I've been eating a lot and I don't want all this exercise to go down the drain! I am 5'5, age 20, and weigh between 140-150 (haven't weighed myself so I'm assuming the worst!)
I'm trying to aim for around 1800-1900 calories to lose and 1500-1600 on rest days?
Just would like some suggestions or tips. Thanks :)

Replies

  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    MFP does all the calculations for you. Put in your height, weight, sex and age. I would suggest not choosing sedentary as few people are truly sedentary. With 10 lbs to lose your goal should be .5 lb a week, definitely no more than 1 lb a week.
    Then log your exercise and eat at least a portion of them back.

    Or use a TDEE calculator like Fitnessfrog, figure your TDEE and cut by 15%.

    In my experience both ways end up around the same numbers.

    Why are you doing two sessions of cardio a day? I know it seems like a good idea, but killing yourself with cardio is not the best option, especially when paired with low calorie intake. Unless you are training for something specific there really is no need to do cardio 2 hours a day.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    To add to that. Check out this post.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    And if you are doing that much activity, you aren't eating enough.

    ETA - remember, there is an end here. When you reach your goal weight, can you still keep up the massive amounts of cardio?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    MFP offers one method. You put in the # of pounds per week you want to lose & MFP gives you a number BEFORE exercise. You then log exercise & get extra calories added back. You eat back your calories because too large a deficit promotes muscle loss. The problem you might run into here ....MFP often over states calorie burns.

    So for varying exercise everyday .....you get varying calories to eat day to day.


    TDEE less a % is a different method. This includes all your exercise up front & you take a % off of this number (as long as it doesn't go below your BMR). You stay above BMR so you don't lose muscle (along with the fat).

    This method has you eat the same calories everyday.....it basically averages everything out. If you want to log exercise here .... you use 1 calorie burned.

    As you get closer to your weight loss goal ..... a 1/2 pound loss each week is good progress.
  • pinkcandies
    pinkcandies Posts: 6
    Haha, well my last few weeks of vacation before I start school so I exercise partly extra for fun and because I feel I can eat more than if I don't? I did one class in the morning and another in the evening. But if it'll be detrimental, I could stop that second class!
    Yeah, I wanted between 0.5-1 per week on average but will be very content with 0.5 a week.
    Yeah, I know that massive caloric deficits are bad but I thought that I was eating a relatively high amount of calories to not have such a high deficit?
    And no, I'll probably stick to 1 hour a day since I enjoy spinning, zumba and bootcamp :)
    And I did the fitnessfrog calculation. I put heavy exercise and it said 2587 to maintain? So 2000 calories every day to lose with the occasional cheat day sound reasonable to lose approximately 1/2 pound a week? But the thing is, I'm not active aside from the exercise I do. Or maybe I should change it to moderate exercise?
    And is TDEE the most accurate method then? Because yeah, I don't trust the MFP activity log -___-'

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