How to calculate my calorie limit for weight loss.

azdisneymama

Does anyone know how to determine how many calories to eat to lose weight? Every calculator I've tried is different. I've been staying stead on the amount suggested while also exercising and getting my water in and I haven't lost anything.

Retroguy2000

Less than you currently take.

If you've accurately logged your intake and exercise calories, and your weight is staying constant, there's your maintenance. Go below that.

yirara

For how long are you at it?
would you mind sharing your stats?
Any new exercise or menstrual cycle?
What’s your calirie goal here?

azdisneymama

Ugg.. Okay, I'm 220, 5'9, 48 years old. I drink over 100oz of water a day, 1800 calories a day, 10,000 steps a day, start eating at noon end at 7:30. I eat no less then 108oz of protein a day. I'm also doing weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The weights have been 3 and 5 lbs, My arms are very weak. I measuring and weigh everything I eat. I've been doing this for a month. I'm so frustrated, don't know what else to do.

tomcustombuilder

azdisneymama wrote: »

Ugg.. Okay, I'm 220, 5'9, 48 years old. I drink over 100oz of water a day, 1800 calories a day, 10,000 steps a day, start eating at noon end at 7:30. I eat no less then 108oz of protein a day. I'm also doing weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The weights have been 3 and 5 lbs, My arms are very weak. I measuring and weigh everything I eat. I've been doing this for a month. I'm so frustrated, don't know what else to do.

You've found your maintenance calories which is the best stat to know as far as weightloss. All you have to do now is just take in fewer calories than your maintenance calories. Try deducting 300 to start with. You may be taking in more than 1,800 on an average.

lynn_glenmont

azdisneymama wrote: »

Ugg.. Okay, I'm 220, 5'9, 48 years old. I drink over 100oz of water a day, 1800 calories a day, 10,000 steps a day, start eating at noon end at 7:30. I eat no less then 108oz of protein a day. I'm also doing weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The weights have been 3 and 5 lbs, My arms are very weak. I measuring and weigh everything I eat. I've been doing this for a month. I'm so frustrated, don't know what else to do.

108 oz of protein is over 12,000 kcals, so something is wrong with your math, goals, and/or logging.

Rockmama1111

azdisneymama wrote: »

Ugg.. Okay, I'm 220, 5'9, 48 years old. I drink over 100oz of water a day, 1800 calories a day, 10,000 steps a day, start eating at noon end at 7:30. I eat no less then 108oz of protein a day. I'm also doing weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The weights have been 3 and 5 lbs, My arms are very weak. I measuring and weigh everything I eat. I've been doing this for a month. I'm so frustrated, don't know what else to do.

Let’s explore this for a minute, because I do think you should be losing at 1800 if those are your stats. I’m basing this off my own numbers for comparison, and that seems way low for maintenance given your activity level.

You have logged diligently for a month? No days off? Would you feel comfortable sharing your diary? (No pressure—mine’s not public!) Maybe even a screen shot?

tomcustombuilder

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

azdisneymama wrote: »

Ugg.. Okay, I'm 220, 5'9, 48 years old. I drink over 100oz of water a day, 1800 calories a day, 10,000 steps a day, start eating at noon end at 7:30. I eat no less then 108oz of protein a day. I'm also doing weight lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The weights have been 3 and 5 lbs, My arms are very weak. I measuring and weigh everything I eat. I've been doing this for a month. I'm so frustrated, don't know what else to do.

108 oz of protein is over 12,000 kcals, so something is wrong with your math, goals, and/or logging.

lol I think she means grams

Retroguy2000

Looking here, choosing Lightly Active Exercise or Sports 2-3 times, Walking 5 times, gives around 2,400.

https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

If you believe you're only ingesting 1,800 I wonder if your tracking is off, or incomplete. You should consider opening up your Diary for people to help out.

azdisneymama

Here’s a day last week.. I’m that person that can eat the same thing for weeks.

yirara

Or, we're trying to get to the bottom of this. Apart from logging accuracy there are other possibilities. Lets explore one more. Do you get on the scale daily or did not avoid it for a month and then stepped on?

I'm asking this because weight constantly fluctuates. There's fluctuations in water weight, think of it as ebb and flood but caused by new exercise, certain points in your menstrual cycle, a bit more salt or carbs for a day, moving a bit less, and a ton of other reasons. And it's totally normal.
There's also poop weight. Basically food waste in your intestines. If you had a very big meal there's more stuff that's not been expelled yet, and it of course also has weight even though, like the waterweight it's not bodyfat.
And then there's the time of day. I guess most people will be lightest in the morning after getting up, naked, after having been to the loo because they consume food with weight thereafter, and might wear different clothes with different weight.

All those things can mask weightloss even though you might be losing bodyfat. If you only weighted once at the end of the month you might have accidentally hit this one day where several of these things came together. With your current weight, large water weight fluctuations are very possible. In this forum there's also the famous whoosher: people that lose bodyfat, but waterweight masks it for several weeks, and then there's the moment where they constantly run to the loo, even at night, and next morning the water is gone and they're much lighter. Thus what I'm trying to say is that people don't lose weight consistently on the scale from day to day. There are factors that hide weightloss. And there are people (like me) who somehow store more water as they lose weight, and then lose the water in a very annoying day and night, and weightloss finally shows up.

Lietchi

It's only been a month and you're doing strength training: is that new? Because strength training notoriously causes water retention.
So:
- are you measuring yourself? Clothes still fitting the same?
- and what is your weight doing precisely? Are you weighing daily/weekly/...?

erickirb

Big thing here, I see cups and tablespoons as serving sizes. I would change your measuring to grams, not oz or cups or tablespoons, more granular. a half cup measured may weigh more than a half cup says on a package. weighing in grams is by far the most accurate way.

cmriverside

I agree with tightening up your food logging. No way to really know on the weights and measures if you're eyeballing it.

I also agree that 1800 (before Exercise calories) sounds about like a Maintenance amount in general BUT you should be losing if in fact you're eating 1800 total and getting regular exercise. I was the same stats when I started weight loss and I ate a little less, but close to 1800 on most days - and used a food scale - and stepped on the body weight scale daily. Weight does fluctuate, so weigh often. I lost nearly all my weight at 1800-1900 (net calories.) So, that really should be a reasonable amount, but a few errors per day at that calorie level can wipe out your cut.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk

Retroguy2000

I don't understand how the syncing works for exercise, but anyway, if you were really ingesting about 1,600 and doing some walking and elliptical too, and if that's representative of most of your days, you should be losing weight. Are you forgetting anything in that diary? "Cheat" days or meals not being logged? Are you confident in the measurements for your entries?

In your Settings here, there's an option to make the diary public. That's what posters were referring to.

PAV8888

Overall I agree with above discussiod.

But I would also expect 90 Cal brownies to be 90 Cal. Colby jack cheese should be about 384 Cal per 100g unless using one of the specific lower fat varieties. The slice range you're showing comes closest to a 75% fat reduced variety. Your salmon clocks in at under 1.6 Cal a gram. Atlantic farmed is at 2. Are you measuring or using raw or cooked weight?

Using a scale and good entries will either let you enjoy more food OR will better allow you to figure out how many cals you are consuming. And that's true for all of us

azdisneymama

Thank you for all the suggestions.. I’ll be watching that video on measuring. It has to be that.. Or maybe menopause? Either way I’m going to learn more about how many calories I’m actually eating.

AnnPT77

If the possible issues are limited to menopause or measurement, it's measurement.

- Signed, someone who lost a bunch of weight in menopause

P.S. Also https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34385400/

But individuals' calorie needs do differ, though not by very much, at least not very often.

https://examine.com/articles/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/

Plus a month could still be about water weight, which would sort itself out probably in the following month if nothing major changes.

cmriverside

azdisneymama wrote: »

Thank you for all the suggestions.. I’ll be watching that video on measuring. It has to be that.. Or maybe menopause? Either way I’m going to learn more about how many calories I’m actually eating.

LOL. Yeah, it's not menopause. I also lost all my weight in early menopause. 80 pounds gone.

However, you could be eating too much. I'm still putting my money on food logging.

At your height and current weight and with exercise and I'm guessing housework and or a job - you should be losing at 1800. The video is eye-opening

westrich20940

There are like 4-5 formulas for calculating calorie needs per day. They are all estimates.

If you have estimates that are all different...pick the one your think is 'best' (or simply one in the middle/median) and use that as your starting point. Then, you have to be as accurate as you can with what you are consuming and what you are burning if you are exercising.

Make adjustments from there. If you have stayed the same weight over a period of time (~2weeks...) then you are probably eating at maintenance...so good news is now you have a more accurate estimate of your maintenance calories and an create a deficit from there.

Lietchi

westrich20940 wrote: »

There are like 4-5 formulas for calculating calorie needs per day. They are all estimates.

If you have estimates that are all different...pick the one your think is 'best' (or simply one in the middle/median) and use that as your starting point. Then, you have to be as accurate as you can with what you are consuming and what you are burning if you are exercising.

Make adjustments from there. If you have stayed the same weight over a period of time (~2weeks...) then you are probably eating at maintenance...so good news is now you have a more accurate estimate of your maintenance calories and an create a deficit from there.

I'd pick a longer period for (menstruating) women, simply because of hormonal fluctuations, which can cause water weight weirdness. And menopause was mentioned: if it hasn't fully 'arrived' yet, it can cause even greater hormonal weirdness and water weight fluctuations.

xxzenabxx

It’s only been a month and you started lifting weights too. Give it another month until you make changes.

lauriekallis

I'm close to your height/weight and activity level. I would definitely be losing at 1800 calories a day - and my first thought was measuring - but if most of your days are like the one you shared - even if your measuring was off "a bit" - I'm referring to those items that you have measured in tablespoons and cups which are both notoriously inaccurate - I would expect you to be losing. Only you know if it was off a bit - or if extra food has been getting in there.

Is your activity new? The weightlifting / walking? If so - my guess would be that is why your weight is not coming down - especially if this is your first month of a calorie deficit when things tend to happen quickly.