How many calories should I be eating

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lpw612
lpw612 Posts: 8 Member
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33 year old female 5’1 173 pounds I am pretty sedentary. I sometimes walk on my walking pad. How many calories should I be eating a day to lose 30 pounds ?

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  • bibbsunshine
    bibbsunshine Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm 5'3", 60 years, how much calories should I eat? past month I've been working out 5 days aerobic and can't lose weight around my waist. Any suggestions?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,436 Member
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    However many calories MFP tells you to eat when you put your demographic details into your profile here. Stick close to that (say +/- 50) on average over a week for 4-6 weeks, then compare your average weekly loss rate over that whole time to your target loss rate. Adjust calories if necessary to fine-tune your loss rate, using the assumption that 500 calories per day is a pound per week. (Use arithmetic for fractional pounds.)

    If you have menstrual cycles, do the trial period for whole cycles, so you can compare body weight at the same relative point in two or more different cycles.

    Recommendation: At 170 pounds, I wouldn't suggest a faster rate than 1.5 pounds a week, and 1 pound would probably be more sustainable. Usually the range 0f 0.5-1% of current body is reasonable, with a bias toward the 0.5% unless severely obese to the point that body weight itself is an acute health threat, and even then 1%+ is aggressive unless under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications. As you get closer to goal, it would be good to go slower than a pound a week, IMO, and work on refining new long-term habits to stay at goal weight.

    How much you want to lose in total doesn't really affect loss rate, except to the extent with less weight to lose, a slower loss rate is usually a good thing. Otherwise, the only importance of goal weight is knowing when to stop losing.

    I know we all want to drop it like it's hot, but sometimes a sensibly moderate (sustainable) loss rate can get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extremely aggressive regimen that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

    Best wishes!

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