Confused about calories

kjm09d

I am 23 years old, 5'6-5'7 and weigh about 146 pounds. My current schedule is Crossfit 3x/week and running 3 miles 2x/week with 2 rest days. I have a desk job so not a ton of exercise through out the day.

I am trying to eat around 1,500 calories a day.

My goal is to get down to 135 by May for a wedding. I tend to hold more weight in my lower stomach and inner thighs.

Should I be eating less? I have also heard that doing no/low carb twice a day is very beneficial. Has anyone tried this?

Holly_Roman_Empire

Figure your calories by TDEE-10% using this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

FWIW, I'm your height, stuck to 1500 a day, ate most of my exercise calories and went from 155 to 140 in four months. Your goal isn't impossible, but just know that people lose weight at different rates.

As far as no carb/low carb, do it if you want to, but the only thing that will work for fat loss is the calorie deficit. Going no/low carb will let go of a lot of water weight, but once you start eating carbs again, the water weight will come back.

Greenrun99

At your height you could probably eat a bit more (1500-1800) and still lose, should you eat less than 1500, No.. Your looking at 1 lb a week as your not really overweight now.. So that is a hard thing to hit by May.. its an ambitious goal. Make sure you get your protein in, low carb isn't really a big deal if you want to try it, go for it.. but the initial drop will just be water weight which you will gain from eating carbs.

jenovaprojekt00

I'm still kind of a beginner on this weight loss thing, but the general consensus around here seems to be that it doesn't matter when you eat, as long as you're burning more calories than you're taking in, so there's no need to torture yourself by eating only twice a day.

As for your calorie intake, if 1500 calories is what MFP gives you a day, then it's a good amount. It sounds like you stay pretty active despite your desk job. While you're at work, try to stand and do your work as much as possible, like when you're on the phone. You could also take short walks on your breaks.

Good luck on hitting your target by May!

MakePeasNotWar

I don't think there is any reason to go below 1500 given your long time frame and high activity levels. I was about 140 before I quit smoking last summer, did a similar amount of exercise, and ate about 2400 calories a day to maintain. I've got to think that 1500 will be a decent deficit for you at that activity level unless you have some kind of thyroid or hormonal problems.

Try using a few different TDEE calculators (just google it) and you will get a good idea of what your maintenance calories are. Then you can subtract a percentage, or a set number of calories from that to get to your desired weekly loss.