Calories...

Krys052490

23 years old. Female. 5'3. 129 lbs. Minimum 4 days lifting a week and cardio 1-3 times a week. Trying to slim down and get toned.

. My "goal" calories are 1600. I typically intake between 1450 - 1600. I vary my diet daily so sometimes I'm hungrier than others. Anyways, if I eat like normal all day and decide I don't want to eat anymore, is it bad to be 1400 or so?

I TRY to get 40% protein, 30% fat, 30% carbs. It usually ends up 30/40/30 though. Getting protein powder soon though!

Krys052490

Example: Today is rest day and usually I'm starving by lunch, I'm at 686 cals for the day and 914 to go and I'm not THAT hungry. I'm content.

4legsRbetterthan2

It does not sound dangerously low to me.

If you want any tips on upping the calories a little:
peanut butter
nuts
oils- put a little in your cooking
butter
throw a little cheese on your veggies

if you are not hitting your calorie goals don't shy away from a little fat; no need to be eating diet/low cal/ fat free foods.

jlynnm70

Honestly - you are probably OK - you don't go low every day - and some of us are set even lower than 1400 (and many will say that is too low).

MFP or TDEE is a goal - very few eat that exact number and there is some variance in the food (how you weigh it) and your calorie burn estimates.

I figure 100 either way of my goal is acceptable. Others may have a bigger range. Somedays I eat more, some less - I figure it balances out by the end of the week.

ChrisM8971

You say your intake is 1450 - 1600, is that gross or net?

Krys052490

Gross. I never eat my calories back from exercising.

Side note: I'm aware I'm at a healthy weight for my height but I'm kind of pudgy so I want to slim down and tone up

Krys052490

Honestly - you are probably OK - you don't go low every day - and some of us are set even lower than 1400 (and many will say that is too low).

MFP or TDEE is a goal - very few eat that exact number and there is some variance in the food (how you weigh it) and your calorie burn estimates.

I figure 100 either way of my goal is acceptable. Others may have a bigger range. Somedays I eat more, some less - I figure it balances out by the end of the week.

I weigh EVERYTHING possible. Measure liquids or dressings with tablespooms and cups. The only time I don't is if I go out to eat but even then I try to OVER estimate just in case.

I haven't had much weight loss since I started a month ago. No loss in measurements or in pictures, as far as my belly is concerned..however, I am definitely getting stronger and toner. I feel like the belly will fall into place eventually, if I don't see significant change in my belly fat in a month or so I'll probably lower my calories.

ChrisM8971

MFP is designed around NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermothingumy) and therefore is designed for you to eat back your calories.

So if you are eating 1400 calories and burning 400 but not eating them back thats a net of 1000 which may get you a different set of responses than your original calorie estimate.

Where did your goal calories come from, MFP or another calculator? If MFP what weight loss goals did you set yourself (0.5 to 2.0 lbs per week)?

How much are you looking to lose and how long have you been doing this?

ETA ok saw in the above post that you have been doing this about a month.

Where possible use the food database entries without the * because they are MFP entries and are less likely to be incorrect than member entries.

Are you sure you need to lose weight rather than use weights to tone up with?

Krys052490

MFP is designed around NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermothingumy) and therefore is designed for you to eat back your calories.

So if you are eating 1400 calories and burning 400 but not eating them back thats a net of 1000 which may get you a different set of responses than your original calorie estimate.

Where did your goal calories come from, MFP or another calculator? If MFP what weight loss goals did you set yourself (0.5 to 2.0 lbs per week)?

How much are you looking to lose and how long have you been doing this?

I've been calorie counting for almost 2 months but I wasn't paying ANY attention to my macros. I've been working out for three weeks but I wasn't pushing myself on the weights. I think I was scared of lifting to failure. MFP originally put me at 1360?ish. I used iifym to come up with 1600. I'd ideally like to lose 1 lb a week but the scale is a number. I just want to look how I want to look


I have been REALLY pushing myself this week on lifting heavier and watching my macros more carefully. I'm also not having anymore crazy cheat days.

Krys052490

Iifym puts my maintaince at 1859 and my fat loss at 1487?

ChrisM8971

MFP is designed around NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermothingumy) and therefore is designed for you to eat back your calories.

So if you are eating 1400 calories and burning 400 but not eating them back thats a net of 1000 which may get you a different set of responses than your original calorie estimate.

Where did your goal calories come from, MFP or another calculator? If MFP what weight loss goals did you set yourself (0.5 to 2.0 lbs per week)?

How much are you looking to lose and how long have you been doing this?

I've been calorie counting for almost 2 months but I wasn't paying ANY attention to my macros. I've been working out for three weeks but I wasn't pushing myself on the weights. I think I was scared of lifting to failure. MFP originally put me at 1360?ish. I used iifym to come up with 1600. I'd ideally like to lose 1 lb a week but the scale is a number. I just want to look how I want to look


I have been REALLY pushing myself this week on lifting heavier and watching my macros more carefully. I'm also not having anymore crazy cheat days.

If I remember correctly the IIFYM site is based on TDEE so it will give you a higher calorie goal and using that method you are correct in not eating back the calories. Whatever your macro goals you still need to be in calorie deficit to lose weight. It is entirely possible that "crazy cheat days" were the problem.

See how you get on over the next couple of weeks

Krys052490

Yeah...I've come to the conclusion that I am a healthy weight regardless of how I look. Its going to be harder to shed these pounds and cheat days will only make it harder. I plan on cheating bi weekly or monthly but only by 100+ cals or so. Just to shake things up a bit.

Before my cheat days were like 500+ over goal. I'm already healthy..going over too much can undo a lot very quickly.