Think I might be eating too few calories...

linoleumbob
linoleumbob Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,

So, I'll dive right in to the problem. I weigh 148lbs at 5'4, and I'd ideally like to get down to around 125-130 lbs, but I'm also wanting to change my body composition.

I'm a grad student, so my days are legitimately sedentary, but I run (burning 200-300 calories) 3 times a week and I go on frequent walks during the week. I put MFP's options as sedentary, which might be my problem.

When I use this website: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ to calculate, my BMR is 1413 and my TDEE is 1942. MFP has me eating 1250 calories a day and I constantly feel like I'm starving. Are my calories just too low? What should I be eating at?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Replies

  • aliakynes
    aliakynes Posts: 352 Member
    Switch to lightly active and see how that feels. If you're walking frequently you shouldn't be set at sedentary.
  • Flutterloo
    Flutterloo Posts: 122 Member
    Sounds to me like you should at least have it at lightly active. I think sedentary is more for people who work sitting down all day, then come home and stay sitting most of the night. I'm no expert though. Good luck!
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
    Lightly active sounds good to me too. If you start to put on weight after a couple weeks (weight fluctuates short term a lot) then I'd think about eating less.
  • MagicalGiraffe
    MagicalGiraffe Posts: 102 Member
    Having a little look at your diary, just for today your lunch didn't really contain foods that would help you feel more satiated. Maybe try introduce foods that would be more filling into your meals? So some more protein and starchy carbs as a suggestion.
  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
    You're aiming to lose 23 pounds, so you should be losing 0.5 to 1 lb each week. If you go for a few weeks without losing anything, then you may need to change something (eat a little more, exercise more or take a week off and eat at maintenance), but otherwise you're fine. MFP tells you how much you're losing each week in goals.

    If you exercise then it's recommended to eat back half of your exercise calories.

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15-25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
  • mfp2014mfp
    mfp2014mfp Posts: 689 Member
    Mfp expects you to eat your exercise calories. As you put your activity level as sedentary you would need to log your walks and running in exercise and eat back the calories from that. Many people from what I have read say the calorie rates are high.

    If you have a smart phone or iphone/ipod they usually have pedometers which have a step count. That step count can help you determine your true activity level.

    sedentary = less than 5000 steps/day
    lightly active = 5000-7500 steps/day
    moderately active = 7500-10000 steps/day
    highly active = more than 10000 steps/day

    Hope that helps somewhat :flowerforyou:
  • linoleumbob
    linoleumbob Posts: 8 Member
    Good suggestions, thanks - today was a bit weird because I knew we were having hot dogs for supper, so I tried to budget the rest of my meals accordingly haha. But in general yeah, I think I could use more protein :)

    And thanks to the commenters so far - this is all helpful. I think a pedometer would be a great idea, as I really don't know how much I walk.

    Thanks!

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