Need help with setting my goal

Finallyfit1976

Hi guys,

Today is my first day back to My fitness pal after few weeks for binging . I need your help with setting my calories goals.

My height is 5 7"

My current weight is : 177

My goal weight is :148

Age: 38

Aiming to workout 5/6 times a week, 3 days body pump and 4 days cardio ( some days will be mix).

Based on some website, I shall eat around 1400 calories, so my questions are:

1- Is 1400 cal is good for me? If not, what is the recommended calories that I shall take?

2- Shall I eat my exercise calories?

3-What is the best percentage for my macros, I'm thinking to make it 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat, is this ok?

I appreciate your inputs.

Thank you

wannakimmy

Input your personal info into MFP and they will tell you how many calories you need to be at.

Also, ready the sexypants thread, and the threads within it...

Good Luck

Aaron_K123

Lets see. Female, 38, 5'7, 177 pounds 29 pounds to lose. 6 days a week of exercise that I will call moderate exercise and I am assuming for about 45 minutes at a time?

Going to assume other than exercise you have a desk job and are fairly sedentary.

So. I am getting that your BMR is about 1560, your burn from activity is about 560 total so you would maintain around 2100 calories.

With 29 pounds to lose 1 pound a week is a good goal and that is a 500 calorie deficit.

So I'd say eat around 1600 calories a day flat which includes your exercise calories.

40/30/30 carb/prot/fat seems reasonable to me. You could try 30/40/30 carb/prot/fat but with that few carbs you might find it difficult to maintain your workouts. Can give it a try though won't harm you.

Finallyfit1976

Lets see. Female, 38, 5'7, 177 pounds 29 pounds to lose. 6 days a week of exercise that I will call moderate exercise and I am assuming for about 45 minutes at a time?

Going to assume other than exercise you have a desk job and are fairly sedentary.

So. I am getting that your BMR is about 1560, your burn from activity is about 560 total so you would maintain around 2100 calories.

With 29 pounds to lose 1 pound a week is a good goal and that is a 500 calorie deficit.

So I'd say eat around 1600 calories a day flat which includes your exercise calories.

40/30/30 carb/prot/fat seems reasonable to me. You could try 30/40/30 carb/prot/fat but with that few carbs you might find it difficult to maintain your workouts. Can give it a try though won't harm you.

Thank you so much for your reply. Regarding the Macro percentages, I meant 40 for protein but I wrote it wrong ,

Now my plan seems clear to me, but I have another question, in days that I don't workout for any reason, shall I eat 1600 or make it around 1300?

Thanks again for the help

Aaron_K123

Lets see. Female, 38, 5'7, 177 pounds 29 pounds to lose. 6 days a week of exercise that I will call moderate exercise and I am assuming for about 45 minutes at a time?

Going to assume other than exercise you have a desk job and are fairly sedentary.

So. I am getting that your BMR is about 1560, your burn from activity is about 560 total so you would maintain around 2100 calories.

With 29 pounds to lose 1 pound a week is a good goal and that is a 500 calorie deficit.

So I'd say eat around 1600 calories a day flat which includes your exercise calories.

40/30/30 carb/prot/fat seems reasonable to me. You could try 30/40/30 carb/prot/fat but with that few carbs you might find it difficult to maintain your workouts. Can give it a try though won't harm you.

Thank you so much for your reply. Regarding the Macro percentages, I meant 40 for protein but I wrote it wrong ,

Now my plan seems clear to me, but I have another question, in days that I don't workout for any reason, shall I eat 1600 or make it around 1300?

Thanks again for the help

You will eat 1600 everyday as long as your TDEE average remains the same (meaning as long as you don't change how often you exercise). You need those calories for recovery and recovery extends into the next day as well so it all blends together. Just hit 1600 each day and keep up with your exercise. If you end up skipping a workout then you might lower your calories for the week a bit.

Now here is the tricky bit. I just used an online calculator to estimate your burn and what your intake should be. It is an estimate and it might be off. The hard part is going to be to follow it consistently for about 6 weeks as close to that daily 1600 as you can and then after that 6 weeks you can evaluate your progress in terms of lost weight and/or lost inches. After that you can adjust if you need to. The longer you track your progress for the easier it will be to see what your trend is in terms of weight loss and the more you will learn about what your intake should be.

Key is consistency.