I need some help with calories !

Michelle9939

One of the problems I've seen that people tend to do, is when they try to cut calories, they eliminate every high calorie food from their diet, and then wonder why they don't eat enough calories, when they eat nothing but 0 calorie foods. Make sure to mix in higher calorie foods in your diet.

I don't get why so many people are restricting themselves to 1200 calories, when the majority of people should be eating much more.

I agree! You need to eat more calories so you can actually lose weight. Sounds weird but it's true.

psuLemon

BMR is what you burn if you stay in bed all day. As soon as you get up and start moving you are burning more than your BMR. You need to factor in your activity level and get your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure.) If you are sedentary (desk job, not highly active) then your TDEE (or maintenance calories) is 2437 (based on the BMR you posted earlier in the thread.) To lose weight, you create a deficit from there. 500 calorie deficit for 1 pound a week (1937 calories a day) or 1000 calories a day for 2 pounds a week (1437 calories a day.)

Then if you exercise on top of that, you have to add those calories in as well, as exercise calories aren't factored into your TDEE.

Also, if you're lightly active (on your feet all day,) your TDEE goes up to 2793, and the rest of the numbers adjust from there.

One of the problems I've seen that people tend to do, is when they try to cut calories, they eliminate every high calorie food from their diet, and then wonder why they don't eat enough calories, when they eat nothing but 0 calorie foods. Make sure to mix in higher calorie foods in your diet.

I don't get why so many people are restricting themselves to 1200 calories, when the majority of people should be eating much more.

I would like to add, the only way you shoudl really shoot for 2 lbs per week is if you are 50+ pounds over weight. 20-50 lbs, should be around 1 lb per week and less than 20 should be .5 pounds per week. This way, you reduce the chance of losing muscle.


I will note, it is easier to factor your exercise into your TDEE number and eat the same number every day, then just eat back the exercise calories. I have used that method with several MFP and myself with great success. Do me a favor and fill out the link below and post the chart results in here (don't worry, none of your stats will show; weight, height, age, etc..)

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

LoseItJourney

I eat 1200 as a goal, because I have a hard time eating more than that, so I know if I reach that Im eating enough and not badly undereating.

I have over 140 pounds to lose, so Im sure that 2-3 pounds a week is not a bad goal to lose for me right now.

psuLemon

I eat 1200 as a goal, because I have a hard time eating more than that, so I know if I reach that Im eating enough and not badly undereating.

I have over 140 pounds to lose, so Im sure that 2-3 pounds a week is not a bad goal to lose for me right now.

Well it is a little more acceptable for you to set your goal weight to lose 2 lbs per week, but even with that, 1200 calories is not nearly enough calories. Using the below link, if you don't exercise at all, then you should be eating around 1800 calories. And considering you are at least lightly active, you should be more like 2100 calories. Keep in mind, you are young and young people have a lot higher metabolisms than a person who is 30 or 40 so you need to feed yourself more to fuel the fire.


If you have a problem training your body to eat more, than you have to eat higher calorie foods.. Look to get a higher calorie protein shake (like muscle milk), some protein bars, peanuts, peanut butter, avocado, etc... It is critical that during your weight loss journal, that you don't lose a lot of muscle. If you lose the muscle, your metabolism slows down which burns less calories. If you realy want to stimulate fat loss and weight loss, look into a workout program like chalean extreme, turbo fire, turbo jam, p90x. All of these programs really push muscle growth, and burn fat.

Age: 18
I used your starting weight of 275
GW: 140


And below is what you need to safely lose weight.


Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1834
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2101
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2368
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2636
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2903





http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

LoseItJourney

Thanks for trying to help.
But thats not correct for me.
Im actually now following my doctors special orders, and a nutritionists orders.
becuase of my body frame and such, they know what I need.

and I don't need over 2000 a day.
1200 is what they said to eat.
so i need to follow their orders now.

and just becuase im 18 and 275 cant have a website say what you need.
im also 5'6 , large body frame from being dutch...

but the websites never ask for those.

so I need a different amount that someone whos 18, 275, 5'4 and small body frame.

This is why I don't trust websites for calorie intake.
I use them for calculators and information, but never intake. I asked my doctor.

PalmettoparkGuy

Trail mix, olive oil, hummus.

tigersword

Thanks for trying to help.
But thats not correct for me.
Im actually now following my doctors special orders, and a nutritionists orders.
becuase of my body frame and such, they know what I need.

and I don't need over 2000 a day.
1200 is what they said to eat.
so i need to follow their orders now.

and just becuase im 18 and 275 cant have a website say what you need.
im also 5'6 , large body frame from being dutch...

but the websites never ask for those.

so I need a different amount that someone whos 18, 275, 5'4 and small body frame.

This is why I don't trust websites for calorie intake.
I use them for calculators and information, but never intake. I asked my doctor.

If you're taller and have a large frame you should be eating MORE than someone with a smaller frame. Here's the problem with just going by a doctor, they generally have a chart that goes off BMI and toss out random numbers from there. The problem with that is BMI is not accurate for individuals. It's not usually personalized (unless your doctor did BMR & RMR testing, then it might be more accurate.) MY wife is 5'3 and 185 and she is losing about 1.5 pounds a week eating 1600 calories. I'm a 5'7, 225 pound male, losing 2 pounds a week eating about 2000 calories a day. 1200 just doesn't sound like enough at all for your size, especially if you're at all active.

psuLemon

Thanks for trying to help.
But thats not correct for me.
Im actually now following my doctors special orders, and a nutritionists orders.
becuase of my body frame and such, they know what I need.

and I don't need over 2000 a day.
1200 is what they said to eat.
so i need to follow their orders now.

and just becuase im 18 and 275 cant have a website say what you need.
im also 5'6 , large body frame from being dutch...

but the websites never ask for those.

so I need a different amount that someone whos 18, 275, 5'4 and small body frame.

This is why I don't trust websites for calorie intake.
I use them for calculators and information, but never intake. I asked my doctor.

I will ask you, did your nutritionist or your doctor measure your body fat (with calipers)? If not, how will the know what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is? Did they evaluate your lifestyle (work outs and general daily exercise)? If not, how can they provide you an accurate depiction of how many calories you burn per day to be able to create a good deficit?

If you're taller and have a large frame you should be eating MORE than someone with a smaller frame. Here's the problem with just going by a doctor, they generally have a chart that goes off BMI and toss out random numbers from there. The problem with that is BMI is not accurate for individuals. It's not usually personalized (unless your doctor did BMR & RMR testing, then it might be more accurate.) MY wife is 5'3 and 185 and she is losing about 1.5 pounds a week eating 1600 calories. I'm a 5'7, 225 pound male, losing 2 pounds a week eating about 2000 calories a day. 1200 just doesn't sound like enough at all for your size, especially if you're at all active.

I completely agree.


I am not saying I am smarter than your doctor or your nutritionist, but why would you start a thread asking for advice and then just shut out anything that doesn't coorespond to what they say. In my opinion, I would go back and ask them how they came up with those numbers or why 1200 is what you should be eating. Just do a look all over this forum, and you will see that every woman (large or small) that is at a plateau, figures out they are not eating enough. 1200 calories is a minimal amount of calories for a body to survive. Below is a link with some information for your consideration. It's great stuff.

http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html