Females: How many calories are you eating daily?

woou · November 2011

Usually 1200 but allow myself to go to 1600 on some days. I definitely eat back my exercise calories. If I know there's no way I can eat them back in a healthy manner due to being sick, being busy, etc..., I just don't exercise for the day. If I don't do this, I'm most likely to binge around temptations.

joeygirl84 · November 2011

27, 172 LBS AND I EAT 1210.

epona_mus · November 2011

I'm 189 lbs and allowed 1200 calories per MFP calculations. I usually eat close to 1200 (slightly under) and don't eat back exercise calories.

I'm having a hard time getting 1200 calories in in a day... I usually eat 900-1000.

krystonite · November 2011

I'm 27, 5'7", 126lbs, 1200 calories, will usually eat back at least half of my exercise calories.

LorinaLynn · November 2011

Gotta pimp this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395948-caloric-intake-results?page=1#posts-5451195

A study on MFP members showing that women with low body fat eat about 1900 calories a day.

bresmith143 · November 2011

I weigh 145 and I eat about 1400 a day and I eat exercise calories most of the time

MrsRipdizzle · November 2011

YESSSSS!!!!

See ladies, you CAN lose mass, look damn good, and STILL EAT! OMG, imagine that?!?!
And to those of you who "can't seem to eat more than 900-1000 a day"....uhm, bull. You are here for a reason...at some point you were very able to eat more than that. Now, if you want to do it healthily - try adding 2 tbsp of peanut butter to your day - boom, you're at 1200 now...and if I do say so myself, peanut butter and honeycrisp apples = heaven! Any healthy fats or whole fat milk if you drink skim will help you add a few extra calories to your diet to easily get you to 1200 (or higher should you choose) without feeling stuffed.

agthorn · November 2011

Thanks!! I had been one of the responders when psulemon was collecting data, and wondered what the results were.

Edit to add: THIS is the most important part of what psulemon posted: "And if you want to lower your body fat and have definition how can you get there without feeding your body because with each lb of lean body mass you are losing, you are reducing caloric needs by ~ 15.2 calories."

Plain english: if you are starving yourself, you are losing lean body mass, which means you will have to keep starving yourself because you are reducing your calorie need.

woou · November 2011

On junk, yes, it's easy to go over 1200 cals.

When I decided to eat healthy, I also had no problem going over 1200 until I found out I was sensitive to grains. Seriously, I was having pasta and bread everyday. Without grains now, yeah, I'm kind of at a lost as to what to eat that is also comparably delicious and inexpensive for me. Grains are very cheap. I was getting whole grain pastas at 25 cents a box, and I can get a 30lb bag of rice for $20.

I can't eat peanuts but will look into other nuts to boost up my cals. I like walnuts, but they are pricey. So far, I've been drinking apple juice and eating dried fruits to get to1200 cals in addition to what I already eat, lean meats and veggies. I'm also probably going to incorporate potatoes into my diet and see how that goes, olive oil, avocados when they're on sale, etc.... Unfortunately, I don't like beans.

Cysso · November 2011

I'm 23 and 193.7 lbs. I have about 50 more lbs to lose and my rate of loss is set to 1 lb a week. I give myself 1,840 calories a day, 300 of which are for breastfeeding (so 1540 base and 300 for milk production). If I don't eat back my exercise calories my milk supply drops and my daughter gets upset (which is understandable). When I stop breastfeeding I'll probably reevaluate and see what my body needs me to do with my exercise calories.

fatty2fit88 · November 2011

female 5'5 eat 1500 cals daily

I eat my exercise calories if hungry

psych101 · November 2011

Excuse me? Can you define Junk?? As in your comment "On junk, yes, it's easy to go over 1200 cals". I eat 2100 -2400 calories a day and I do not eat junk.

woou · November 2011

I consider junk food to be fast and heavily processed food.

Read the rest of the comment more carefully.

I didn't have a problem going over 1200 cals eating what I consider healthy either until I found out I couldn't eat grains which was a staple of my diet. Meat and veggies incorporated about 300-600 cals, fruits about 100-300 cals and then whole grains the rest. I can't fathom eating more meats, veggies and fruits than I already do. Some fruits are pretty calorie dense but personally for me, when I eat too much fruit in one sitting, it knocks me out cold. Now I'm learning to incorporate other healthy calorie dense foods like avocado, nuts, olive oil, etc.... Once I get used to adding them to my meals and budget, then maybe it will be a different story.

So for now, yes, I do find it difficult to eat 1200 cals. on healthy food that's not only tasty but also works within my budget and that my body doesn't react adversely to.

llkilgore · November 2011

Have you tried quinoa? It isn't a true grain but does a pretty good job of masquerading as one.

NitaCB · November 2011

Wow, I have found this thread to be a fascinating eye-opener. What a HUGE variance there is in people's caloric intake! I'm really saddened by how low some people eat. I've been on here for about 9 months and basically haven't lost anything. I've tried lots of things, but basically all fairly low, often having a net of about 800-1100 because I'm very active and run 5 days a week. I'm 5"3 and 134 lbs. And yes, I am usually hungry, (okay sometimes starving) most of the time. Just in the last few days I'm taking someone's advice from on here and upping my daily average from about 1300-1600 to 1850 and it's a little scary I admit. I've done this for 3 days, and judging by my hunger levels I'll be taking it higher. But it's a step of faith I tell you! It seems like way too much food, although it's also a relief for my hunger.

neon8919 · November 2011

I'm 22, and my net intake is 1200/day and I do eat back the calories I worked out.

Since the end of August I have lost 16.7 lbs. I am working towards a goal of 148 lbs.

I try to keep that calorie count because I don't want my metabolism to become any slower and I don't want my body to go into starvation mode.

unsuspectingfish · November 2011

That is a fascinating little study. Thank you for posting that! I may have to share that with some people both on here and in RL.

servilia · November 2011

Until recently I stuck to a 1200 max net count, give or take (sometimes as low as 800 net if I did a lot of exercise and sometimes over). I had great results. I'm upping my cals to see what happens, to 1500.

servilia · November 2011

I know for a fact that some of those women who are so proud of eating 2000+ cals regularly burn over a 1000 cals a day through exercise, so they're actually netting around 1000 which is not high. From a weight loss perspective this is no different than eating 1100 (under the magical minimum 1200 number) and then burning a 100.

Maaarci · November 2011

Hi, im also breastfeeding and was wondering if you could help me with how did you get the amount of calories you need and how much you subtract for breastfeeding.I found 500 calories but i find it a lot since im losing while nursing. Thank you

unsuspectingfish · November 2011

I'm assuming you also know that they don't eat any of those calories back.

Kim55555 · November 2011

Wow there are a lot of uneducated people!! When I have some time (perhaps on the weekend) I will correct a number of you who are giving misleading advice! People please be careful who you listen to as there are a lot of people in this topic and this site who do not have the facts right at all and they are contributing like they know what they are on about!!

AshDHart · November 2011

I don't. I eat close to 2000 calories a day NET. I'm lucky if I burn 200 calories a few times a week from exercise. I'm still fairly light on the exercise since I'm on oxygen. I've been losing weight steadily keeping my calories up. The month I lost the least amount was the month I ate the least amount.

funkycamper · November 2011

Fascinating thread. One of my goals is to raise my metabolic rate as I'm sure mine is trashed. So, not arguing here but trying to wrap my head around it and still trying to figure out how to make it work for me as I gain like heck if I eat back even half my exercise calories. I know it's possible that I'm underestimating calories eaten and overestimating calories burned but I really don't think so as, if I haven't been able to measure/weigh my food, I always overestimate the amount eaten. And, since I don't trust the burn estimates, I never believe I burned as much as MFP or the machines say which is why I say "eat back even half my exercise calories" and not all of them because I don't trust the estimates enough to even want to eat back all of them.

Also, when I'm eating clean, I find it almost impossible to eat much of them back...heck, I even have a hard time reaching the minimum of 1200 total, much less net. Due to medical issues, I must minimize carbs from grains/starches/sugars. I find it a battle to get in more calories without them.

Plus, exercise decreases my appetite and, thus, makes it even harder to eat that much. If I eat more calories prior to exercising, it has a strong negative impact on my performance making it much harder for me to work out as long or as intensely. After exercise, especially after more intense exercise sessions, I am not hungry at all. I hate forcing myself to eat when I'm not hungry.

I currently do weight training 2-3x/week and cardio 4-6 days/week. The cardio varies as I get bored quickly and may be a C25k session, or a longer HIIT (run/jog/walk) or any of these: cycling, spin class, elliptical, lap swimming, cardio kickboxing, step aerobics, hydro-fit, or a couple of calisthenics classes that are super-intense and raise my heart rate to cardio levels. Plus I'll do several longer walks with the dog and yoga each week as well. When cycling and doing things like the elliptical, I'll also incorporate HIIT by varying resistance, elevation, and/or my own intensity.

If anyone checks back into my dairy, the last couple of weeks haven't been what I was doing to lose weight due to quite a few things that have thrown me off-kilter and off both my eating and exercise plans for awhile (vacation, attending an intensive multi-day workshop, illness, etc.) that have hit me back-to-back so one needs to go back about 10 days to start going back through my typical weight-loss eating/exercise logs.

Anyway, I would love to be able to eat more freely and still lose. I just don't see how it's possible under my healthy diet parameters. And, when I do, my weight loss totally stalls or I gain. Suggestions?

lrd2010 · November 2011

I'm 30. 5ft 9, feel free to check my diary for my normal days. Some days I eat all my exercise calories, somedays i'm not hungry enough so I don't. Tend to sit around the 1500 - 1600 mark at the moment. Still have about 30lbs to lose.

dancer4275 · November 2011

I'm 5'8" and 135. I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories a day. Normally I eat around 1100-1200. I usually don't eat back my exercise calories only because I'm nervous that they are not accurate. So I don't want to eat more than I actually burn.

kimberly0416 · November 2011

41, 5'6, 147lbs and I eat around 1200 calories and always eat back burnt calories.

I am not losing weight but I am deifnitely losting inches, when I started I was pushing a size 14 and now I am almost a size 6. I had to stop weighing myself because it was so discouraging not losing the weight.

I don't eat perfectly all of the time, except making sure I have 4-6 servings of fruit and vegetables have helped a lot. Drinking lots of Green Machine's by Naked and lots of water.

MrsRipdizzle · November 2011

Ladies who say they gain when increasing exercise calories - keep this in mind - when you go from essentially starving your body for so long to actually nourishing it, it may take a while for your body to realize what you are doing. So you almost ALWAYS will show a GAIN for the first 2-4 weeks. This is NORMAL and nothing to be concerned about...once your body gets used to the increased calories IT WILL RESPOND and start releasing the fat. Of course, this is provided you are staying within a deficit of your total calories burned for the day (which will vary depending on age, height/weight, exercise, metabolism, lean body mass, etc). Truly, the best way to get an idea of what your TDEE is (because you really should NOT be basing your deficit on your BMR - that's the number of calories your body requires to keep itself alive in a coma state - and if you are getting up and using the potty everyday, I guarantee you are burning MORE than your coma state!) is to go to this link and input numbers. Play around with it and see what it says...
http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I use this link because it has been the most accurate for me in its calculations - and I own a BodyMedia Fit so I can actually see what my body is burning each day and adjust when/if necessary. For those of you who do not own one of these marvelous little gadgets and can't afford one, use that link to get a better idea of what you are burning (if you are being honest with your info input!). And aim to lose at the recommended 1 lb a week loss. Two pounds a week doesn't work for everyone...it might work at first in your weight loss adventures...but eventually you will find it slows down. So why not enjoy a bit more food if you are still not going to be able to lose two pounds while severely restricting yourself?!?!?

)

Keep those metabolisms burning strong! Lose weight while eating...sure it goes against the grain of what *everyone* tells you (eat less, move more)....but your body will love you for it and your body WILL respond. I'm a case in point here...I increased my calories after being in a stall for a month....in the last four weeks I've gone from 171 to 166.4 - by eating MORE (and actually, moving a bit less than I normally do). And, mind you, I enjoyed myself (meaning I ate plenty over 2000+ calories) on Halloween and every weekend since then as we've been celebrating a lot of birthdays and things!

FITnFIRM4LIFE · November 2011

Could not agree more!:) I eat between 1800-2000 + daily and on Sundays a bit more. I eat my ex cals 2. When I was eating less than that, I was stuck and scale would not move. And my body screamed food! You do not have to starve to lose or maintain.I think for some, restricting calories and associating food with weight gain prompts them to eat less(society/tv mind trap). In reality you need healthy food to fuel your body. You also are more apt to keep the weight off if your eating healthy and enough.
You can eat well healthy balanced meals and lose/maintain!

servilia · November 2011

Yes, the ones I am talking about don't. But i don't see why you need clarification. I plainly said they eat 2000 cals. And burn 1000. I didn't say they eat 3000, or 2500, or 2800 (which would be eating exercise calories back).
ps I don't have a problem with any of this, the only thing I have a problem with is when some of these people come down hard on others who eat less, because it's hypocritical.

Females: How many calories are you eating daily?

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