I think my suggested calorie number is too high?

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toripiv
toripiv Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone :)

I've been on here for a while, but as pitiful as it is, have only been slightly under my suggested calorie count for.... the past 4 days. :( Anyway, I've lost weight before but only through exercise, and so I have NO idea how many calories I should eat each day to lose weight.

I always thought that I would need to eat around 1300 calories to actually lose weight, but MFP suggests 1750-ish. I'm really tall, young, and consider myself "fat fit" (if there even is such a thing), but I still feel like I'll never lose weight eating this many calories. If I exercise moderately and each back maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of those calories is it still possible to lose weight? I just don't want to think I'm doing wonderfully and then not lose any weight.

Thanks! :)

Replies

  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    1750 sounds about right to me. What MFP does is figure out how many calories it'd take to maintain your weight, then if you selected a pound a week, it subtracts 500 calories from that point.

    I'm 5'9" tall, 150lbs and my maintenance is up around 2000, so if you weight a little bit more than me, chances are your maintenance is 2250 therefore your pound a week goal gives you 1750 a day.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    Personally, I would follow MFP's recommendations for a few weeks and see what happens. If you aren't losing, then it may be time to switch things up a little. MFP's numbers are a starting point based on all the information you enter (starting weight, goal weight, weight loss per week, etc). And you may find you need more or less than it recommends. For me, I need more than it recommends for someone my weight/height to maintain. It says I should be around 1980 and I need between 2200-2500 net calories a day in order to stay right where I am. So, it just depends on the person.

    Give it a chance for a few weeks. See if it works. If it doesn't? Then start switching things up. :)
  • toripiv
    toripiv Posts: 10
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    Okay, I'll keep following the suggestions then. I had no idea that taller people could eat that much more than shorter people (I'm 5'11", yippee) Thanks! :)
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Okay, I'll keep following the suggestions then. I had no idea that taller people could eat that much more than shorter people (I'm 5'11", yippee) Thanks! :)

    Really it's more about weight, and taller people get to weigh more. It takes more energy (food) to move more weight (walking, everyday activity, etc).
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    Okay, I'll keep following the suggestions then. I had no idea that taller people could eat that much more than shorter people (I'm 5'11", yippee) Thanks! :)

    I'm short (5'4") and eat a lot in a day. So, it just depends on your metabolism. I maintain 145lbs eating 2200-2500 NET calories a day. That's a lot for someone my height and weight. My metabolism is just.. well, on high.
  • kagenw
    kagenw Posts: 260 Member
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    Yeah, i'm kinda in the same boat here. My suggested caloric intake by MFP is 2300 and i'm thinking "holy smokes, that's a lot more than what I thought." So, I think that i'll follow the previously posted advise and test things out for another week to see if I need to adjust that amount. On average, I leave about 600 of those calories alone, so i'm really only eating about 1800 calories per day (except for that blasted double whopper the other day).
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    I'm 5'9 and to lose a pound a week I eat about 1550 calories.. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the day.

    You should be good to go at 1750 and if you need more/less then you can always adjust it.
  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
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    i also think my base calories are way too high as calculated by MFP. what about medications that make your body react differently to food energy than someone who is not taking medications. also, i listed sedentary for my lifestyle, but i live a less-than-sedentary lifestyle (compared to a physically healthy person's sedentary lifestyle) as i have a spine injury that prevents me from being on my feet for more than about a minute at a time. i even cook sitting down. about all i can handle is walking from one room to another then sitting to do whatever i went there for. i have (finally) figured out a way to take a lot of the weight off my back to get some exercise, but it's stationary.

    what i do is figure my base calories at 300 calories less than MFP, then act accordingly when it comes to eating back my exercise calories, etc. if i didn't exercise and ate the MFP suggested amount of calories of 1580 i would, most definitely, gain weight

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