Not sure how many calories I should be set at

nicolasara

Hi everyone,
Need a bit of advice.
I am 138lbs looking to get to 126lbs. I'm 5ft 6.
MFP set me at 1200 calories, I cheked my BMR and it is 1,313.
My maintenance for this weight is 1,650.
So by my reckoning I should take 500 from my maintenance to lose 1lb a week..right??
This puts me at 1,150 calories a day...this seems really low, but I'm scared to eat more than this in case I dont lose anything.
At the moment I have been working out and earning about 500 calories a day. I do eat some of these back but not all of them as I dont have a hrm so am not sure how accurate the exercise calories are.
I have been losing a bit up to now (had already lost some before I joined MFP), but am constantly hungry and finding it really hard.(usually net 1000 calories). The other strange thing that bothers me is that I weigh in on a friday morning but about half way thru the week i have a sneaky look on the scales and I have always put on about 1.5lbs. This makes me panic a bit and I find I try to net less for the next couple of days (which is really hard) By Friday it's usually gone, but why does it go on in the first place??? Surely if I'm doing everything I should be then my weight should either stay the same or go down, not go up and then back down by friday!!! I'm so confused as to what I should be eating as I keep seeing on here that you should eat more not less... someone help please driving me crazy!

lizard053

I have my calories set to the BMR I would theoretically have at my goal weight. Haven't been doing it long enough to see if it works or not.

taylorblues

I set my calorie goal to the same as my current BMR. That way I figure that any exercise I do will give me a weight loss. If I'm hungry, I'll eat some exercise calories back but not all - working so far!

jaxxie

I am certainly NO EXPERT, you should probably eat more, not less. The best investment I ever made was my Polar F7 HRM and my Fitbit. I have mine set at 1200 but I rarely (if ever) eat that little. I'm also on the Chris Powell's 'Choose to Lose' Menu and I love it. I really think you need to eat more and then experiment, it's going to be a matter of what really does work for you. I always see the scale move inbetween weigh in days and have learned to simply ignore it. Take current measurements and pictures. Rely on what the measurements are and not what the scale says. Even when you lose inches it may not make a big difference on the scale. I am currently at the half way point doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and have lost inches but only about 2 lbs. I DO NOT CARE because the inches lost is worth more than any scale! Best of luck!!

susannamarie

This puts me at 1,150 calories a day...this seems really low, but I'm scared to eat more than this in case I dont lose anything.

This isn't intended as snarky -- but your body really doesn't lose weight only in full lbs. A weightloss that puts you at fractional pounds per week is probably more sustainable, when you are only trying to lose 12 lbs. As a matter of fact, it might be better to set it to half lb/week in the first place. You shouldn't be constantly hungry.

Secondly ... STOP checking the scale midweek and starving yourself to meet your Friday weigh-in. Your body will naturally go up and down some -- more, since you're female, I'm told. I check the scale pretty frequently but I don't worry when it goes up a bit because I know it's water and it's going to be gone in a few days. I think the biggest jump so far was +4.5 lbs ... 2 days later it was gone.

nicolasara

What you say makes perfect sense and isnt snarky at all.What would you suggest is a good calorie amount to eat?? the 1200 that is set or upping it to more?? and yes I will stop checking the scales and try and go with the flow.