How to figure out calories required to eat daily

Cindym82

OK, so MPF says I need to eat 1200 calories a day. Which I have been doing for 3 months and have only lost 4lbs. I exercise about 6 days a week. I go light weight training and cardio and some classes at the gym. Now when I do my TDEE thing it says I should be eating 1670 calories a day, when I do all the other calculators it says I should eat 1500 calories a day. So basically I think I should up my calories to see more results? I'm so confused.....I'm never starving at 1200 calories so not sure if I should leave well enough alone....help!!

emgawne

from my experience, upping my calories helped. i may not have been hungry at 1200 calories but my body was. i am now between 1500-1600 and my results are much better. when my body wasnt getting enough calories it was storing everything and i wasnt able to build any muscle, but once i upped my calories i was able to start burning fat and my body had the energy to build muscle.

not saying this is true for everyone, but it worked for me. as always, be sure if you do up your calories to fill those extra calories in with healthy foods, not junk.

Cindym82

I think I'll try it this week than. How soon after did you see results from it?

Cindym82

i went to http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators.html and did all the calculators....

TDEE: 1881
RMR: 1353
BMR: 1368
BMI: 24.56

emgawne

When I did that last year (my first year on mfp) i lost 15 pounds in about 3 months. Then life happened and i got off track with MFP, didnt gain any more weight but didnt lose any either.

I started back up again in January and I have only lost 3 pounds in the last 2 1/2 months. But, my body fat has dropped 16 pounds in those 2 1/2 months and i am down to 21.8% body fat. I dont judge my results by the scale but rather by my measurements and my body fat. For me, I think it has been really successful for that big of a change in 10 weeks.

mmstgr

If you find you aren't hungry, but want to eat more calories, add some higher calorie foods to your diets.
Have some peanut butter on your toast. Or add some cheese to your eggs.

mallory3411

What do you have your weekly weight loss goal set to?

1,200 is usually far too low for most people however you do have a lower BMR from the website you visited.

How far until your goal weight? You may need to set your weight loss goal at 0.5 lb a week or you can manually increase you calorie goals.

jchrisman717

I've done so much reading on this topic too. It took me a few times to fully understand. I have upped my calories too and I am eating back my exercise calories to try to start dropping. I'm not really hungry as much as I have just gotten into bad habits of eating higher carb/processed foods. Watching my calorie intake helps me to keep that under control. I haven't dropped any yet - and I've been watching and doing what I thought was pretty good since the middle of December. I would have thought by the end of March I would have been down at least 10 lbs so I'm not happy with that at all!

rileysowner

i went to http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators.html and did all the calculators....

TDEE: 1881
RMR: 1353
BMR: 1368
BMI: 24.56

Eat at least your BMR. Another way to do this is take 10-20% off your TDEE and eat that.

BerryH

Other calculators include your exercise in the TDEE they give you. MFP does not, it just gives you what you burn through your everyday life and exercise calories are extra.

In my opinion MFP's is a far superior method as you only eat back what you actually burn, not what you plan to burn or think you burn over an average week.

Obviously it's not perfect, so some people like to leave a margin of error, say only eat 80% of your exercise calories.

Cindym82

What do you have your weekly weight loss goal set to?

1,200 is usually far too low for most people however you do have a lower BMR from the website you visited.

How far until your goal weight? You may need to set your weight loss goal at 0.5 lb a week or you can manually increase you calorie goals.

Mine is set to lose 1lb a week, but i only lose about .4lbs a week now and my goal weight is 15.8lbs away

Cindym82

Other calculators include your exercise in the TDEE they give you. MFP does not, it just gives you what you burn through your everyday life and exercise calories are extra.

In my opinion MFP's is a far superior method as you only eat back what you actually burn, not what you plan to burn or think you burn over an average week.

Obviously it's not perfect, so some people like to leave a margin of error, say only eat 80% of your exercise calories.

I don't eat any of my exercise calories back unless I do a crazy amount of exercise and even then I only eat maybe a 1/3 of them back

BerryH

I don't eat any of my exercise calories back unless I do a crazy amount of exercise and even then I only eat maybe a 1/3 of them back

Your NET shouldn't go below 1,200 or you won't be getting the range of nutrients you need to maintain your health. I promise you'll still lose weight if you eat your exercise calories, and you'll find the diet easier to stick to and your workouts easier to do to your full capacity.

1,200 really is the lowest you should go, and as you're close to goal you might want to consider changing your goal to lose 0.5lb a week. You need to "sidle up" to maintenance calories, as it were!

Check out this thread for inspiration!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day

Cindym82

I don't eat any of my exercise calories back unless I do a crazy amount of exercise and even then I only eat maybe a 1/3 of them back

Your NET shouldn't go below 1,200 or you won't be getting the range of nutrients you need to maintain your health. I promise you'll still lose weight if you eat your exercise calories, and you'll find the diet easier to stick to and your workouts easier to do to your full capacity.

1,200 really is the lowest you should go, and as you're close to goal you might want to consider changing your goal to lose 0.5lb a week. You need to "sidle up" to maintenance calories, as it were!

Check out this thread for inspiration!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day

I have hypothyroid so the eating back exercise calories actually caused me to gain

BerryH

I have hypothyroid so the eating back exercise calories actually caused me to gain

In which case, you probably shouldn't make diet decisions without consulting your doctor. However, as you were considering upping your calories anyway, why not try adding another 100 a day each week without changing anything else and see how you go.