Confused - just how many calories should I be eating

womblewoo

Hello All

Hoping for some advice from the seasoned fitness/nutrition folk out there please. I am currently 139llbs (5ft 7) and would like to lose 10llbs and tone up. Since having 2 children the weight is harder than ever to shift - I gained 4 stone in both pregnancies but cannot get rid of the last 10llbs.

I have been a yo-yo dieter for years doing every fad diet that you can think of and had temporary success on all of them. However, being a now 'responsible parent' I realise my daughter is watching how I eat and I do not want her to learn bad habits - diet, lose 7llbs then eat what I want and put it all back on again - so here I am on MFP.

I have spent some time looking at different threads and am now completely confused as to how many calories I should be consuming. MFP says 1200 but my BMR says 1415 and my TEED says 1610......need some help understanding please.

I am currently doing the 30 day shred dvd - so 20 mins of quite intense (well for me it is intense!) workout every day plus 2 days a week in the gym running and doing some weights. This is all I am able to fit into my busy life and realistically I would not be able to think of trying to squeeze more in. After the 30 days have concluded I will in all probability go down to 3 - 4 days of the 20 min workout.

So based on my objective of 10llbs, my exercise habits what do you think my calorie intake should be - at the mo I am sticking to the 1200 calories but am not using my exercise calories. I have read the big debate on Starvation mode and dont want my body to get used to such low calories or not lose the weight because I am not feeding it enough....any help would be very gratefully received!!


Thanks all.