Need help figuring out calorie goal please!

xNJAx

I’ve seen a lot of posts recently about the need to eat more to lose more. This is a very scary concept to me as I’m currently struggling to eat 1200 calories a day, but I’ve decided I want to be healthy, not just thin, and I’m not losing weight so thought maybe I should at least *try* it. However, I have no idea where to start – there are so many numbers mentioned (TDEE, BMR, BF%, lean body mass etc etc that I’m confused).

I’m sorry to be a nuisance – I know there are loads of these kind of threads around already – but please can someone who understands this stuff really put it into layman’s terms for me and help me figure out what I should be eating?

I’m 29 years old and:
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 10st (140lbs)
Neck: 13”
Bust: 36”
Waist: 30”
Hips: 40”

(I’m not sure if there’s anything else I need to know to figure out the numbers?!)

Also, I was thinking it might be a good idea to set my MFP lifestyle thing to ‘sedentary’ and not include any exercise goals. That way, any exercise I do I should be eating the calories back. Do I understand that right? At the moment it’s set to sedentary, but with a goal to work out 3 times per week for an hour each. I usually do more than that, but on weeks when I’ve been too busy (currently studying for my law finals) or haven’t been well I totally freak out that I’m eating too much by sticking to my calorie goal because it includes work out calories in advance.

Any help anyone can give me on this would be very much appreciated. I don’t trust myself to figure it out properly and worry that I’ll end up eating too much instead of not enough!

Oh, one more thing – how long should it take to notice a difference in weight loss by upping calories? I’d like to have a time-frame in mind to start seeing more weight loss (I’d feel better having a cut-off point in case it doesn’t work :blushing: ).

Thank you :flowerforyou:

Natalie x

niss63

What is your target weight?

xNJAx

Whoops! Sorry. I'm aiming for somewhere between 8 and a half to 9 stone (120-130 lbs).

xNJAx

Shameless self-bump :blushing:

Pebble321

You don't have a lot to lose, so don't expect it to come off too fast.

I suggest that you go back to y MFP goals and set them up to "lose 1/2 pound per week".
Set your activity level to sedentary then add in (and eat) the calories for any exercise that you do.

Try this for a month and see how it works our for you.

sniperzzzz

A good starting point based on 3 days per week exercise, would be.
Maintenance = 2096
Minus 500kcal = 1593
So 1593kcal per day should see you lose approx 1 lb per week.
This figure takes exercise into account, so no need to eat exercise calories back.
These calorie calculation formulas, are not 100% accurate but a good starting point.
Use your head, if your losing too much too fast increase calories, if your not losing enough lower them slightly, until you achieve your weekly goal.

Dont be too hasty to change calories be patient, its not unheard of for people to be stuck a certain weight for a few weeks.
Only then conciser changing things, if you have not made progress.

Oh one more thing log absolutely everything, even liquid calories tea, coffee, milk ect.
Weigh your food to the gram, measure your liquids to the ml. If it has a calorie log it!
And if using mfp bar code scanner, double check it against the food or drink label, its not always correct.
Good luck

xNJAx

Thank you both! I really appreciate the help.

I'm totally obsessive about logging absolutely everything that passes my lips and weighing/measuring everything, so hopefully once I figure out my calories I'll be all set!

Thanks again

Natalie x