Question: What should my calories be?

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TXHunny84
TXHunny84 Posts: 503 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 28, F, 160lbs and about 28%BF. I want to lose 25 pounds and be 135 goal weight. I am going P90x and walking 3-4 days a week for extra light cardio. Is a one pound a week loss too much to hope for? I have my calorie goal set to 1350. I know P90x says to eat more that that but I want to LOSE weight not maintain my weight..... I do eat back my exercise calories- or most of them. I have a slow thyroid so I don't believe I burn what MFP says I do most of the time. I haven't lost anything for a few weeks and I'm getting confused as to why?.... Thanks

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  • TXHunny84
    TXHunny84 Posts: 503 Member
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    anyone?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    height ?
  • maddiedog22
    maddiedog22 Posts: 116
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    Are u on medication for ur thyroid? Cuz I have under active thyroid and if I'm not properly does I won't lose weight no matter what. Also I think the number sounds good, ur netting about 1300 right? Maybe increase working out 5 or 6 times a week if u can. Also the types of food u eat can hold u back, what's ur diet like?
  • cchanna2012
    cchanna2012 Posts: 2
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    I gained a lot of muscle mass with p90x. I wasn't really watching my calories when I did it, but during the process I didn't really lose any weight and then all of sudden....bam - 10 lbs gone. I'm no expert, I'm just letting you know what happened to me.
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 Member
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    How tall are you? What sort of food are you eating? What's your TSH? Maybe you can follow one of the routines for plateau busting?
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    Now that you have a stable diet and have proven you can maintain your weight, you have a good base from which to experiment.

    Personally, my bias would be toward eating a little more if P90X is calling for it. Pick a number (say, adding 250-500 calories a day) and add that. Try that for a couple of weeks and see if it doesn't break the plateau. Absolute worst case of adding 250 or 500 calories a day is that you'll gain, at MOST, one or two pounds over two weeks. So any setback should be pretty minimal.

    Then if that doesn't work, try two weeks with a 250 calorie reduction.

    Also, it's important to make sure your calories are in balance. If you aren't already doing so, start tracking carbs, protein, and fat, and try to meet all of those goals daily in addition to your calorie goal.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    115.2 lbs of lean mass, so at 20% BF weight would be 144. 18 %BF would be 140. So you aren't going to get to 135 with a healthy fat level and current lean body mass. You'll lose some with dieting so it may work out - especially if you don't !
  • nheilweil
    nheilweil Posts: 82 Member
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    You mention you are eating back your exercise calories. How are you calculating your exercise calories? Is there any change you are over estimating them and therefore eating back too many calories?

    You mention you are at 1,350 calories -- why don't you try dropping that a few hundred calories and see what happens?

    Also, what's happened to your body fat during this "stall"? I'm assuming it's staying the same but if it's going down, even though you may not also be losing weight, then it's not a stall!

    Good luck!
  • irenephillip824
    irenephillip824 Posts: 42
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    What does your diet look like? I would increase the amount of protein and also make sure you are drinking lots of water. I have found out that clean eating is key. Not only the amount of calories but what exactly are you eating to fuel your body. Reduce the amount of carbs and sugar you are eating. Have you considered increasing your weights? What has worked for me is spending 10-15 minutes doing cardio and 30-45 minutes strength training.
  • aviduser
    aviduser Posts: 208 Member
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    1 lb per week is fine. Try to come in under that calorie goal every day and you will lose a little faster.

    I have never done p90x, but I have seen some people get great results with it.
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
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    115.2 lbs of lean mass, so at 20% BF weight would be 144. 18 %BF would be 140. So you aren't going to get to 135 with a healthy fat level and current lean body mass. You'll lose some with dieting so it may work out - especially if you don't !

    Your goal seems very low. Are you confident in the body fat %?

    Description Women
    Essential fat 10–13%
    Athletes 14-20%
    Fitness 21-24%
    Just "Average" 25-31%
    Excess fat 32%+
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    your BMR for a "normal" person would be in the range 1350 - 1650 ie 1500 +/- 10%

    If you're eating 1350 and maintaining that implies your TDEE is 1350 which if sedentary would be a BMR of 1125.

    Anyone know how low thyroid issues depress BMR ?
  • TXHunny84
    TXHunny84 Posts: 503 Member
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    your BMR for a "normal" person would be in the range 1350 - 1650 ie 1500 +/- 10%

    If you're eating 1350 and maintaining that implies your TDEE is 1350 which if sedentary would be a BMR of 1125.

    Anyone know how low thyroid issues depress BMR ?

    Low thyroid depresses my BMR?


    I'm 5'6'.... Sorry I forgot to post that and I didn't have access to my computer until this week to come back to this thread. Sorry it's taken so long to reply.

    I'm sending P90x back. I'm agrevated at my lack of results. My reasurements aren't even changing. I'm going to tyr the HCG drops and see how that goes. A girl I work with that's same starting size as me lost almost 40 pounds! I only want to lose 30 so hopefully this will work.

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