Ladies- How many cals do you eat?

supertracylynn

I'm 5'6" and 138-140#. My BMR is 1490 (assuming I'm about 20% body fat). On a day I do not work out, I usually eat 1650-1800 calories. On workout days, I've put down 2400 cals easy (having burned 700 cals running).

Katie3784

I am in maitenance and have been for about a year. I am 5'5", 125lbs, and eat between 2000 and 2500 calories a day. When I was losing, I ate between 1800 and 2000. I workout everyday for 1.5-2 hours.

katmont

I set my MFP cal. to 1800 because I exercise 6 days a week and weight lift but I don't eat all my cals. so I usually eat about 1300 to 1600......it depends on what i feel my body needs that day

small_ninja

Heya, I'm 5'0" and 124 lb - I have my base calories set to 1,400 and will eat around that on non-exercise days if I can. Then I eat back most of my exercise calories (but I try and make the estimated burn realistic and don't go by the exorbitant estimates MFP puts up). I exercise most days and usually eat between 1,600-1,800 giving me a net of 1,100-1,400 on exercise days. I've lost 8 lb in just over 2 months.

findingmyhappyplace

I'm 5'1 and between 105-110 lbs. I eat 2000-3000 calories per day, depends how hungry I am. Basically I eat whatever and whenever I want. I don't work out all that much but I am pretty busy on an average day, on my feet quite a bit.

elcieloesazul

1,670 (200 over my BMR) + exercise calories.

meeka472

Normally I'm in the 1300 - 1400 range. If I've had a very heavy workout day I'll go up to about 1500 calories. When I first started out my doctor recommended I say within the 1200 to 1300 calorie range if I wasn't exercising.

tdavies1980

i am set at 1200, exercise 30 mins a day and never reach my target of 1200. i am finding it difficult to do :sad:

heddylyn

When I was still trying to lose I had it set at 1200 and ate back all of my exercise calories (between 300-800 extra per day). Now that I'm in maintenance mode I have it set at 1640 and still eat back my exercise calories so I average about 2000 to 2400 per day.

sazzyp1973

mine change daily, depending on activity and how hungry I am. I try to make healthy choices and eat a minimum of 1200 but often go higher. I react to what my body needs. If I have something bad, I alter the rest of the day to allow for it!

konswela

The body cannot survive off of 1200 calories. A child needs that much. Please check out the group Eat More 2 weigh less. determine your TDEE and BMR. Read the threads and go from there.

I eat 2150 everyday if I burn over 500 calories I will eat back some of my exercise calories so I never net below my BMR...

skellyness

Probably about 1500 average - I follow what myfitnesspal says (I eat the exercise calories too), I don't think 1200 would be very nice but I always work out anyway so it hasn't come to that.

dlpoisson

I average 2100 per day, workout 5-6 days a week, mostly strenght. I lost 8 lbs this year, went from 150 to 142lbs. But when I started counting calories at the beginning of this year, I was averaging 2300 to 2400 calories per day.

ElviraCross

Mine is set to about 1800 but I breastfeed. If I didn't it would be about 1500. I'm 5'9" 142 lbs. I have it set to maintain.

Brandicaloriecountess

I eat 1700-1800 a day.

zukkiz

I am 44, 5'5.5", SW was 202.5, I am now 165.5. I have set MFP to 2028, but eat 300 above that for breastfeeding. I lift heavy three times a week and walk only once a week, (increasing that next week). My BMR is 1538 and my TDEE is 2381. I don't log in my exercising because I don't believe I ever go under my BMR since my cut is pretty high.

RedHeadDevotchka

I eat like a champ! I eat 2400 a day because I work out about 5 days a week. 2400 is my TDEE, and whle I was terrified to do this, it's working! I am gaining muscle, but incredibly NOT getting fat. I guess it depends on what your goal is, and everyone has different ones, but I love lifting and this helps me lift heavy.

freckledrats

I'm 4'11" and pretty sedentary. I do tiny workouts but I don't burn very many calories.

I eat 900 and I eat back exercise calories. Before you throw bricks at me, my sedentary TDEE is 1606. I'm losing less than 2 pounds per week, I feel pretty darn good, and I'm not even that hungry. I'm very short, I'm not actually even technically overweight, I'm fully grown, and I have a desk job. I haven't damaged my metabolism. I have been doing this a little while and I'm losing *by the math* consistently. If my metabolism were broken, I wouldn't be losing what I expect to based on my size and the math.

IMO you should do what's right for your size, sex, and activity level. Fuel your body and mind, but don't get tricked into thinking that there's a magic number out there. Metabolic sweet spots are like the clutch on a manual transmission. Everyone's is in a slightly different place.

Again, IMO, don't aim to lose more than you're comfortable with in a week, and losing more than two pounds per week is super unhealthy, so don't try for that, mmkay?

keeponkickin

I really dont think its a doable thing for me to stick to 1200 so im thinking 1500 is a good number since I plan to work out at least 6 days a week. What do you guys think? How much are you eating and whats been your results? By the way I'm 5'7 currently at 175 I want to get to 135/140 BMI is in a healthy weight range at 159

I'm 5' 8", 165 pounds and I eat around 2,000 calories a day.

PLUMSGRL

2350-2600, depending if I'm lifting or not~

Rockmyskinnyjeans

I'm set to 1200 calories a day and have been since I started MFP in mid-March. I've lost a little over 25 lbs since then. Most days I get close to the 1200 with light exercise, as well as whatever I do at work that day. Lately, I've been lucky to hit 1000 calories with the heat taking a toll on my stomach. I am going to try resetting to the BMR and test that theory soon. I am 5'7", 155 lbs with 12 lbs to go until I hit my (1st) goal weight.

missworld95

I eat about 1300 a day, and I do (usually) 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of pilates. I mean, now that its summer I'm walking and biking everywhere, so I'll do 20 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of pilates. Which is kind of bad, but whatever.

Mitnarfeza

1350 and I burn around 200 calories, so I usually eat around
1500 calories a day

mayfly00

MFP has me set at 1900, but I usually stay around 1600-1700. (If I wasn't breastfeeding I'd be eating more like 1400 calories.) Any lower and I feel like I'm starving all the time, and any higher and I don't think I'd be able to actually lose weight. Oh and I'm 5'11", 149lbs.

AnnMarie518

Please remember, things are different for each person. Just like many of the posters have said. There is NO magic number. As you can see if you read alot of the posts, some people eat 1200, some people eat 2400 per day. All of them are happy and loosing weight or meeting their fitness goals. Its VERY individual. No one is right, no one is wrong.

Personally, my bmr is at 1600 and my TDEE is at 2400. So I have my calories set to 1900 per day. When I first started MFP I had it set to the typical 1200 and noticed that I was shakey and hungry and basically not giving my body what it needed. So that number didnt work for me. After calculating my numbers, (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) I am loosing weight at a safe rate and not starving myself, nor deny myself any foods that i really want. I workout 3 times per week.

Find what works for you. These are all just guidelines. Best of luck!

danger_kitteh

I have no idea. I haven't tracked calories in 3 months. I have a meal plan set out by my trainer of how much of different types of food I should have at eat meal and how many times a day to each those things as well as what foods NOT to eat. I run 4x a week, I lift 3x a week and do one day of functional strength/cardio. It was hard putting the trust in the program but it's working (i've lost over 10lbs and several % BF) and eating is WAY less stressful these days. I only keep the food I'm allowed around and I eat 6x a day. I'm never hungry, my body is changing and I'm happy.

jenniejengin

bump

Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim

bump

betrayalunknown

This is probably going to scare most of you... but I kid you not, I NET around 2600-2800 daily.
So I guess if I was not exercising, my daily calorie intake would be at least around 3200 a day

Yes, that is A LOT.

Okay, so I eat A LOT. But, allow me to explain:

1)Most of my calories come from raw fruits and vegetables.

I would say that at least 1000 calories of my daily net cals come from fruits. Everyday I have apples, mangos, bananas, blueberries, watermelon, nectarines, etc. I eat a huge variety of fruit every day.

I also eat a lot of veggies a day (seldomly with any dressing). I eat carrots, sugar snap peas, cabbage, lettuce, celery, kale, etc. Most I eat raw... but I also eat a lot of brussels sprouts, too. Maybe 20-30 sprouts a day just steamed and then roasted in the toaster oven with just salt and pepper.

Then the other part of my calories come from steel cut oats, unsweetened almond milk, freeze-dried fruit (IE, Trader Joe's freeze dried mangos) Fat free greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Odwalla Superfood Bars... Vegan bars... ( I have at least two bars a day, even though most of them have sugar contents that are through the roof!! But still delish nevertheless. My favorite go-to candy bar aka energy bar is Clif White Chocolate Macadamia... YUMMMMY!!! ).

So...... as you guys can tell, I spend a ton of money on food. Most of my monthly check goes towards food! What can I say?!

2) But......... I also spend a ton of time at the gym...

Monday-Friday I do at least 2 or 2.5 hours on the elliptical at various resistance and incline.
Somedays INCLUDE 20-30 mins of strength training/heavy to moderate lifting ontop of the cardio.

Saturdays-Sundays I have at least 1 to 2 hours on the elliptical also at various resistance and incline.
Usually it is 30-40 mins of strength training at morderate weights.

So while I do love to eat... and most of it is very healthy food, I work for it. I am able to eat the same amount of calories as a man twice my size (I am 5'5, 128 pounds) but still maintain my weight.

I have eaten like this and exercised like this for over year now.

PS. I do not have a fast metabolism at all....... since I was little I was never able to eat the same foods as my friends without getting pudgy

nataliexxxx

I eat 1200 but I usually struggle to eat them all:)