How many calories should I be eating?

BrookeBQ

Hi, I set up my MFP account back in 2011. I think I put my weight in kgs instead of lbs then, so instead of being 150.2 pounds, it thought I was 331. When my weight was wrong, it was recommending that I eat 1890 calories per day. Now it says 1200 calories. I have been eating 1500 calories on average, and have lost 2.2 pounds in 2 weeks. 1200 just seems really low to me.

I took a test on http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced and my basal metabolic rate is 1,499, while my total energy expenditure is 2,236.

I also went on another TDEE calculator, and I am not sure what to put for my activity level because I exercise every day, but only about 20 minutes a day (is that light or moderate exercise?), but putting it as light, it says my number is 2099.

TLDR: What do you guys think? Should I eat at 1500 where I've been losing at, or 1200 as MFP recommends? Thanks in advance!

Mokey41

I'd put your activity level as sedentary then log any intentional exercise that you do. Putting it into your TDEE means that it's calculating it into every day and most of us don't always exercise or do the same thing.

MFP only does math. It doesn't tell you that what you are doing is too aggressive. Unless you've got over 100 lbs to lose the 2 lb a week goal is too much. You have to adjust to a safe amount for what you need to lose. It isn't recommended that you aim for more than 1% of your body weight per week.

BrookeBQ

Thank you for your response! I will go down to 1 lb per week.

climbamnt

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Use the BMR calculator tool on the App tab. This will give you the amount of calories you body burns if all you did was lay in bed all day. You should be eating at least this many calories each day. Smaller amounts of weight are harder to lose, and need to come off slower. I increased my calories because MFP automatically set it to 1200 which is way too low. I changed it to lose .5 a week and I set activity level to sedentary, and I use a FitBit to track my activity through the day. FitBit will adjust my intake as I am more active.


Found this from user *psulemon*

***Keep in mind that MyFitnessPal is only as smart as the person inputting the data. MFP doesn't know how much you have to lose until you get into a healthy range. MFP doesn't know how much lean body mass you have (nor do most people). And if you have very little to lose and you want to lose 2 lbs a week, then MFP will probably arbitrarily cut you to 1200 calories as that's the least acceptable amount. You should be following the below guidelines.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

The other is the fact that a Low Calorie Diet increases the chances of muscle loss. So previously, you could have had maintenance calories of 1900 but after 6 months of a LCD, you now have maintenance calories of 1600. It just means after a long period of LCD and you return to maintenance, you can only add a few calories as opposed to a larger amount. This is why LCD's are so ineffective long term because it creates a situation where you maintenance calories is severely suppressed due to your suppressing your metabolism and killing your lean body mass. I have seen some VLCD that end up causing your body to lose 50% of it's weight from lbm. This is why many of us suggest a moderate deficit (20% less than tdee to include exercise [hopefully that exercise includes heavy weight training]) in order to reduce muscle loss and maintain your metabolic rate.

At 1200 calories yourself, if you are any kind of active, you are not in a situation for just fat loss, but rather probably high in muscle loss too. If you don't believe me, I would suggest tracking your body fat and adding weight training to your exercise regimen. ***

BrookeBQ

Wow climbamnt, thank you for your response! I changed my goal to 1 pound per week, but on 1370 calories, I am sitting here feeling exhausted and starving, and have been thinking about food all day. Time to change it to 0.5 per week!

My BMR is 1,500, and I felt normal at that level, so that makes sense! Thanks again!