How many calories a day?

KanCrav

OK, so I am new at this whole diet extraviganza, so I need some help. I did South Beach and it REALLY works... but I got worried becasue I got stuck on phase one and before I could move on, I gave up. So, needless to say, I am trying a healthier way and trying to just teach myself HOW to eat better. I am trying to stick with only eating my allowed calories a day, but MFP says that I can eat 1600 a day. I feel like this is too much. I am def eating that 1600, lol, but should I be lowering it? I see that some people are doind a 1200 calorie diet, what should I do?

SageGoddess320

MFP bases your recommended calorie intake on your height, weight, daily activity/job and how much you would like to lose per week. I would try the 1600 calorie goal first and if you are not happy with your results after a couple weeks just go into "Goals" and manually change your settings to whatever you're comfortable with.

jaycee76

Hi
It will all depend on your lifestyle. If you put that you are very active then you need to eat extra to cover the calories you lost. I am on 1200 and I put that I wanted to lose 2lb per week and I am a light active who works out 3 times a week. If you have put you are very active and exercise 7 days a week it will take that into account because you need to stop your body going into starvation mode which it will if you eat too few.
Good luck

burner

look up your BMR on the tools tab at the tab.

your Basal Metabolic Rate. THis will give you a rough idea of how many calories you would need to maintain your current weight on a normal day - not factoring in exercise.

you could use this as your absolute maximum if you want to lose weight.
Or, use it as your goal calorific intake to maintain your weight
Or, if you want to gain weight go over your BMR.

remember - it doesn't take into account exercise - just normal day to day activities.

hope this helps - I'm not an expert tho - just what I understand about it...

:happy:

KanCrav

Thank You All.... Ill give it a few weeks and see how it works out

rfcollins33

I'm jealous. My limit is 1200. Maybe when I lose some, I can up it. : ( lol