How much should I be eating exactly?

ajc1309

For the last 4 months I've been dieting and exercising on a stationary bike. I was eating way too little calories (700-800), I had NO idea that it would be bad for me, I found out from here a few days ago that my 2 and a half stone weight loss was mostly muscle, so that made me feel awful. I was 186 pounds, I'm now 147. I've only lost 2-3 inches from around my body but I do look a lot slimmer than I used to 4 months ago.

I'm now trying to fix my diet, I am no longer exercising (was told not to for now), I'm upping my calories weekly, I'm now eating around 900-970. Next week I'll up it to around 1000, the next 1100 etc.

I want to know how much I need to up my calories by? The BMR/TDEE thing really confuses me.

my BMR is: 1,391 (MFP calculator)
my TDEE: 2030 (according to http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html)

I'm 23
5 ft 3

So with little exercise (just everyday exercise like walking around the house, cooking etc), how many calories should I be eating to maintain for now and get healthy?

In the new year I'll start exercising again, 40 minutes on the bike and I'll try to incorporate small weights or something. How much should I cut my calories down to then? I want to be 126 pounds, losing 1-1.5 pounds a week.

Sorry for so many questions! I've been trying to calculate all of this in my head but I could do with some help. Thanks.

ajc1309

bump.

lvtruu1

How do you know that it was muscle? I highly doubt it. It was mostly fat lost. Your body is very reluctant to burn muscle. Unless you are very lean and have an excessive amount that it doesn't need. Hence why you should lift heavy while cutting, then your body needs those muscles and doesn't waste them. (atrophy)

ajc1309

I was told by a few people on here because I've been eating too few calories.

ajc1309

bump again, sorry.

cedarghost

Do you know your body fat before you started and now? That's the only way to tell how much weight lost was fat.
Anyway, here is a link to a calculator http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
There are different ones out there, if you are concerned, try several and take an average. The most important thing is be honest when choosing your activity level. For example, if I set your stats at low activity level on that calculator, I come up with a TDEE of 1772. If I go to light exercise I come up with 2030.

So be honest and set it to what you truly do. Then, depending on how much weight you have to lose you can subtract a percentage from the TDEE. The less weight you have to lose, the lower that percentage should be, but you typically never want to go over 20% unless you are really obese (which you are not).

So let's say you pick 10%. At 2030 - 10%, you are going to have a 203 calorie per day deficit and should see a loss of up to a half pound a week. If your exercise level is higher than what you estimated , you will see more.
BUT......you need to stick with this calorie amount for at least a month to see what happens. Weight loss can take a while to kick in and may not be absolutely consistent from day to day or week to week. So give it some time, evaluate, then adjust as needed.

Your RMR should be somewhere around 1450'ish. Just make sure to not eat below that.

One more thing, if this doesn't work, you may need to do a diet reset. This would be where you would eat at your maintenance calories (TDEE) for a while to reset your body's hormone levels. Personally, I reset for about a month, some people will say 8 weeks. It is really up to you. But don't look at it as time lost that could have been used to lose weight. Look at it as time your body needs to recoup. I mean this is for the rest of your life, remember? 4 to 8 weeks really isn't much when you look at the big picture.

I would also recommend you start lifting as well. Lifting does more for body re-composition than you would imagine. But wait until you start to see the effects of your new diet, because once you start lifting heavy, weight loss can slow to a crawl or stop, due to water retention in your muscles as they repair and grow and this is discouraging for some people. When this happens though, you will typically find that you are losing fat/inches and gaining tone and strength even though the scale doesn't move. So start measuring and taking pictures to judge your progress. They are much better indicators of progress than the scale.

ajc1309

Ok, thank you. So I should slowly raise my calories to around 1400 to maintain the weight I am now? That's with little exercise.
And then in the new year, up the calories when I start exercising again?

ChristyRunStarr

Have you checked out helloitsdan's post? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 I don't know what you used to find out your TDEE but the links there are great for not only that but also BMR

00Melyanna00

Have you checked out helloitsdan's post? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 I don't know what you used to find out your TDEE but the links there are great for not only that but also BMR

I was about to suggest the same link ...

DanaDark

Definitely worth checking out Helloitsdan's post. Many of us can DO these calculations etc for you and all, but it is really best that YOU do them, learn how to do them, and learn why.

mrseelmerfudd

How do you know that it was muscle? I highly doubt it. It was mostly fat lost. Your body is very reluctant to burn muscle. Unless you are very lean and have an excessive amount that it doesn't need. Hence why you should lift heavy while cutting, then your body needs those muscles and doesn't waste them. (atrophy)

this ^^