Not sure how many calories to be eating

Naomi_13

Hey I'm not sure how many calories I should be eating in a day. I've tried going by BMI and TDEE or something but I just seem to be stuck right now. I was trying to eat 1500 a day, I'm a 26 year old female who weighs about 140 pounds and 5'5. I work at a hospital and so I walk around the unit a lot of my day, but I am also sitting down to fill out charts during the day too. I do workout 5 days a week for approx 1 hour, 3 days of weight training on machines and two days of cardio (spinning and kickboxing and just recently added the weight training) and I burn about 400 - 600 depending what workout I'm doing each day. Some days I eat my calories back and some I don't, I'm not sure if I should be eating them back or not? Can someone please help a girl out, I would be very appreciative!

mfpcopine

Hey I'm not sure how many calories I should be eating in a day. I've tried going by BMI and TDEE or something but I just seem to be stuck right now. I was trying to eat 1500 a day, I'm a 26 year old female who weighs about 140 pounds and 5'5. I work at a hospital and so I walk around the unit a lot of my day, but I am also sitting down to fill out charts during the day too. I do workout 5 days a week for approx 1 hour, 3 days of weight training on machines and two days of cardio (spinning and kickboxing and just recently added the weight training) and I burn about 400 - 600 depending what workout I'm doing each day. Some days I eat my calories back and some I don't, I'm not sure if I should be eating them back or not? Can someone please help a girl out, I would be very appreciative!

BMI has no bearing on how many calories you should consume. There are many methods, which you can search, but one rough method is 100 calories for every 10 pounds so 1500 calories is not a bad max. Don't eat over that unless you're hungry. See how that goes for a few weeks.

jonnythan

Well you need to start with your BMR. Yours is going to be around 1450 calories a day. So assuming a sedentary lifestyle, you'd be looking at about 1450 * 1.2 = 1740 calories a day of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). That would put you at 1250 calories a day for a target.

That's a good starting point, but you're clearly not sedentary. The general recommendation is to add any exercise above sedentary level on top of your calorie intake. For example, if you burn 600 calories in a typical shift walking around the hospital, you'd want to eat 1850 calories.

That stuff can be difficult to estimate. I am similar (I play tennis, spend 5 hours a week walking around a hospital, etc) so instead of the constant guessing, I've bought myself a Fitbit. It's a little device you wear on a waistband or bra that calculates how many calories you use throughout the day. Takes all the guesswork away. I am to eat whatever number of calories the Fitbit says I've used, minus 500, at the end of the day.

Naomi_13

Thanks for the info, this gives me a little something to go on

mfpcopine

Well you need to start with your BMR. Yours is going to be around 1450 calories a day. So assuming a sedentary lifestyle, you'd be looking at about 1450 * 1.2 = 1740 calories a day of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). That would put you at 1250 calories a day for a target.

That's a good starting point, but you're clearly not sedentary. The general recommendation is to add any exercise above sedentary level on top of your calorie intake. For example, if you burn 600 calories in a typical shift walking around the hospital, you'd want to eat 1850 calories.

That stuff can be difficult to estimate. I am similar (I play tennis, spend 5 hours a week walking around a hospital, etc) so instead of the constant guessing, I've bought myself a Fitbit. It's a little device you wear on a waistband or bra that calculates how many calories you use throughout the day. Takes all the guesswork away. I am to eat whatever number of calories the Fitbit says I've used, minus 500, at the end of the day.

I have a Fitbit, I rely on my own judgment and mainly use it as a basic record for steps, but it works better if you set it so Fitbit adjusts the calories based on your daily activity level, weight, and goal. Fitbit often suggests fewer than 1200 calories if I haven't been active.

Naomi_13

Well you need to start with your BMR. Yours is going to be around 1450 calories a day. So assuming a sedentary lifestyle, you'd be looking at about 1450 * 1.2 = 1740 calories a day of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). That would put you at 1250 calories a day for a target.

That's a good starting point, but you're clearly not sedentary. The general recommendation is to add any exercise above sedentary level on top of your calorie intake. For example, if you burn 600 calories in a typical shift walking around the hospital, you'd want to eat 1850 calories.

That stuff can be difficult to estimate. I am similar (I play tennis, spend 5 hours a week walking around a hospital, etc) so instead of the constant guessing, I've bought myself a Fitbit. It's a little device you wear on a waistband or bra that calculates how many calories you use throughout the day. Takes all the guesswork away. I am to eat whatever number of calories the Fitbit says I've used, minus 500, at the end of the day.

I have a Fitbit, I rely on my own judgment and mainly use it as a basic record for steps, but it works better if you set it so Fitbit adjusts the calories based on your daily activity level, weight, and goal. Fitbit often suggests fewer than 1200 calories if I haven't been active.

Where can you get Fitbits at?

jonnythan

Well you need to start with your BMR. Yours is going to be around 1450 calories a day. So assuming a sedentary lifestyle, you'd be looking at about 1450 * 1.2 = 1740 calories a day of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). That would put you at 1250 calories a day for a target.

That's a good starting point, but you're clearly not sedentary. The general recommendation is to add any exercise above sedentary level on top of your calorie intake. For example, if you burn 600 calories in a typical shift walking around the hospital, you'd want to eat 1850 calories.

That stuff can be difficult to estimate. I am similar (I play tennis, spend 5 hours a week walking around a hospital, etc) so instead of the constant guessing, I've bought myself a Fitbit. It's a little device you wear on a waistband or bra that calculates how many calories you use throughout the day. Takes all the guesswork away. I am to eat whatever number of calories the Fitbit says I've used, minus 500, at the end of the day.

I have a Fitbit, I rely on my own judgment and mainly use it as a basic record for steps, but it works better if you set it so Fitbit adjusts the calories based on your daily activity level, weight, and goal. Fitbit often suggests fewer than 1200 calories if I haven't been active.

Where can you get Fitbits at?

Best Buy, Amazon, etc. The Zip is the cheapest one at $60. It uses a coin cell battery that lasts about 5 months. The One costs $100 and has a built-in rechargeable battery that lasts 5-6 days. It also has an air pressure sensor and logs stairs climbed, and includes a wrist sleeve to let you log sleep time/quality.

I have mine connected to my MFP account. When the Fitbit site calculates that you're using more calories than MFP, MFP automatically adds a correction factor to allow you more calories. It's pretty cool actually.

jonnythan

Here's a collection of screenshots from my entries on last Thursday, showing the various portions of the Fitbit and MFP sites and how they integrate:

http://i47.tinypic.com/2ah8oy8.jpg



(For some reason the image embed isn't working)

Naomi_13

Here's a collection of screenshots from my entries on last Thursday, showing the various portions of the Fitbit and MFP sites and how they integrate:

http://i47.tinypic.com/2ah8oy8.jpg



(For some reason the image embed isn't working)

Thanks for the information