Should I increase my calories?

dmca08

I am wondering if I am eating enough calories! Yes I have managed to loose 14 lbs so far this year but feel like I could have lost more.

MFP tells me I should be eating 1200 but I wonder if that its correct? I am 41 years old, current weight 184lbs, 5ft 5 tall and exercising for 30 minutes at least 5 times per week. I've had a look at the various posts about TDEEs etc but I'm getting more and more confused.

Anybody got any advice on how many calories I should be eating. I'd like to lose 1.5 - 2lbs per week.

Thanks,
Diane

Mock_Turtle

How many weeks did it take you to lose 14 lbs? That's the key piece of information.

I'm going to guess 90% of the people are going to respond and say EAT MOAR.

I won't , rather I'll say "it depends".

It depends on how many calories you are burning working out and how sedentary your lifestyle is. Your TDEE is probably anywhere from 2100-2400 calories

If it's at the high end of the range you should bump up your food intake by 200-300 cals/day. If it's at the low end well then you're generating a deficit for 2 lb/wk.

TavistockToad

I am wondering if I am eating enough calories! Yes I have managed to loose 14 lbs so far this year but feel like I could have lost more.

MFP tells me I should be eating 1200 but I wonder if that its correct? I am 41 years old, current weight 184lbs, 5ft 5 tall and exercising for 30 minutes at least 5 times per week. I've had a look at the various posts about TDEEs etc but I'm getting more and more confused.

Anybody got any advice on how many calories I should be eating. I'd like to lose 1.5 - 2lbs per week.

Thanks,
Diane

you have around 20lbs to lose now (going on your ticker), so you should be aiming to lose 1lb per week. change your settings and MFP will give you more calories.

selina884

You should keep it between 1700-1800 calories per day to begin with.

dmca08

Thanks everyone. I've lost the 14lbs since beginning of January, so averaging about 1lb per week. I was only wondering about upping calories as a lot of people say 1200 is too low. I actually don't mind only have 1200 calories and most days and am at around that anyway and don't go hungry. My job is mainly sitting a desk so I'm not that active during the day but walking or cycle most nights.

DeeC01

I changed my desired weekly weight loss to 1lb a week and it increased my calories (im 5'5'' and about 15/18lbs to go). I have lost more than 1lb a week, so i'm happy with the progress. I often find that i'm stuffed at 1200 cals a day - I think its years of 'dieting'!! I add high protein foods and good fats (peanut butter/nuts) if i have far too many calories left over....... Its never a problem at the weekend funnily enough!! Good luck and feel free to add me

dmca08

I changed my desired weekly weight loss to 1lb a week and it increased my calories (im 5'5'' and about 15/18lbs to go). I have lost more than 1lb a week, so i'm happy with the progress. I often find that i'm stuffed at 1200 cals a day - I think its years of 'dieting'!! I add high protein foods and good fats (peanut butter/nuts) if i have far too many calories left over....... Its never a problem at the weekend funnily enough!! Good luck and feel free to add me

Thank you. I think I'll change to 1lb a week and see what happens.

jadeyq1

If you go by your TDEE minus 20% so that you have a deficit of around 500 cals per day, you should be eating about 1900 cals a day. That's incorporating all of your exercise so don't eat exercise cals on top of that

MFP seems to set us all way too low. I recently upped my cals to 1650 plus exercise cals based on TDEE and it just seems to make much more sense!

dmca08

If you go by your TDEE minus 20% so that you have a deficit of around 500 cals per day, you should be eating about 1900 cals a day. That's incorporating all of your exercise so don't eat exercise cals on top of that

MFP seems to set us all way too low. I recently upped my cals to 1650 plus exercise cals based on TDEE and it just seems to make much more sense!

Thank you. I don't normally eat my exercise cals so that's not a problem. This dieting sure gets confusing at times! lol!

nczuczu

I agree the TDEE data gets very confusing, so many numbers. I like to use fitwatch calorie deficit calculator (http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/caloriedeficitcalculator.php) to help understand what I should eat. It takes into account your age, height, current weight and activitiy level. You eat a deficit of your daily calorie needs. After adding the information you provided, here is what it pulled up:

Daily Calorie need for you: 1873
15% deficit: 1592
20% deficit: 1498
25% deficit: 1405
30% deficit: 1311

Hope this helps out.

dmca08

Great, thank you.