a little help..

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christimw
christimw Posts: 183 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
im no good with this stuff. my bmr is 1270. my tdee is 1524. now, how do i determine how many calories i need for weight loss?

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  • lisamarie2181
    lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
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    Im bumping this for you, there has got to be someone that knows how to figure this out, might have got lost in the threads!

    My wellness coach figured out mine, so I am not sure how to do it manually, but had to help my friend out! :)


    What do you stick around now? Are you stalling at all or not feeling satisfied?
  • GoddessAmy
    GoddessAmy Posts: 50 Member
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    Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories your body would use to maintain itself if you did nothing but sleep all day. What you need ot consider is your TOTAL calories burned in a day (which is your BMR plus all the additional calories you use in a day when you are awake and moving). If you look at your goals page, you will see your total calories burned in the right column. Remember that this is an estimate based on your height, weight, age, and the activity level you selected for yourself when you filled out your description.

    To lose weight, you have to eat less calories than you burn off in your Total. You don't want to eat much less than your BMR because if you do, your body thinks it is starving and holds on to the fat. It is said (and this can be argued) that burning 3500 more calories than you eat in a week would cause you to lose 1 lb. (That's about 500 calories per day). However, many experts would argue that other factors would affect this (type of food you eat, stimulants you drink, exercise and muscle mass - the list is long). The real point is, eat less than you lose, exercise to maintain your muscles, drink water to wash away the waste producst in your body, sleep well, and manage your stress. If you are really lost, try looking at a diet that focus's on all the above such as IdealShape.

    Good Luck - you can do it!
  • christimw
    christimw Posts: 183 Member
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    MFP has me set at 1200, i literally have to STUFF myself to even get to that (i even added in coconut oil for extra calories). on a day where i just eat till satisfied, i range anywhere from 900-1100 calories. i keep reading how 1200 is low, but really, i have to stuff myself ti the point it hurts, and eating back calories if i exercise, even more so. i'm eating a lot of food, i'm small (4'11) so i don't hold very much i guess.

    water is all i drink, coffee a few times a month maybe. i only eat meat, veggies, and a little fruit. when i was eating whatever, i could easily eat 2000 calories a day with burgers and fries, snacks, sodas, but now that i don't eat/drink that anymore, real food fills me up faster and keeps me fuller much longer.

    when i DO eat back exercise calories, or if i get to 1200 for several days in a row, my weight goes UP.
  • jgainey1
    jgainey1 Posts: 19
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    Find Helloitsdan's In place of a road map thread and read through it.

    I'm 4'11" also and am eating 1600-1700 calories per day and losing. I exercise about 3 hours total per week.
  • faithchange
    faithchange Posts: 311 Member
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    Find Helloitsdan's In place of a road map thread and read through it.

    I'm 4'11" also and am eating 1600-1700 calories per day and losing. I exercise about 3 hours total per week.

    Yep! This is correct...Your eating way too little if your doing 1200. I'm 5'8 mfp recommended either 1200 or 1500 for me which is crazy. I'm eating 2300 a day and lost 1.4 lbs this week. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to accurately calculate your numbers. ITs easy there and will give you the reduction do the 20%.

    Hope this helps. If you want no results, keep eating 1200 or less. My BMR is 1595, just to give you an idea too...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    With only 10 lbs to lose, your goal should be 1/2 lb per week (slow isn't it). Also, you need to eat calorie dense foods such as; nuts, avocado, cooking foods in EVOO, protein bars, protein shakes (more specifically one like muscle milk as two scoops is 300 calories) or my personal favorite, get a spoon and peanut butter jar and dig in.
  • christimw
    christimw Posts: 183 Member
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    Find Helloitsdan's In place of a road map thread and read through it.

    I'm 4'11" also and am eating 1600-1700 calories per day and losing. I exercise about 3 hours total per week.

    Yep! This is correct...Your eating way too little if your doing 1200. I'm 5'8 mfp recommended either 1200 or 1500 for me which is crazy. I'm eating 2300 a day and lost 1.4 lbs this week. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to accurately calculate your numbers. ITs easy there and will give you the reduction do the 20%.

    Hope this helps. If you want no results, keep eating 1200 or less. My BMR is 1595, just to give you an idea too...


    the days i ate 1500 - 1700 calories though, i had to force myself, i was so full it physically hurt.

    this site, with my weight today, gives me these numbers:

    BMR: 1026
    TDEE: 1412
    Daily Calories based on step 6: 1129

    this will give me a projected weight loss of .6 lbs a week.

    i WAS having results until i was told i NEEDED to meet my goal and eat back calories i burned. i started doing that, i started gaining back the weight. so i guess i really DON'T need as much as a lot of people?

    i don't eat grains or peanut butter, but i do eat meat and veggies until i feel full, and fruit or cheese (but i limit dairy as it bloats me) for snacks. like today my lunch was 4 oz of pork loin, and almost a cup of veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, and zuccini) with butter and a tsp of coconut oil. i ate until i was pretty full, and it totaled 222 calories.
  • faithchange
    faithchange Posts: 311 Member
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    So, are you stalling out at 1200 calories? I guess that looks right. Are you working out and how much? I guess maybe it reflects your not needing much because of your activity level?

    The veggies, fruits (high fiber) are all great but will cause bloating and pain. For instance I ate pinto beans last night and after having apple earlier and a few other stuff...I felt horrible last night. Good food, bad reaction for me.

    Maybe add the peanut butter, avocado occasionally to balance things out and gain more calories that are still healthy with the fats. You are right...don't go up too much, I guess. I just wanted to point out that I did my calculations on MFP, and it was WAY off...and didn't help me, put me into the starvation mode I had already been in for months. Finally, now I'm dropping weight and I only have about 25 or so to goal.

    Good Luck!
  • christimw
    christimw Posts: 183 Member
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    So, are you stalling out at 1200 calories? I guess that looks right. Are you working out and how much? I guess maybe it reflects your not needing much because of your activity level?

    The veggies, fruits (high fiber) are all great but will cause bloating and pain. For instance I ate pinto beans last night and after having apple earlier and a few other stuff...I felt horrible last night. Good food, bad reaction for me.

    Maybe add the peanut butter, avocado occasionally to balance things out and gain more calories that are still healthy with the fats. You are right...don't go up too much, I guess. I just wanted to point out that I did my calculations on MFP, and it was WAY off...and didn't help me, put me into the starvation mode I had already been in for months. Finally, now I'm dropping weight and I only have about 25 or so to goal.

    Good Luck!

    I'm not a very active person. I do a little here and there, 1-3 hrs a week of walking. I'm still pretty new so all of this is soooooo confusing to me. lol But yeah, I stall or gain when i hit 1200 or more (even if i have no exercise calories), i'm assuming because i have to eat so much to get in 1200. i cut back to just eating until i'm satisfied, even if i don't even reach 1000 a day, i'm still satisfied, not full and not hungry, and the weight has came back down. i just see SO many people who think 1200 is way too low, but eating 1500-2000 calories a day is what got me here in the first place! granted it was bad foods, but even stuffing myself on GOOD foods to get 1200-1500 made me gain some back. i'm at a loss. lol
  • lisamarie2181
    lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
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    I wouldn't worry about what every one else says, you are short and not far from your goal, if that is the cal range it is telling you to be in, I would just keep doing what you are doing. It is hard taking certain advice from others on here sometimes because their body composition isn't the same as yours. Do what is working best for you, don't worry about anything else :)
  • faithchange
    faithchange Posts: 311 Member
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    Sounds like your on track then too. I just wanted to make sure with all the numbers and activity level. I would also say what bellmarie says...everyone else's body composition is different. You obviously are one that the 1200 a day would work for. You have had some success there. Just keep at it. If you want to change it up, either workout more and eat a little more to compensate or just keep with what your doing.

    Michelle
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    You kind of need to define success; do you only care about weight loss or do you care bout you muscle mass? Since you are not active 1200 calories may work. The reason why people are against it, is you are more susceptable to losing lean body mass. Which brings me to my nex question, do you even know your body fat? Knowing your body fat is critical as it allows you to determine what is a good weight goal. You can pick a random weight, but you may have to lose muscle. I would wage a bet, that at some point, you will want to start working out as those who exercise consisently maintain weight loss. Something to think about. But keep in mind, the closer to your goal weight, the longer it will take to come off. It takes many people 6 months to lose the last few lbs.
  • christimw
    christimw Posts: 183 Member
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    No, I don't know my body fat. And I don't want to build muscle, it's not attractive to me. You guys are right, I need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks I should be doing or how much I should be eating, it only hinders my progress when I do. Thanks :)

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