Ready to rip my hair out.

so are u trying to lose or gain weight? its good that u cant get up to 1500 calories right?.... why do you want to get to 1800? im confused more detail and i can help

she did say weight loss...

also why not use mfp settings? im 5"1 121 lbs and im on 1200 cals

so are u trying to lose or gain weight? its good that u cant get up to 1500 calories right?.... why do you want to get to 1800? im confused more detail and i can help

She says a health weight lose.

At your starting weight, I think it would be difficult if not impossible for you to lose a pound a week in any sort of healthy way. Where did you get the 1800 figure, that seems high for someone your age and size unless you are putting your activity level at very active. Using the fat2fitradio calculator I get a TDEE of 2380 for very active, which is defined as hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week. Does that describe you? If not, then you probably need to go with a lower number for the TDEE and then subtract from there.

You also might want to think about setting a body fat percentage goal rather than a scale goal. You are already at a healthy weight. A scale goal may just leave your frustrated and push you toward unhealthy habits, while a body fat percentage goal would allow you to work on overall fitness rather than an arbitrary number on a scale.

very easily...

2 tbsp peanut butter on your toast or in your oatmeal or in a shake = 190 extra calories

veggies --add 1 oz of cheese to your salad or cooked veggies = 100 extra calories

snack--have nuts with your veg or fruit. 1 oz = 160 extra calories

Grand total without making you STUFFED..is an EXTRA 450 calories.

You're welcome. :flowerforyou:

Use MFP's guide to establish your goals? I'm 5'1, 126 pounds, losing at 1/2 pound per week, and I'm on 1300 calories per day. Give it a try.

There's this guide someone made on here that might help you:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Good luck!

Oh! And try not to overestimate your activity level. "Active" is active like a mail deliverer who can walk 3 miles per hour up to 10 or 12 miles a day. "Very Active" is like being a construction worker, a bike courier - someone who is rarely sitting, and probably carries a load or uses several muscle groups for most of the day.

However, I've found these to be a load of nonsense. I'm a teacher (5'5", 127lb or so) and so I thought I should be the same as a nurse (lightly active), however, I still lose weight at the Maintenance calories of what mfp considers 'very active' (1990kcal), so just because a calculator says it, doesn't make it true for you.

I wish I'd tried out 1800 rather than 1200. I'd still have lost around 1lb a week, but I suspect I wouldn't have found I was anaemic!

1200 to 1300 would obviously be too low cause my daily existance requires 1379.1 and I have a moderate activity level, so you would multiply that by 1.55 which gives me 2137.605 which is what I would need to maintain so you would subtract that by 500 which gives me 1637.605 so is that the final number I would need to LOSE weight, Im getting confused cause 100 different websites tell me 900 different things, which ones do I listen to !?

Thanks for all the help!

scooby's workshop. google it. go to fitness tools and then to the calorie calculator. select your activity level and a 15% calorie deficit. Eat the amount listed. change your MFP settings to reflect that number. Don't eat back exercise calories.

Alternatively you could use mfp--set up your profile to 1/2 pound a week (500 calorie deficit is too much for your current weight) and log exercise--eat all calories calculated by MFP ...which includes exercise calories.

1200 to 1300 would obviously be too low cause my daily existance requires 1379.1 and I have a moderate activity level, so you would multiply that by 1.55 which gives me 2137.605 which is what I would need to maintain so you would subtract that by 500 which gives me 1637.605 so is that the final number I would need to LOSE weight, Im getting confused cause 100 different websites tell me 900 different things, which ones do I listen to !?

Thanks for all the help!

There are a bunch of different methods that should lead to the same result.

You can include exercise when you select your activity level. This works best if you do a similar amount of exercise every day. Subtract 500 calories from that number.

You can NOT include exercise in your activity level and base it only on non-exercise activities. This works better if you don't exercise every day or are sedentary except for exercise. Eat 500 calories less than this number on non-exercise days. Log exercise you do and eat those calories back on exercise days.

That's the mathematics of it. However, you still may not be able to lose a pound a week. You are already at a healthy weight. If you are eating healthy and exercising and not losing, you may be at the weight you are meant to be at. This doesn't mean you can't change what your body looks like. You can certainly become more fit and/or look more toned, but you don't necessarily have to lose weight to do that. Check out the pictures at mybodygallery.com -- bodies can look very different even at the same height/weight. I know I"m repeating myself, but have you considered setting a body fat percentage goal instead of a weight goal? It might suit your purposes better.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

By the looks of things, your doing very well, don't beat yourself up over this. enjoy life, enjoy your workouts, relax........

My TDEE - 20% is a whopping 2000 calories. I was eating this many and losing 2lbs per month. So, something's not right. I dropped to 1700 and still was not losing even a pound a week. Yes, I was measuring my food and tracking every single bite for you doubters. I finally dropped to 1400 cals and am finally losing about 2lbs a week. I have a lot to lose, so my doctor has approved this amount for me even though my BMR is 1960.

Those calculations didn't work for me, so I doubt they apply to everyone. You just have to figure out how much you can eat and still lose and stick to that amount.

2500 - 20% is 2000. That's a 500 calorie deficit. If you're currently eating 1400 calories and losing 2 pounds a week then your TDEE is roughly 2400. Not so far from the estimated 2500 you used in the first place.

1200 to 1300 would obviously be too low cause my daily existance requires 1379.1 and I have a moderate activity level, so you would multiply that by 1.55 which gives me 2137.605 which is what I would need to maintain so you would subtract that by 500 which gives me 1637.605 so is that the final number I would need to LOSE weight, Im getting confused cause 100 different websites tell me 900 different things, which ones do I listen to !?

Thanks for all the help!

A lot of these calculators use slightly different inputs. It sounds like 1,600 to 1,700 would be right for you. If after say 4 weeks (to take into account water weight fluctuations) you are finding you are losing slower or faster than expected, tweak up or down by say 100 calories as appropriate.