Trying to figure out the correct amount of calories to eat?!

Try this calculator: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Then, once you have your TDEE, subtract about 20% from that to create a deficit, and you're all set.

How are you calculating calorie burns? MFP & machines are using "Guesstimates" .... sometimes these numbers are grossly exaggerated. A heart rate monitor should be more accurate (height, weight, age, gender, AND exertion level are all factors).

Try stepping down the calories you eat back ..... to say 2/3 .... see if this gets things rolling.

How long have you been logging for? It takes time

What's your age, height and weight? We need to know this to do some math.


Basically you can work out your BMR (base metabolic weight) with something like http://www.calculator.org/calculate-online/health-fitness/basal-metabolic-rate.aspx

I'm 5"4, 132 pounds and 25 so my BMR is 1400 cals - this is what my body burns each day to just keep me alive. Yey body!

Then you times that by an activity level to get your TDEE. For me I times by 1.5 (moderate exercise 3 - 5 times a week), this is a bit conservative/realistic = 2100.

Then I want to lose weight, so I create a deficit of between 10 - 25 %. At 20%= about 1600 cals per day and I DON'T eat my exercise cals, because I've already factored them in. UNLESS (the big unless) my NET is going to be less than 1400 cals, because then I'm eating below my BMR. E.G. If I burn 500 cals in a workout, and eat 1600, 1600 - 500 = 1100 net, less than my body needs to keep me alive. So I'll eat 300 exercise cals to hit my BMR.

Remember as you lose weight your BMR will decrease (if I was 5kg lighter it would be about 1300 cals) so you need to keep recalculating.


MFP throws a bit of a spanner in the above, because it doesn't factor in your exercise cals to your activity level. So most people are at a sedentary level (BMR x 1.2) + their exercise cals. So lets do the above like that too:

BMR = 1400 x 1.2 (Desk job!) = TDEE = 1600.
Creating a deficit there of 20% = 1280 cals. If I didn't do any exercise and ate this I would still lose weight at the same rate as above. But I know from doing that I'd be STARVING. So then I'd add and eat my exercise cals on any given day too


Things to think about if you feel like your doing the above correctly and not getting results:
- Are you accurately logging all your food and exercise (I'm talking weighing everything and HRMing correctly) estimates screw us all over
- Have you given it enough time. You might not lose weight every week, but over a couple of months the change is noticeable
- Scales are B.S. are you taking your measurements and your photos too? often these are much better trackers of changes in your body than stupid numbers!

It says it should be 2599. Is that with my exercise calories counted in, too??

Yep, that's where the options for activity level come in. That means you need 2599 calories to maintain your weight given your level of exercise.

Also, +1 Stormborn25's post.

So I should put my calories as 1,800 & eat that, no matter how much exercise I do or don't do?

If your TDEE is 2600, eating at 1800 is a pretty honkin' big deficit. You don't have much you want to lose. Aim for 10-20% below TDEE, not 30% below. You don't have enough excess body fat to support a large deficit.

So I should put my calories as 1,800 & eat that, no matter how much exercise I do or don't do?

If your TDEE is 2600, eating at 1800 is a pretty honkin' big deficit. You don't have much you want to lose. Aim for 10-20% below TDEE, not 30% below. You don't have enough excess body fat to support a large deficit.

1880 was suggested if her TDEE is 2250 = a 20% deficit. I don't think her TDEE is 2600, otherwise she's been eating at a 30% deficit with no loss for a month.

It's obviously a case of adjustment if she starts losing too fast and ensuring accurate logging as well :flowerforyou:

I just weighed myself & I... have lost NO WEIGHT.

What am I doing wrong here?!

Well, if you're on the east coast and just weighed yourself at 6:30 pm, you're also weighing every bit of food and drink you've consumed today and not yet expelled from your body.

For better consistency, weigh yourself first thing in the morning, without clothes, after going to the bathroom.

With the amount of weight you have to lose, progress WILL be slow. Probably about a half pound a week, and that's ideal. Scales, even ones that have decimal points, aren't always sensitive enough to show that slight of a change... I know my digital one has a two pound "memory" and will show the same weight unless it's two pounds more or less than it was the last time I weighed. It's supposed to do that so it doesn't show ever minor fluctuation, but it's frustrating if you want to see the number go down. I have to get on the scale holding a couple of full shampoo bottles or a cat or something to "erase" the last weight.

And most of all, track your progress through other ways. Fitness goals, measurements, how clothes fit, and photos are much better than the scale. There's been loads of people who've dropped a pants size without losing a pound.

My tdee is 1293 - 20% = 1044 calories a day.

Are you sure 1293 isn't your BMR? It sounds low for TDEE..

Dear, I know it can be frustrating, and usually trying for the first time, you get a lot of weight which is a great motivator... until you plateau. But not losing on the first attempt is annoying!
I use my RESTING BMR. Which for me is 1569, I am taller & weigh more.
I eat 1200 calories through the week and 1700 calories on a weekend, I see a Dietician and she advised me to cycle up and down one week at 1200 the other at 1700, but personally I cannot eat more than 1200 though the week.
I do 3 x spin classes a week (50 mins) and burn around 600- 650 calories;
I do strength training burning 450 calories three days a week.
Doing this I can lose 1 kg (2.20462 lbs) a week.

Everyone is different though, BUT I think if you work out your BMR if you have not already, and use that at your base it will be best... always put your level, unless you do something overtly strenuous as the lowest level sedentary so you can create the highest deficit!

Hope this works