What is your height and current weight. Have you figured out your TDEE and BMR? There are a ton of calculators for it out there. Typically you don't want to be less than a 20% cut of your TDEE if you are trying to lose and you are not trying to lose it sounds like. My TDEE is 2200 and I eat anywhere from 1780-2000 calories depending on the day and I lose. Check out the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group on here and read the stickies at the top and you will get all the info you need and more. 1200 is definitely way too low if you just want to maintain, you will probably need 2000 or more.

I was originally doing 1200 calories and I lost about 6 pounds in a couple weeks but now I'm focusing on building muscles so I'm eating 1500 calories a day with a focus on protein. It was actually pretty hard to get use to eating just that couple hundred extra calories but I think its helped a lot. I feel better and I'm definitely becoming more toned eating that much and lifting weights. I completely believe in eating if you feel hungry, depriving yourself is never the answer!

I'm 5'7" and 124lb. (Body fat calculators online give me anywhere between 20-25% [although I feel pretty confident 25% is more accurate...]) I just used that TDEE calculator (but excluded actual workouts, just because I like logging those for motivation ) and it set my calories to 2179. This just seems so high to me! If I actually ate this, how could I make sure that it's going toward muscle and not fat?

I work part time (full time on some days) as a case manager with refugees. I am sometimes sitting at a desk, but often walking up and down the halls making copies, carrying car seats out to the car, (I walk from the staff parking lot upstairs to the office and back at least 3 times a day), walk a block or so to various public buildings with clients. Showing clients how to use kitchen appliances in their homes... When I come home, I cook some, clean a little bit, and then lounge about for hours.

If I set MFP to maintain and activity level as "lightly active" it gives me 1820 calories. "Active" gives me 1960.

I would like to "tone up" a little at home through yoga, calisthenics, and light cardio. No gym.

Any suggestions? Should I follow the TDEE calculator and eat back my workouts (since I didn't include them), or should I follow MFP?

I'm 5'7" and 124lb. (Body fat calculators online give me anywhere between 20-25% [although I feel pretty confident 25% is more accurate...]) I just used that TDEE calculator (but excluded actual workouts, just because I like logging those for motivation ) and it set my calories to 2179. This just seems so high to me! If I actually ate this, how could I make sure that it's going toward muscle and not fat?

I work part time (full time on some days) as a case manager with refugees. I am sometimes sitting at a desk, but often walking up and down the halls making copies, carrying car seats out to the car, (I walk from the staff parking lot upstairs to the office and back at least 3 times a day), walk a block or so to various public buildings with clients. Showing clients how to use kitchen appliances in their homes... When I come home, I cook some, clean a little bit, and then lounge about for hours.

If I set MFP to maintain and activity level as "lightly active" it gives me 1820 calories. "Active" gives me 1960.

I would like to "tone up" a little at home through yoga, calisthenics, and light cardio. No gym.

Any suggestions? Should I follow the TDEE calculator and eat back my workouts (since I didn't include them), or should I follow MFP?

i'd start your own thread if i were you so you get more responses....

but your activity level sounds right at lightly active.

That's what I needed to know. Thanks!