Confusing Calories

hopejohnstone
hopejohnstone Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I'm faaaaaaairly new to this whole thing. For the past two months I've been really focusing on losing weight. For the first month, the weight dropped off fairly quickly (albeit I wasn't eating near 1200 cals a day), however this past month the weightloss has stopped. Last weekend I upped my calories to 1400 a day and have been sticking close to this number. I exericse 3 to 5 times a week and try to eat back those calories.

Is 1400 right for me? I'm and 18 year old female, currently 62kg (hoping to get to 55kg) and am 166cm tall. After reading the thread that for the life of me I cannot remember what it's called, but it is undoubtedly the most linked one on the forum, I worked out me my TDEE to be 2282. Is that right? So therefore I should be eating 500 cals less than that?

Replies

  • SaffSaad
    SaffSaad Posts: 81
    1400 cal is really low for you and that's why you can't lose anymore. Because you don't have that much weight to lose, you really don't want to go more than 15% deficit. So if your TDEE is 2282 -15% thats 1939 calories a day.
  • hopejohnstone
    hopejohnstone Posts: 20
    1400 cal is really low for you and that's why you can't lose anymore. Because you don't have that much weight to lose, you really don't want to go more than 15% deficit. So if your TDEE is 2282 -15% thats 1939 calories a day.

    that all makes sense, that is just such a high number it scares me! hahaha
    I suppose I had to eat much more than that to now have weight I want to lose.
  • hopejohnstone
    hopejohnstone Posts: 20
    should I continue to eat back my exercise calories?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    should I continue to eat back my exercise calories?

    not if you're doing your TDEE-15%
  • hopejohnstone
    hopejohnstone Posts: 20
    should I continue to eat back my exercise calories?

    not if you're doing your TDEE-15%

    so essentially I need to eat 1939 calories in total? But my net could be less as a result of exercising?
  • angieleighbyrd
    angieleighbyrd Posts: 989 Member
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    this is the most accurate calculator I've found. you could either set it as sedentary and eat back your cals or set it with your activity level and don't eat back your exercise calories
  • ipiddock
    ipiddock Posts: 97 Member
    Follow MFPs guide. TDEE - 15% as a goal is fine. If you exercise you earn food as a prize, as long as you match the numbers in MFP you'll be a winner.
  • hopejohnstone
    hopejohnstone Posts: 20
    MFP gave me a calorie goal of 1410, when setting it to lost 1lb a week, but TDEE -15% is ~500 more than that? This is why I'm confused, I'm not sure what's the best one to follow
  • angieleighbyrd
    angieleighbyrd Posts: 989 Member
    MFP gave me a calorie goal of 1410, when setting it to lost 1lb a week, but TDEE -15% is ~500 more than that? This is why I'm confused, I'm not sure what's the best one to follow


    if you follow mfp's guidelines and not your own then eat back your exercise calories. mfp is designed for you to eat them back
  • hopejohnstone
    hopejohnstone Posts: 20



    if you follow mfp's guidelines and not your own then eat back your exercise calories. mfp is designed for you to eat them back

    So I should stick with what I'm doing?
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    should I continue to eat back my exercise calories?

    not if you're doing your TDEE-15%

    so essentially I need to eat 1939 calories in total? But my net could be less as a result of exercising?

    But with the TDEE method, those numbers are all "net." It assumes you counted all your regular activities, including scheduled exercise, in that calculation.

    Eating back excercise calories only makes sense if you didn't include exercise in your activity level when you decided what to pick. If you *did* include all your exercise to conclude that you're lightly or moderately (or very) active, then exercise is already figured in.
  • Ankinha
    Ankinha Posts: 4 Member
    With the Scooby calculation it says that I should eat 1669 a day and that my BMR is 1,518. Do I then change my goal manually and enter this amount into the net calorie section or where would I do that? Also I have a Body Media Armband. On a normal day with a bit of exercise I burn around 2,000 calories. Should I aim for a deficit of 500 per day in order to lose weight?
    On the Scooby system does it mean if I am allowed to eat 1,669 then I DON'T eat back my exercise calories, correct?

    Thanks for your help on this.

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