Am I Undereating???

HillaryAnnMaroney
HillaryAnnMaroney Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Okay, so I went to fitnessmagazine.com and took a quiz that is supposed to tell you your caloric needs for my body and activity level. It said that I need over 2500 calories, according to my activity level. I have been eating around 1300-1500 calories a day. Am I doing my body a disservice by undereating that much? I'm pretty active. I exercise about 5 days a week, by either going to the gym or walking over five miles a day. I don't want to kill my metabolism... I'll link the website below so you guys can see for yourself. Please, let me know. Thanks!:smile:

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/bmr/

Replies

  • alg324
    alg324 Posts: 8 Member
    Yes you are under eating. However, the 2500 is your TDEE - the total calories you need to get you through your day. In order to lose weight, you need to subtract 20%.

    2500 x 0.80 = 2000 calories

    If you eat 2000 calories a day, you should lose weight.

    Recalculate every 5-10 lbs. lost
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    I used thr calculator and it gave me similar results to the one I use at fit2fatradio.com. Those numbers have been working for me so I would suggest you eat at a deficit from the number given to you. If you are nervous, maybe raise your caloric intake to 1800 for a week you can see what happens and then adjust from there.

    undereating can cause big damage - loss of lean body mass is the biggest issue for weight loss since lean body mass fuels your metabolism and when you lose LBM your metabolism slows. Eventually, you will stall and then gain at the same caloric intake.
  • HillaryAnnMaroney
    HillaryAnnMaroney Posts: 15 Member
    Thank you, guys! I may have to start eating more. I really don't want to damage myself :P:smile:
  • IseGreene
    IseGreene Posts: 5 Member
    I got a huge number. just wanted to see how accurate but I would recommend u go to your nearest medical facility that has a bmr machine and fitness physical. they getactual readings of ur bmr, body fat test, oxygen levels and show you exactly where u retain the most fat and what excercises will benefit you. Been doing that test for over 5 years and my numbersare always accurate but when I saw these number.....no way can I eat those calories....I would gain weight. hope that helps.
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
    I did the Quiz, and it showed that I should be eating 2145 Calories per day. MFP has me set at 2,000 Calories so it sounds pretty close to me.
    I did set my Activity level at Moderate.

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