How much should I be eating?

alabella
alabella Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've become a bit skeptical about what myfitnesspal has been recommending, mostly because I keep seeing posts saying that 1200 calories is a stupid goal.

I'm 5'3, 129lbs, and I'm a 19 year old girl.
Myfitnesspal has given me a goal of 1200 calories which is fine but I haven't had much luck getting below 129lbs on this.
I lost 10lbs eating at 1200 calories last year but haven't seen results since. (I ate normally for a while but whenever I eat 1200 calories I don't lose below 129, just whatever I've put on in the meantime).

The only exercise I do at the moment is walking through the week, which I do between 30-60 mins of each day.
I'll be stepping that up a bit to either running or 30DS when I go home, but I'm not gonna go lift weights or anything. Just personal preference.

Any advice?

Replies

  • olliebourque
    olliebourque Posts: 10 Member
    As you lose weight, you have to reduce your calorie intake since you burn less because you are lighter. Recalculate at every 10 pound interval. Also, make sure that you eat the full amount of calories that you have set. Eating too little slows down the metabolism and you plateau. Green Tea is also good to speed up your metabolism and burn a few extra calories. I'm an experienced and successful dieter. I lose the weight but I put it back on. Guess I'm not a successful eater, am I? ;)
  • alabella
    alabella Posts: 36 Member
    I understand that calorie intake should change when you lose, but I really don't want to go below 1200. Thanks though! :/

    And haha tell me about it with the putting it back on thing! Luckily whatever I put on seems to come back off easily enough, so I'm not too bothered about that.
  • heyitsedgar
    heyitsedgar Posts: 7
    Try doing a light jog? That'll burn a little more calories than walking so that could be just what you need
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    I've become a bit skeptical about what myfitnesspal has been recommending, mostly because I keep seeing posts saying that 1200 calories is a stupid goal.

    I'm 5'3, 129lbs, and I'm a 19 year old girl.
    Myfitnesspal has given me a goal of 1200 calories which is fine but I haven't had much luck getting below 129lbs on this.
    I lost 10lbs eating at 1200 calories last year but haven't seen results since. (I ate normally for a while but whenever I eat 1200 calories I don't lose below 129, just whatever I've put on in the meantime).

    The only exercise I do at the moment is walking through the week, which I do between 30-60 mins of each day.
    I'll be stepping that up a bit to either running or 30DS when I go home, but I'm not gonna go lift weights or anything. Just personal preference.

    Any advice?

    your BMI is 22.8 and your TDEE minus 20% is around 1300. you are probably getting to a level where you may need to add some kind of strength training to to build a bit of muscle.

    also log your exercise and keep your net calories close to your goal.

    have you noticed chances in your physical appearance? sometimes the scale doesn't move much but you can see changes.

    look up intermittent fasting, see if there is a technique that you could try, i'm doing 18/6 (18 hour fast 6 hour eating window a day) but 5:2 maybe better for you (2 days a week only 500 cals, and i think you can increase your cals for the 5 days a bit)

    finally - triple check your logging.

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