help! how many cals a day?

pit404
pit404 Posts: 24
in Health and Weight Loss
My tdee is 1,800 whilst my bmr is 1,500. im 5ft 5 and weight 69kg and 22 years old (female). i need to lose around 9-10 pounds in the next 5 weeks. (approx 1.5/2pounds a week). i have no idea how many cals i should eat a day? im starting my workouts again from today at the gym, which will consist of cardio and weights. I may also try to go to a class once a week. i tried eating 1,200 cals daily with no excersise for 1 month and i didnt lose any weight or inches. so i guess i was eating too little. ive been battling with this equation of how many cals i should eat etc for a longggg time and i just want to see some weightless! any help would be much appreciated

Replies

  • JPal5
    JPal5 Posts: 178
    Try this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
  • pit404
    pit404 Posts: 24
    hey, thanks! i just had a look at it. the calculations really confuse me. ive tried quite a few online etc, but i still dont know how many i should be eating
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Eating anywhere between your BMR and TDEE should result in weightloss.

    But I think aiming to lose 1.5-2 pounds a week is very agressive.
  • JPal5
    JPal5 Posts: 178
    Try TDEE -20% which is how I understand it. I started at the same weight and height as you and I started with 1200 a day and ate my exercise calories back. When the weight loss slowed down at 64Kg's I upped my calories to 1400 and continued exercising and eating those calories back. Whilst I still haven't lost any more weight I have lost inches. I continue to build more muscle and tone which is more important to me than the scale. Why do you need to loose weight so quickly?
  • pit404
    pit404 Posts: 24
    thanks, as my tdee is 1,800 i minus 20% from this? ive been trying to lose weight for around 3-4 months, i went gym 4 times a week etc but didnt lose any weight at all. only toned arms and legs (which is a start). im going away at the end of next month and just want to feel confident in myself i guess. i also hear alot about eating back cals that ive burned. i dont understand the logic behind that, so say i burn 300 cals, i eat an additional 300 throughout the day?
  • LaraMc71
    LaraMc71 Posts: 29 Member
    I just ran your numbers in my system

    1st, I think that you should have been loosing on 1200/day - i think maybe you might start weighing/measuring your portions.

    Numbers I got for you were between 1200 and 1320 depending on the equation.

    Why don't you try 1300 NET calories for a week with 55g of protein.
  • JPal5
    JPal5 Posts: 178
    yes -20% from 1800.

    Someone could probably explain the eating back cals better than I can.

    Just eat well, exercise, hold your head up high and feel confident in yourself. Be happy in the fact that you are doing something for your health. You only have one life. Just be happy.
  • pit404
    pit404 Posts: 24
    thank you. i did try 1,200 but i agree maybe some of my portions were bigger then i thought. however, I've been told by many that maybe 1,200 is too little for me so my body had gone into starvation mode or something like that. if i eat 1,500 calls throughout the day and go to the gym say 4-5 times a week (1,5 hour workouts) do you reckon this is okay? i didnt realise how hard it was to lose weight. for some people they notice pounds coming off but its so stressful when nothing changes

    oh and im a vegetarian so dont really get much protein! so, i bough gold standard whey protien and aim to have that twice a day, with skimmed milk and a banana smoothied in
  • LaraMc71
    LaraMc71 Posts: 29 Member
    I doubt you were in starvation mode at 1200 calories.

    It all really depends on the workouts. Thats why this site is such a great tool - let MFP do some of this Math work for you. When I say 1300 NET calories above, I mean including workouts and eating back those calories. just follow the calories left in your budget found on the Food tab. You may adjust your goals to set the 1300 calories - then your set.

    Try it for 1 week and adjust if you need to.

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