Am I eating the right amount of calories?

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Amyirene74
Amyirene74 Posts: 63 Member
I am 5'4" and 168.4 lbs right now. I have been in a stall for 3 weeks. Just want to make sure I am eating enough. The only exercise I get is cleaning and chasing kids which I do alot of since I still have 4 kids at home and the younger ones are 3 and 5. My BMR is 1502 and my TDEE is 2065. I have been consuming on average 1400 calories a day. Is that too much, too little, just right? I know I need to exercise more but haven't been able to fit it in regularly. I am working on getting that in. Any ideas?


I should add that I am in menopause due to a hysterectomy so my metabolism is pretty slow right now.

Replies

  • kts3639
    kts3639 Posts: 188 Member
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    You aren't supposed to eat below your BMR, which is what you are currently doing since your BMR is 1502. Your BMR is what your body needs to function at a basic level (organ functions, etc.). Your TDEE factors in all movement, exercise, etc. for the day. So, ideally, you should be eating somewhere between your BMR and TDEE. Not sure how the menopause thing would factor into this though, Hope that helps!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Way too many pieces of information needed in order to properly assess, but I'd start with:

    Are you using a food scale and how is your logging?

    Read this for what may be some insight:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think


    The first step I would take is to get a food scale if you don't have one already. If you DO have one, read the above article anyways, and see what areas of this are applicable to you in terms of accuracy improvements. Monitor results over the next two weeks while implementing the above.


    Regarding BMR, there's nothing special about BMR that says you must eat above it, however I would say that in "most" cases, a reasonable deficit will put you somewhere between BMR and TDEE. But not in all cases.
  • Amyirene74
    Amyirene74 Posts: 63 Member
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    Way too many pieces of information needed in order to properly assess, but I'd start with:

    Are you using a food scale and how is your logging?

    Read this for what may be some insight:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think


    The first step I would take is to get a food scale if you don't have one already. If you DO have one, read the above article anyways, and see what areas of this are applicable to you in terms of accuracy improvements. Monitor results over the next two weeks while implementing the above.


    Regarding BMR, there's nothing special about BMR that says you must eat above it, however I would say that in "most" cases, a reasonable deficit will put you somewhere between BMR and TDEE. But not in all cases.

    Yeah I do weigh everything. I am very diligent about that.