Confused on how many calories I need to be eating!

TinkTribe · January 2014

Hey everyone!

So, I'm 5'4, 222 pounds, and 22 years old and MFP says I need to be eating 1280 calories a day to lose weight. I've been exercising and eating healthy and the scale won't budge. I've had this problem in the past where I eat healthy and workout and see no results whatsoever and it's very frustrating! I went to www.mycaloriecounter.com to see how many calories I should be eating a day and it says I should be eating 2182 based on all my info! Is this correct?? Help me! I want to lose 80 pounds this year but I want to do it the right way and I'm having trouble figuring out my calorie intake.

Thanks in advance

Phoenix_Warrior · January 2014

Read :flowerforyou:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

cingle87 · January 2014

Read :flowerforyou:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Just quoting just incase you missed it.

RachyLovesRattys · January 2014

Hey there! I'm going to tell you something that I once saw on a health show--

The trainer and doctor were both saying, for large scale weight loss (like the 75+ range) it's important to eat the right amount at the right point in your weight loss.

For example, at your current weight- yes, you probably should be eating in the 1,800-2,000 range at least. That's because your body needs more calories to allow your organs to function at that weight. Your BMR (which you can base your calories off of) is a good example of the minimum calories you need to consume (food-exercise should equal minimum calories AT LEAST)

Then, as you lose weight- your BMR lowers progressively (Mine started at something like 1,600 and is now only a measly 1,100). As your BMR lowers, you can lower your calories as well. I'd say every few months, as you lose weight, step it down about 100 calories (never going below 1,200 of course!) Unless you're at 115 pounds and under 5 foot, you shouldn't be starving yourself with 1,200. Your body needs more at this point to live, nevertheless lose weight.

The doctor/trainer both explained that when a person starts at 1,200 calories as their goal- there is no room to step down once the weight starts falling off. That ends up usually stalling the person's weight loss and making them lose their motivation.

So I'd say take a gradual step down in calories and you'll probably notice that once you add back more to your day to day right now-- you'll lose weight. Think of gas in a car....if you've got a truck, the same gas for a Prius isn't going to cut it. But if you fill the truck up, it can probably mow over a Prius! And then you gradually switch to a smaller car to put less gas in, as you lose weight. Sorry for the car reference--but it's always my go to to explain calories!

TinkTribe · January 2014

Hey there! I'm going to tell you something that I once saw on a health show--

The trainer and doctor were both saying, for large scale weight loss (like the 75+ range) it's important to eat the right amount at the right point in your weight loss.

For example, at your current weight- yes, you probably should be eating in the 1,800-2,000 range at least. That's because your body needs more calories to allow your organs to function at that weight. Your BMR (which you can base your calories off of) is a good example of the minimum calories you need to consume (food-exercise should equal minimum calories AT LEAST)

Then, as you lose weight- your BMR lowers progressively (Mine started at something like 1,600 and is now only a measly 1,100). As your BMR lowers, you can lower your calories as well. I'd say every few months, as you lose weight, step it down about 100 calories (never going below 1,200 of course!) Unless you're at 115 pounds and under 5 foot, you shouldn't be starving yourself with 1,200. Your body needs more at this point to live, nevertheless lose weight.

The doctor/trainer both explained that when a person starts at 1,200 calories as their goal- there is no room to step down once the weight starts falling off. That ends up usually stalling the person's weight loss and making them lose their motivation.

So I'd say take a gradual step down in calories and you'll probably notice that once you add back more to your day to day right now-- you'll lose weight. Think of gas in a car....if you've got a truck, the same gas for a Prius isn't going to cut it. But if you fill the truck up, it can probably mow over a Prius! And then you gradually switch to a smaller car to put less gas in, as you lose weight. Sorry for the car reference--but it's always my go to to explain calories!

Thanks for that! That makes sense. So I need to eating 1800-2000 calories now to lose weight and as I lose weight, lower my calorie intake. I'll try doing that. Thanks so much!

Pandora_King · January 2014

If you are not planning on exercising as well, then 1280 sounds fine. If you add exercise to that, you should eat back the calories that you burn. For example, if you burn 200 calories, you should eat a total of 1480 for that day.

A lot of people say "eat more to lose more" and when I first started here, I took that advice. I gained 8 pounds over 3 months on an 1800 calorie diet. Now I am down to 1500 and getting 300 - 700 calories burned a day.

delicious_cocktail · January 2014

MyFitnessPal does some simple math to come up with its caloric targets.

It tops out at 2lbs per week target loss.

There is are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat.

You burn fat through burning more than you consume.

To lose one pound of fat/burn 3,500 calories in a week, you eat 500 less calories per day than you burn. (3,500cals / 7days = 500 cals/day )

To lose two pounds, it's 1,000 cal/day (1,000 calories * 7 days = 7,000 calories or two pounds).

What if you want to lose three pounds a week? Four? All of a sudden you're eating negative calories and starving yourself.

While you want to lose as quickly as possible, the math starts to break down when you go for crazy deficits.

Instead, eat about 20% fewer calories than you burn. This will give you tangible results.

Without seeing your diary, it's hard to know what it happening that you're eating that much of a deficit and not seeing movement. Aiming for such a huge deficit could trigger binging, optimistic measuring, etc.

80 pounds is a pretty aggressive goal. I'm not sure you can do it. But once you get pointed in the right direction, it's just a matter of continuing. You'll be more likely to continue if you're not starving yourself. Dig?

Unless you have a particularly active lifestyle, 2180 is closer to what you burn in a day than what you should be eating each day. Stands to reason as you probably told MFP you want to lose 2 pounds a week and it calculated 2,180 - 1,000 = 1,180 (or 1,280, what's 100 calories between friends?)

1700 would be a more reasonable target for aggressive loss. Add some more physical activity and see how things go.

lrmall01 · January 2014

Help me! I want to lose 80 pounds this year but I want to do it the right way and I'm having trouble figuring out my calorie intake.

Honestly don't let information overload distract you.

Just do something consistent for a few weeks, evaluate your progress, then adjust as necessary. Start with 1280, start with 2000, split the difference and start with 1600 - doesn't matter. It's just a starting point!

Thorbjornn · January 2014

Hey everyone!

So, I'm 5'4, 222 pounds, and 22 years old and MFP says I need to be eating 1280 calories a day to lose weight. I've been exercising and eating healthy and the scale won't budge. I've had this problem in the past where I eat healthy and workout and see no results whatsoever and it's very frustrating! I went to www.mycaloriecounter.com to see how many calories I should be eating a day and it says I should be eating 2182 based on all my info! Is this correct?? Help me! I want to lose 80 pounds this year but I want to do it the right way and I'm having trouble figuring out my calorie intake.

Thanks in advance

Personally I like this calculator http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/girard2.htm but this is just something else to consider.

With your numbers it says your BMR is 1707. Multiply that by the Activity Level Factors. If you multiply you BMR by 1.5, for instance (moderately active) your maint. calories are 2560. To lose 1 lb per week (1 lb = 3500 cals.), the numbers say ~2000 calories/day. Ymmv because all these on-line calculators can be/probably are highly inaccurate. You just have to find some sort of baseline, using maybe two or three different calcs. then tweaking calories. That's what I'm doing.

blueyegirl0712 · January 2014

Read :flowerforyou:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Just quoting just incase you missed it.

page not found is what I get

Confused on how many calories I need to be eating!

Replies

Categories