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what are your calorie goals?
miladymarathoner
Posts: 78 Member
I used all sorts of online calculators to calculate my BMR. They all put it at around 1350. I tried to measure my body fat percentage also. I used calipers and measurements coupled with online calculators. I got such wildly varying results. I got between 20% and 28%. Really??? That is not helpful.
So I input my best guess of BF% (25%) into the BMR calculator. I got 1350 kcals per day. However, it seems like I don't lose weight eating that. If I eat 1500, my maintenance calories, I start to gain.
I finally scrapped the calculators and decided to experiment and see what works for me. Apparently, what works for me is to aim for 1,000 kcals. I dropped a half pound in a few days. That sounds crazy but I think I know two reasons it may not be.
First, perhaps in aiming for 1,000 kcals, I am underestimating my actual kcal intake, and therefore eating significantly more than I think. For example, maybe I think I eat 1500 kcals, but it's more like 2,000.
Second, maybe the calculators aren't as accurate for people who are extra-short. It seems like once a person isn't squarely in the middle of the typical range of height/weight, charts aren't as accurate on an individual basis.
When I think back to when I was at a lower weight and maintained, I probably ate about 1,000 kcals to maintain, and maybe even less to lose.
Anyone else have problems trying to figure this out?
So I input my best guess of BF% (25%) into the BMR calculator. I got 1350 kcals per day. However, it seems like I don't lose weight eating that. If I eat 1500, my maintenance calories, I start to gain.
I finally scrapped the calculators and decided to experiment and see what works for me. Apparently, what works for me is to aim for 1,000 kcals. I dropped a half pound in a few days. That sounds crazy but I think I know two reasons it may not be.
First, perhaps in aiming for 1,000 kcals, I am underestimating my actual kcal intake, and therefore eating significantly more than I think. For example, maybe I think I eat 1500 kcals, but it's more like 2,000.
Second, maybe the calculators aren't as accurate for people who are extra-short. It seems like once a person isn't squarely in the middle of the typical range of height/weight, charts aren't as accurate on an individual basis.
When I think back to when I was at a lower weight and maintained, I probably ate about 1,000 kcals to maintain, and maybe even less to lose.
Anyone else have problems trying to figure this out?
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Replies
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Mine is 1200 calories. I saw thread where a woman said this was her calorie count and most of the people where rude and just said she should eat more. It's so nice to have a group of us petite ladies who understadn that at our size 1200 isn't an unreasonable calorie count.0
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I'm 5'2 and 1200 kcals works just fine for me, to gain I'll have to eat 1500+. I once ate 1000kcal, sure, I dropped a pound the very next day, but I really don't think it's healthy in the long term. Especially when one works out.
May I ask for a link for that online body fat percentage calculator? I'm curious. I have a digital scale that supposed to measure it, but it says it's ~18%... Hard to believe when I look like 35% :huh:0 -
I have a 1000-1200 cal/day goal. I exercise and this is what works for me to lose and once at goal to maintain. I am not sure about any body fat calculator or caliper device. I think the only true body fat measure is the one they put you in a tank of water and see the displacement for the % fat. Not sure why u need this number. It is fun to know but will it change anything u r doing to make it less???0
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Nah, as I said, I'm just curious
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I use the calculators on Fat2fitradio.com
They have a couple that use measurements to estimate.
I wanted to know because it changes your BMR if you have more or less lean body mass compared to body fat. But at this point, I think you're right, Nyusha, I'm not going to get a really accurate measurement right now.
Usually when I have dropped my kcals low to 1,000, I take every 3rd day to up my kcals a bit. Like, one extra snack to bump it up to 1200 or so. It keeps my body happy and out of panic/starvation mode. And then eventually my body settles into a nice weight and I just maintain at 1,200 cals or so.0 -
I am trying to stick to 1200 calories. I was doing well before Christmas and need to get back on track now. It is so nice to see a group for shorties. I am 5'2'' and about 120lbs, people often assume at that weight I don't have anything to lose. I am currently doing the 30 day shred and trying to become strong and have less fat. I want a body fat calculator because I am quote muscular and I want to make sure I am losing fat not muscle. My scales say I have 24% body fat but I was measured by calipers at the gym and was placed much lower and in the 'athletic' range. It can be confusing so I will try the we site suggested. Thanks0
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So happy there's a group that won't crucify my calorie goal. It's so hard when you're short. Right now I am 5'1 and 111 pounds. I want to get down to 98-100.
I'm aiming to net 1000kcal a day. So with Jillian workout dvds (RI30 for the moment), I end up eating around 1200. I'm assuming though that I am underestimating my calories eaten and over estimating my calorie burn.
I used to be 140lbs and got down to 107 by netting around 1000kcal. I'm hoping to have similar success.0 -
I used to be 140lbs and got down to 107 by netting around 1000kcal. I'm hoping to have similar success.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Very impressive weight loss! Great job!!!0 -
knt6742 - that's exactly why we started this group!! We can be honest about our weight-loss strategies without being worried about people who just don't get it.0
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I recently increased mine. I thought my maintenance was around 1500 (MFP said 1470 - 1480), so when I was losing weight I was eating around 1280 (it varied), but using the TDEE calculation formula with my last 10 weeks of data supposedly my TDEE is more like 1700. I never tried to calculate it before, but when I lost weight before it did seem to come off awfully fast, probably too fast. I'm just trying to cut down a little bit more, and I've started strength training as well, so I'm going to try 1400 for a few weeks and see how that goes.0
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I used to be 140lbs and got down to 107 by netting around 1000kcal. I'm hoping to have similar success.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Very impressive weight loss! Great job!!!
Thank you!0 -
I recently increased my intake as well, current goal is 1300. I guess my TDEE went up or something, because I started gaining weight despite eating 1000~1200 cals... Now I'm eating more and my weight goes down again 0
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My goal is 1200, but I actually eat about 1700cals a day because I breastfeed my 3 month old son and need to figure in the calories that breastfeeding burns (about 400-500). I've been doing it for a week and so far so good! The only problem is that I don't have a scale in my house so I can't track my progress every week. I probably won't be able to for another two weeks....which is probably good, I don't want to obsess over the scale!0
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My current goal is around 1350~1450. I have increased it from 1200~1250 because I wasn't losing anything at the previous range despite not eating back calories. That means I was sometimes netting below BMR. I think my body may have been starving so I'm upping my calories and I'll see whether I will start losing again.0
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Love your pic, ochibi. Cutest coat ever! :flowerforyou:0
This discussion has been closed.