Taller Ladies (5'8 and up) How Many Calories do you eat??

Hi, mariejoy. I am between 5'10-5'11 and started with 75 pounds to lose. I have been working toward a healthier lifestyle for 5 months and I have lost more than 40 pounds. I currently have MFP set for 1450 and I eat back exercise calories (if I am hungry).

When I started I was not exercising and I kept my calories at the threshold MFP suggested for -2 lbs a week. When my calories kept getting decreased I added more exercise started to eat back some of the calories (or sometimes all). It is not unhealthy to lose 100 pounds in a little over a year, but it is likely wiser to take your time.

While some people might be successful losing lots of weight in a year, they often are under a doctors care. Also you have to be mindful that when you lose weight you are also losing some muscle. You want to make sure that you are eating enough so that your body has the needed calories to repair itself, especially if you are doing lots of cardio and strength training.

I don't know about you, but I never want to find myself in a position of having to lose lots of weight again. Therefore not giving myself an end date for when the weight must be off is healthier for me. I don't want to get focused on a number on the scale but instead reduce my quantity of food, increase the quality of what I'm eating, and increase my strength and endurance.

My 2 cents: Reduce your planned cardio. Two hours everyday is appropriate if you are an athlete training for a season, but for the rest of us it is hard to maintain 10-12 hours in the gym every week. It is one thing if you are counting all of your daily walking toward your cardio goal, but to be on machines or out running 60 minutes is plenty. On the elliptical the machine always tells me I burn 600 or more calories an hour. It will be hard to learn appropriate portion sizes if you are still eating 2500 calories (1300 net because of exercise). My general rule of thumb is 30 minutes of something everyday, 45-60 minutes most days and no more than 90 minutes (strength and cardio session, usually on a weekend).

I'm 5'8 (1.73m) with a similar amount to lose, and my goal (at the 1.5 pounds/week rate) is currently 1620 - that's on sedentary, though, because I use a FitBit to track my activity and a HRM for intentional exercise, which I do 6 days a week. I generally end up eating around 1900-2200 calories a day (sometimes more if I've done a lot of exercise) and still net just under 1620. You could probably even get away with eating a bit more, even if you reduce your cardio - I find that I often lose more steadily when I eat just a bit more!