How many calories do you eat a day?
Replies
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Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.
I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)
What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?
At 260lbs, exercising 4/5 days per week I have you at around 3900 calories per day TDEE. I looked at your page and saw you have about 130lbs to lose. For you at this stage you can have a pretty big deficit. I see no issue with 1200 calories per day. That said I would go no lower. As you get closer to your goal your deficit obviously has to get smaller since there will less fat on you for your body to draw energy from.0 -
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I eat about 2100 per day - eat back most of my exercise calories. Have been losing about 1-2 lbs per month for the last 5 months.0
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You do realize that what other people are doing will offer very little meaningful information about what you should be doing, right?
This.
And what is the point of posting this? I honestly don't mean to be rude (because I can be), but are you trying to tell people how awesome you are because you hardly eat anything? Are you proud of this? You know it's not sustainable, right?
Seriously people! A 1200 calorie diet... Not healthy or sustainable! I am so tired of seeing this post! EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! Your age, body frame, metabolism and choice in food dictate what is healthy and sustainable. I have been using MFP for 615 days and have maintained a diet less than 1200 calories a day for over 99.5% of that time. During this time I lost 87 pounds, went from a size 18 to a size 0, overcame Type II diabetes, am full of energy and have NEVER felt healthier. My doctor says I am one of her "success" stories that she shares with other patients. YES I am PROUD of this!
I am a strong advocate for reading product labels, cutting sugar (diabetes led me to cut sugars and yes I use sugar substitutes!) and eating fresh and healthy. The only drawback to my diet is I eat the same foods nearly every day... but I give myself a sugar free dessert every night as a snack and I love the foods I eat!
I have learned to take all these posting of "you are eating too little" with a grain of salt, and do my thing... but to a new user/follower in MFP, comments like these are not always on target for everyone. We all need to learn and find what works best for us.
Sorry if I went off on a rant here... my button was pushed! Have a great day all! :-)
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Hi OP,
I am also 5'3", and MFP has me at 1200 calories. I eat a minimum (net) of 1200 or close to it, and I eat half of my excercise calories back as MPF tends to overstate the calories burned. I did notice, and this might be just me, alothough I have read many informative thread on here that show I may not be alone, that if I don't eat 1200 net my weightloss stalled. It was mostly water wieght or whatever, and I would feel like crap. I suggest you eat at least some of your exercise calories back and alwalys net 1200 minimum.0 -
On 10/28 the OP said she "felt weird and spacy when she didn't eat enough" in a different post.
Honey, you are going to get sick. Or faint on the treadmill. Listen to all these nice people, and EAT MORE.
Losing weight is not a race. Set your goals on 1 or 1 1/2 pounds per week. Eat back your exercise calories.
Why do I believe this? See my ticker - 37 weeks on MFP. And I've never felt "weird and spacy".0 -
The OP regularly posts about how little she eats. I think she thinks it's something to be proud of. She also regularly tells other members to eat tiny amounts and not to eat back their exercise calories. Apparently, 'eat more to weigh less is crap' and 1800 calories is 'eating like a man' - quoted from another post. Your comments are wasted.
In answer to your question OP, I am the same age as you, only 10lb lighter than you, and I lose weight eating 2000 calories. I reckon I'll be more successful than you too, due to much less muscle wastage.
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Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.
I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)
What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?
At 260lbs, exercising 4/5 days per week I have you at around 3900 calories per day TDEE. I looked at your page and saw you have about 130lbs to lose. For you at this stage you can have a pretty big deficit. I see no issue with 1200 calories per day. That said I would go no lower. As you get closer to your goal your deficit obviously has to get smaller since there will less fat on you for your body to draw energy from.
Her TDEE will be lower than that because of the weight she is at
i agree....at that height and weight her sedentary TDEE will be around 2400 calories. Add 1 hour cardio every day you have 200-500 exercise cals on top of that depending on how hard she works and what she is doing. So a max TDEE of 2900 cals....not 3900 lol. Unless 3900 was a typo.
So for a moderate deficit OP should be eating around 2100-2400 cals with exercise. 1900 with no exercise (rest day)0 -
You do realize that what other people are doing will offer very little meaningful information about what you should be doing, right?
This.
And what is the point of posting this? I honestly don't mean to be rude (because I can be), but are you trying to tell people how awesome you are because you hardly eat anything? Are you proud of this? You know it's not sustainable, right?
Well no, MFP said 1,200 is what would be good for me to eat. Also, I feel like I do eat a good amount.
Like for breakfast I had 2 fried eggs....and a buttered Thomas Muffin...
Lunch Ill have a tuna/mayo sando
and dinner a huge salad and LOTS AND LOTS of chicken.... Now thats a decent amount of food- and If I get hungry I will still have more.
To your question: The point of posting this is to see out of curiosity what others are eating. Thats all. Thank You for responding though.
Hi there, I took your original post to be one of curiosity; I don't base my weight loss on anyone else, however, aren't we here to share? To see how others succeed? Fail? Can't we learn from one another? I have had the same question as you.
I eat between 1400 and 1800 cals 5 days a week (occasionally I throw in a 2000 cal day) and 500-600 cals the other two days. And no, I'm not frickin' starving myself. Do I get hungry? At times. Does it kill me? Not yet. Does it screw up my blessed metabolism? Quite the opposite.
So. I've lost 23 lbs in 4 weeks. I'm aiming for a full 60 lbs by year end, to get me back into a more healthy range. Whether or not I reach that goal spot on is less of an issue to me than having something to aim for. I will re-evaluate when I get there.
I don't eat back exercise calories. But I'm not super strict with my daily calorie goal, either. If I want to eat, I eat. I work out in the form of walking, biking and horseback riding every day that the weather allows. This averages out to about 5 times a week, probably.
I think you're doing fine. Good luck going forward!0 -
I'm sorry so many people are posting snarky anwers to your legitimate question. I am similar in size to you and MFP has put me at 1300 calories/day to lose 2 punds/week. I, however, feel very hungry on this amount of calories, so I am struggling to stay with it.0
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5'5'' girl
172lbs
currently eating 1600+ cals
lift heavy weights....you should try it...it's addictive hehe0 -
5'7
275 pounds
Calorie goal: 1900-2200/day
I will lose anywhere between .5- lbs - 2 lb/week following this.
My first go around with this I lost 64 pounds in 8 months eating this much exercising 5x per week 1 hour a day (weights and cardio) . I only regained a lot back because my father passed back in March and I stopped following my calorie goal..... and ate too much because of grief. Emotional eating......it can get ya. :brokenheart:0 -
5'8" female with a CW of 199lbs. I eat 1450 calories a day + at least half of all exercise calories that I burn. I don't really use the calorie amount as a strict restriction as much as a guideline though. I occasionally go over, but that balances out overall with when I go under!0
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Oh wow yeah!!! Big time typo... Meant to say 3000 TDEE with 4-5 days exercising! Thanks for catching that!Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.
I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)
What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?
At 260lbs, exercising 4/5 days per week I have you at around 3900 calories per day TDEE. I looked at your page and saw you have about 130lbs to lose. For you at this stage you can have a pretty big deficit. I see no issue with 1200 calories per day. That said I would go no lower. As you get closer to your goal your deficit obviously has to get smaller since there will less fat on you for your body to draw energy from.
Her TDEE will be lower than that because of the weight she is at
i agree....at that height and weight her sedentary TDEE will be around 2400 calories. Add 1 hour cardio every day you have 200-500 exercise cals on top of that depending on how hard she works and what she is doing. So a max TDEE of 2900 cals....not 3900 lol. Unless 3900 was a typo.
So for a moderate deficit OP should be eating around 2100-2400 cals with exercise. 1900 with no exercise (rest day)
655.1 + (9.56 x weight in kg) + (1.85 x height in cm) - (4.676 x age in yrs)
655.1 + (9.56 x 118) + (1.85 x 160) - (4.676 x 26) = 1958
1958 = BMR
1950 x 1.55 (3-5 days per week exercise) = 3020
1950 x 1.2 ( sedentary) = 23400 -
1,200 calories is the recommended amount to lose weight. she is not under eating.0
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I'm 5'7, 170lbs and I eat 1800 a day. I don't work out as much as you. You should eat more.0
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1,200 calories is the recommended amount to lose weight. she is not under eating.
If you use MFP the way it is designed, you eat a NET of 1200 calories, which means you eat back exercise calories. OP isn't.0 -
I'm 5'0". I am eating 1,800 calories a day. Still losing.
I weight train 5 days a week with 30 min of cardio 6 days a week.0 -
MFP is quite notorious for setting calories goals FAR too low, regardless of height and weight. For example, it told me to eat 1200, and my BMR (the bare amount of calories I need to LIVE) is 1280. And I am extremely tiny, only 5 feet. So unless you are smaller than me, or wheelchair-bound, it is almost a CERTAINTY that you are eating too little. (This can result in lean muscle loss, chronic fatigue, metabolism damage, and bingeing due to over-restriction.)
Go to
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
and enter your height/weight/activity level.
Subtract 10-20% from the number it calculates for you, and that is the number of calories you should be eating a day in order to lose weight.0 -
I'm 5'7" and have at least another 50 pounds to lose. Oddly, I lose very little on 1200-1400 net calories. I'm cold all the time, grouchy, no energy, and unhappy. I've done this for months before noticing I lost MORE weight eating more while visiting family over holidays...and reading about TDEE - 20%. I have been eating around 1800-1900 calories per day (light activity) (TDEE - 20% 1850 calories) and lost 2.7 pounds last week and 3.1 the week before. Before that I lost NOTHING in the month of January doing under 1400. With that said, everyone is different!0
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I am losing weight at about 1700 a day. My goal is 1650 and I try to stay under 1750. Occoasionally, I go over (like all weekend this week!) and sometimes I am under. MOST days, I'm right where I want to be. I've been losing about 1-2lbs per week. The only "exercise" I get is moving around at work.
female
165Lbs
5'4"
1200 is low as it is and if you aren't eating back your exercise calories on top of that, you're doing your body a serious disservice. PLEASE consider increasing your calories. The people who advocate TDEE-20% know what they're talking about. It took me a while, but I'm listening to them now and I am so much better off for it. If you continue to deprive your body of necessary fuel, your brain will kick your survival instincts into overdrive and tell you that you need to eat ALL of the foods. This is where a lot of people fail at "dieting." They restrict too much and their brain panics and eventually convinces them to overeat, they feel terrible about themselves, are convinced that they've failed and return to their old eating habits. PLEASE treat your body better!!!0 -
I'm 5'8 and weigh in at 215 pounds right now. My calorie intake has been 1,200 a day. I have a desk job so I am not active a crap ton other than working out about 30 minutes 5x a week. I do eat back my calories burned most days, some days I am not hungry and I do not eat them back. I've lost 28ish pounds eating and exercising how I do. Everyone is different though. Somethings that work for me, but might not work for others. You really should eat back some of your workout calories. It's not good to be starving yourself.0
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2040 or less..0
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You do realize that what other people are doing will offer very little meaningful information about what you should be doing, right?
This.
And what is the point of posting this? I honestly don't mean to be rude (because I can be), but are you trying to tell people how awesome you are because you hardly eat anything? Are you proud of this? You know it's not sustainable, right?
Well no, MFP said 1,200 is what would be good for me to eat. Also, I feel like I do eat a good amount.
Like for breakfast I had 2 fried eggs....and a buttered Thomas Muffin...
Lunch Ill have a tuna/mayo sando
and dinner a huge salad and LOTS AND LOTS of chicken.... Now thats a decent amount of food- and If I get hungry I will still have more.
To your question: The point of posting this is to see out of curiosity what others are eating. Thats all. Thank You for responding though.
But MFP assumes you will eat your exercise calories. The deficit is already built in.
I'm 5' 3", work out 6 days a week, but have a desk job so I sit a lot. I'm currently averaging 2300 calories a day, and I'm still slowly losing weight.0 -
1600-2200 a day, depending on my exercise.
This thread is from last year, by the way.
The original poster might not even still be here.0 -
I'm 5'7" and have at least another 50 pounds to lose. Oddly, I lose very little on 1200-1400 net calories. I'm cold all the time, grouchy, no energy, and unhappy. I've done this for months before noticing I lost MORE weight eating more while visiting family over holidays...and reading about TDEE - 20%. I have been eating around 1800-1900 calories per day (light activity) (TDEE - 20% 1850 calories) and lost 2.7 pounds last week and 3.1 the week before. Before that I lost NOTHING in the month of January doing under 1400. With that said, everyone is different!
You had me until the last line. Not THAT different.0 -
Female
20 years
5'4"
135lb
2000cal+exercise
Though I consider myself to be maintaining my weight, this is actually a 200-calorie deficit and I should be slowly losing.0 -
For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.
I can't believe that on this particular website, people would be critical of the question OP posted. Unreal.
As for OP, I have a net of 1900 calories. And I do think hovering around 1200 calories is playing a dangerous game, unless you have a really controlled diet and workout plan. In your case, it seems that you want too much too soon. I'd say gradually eat at a deficit (maybe 500 below maintenance) and see how your body responds. Just my opinion.
Agreed. People are getting a bit snarky here.0 -
For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.
I can't believe that on this particular website, people would be critical of the question OP posted. Unreal.
As for OP, I have a net of 1900 calories. And I do think hovering around 1200 calories is playing a dangerous game, unless you have a really controlled diet and workout plan. In your case, it seems that you want too much too soon. I'd say gradually eat at a deficit (maybe 500 below maintenance) and see how your body responds. Just my opinion.
I agree...when I first started logging here I read many threads...threw most of the info out but took what I could verify through research and worked on not only my eating plan but also my exercise routines.
Prior to logging on MFP I did the same thing that the OP is doing...not eating enough.
From reading the forums here I also learned real quick...don't ask questions unless you want some harsh responses. If I want to know something...I wait until I find someone that I think will take my questions seriously.
BTW OP...the advice that you are getting worked for me...I lose just as much weight eating 1500 calories as I did 1200. Plus I have more energy to do more intense workouts. At both levels I average 2lbs a week. After another 25lbs I will up my calories to slow the weight loss down for the last 25lbs.
Good luck OP!0
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