How many calories should I eat?

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Seeking_Balance_And_Joy
Seeking_Balance_And_Joy Posts: 13
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there,
I know there a lot of posts about people eating "too little" and not losing weight- I will NOT be one of those people. I LOVE food, sometimes a little too much ;)
How many calories should I be eating? I know it is relative BUT, I am 25% body fat, 120 lbs. 5'3" and 21 years old. I am trying to get down to 115 lbs. so that is a loss of five pounds. How many calories should I be eating to lose fat BUT maintain muscle.

I am an open book, so feel free to PM me or ask me on here!
Thanks!

Replies

  • Seeking_Balance_And_Joy
    Seeking_Balance_And_Joy Posts: 13
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    Bump*
  • David_AUS
    David_AUS Posts: 298 Member
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    Any deficit will trigger weight loss - you are already in healthy range so be wary of the scales. Make sure your BMI is accurate 25% seems on the high estimation to me for that height and weight - use calipers is my recommendation and monitor your inches.

    The best way to keep you muscle is use them and make sure you have enough nutrients in your diet to support muscle growth and development.
  • EpsilonGamma
    EpsilonGamma Posts: 96
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    I would say 1300 with no exercise. If you do exercise, you shouId eat half of it back.

    It should take you around 6 weeks to shed it off. This would be a healthy way of doing it.

    Edit: sorry, I didn't see you wanted to retain muscle. To retain muscle, you MUST be doing some resistance workout. So weight training. If you don't, then you don't retain your muscle and will lose fat and muscle at the same time. On days you don't do weight training eat 1300. On days you do, eat 1500. Make sure you eat about 100g of protein per day as well, regardless of work out day or not.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    What is your exercise routine? And how long?
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    Any deficit will trigger weight loss - you are already in healthy range so be wary of the scales. Make sure your BMI is accurate 25% seems on the high estimation to me for that height and weight - use calipers is my recommendation and monitor your inches.

    The best way to keep you muscle is use them and make sure you have enough nutrients in your diet to support muscle growth and development.

    Her BMI is not 25, it's 21. Her body fat % is 25, and that is not high for a female with this BMI. It's right in the middle of the healthy range. OP, I would suggest a slow weight loss (smaller deficit) if you want to retain lean mass. Quick weight loss when you are so close to goal already would probably not be a good idea. Do weight training to help mitigate some of the muscle loss that goes along with weight loss. With weight training alone (since you are so close) you could probably get the look you want (leaner, less fat) without actually losing any pounds.
  • auntiebabs
    auntiebabs Posts: 1,754 Member
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    First off Congrats! :happy:

    :smile: Congrats for being in a healthy weight range and
    :smile: Congrats for setting a goal that is also well within the healthy weight range.
    :smile: Congrats on having a healthy Body Fat percentage

    World Health Organization Chart below
    calculate-my-body-fat-percentage.gif

    It sounds like you've got a good head on your shoulder, but I'm a worry-wart Auntie. and I just want to say...
    With only have 5 vanity lbs to lose, keep your focus on health and don't do anything drastic that would jeopardize it for the sake of a few vanity pounds.

    Okay, i haven't at all answered your question
    You may now resume you previously scheduled thread already in progress....
  • Amiwil
    Amiwil Posts: 57 Member
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    People will either recommend you follow MFP or recommend you follow TDEE -20%. I've been losing so far with MFP but I was interested in finding out about TDEE. That is until it told me my fat *kitten* is supposed to eat over 2200 calories! Ha! I can't even imagine how that works. Check it out and see what it says for you. I went here: http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    i did tdee-20% for a while and was eating 2600 and losing.
    now im doing 1900-2700 depending on my activity level for the day.. ive gotten pretty good at estimating how many cals i burn.
    granted this is my 2nd week back, but i lost 4 lbs last week eating an average of 2400/day - i also re started my weight lifting routine and it was ToM
  • Seeking_Balance_And_Joy
    Seeking_Balance_And_Joy Posts: 13
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    i did tdee-20% for a while and was eating 2600 and losing.
    now im doing 1900-2700 depending on my activity level for the day.. ive gotten pretty good at estimating how many cals i burn.
    granted this is my 2nd week back, but i lost 4 lbs last week eating an average of 2400/day - i also re started my weight lifting routine and it was ToM
    Those numbers are crazy! I feel like I would LOVE to each that much! :) I tested mine and I would eat between 1590 on sedentary days and 1900 on active days.

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