How many calories should I be at?

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lrosewitz
lrosewitz Posts: 2
in Getting Started
I am 5'4" and weigh approx 192. I have been eating about 1300 calories a day but do feel hungry occasionally and have been losing slowly. Am I not eating enough or eating too much? I wear my fitbit and regularly get in 10-13000 steps and dont do a whole lot of exercise other than walking yet.....

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  • gieshagirl
    gieshagirl Posts: 102 Member
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    in the same boat. I started 1/5/14 and lost 12 pounds within 2 months....and then super slow nothing.....I started walking 1 mile at 1st then up to my current 3 miles a day. 1200 calories.....nothing. I have looked everywhere on this site and everyone stated that I must be not truthful about my food intake or not measuring....not eating enough...ect. I have listened to all advice and taken and tried. so far very slow results. if you want add me...and we can do this together!! good luck!!
  • jonlfischer
    jonlfischer Posts: 171 Member
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    I am 5'4" and weigh approx 192. I have been eating about 1300 calories a day but do feel hungry occasionally and have been losing slowly. Am I not eating enough or eating too much? I wear my fitbit and regularly get in 10-13000 steps and dont do a whole lot of exercise other than walking yet.....


    losing slow is a good thing...might want to try increasing calories a little bit, not too much. Maybe shoot for 1500 at least and try throwing in some more exercising if you can.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
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    Increase a little. I used Scoobys Workshop to calculate for you and you should lose a pound per week somewhere between 1500-1700 per day. You have to experiment though to find what works
  • lardbut1960
    lardbut1960 Posts: 20 Member
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    What ever MFP says based on your goals and stuff
  • freelancejouster
    freelancejouster Posts: 478 Member
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    Scooby's is pretty accurate - also, you have to take in consideration your water and sodium intake. If you're not getting at LEAST 6 cups a day (and probably closer to 9) and are over the 2300ish of sodium that MFP has as a limit, you're gonna hold onto a bunch of water weight. Remember that the slower you lose weight the more likely it is to stay off. I've always set my calories at .5lbs a week because if I eat less than 1500 cals a day I'm always hungry.

    I'm 5'5" and 154ish and try to eat at 1400-2000 a day to lose .5lbs a week. I'd say try and boost your calories to a range instead of just a number. Eating at different amounts keeps your metabolism guessing You're a bit shorter but have a bit more to lose, so the same range should work for you.
  • MincirVite45458
    MincirVite45458 Posts: 1
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    If you hit a plateau, change your exercise routine a bit. That might help. If you are walking, you could try biking or swimming.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    While losing slowly is preferred, doing it because you made wise purposeful choices is one thing, having your body force it on you because of unwise choices is another. One will lead to lower than needed maintenance level and difficulty in losing.

    What does the Fitbit say your average daily burn is - that is your TDEE?

    Forget going to sites to guess from 5 rough levels what your TDEE is - you have a tool right there designed to do exactly that.

    Then take a reasonable deficit off what you daily burn - and syncing MFP and Fitbit will do that.

    You are the one that selects the reasonable deficit though.
    What did you select as weight loss goal?

    Do you have your accounts synced?

    Do you eat the adjusted eating goal?

    If you have over 40 lbs to lose, 2 lbs weekly may be reasonable - depends on other stresses in your life. Got disease or illness you deal with, bad lack of sleep, bad foods eaten?

    Under 40 lbs take 1.5 weekly.
    Under 20 1 lb weekly.
    Under 10 0.5 lb weekly.

    Log food accurately, weigh, not measure.

    Now if you took a big deficit, your bad logging likely isn't taking away your whole deficit, but it can make it smaller.
  • crissi725
    crissi725 Posts: 82
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    That is not enough calories, yo! At your height and weight, that sounds like its just enough to cover your BMI (which is what you would burn if you were in a coma). You aren't giving your body enough fuel to work its best. Eat at least 300-400 more calories a day and try to get to a deficit of -500 to -750 a day after counting in calories burned and you SHOULD (barring any medical conditions) steadily lose 1 to 1.5 lbs a week. For instance, I'm 5'2 and started at 200 lbs. I eat 1500-1900 calories a day and burn 2200-2600 a day and aiming for 1200 NET CALORIES and I'm losing a little more than a pound a week. Down 18! woo hoo!!


    Slow and steady wins the race!
  • KaelaLee88
    KaelaLee88 Posts: 229 Member
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    I'm with you both! I lost well at 1400 cal per day but since switching to 1200 cal per day, I have totally no energy, I'm irritable and I'm GAINING!!

    I decided that I want to enjoy life so I have changed my weight loss goal to 1.5lbs per week. This has given me a new intake of 1380 cal per day, much easier to adhere to and I'll see how I get on this week x
  • lrosewitz
    lrosewitz Posts: 2
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    Thanks for all the input. I am going to sync my fitibt to MFP and up the calorie intake and see what happens :)
  • prairiewinds
    prairiewinds Posts: 7
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    I am 5 feet 3 inches. I try to eat under 1250 calories a day because I used the Fitness Pal to calculated it for me. I think it is in goals. I exercise but I only lose one pound a week. Personally, I think that is healthy. It is tons of work to do, though. Plus, it is hard to patient about it.
  • janicelo1971
    janicelo1971 Posts: 823 Member
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    I am 5 feet 3 inches. I try to eat under 1250 calories a day because I used the Fitness Pal to calculated it for me. I think it is in goals. I exercise but I only lose one pound a week. Personally, I think that is healthy. It is tons of work to do, though. Plus, it is hard to patient about it.

    your doing great...im also at 1225...slow...yes...patient grasshopper!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I am 5 feet 3 inches. I try to eat under 1250 calories a day because I used the Fitness Pal to calculated it for me. I think it is in goals. I exercise but I only lose one pound a week. Personally, I think that is healthy. It is tons of work to do, though. Plus, it is hard to patient about it.

    Being 5' 3", it may not matter because there may not be much room for movement - but did you select 1 lb weekly goal loss, or that's what you happen to be getting, or both?

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