Unable to exercise, what calorie limit would you recommend?

MickeyBoo
MickeyBoo Posts: 196 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

Just looking for a few different opinions to make sure I'm on the right track.

I am struggling to exercise because of injuries and pain and need to just take a step back from training to rest and recover properly before I try again. I do however need to keep losing weight and as so many people have told me losing weight is 80% diet so I want to do the best I can to stick to a decent eating plan and still lose weight. I have been struggling emotionally and therefore food wise for a while and am going to overhaul my diet again, eat cleaner etc

I have been maintaining my current weight eating approximately 1600-1800 a day with no exercise since xmas.

When I was losing weight steadily I was eating 'on average' 1400cal a day, (on average being that I try and stick to 1300cal throughout the week and 1600 over the weekend) and exercising 3-4 times a week burning 500-600cal per session, which gives me an overall intake on average of around 1100cal a day. I was not eating back exercise calories.

Question is if I drop the exercise altogether what should I be eating each day? Should I just stick to the 1300cal or drop it to the 1100, or perhaps even keep it to 1200.

I know that some people are going to jump up and down about the lower amount of calories, but I have played around with intake over the years and this is what works for me. I'm open to suggestions on re-training how my system metabolises food if there are any.

Thanks :happy:

Replies

  • Shenanagins85
    Shenanagins85 Posts: 116 Member
    Listen to your body first. If you can't excerise then don't. Shoot for a goal of 1200. If u need more try to cut bad fats and sugars out of your diet. You will lose it for sure. Whatch your carb and protein in take as well.
  • lautour
    lautour Posts: 89 Member
    Well you're fortunate because you know your maintenance calories if you've truly tracked calories and maintained since December. Subtracting 15-25% of that is a good deficit I think. Assuming 1800 is maintenance, between 1350 and 1530 if my math is right.
  • susantrigg18
    susantrigg18 Posts: 49
    My advice...either reset your MFP goal settings with your current stats & set to "sedentary" & i wouldn't go over a loss of .5kg.
    There really is no need to eat at such a low calorie intake, even without exercise, you will still lose weight providing you are using accurate logging.
    OR work out your TDEE then subtract 20%, again, setting at "sedentary".
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    This formula will help you calculate your BMR: WOMEN: BMR = [9.99 x weight (kg)] + [6.25 x height (cm)] - [4.92 x age (years)] -161

    Once you have your BMR, multiply that by 1.2 which is a sedentary activity level to get your TDEE.

    Subtract 15%-20% from your TDEE and that will give you your daily calorie goal for weight loss.

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