Eating for my Ideal Weight? HELP!

teacher_transformation
teacher_transformation Posts: 45
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I am trying to lose the last 10 lbs. My only problem is that I am finding myself binging and that is NOT good for me! I want to get balanced again. Can I eat the calories required for my ideal weight? I just started a weight lifting program and I am doing cardio 5 times a week. I use an HRM and would lose calories and would like to eat those calories back.

Should I eat at my ideal weight of 110 lbs. The calculators online VARY widely. I am thinking that if I put it in as sedentary and eat back my exercise calories that I will eventually get to my goal. What are your thoughts? I have gotten these as the SEDENTARY CALORIC INTAKE for my 5'3" height and for my age (21 years old).
These are the calorie counts I got--

1350 to 1550
1635
1835
1480
1125
1595

Replies

  • teacher_transformation
    teacher_transformation Posts: 45
    Bump*
  • teacher_transformation
    teacher_transformation Posts: 45
    Bump one last time before I quit! ;) Ha!
  • DuckDynastyMakesMeLaugh
    DuckDynastyMakesMeLaugh Posts: 363 Member
    How much do you have to lose?
  • teacher_transformation
    teacher_transformation Posts: 45
    I need to lose about 10 lbs. but really even 5 lbs. would be great.
  • vtotheicky
    vtotheicky Posts: 62 Member
    If you're doing cardio 5 days a week and lifting, you're gonna need to eat a lot of calories. Have you checked your TDEE and BMR?
  • teacher_transformation
    teacher_transformation Posts: 45
    I think that is the problem- all the sites are so different with the amount of calories with TDEE,etc. that I can't find one that will work. Do you have any suggestions?
  • DuckDynastyMakesMeLaugh
    DuckDynastyMakesMeLaugh Posts: 363 Member
    Read these:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    TL:DR the link right above then ->http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal <
    This is you!!!!

    Set your weight loss goal in MFP to lose .5 lbs/week and eat back a percentage of your exercise calories. (they are usually overestimated). Stay hydrated, get adequate sleep, get a food scale, weigh and measure your food, log accurately and be patient!
  • matuskap
    matuskap Posts: 131 Member
    If I was in your position i would do something like this:
    - calculate maintenance calories without exercise using some web cal. calculator
    - give it a go for one week and see if weight stays same
    - if needed, id increase/decrease to hit maintenance
    - now with maintenance everyday life calories, you have basis, if you exercise and have monitor, you know exactly how much you burned above that and you can choose to eat back portion of cals according to deficit you want to hit that day

    In case you dont exercise that day or have a difficult day or w/e, at worst you stay on maintenance.
    In my opinion, you should >always<know your maintenance. It allows you to more accuratelly calculate with hard-to-predict or special days like too much work, not enough time to exercise, attending some sort of events...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I think that is the problem- all the sites are so different with the amount of calories with TDEE,etc. that I can't find one that will work. Do you have any suggestions?
    As you have discovered different sites use different formulas to work out your TDEE - the one common factor is that they all produce an estimate. You are also not really using TDEE sites as designed as you are omitting your exercise.

    In the end you will have to pick a number - MFP suggested goal for 1lb a week weight loss would be as good as any and as you are using this site and want to eat back exercise calories it would seem to make sense.

    Do that for a month, weigh everything you consume as accurately as possible, log and eat back exercise calories. Then see what your results are and adjust calorie goal as necessary.

    All the estimates in the world are not as good as your own data.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Based on your stats, i would set your calories to 1700, macros at 40% carbs, 30% protein and fats. Use a food scale to measure and track daily for 4-6 weeks. This will allow you to figure out your true average TDEE or maintenance calories.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    binge eating is usually the result of not eating enough. Sometimes it's due to emotional issues, but if the only time you binge is when you're on a diet then it'd be a pretty safe bet to say the cause is not eating enough. People who do emotional eating do so in response to emotional triggers, and do so whether they're on a diet or not.

    I second the recommendation for the "path to sexypants" thread, and using the info in there to estimate how many calories you should eat. You can adjust that number based on real world results, so don't worry about each site giving a different estimate.

    What you need to aim for is to find the ideal number of calories for you, where you feel well fed and don't get the urge to binge, yet you're still eating less than you burn off so you're still losing weight. Weight loss may be slower when you do it this way, but it's a lot easier to stick to long term so there's more chance of long term success and less chance of rebound fat gain and/or getting stuck in a yo-yo diet cycle.
  • teacher_transformation
    teacher_transformation Posts: 45
    Based on your stats, i would set your calories to 1700, macros at 40% carbs, 30% protein and fats. Use a food scale to measure and track daily for 4-6 weeks. This will allow you to figure out your true average TDEE or maintenance calories.

    Would you suggest that the 1700 calories include or exclude exercise calories?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Based on your stats, i would set your calories to 1700, macros at 40% carbs, 30% protein and fats. Use a food scale to measure and track daily for 4-6 weeks. This will allow you to figure out your true average TDEE or maintenance calories.

    Would you suggest that the 1700 calories include or exclude exercise calories?

    Total - This is the TDEE method so you wouldn't eat exercise calories as it's built in to the equation already.

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