Really confused with right amount of calories?

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saranghae123
saranghae123 Posts: 39
in Health and Weight Loss
For weight loss...
I am 5'1 and around 150 lbs...
I have been eating between 1250 - 1700 calories for the past two weeks.
Whenever I go over 1300 I start to feel a little guilty because I think around 1200 calories should be good enough since I usually only walk for 20 minutes a day in the morning, 5-10 minutes in the afternoon lifting weights (15 lbs) and do 15-25 minutes of tae do in the evening, so I'm not burning many calories, partially due to me being sick for the last few weeks. Should I be eating more towards 1500-1700 or 1200-1400?

Replies

  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    You need to do your calculations.

    Find your TDEE without exercise (so just your normal average every day stuff). From there, subtract 250 from that number to lose 1/2 pound a week, or 500 from it to lose 1 pound a week.

    A 20 minute walk is not all that many extra calories burnt, so I'd suggest not logging it. Reason being exercise calories are rather iffy and sometimes get over estimated, so you might accidentally eat more than your burnt because of it sometimes. A 20 minute run, well, that'd be different.

    DO not go by what you think "sounds right". And DO NOT fall into having an EMOTIONAL response to eating. Our bodies need nutrition and fuel. Without it, we get frail, weak, and actually look bad (hair and skin problems).
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    You need to do your calculations.

    Find your TDEE without exercise (so just your normal average every day stuff). From there, subtract 250 from that number to lose 1/2 pound a week, or 500 from it to lose 1 pound a week.

    A 20 minute walk is not all that many extra calories burnt, so I'd suggest not logging it. Reason being exercise calories are rather iffy and sometimes get over estimated, so you might accidentally eat more than your burnt because of it sometimes. A 20 minute run, well, that'd be different.

    DO not go by what you think "sounds right". And DO NOT fall into having an EMOTIONAL response to eating. Our bodies need nutrition and fuel. Without it, we get frail, weak, and actually look bad (hair and skin problems).

    ^ This, and to make sure you know how much you are actually eating I would suggest weighing all solid food on a kitchen scale and measure liquids.
  • keobooks
    keobooks Posts: 92 Member
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    I don't understand how mfp calculates the calories we should have. I weigh 240 and want to lose 120. I am sedentary but working to change that. Mfp suggested 1900 calories. That seems like a lot. I used to eat tons of crackers every day. Removing the crackers from my diet made getting up to 1900 calories difficult. So it seems according to mfp, I just need to stop eating crackers to lose weight.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I don't understand how mfp calculates the calories we should have. I weigh 240 and want to lose 120. I am sedentary but working to change that. Mfp suggested 1900 calories. That seems like a lot. I used to eat tons of crackers every day. Removing the crackers from my diet made getting up to 1900 calories difficult. So it seems according to mfp, I just need to stop eating crackers to lose weight.

    Your body is using calories all day long. If you stayed in bed 24/7 your heart, lungs, kidney, etc need nourishment. This number is your BMR (basal metabolic rate). 1900 is a lot for some....but not others.
  • keobooks
    keobooks Posts: 92 Member
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    Well I guess stopping crackers is a bigger deal than I thought. I think I seriously ate a sleeve of saltines a say or the equivalent when I got hungry. I was probably up to 3k calories and never felt full. Now I chug water instead of crackers and feel full all the time but have to work to get 1500 calories eaten, this is kind of exciting because I don't have to change too much to be on target.
  • bluffnmuffn318
    bluffnmuffn318 Posts: 40 Member
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    My Doctor told me that 1150-1350 calorie intake daily with moderate exercise would help me lose. I'm 5'2 and 150lbs so I put my goal on here for 1200 a day and so far I have shown results. There are a lot of websites you can visit with an online calculator that will do the math for you but just make sure your accurate on what you put in. If you stay under your calories and exercise 3-5 times a week then you'll lose weight without going on a "diet". I eat whatever I want really but your goal makes you choose foods with lower calories just don't go over and you should see results too.

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