Tall Girls (5'9 and up): How Many Calories Are You Eating?

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I've just read that a 2 to 3 year old sedentary child requires 1,000 cals a day, so it makes sense to me that a taller than average female adult doing regular cardio and lifting weights must eat a reasonable amount extra just to be healthy. I'm 5'8" and have MFP set at 1,800 net to lose 1/2 a pound a week.

This is really interesting to me because I'm in the same boat - the forever plateau.
I'm 5'10" and 220. I have really been trying to cut carbs (75/day is my goal), and I'm set at 1400 calories.
I don't get to work out too much because of my job, but I do wear a FitBit and track my steps and exercise that way. Most days I earn at least 300 calories and try to only eat about 1/2 of them back.

I had seen a nutritionist who told me to eat 1800-2000 calories/day, but I gained doing that.

Honestly, my biggest concern is that I'm not accurately counting my calories and could be grossly underestimating what I'm eating.

I'm pretty sure that if I can get below 215, then I'll be on my way - but for 6 months now, I've been going back and forth on the same darn 5 pounds and it's driving me crazy!

I hate to ask, but are you weighing/measuring your food? It is really, really easy to deceive yourself if you're not doing that.

5'11" (I have been typing my height a lot in the past couple of days)

MFP has my net set at 1830 and I had been eating around 2200-2400 calories per day. However, I started dialing that up a bit in the past couple of days because my body has been torching food the past week or so. Things that used to keep me full for X amount of time are not going as far and I'm getting hungry faster. It's not cravings or boredom, it's stomach growling hunger. I finally snapped to and realized that my body is asking for more food for a reason.

I think it's due to a couple of factors. When mornings got light at the beginning of April, I started walking both ways for my commute, a mile each way. In the fall/winter, I take the bus to work because it's dark and walk home, so I've added an extra mile of walking five days a week after six months of walking one way and it doesn't take much extra activity to turn my body into a calorie grubber. Also, I'm doing Turbo Fire, which has a lot of intervals/HIIT combined with a lot of body weight and free weight resistance training.

Anyway, I'm aiming for a gross intake of 2600 calories on workout days and 2200 or so on non workout days. I'm basically going to listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry. So disappointed that I actually have to eat more.

Its nice to see other tall girls having the same problems as me. I am 5"10 and just joined fitness pal.com and love it. I am at 196lb stuck right now and haven't lost in 2 weeks and I have been following a strict calorie regimen of 1260 on non work out days and 1500 on workout days. I eat a lot of salads and subway. Before I joined the website I had lost 42lbs.My goal weight is 180lbs. I have recently added weight lifting a couple weeks ago and I am wondering if that is why I am not losing. I workout about 4 to 5 times a week on my lunch hour. I am very frustrated but don't want to give up but I am a slave to the scale and when it doesn't budge I get frustrated. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Ladies,

I'm 5'11 and when I started MFP, I was eating around 1400 calories and managed to lose 10 lbs and a few inches without exercise over about 2 months. I started exercising consistently for the past month and I changed my goal to lose 1 lb per week, which upped my calories to 1650 and the weightloss and inches loss have stalled. 3x-4x a week I do a mix of 1hr cardio and different classes at my gym (strength, spin, cardio kickboxing, abs) and I burn between 400-600 calories a day (according to my Polar HRM). I've even tried eating back some of my calories and nothing is working. How many calories are you ladies eating? Is it working for you?

Thanks!!

I'm 5'9" and weight 285, working my way towards 180, and I eat 2300 on nonworkout days, 2500-2600 on workout days (3 days of strength training, 2-3 days of light cardio such as walking or lower intensity Zumba), and I'm losing pounds and inches consistently. My weight loss has actually accelerated a bit since I started upping my calories (from initial goal of 1800-2000) and I am noticing more energy and less moodiness (much to my husband's happiness, haha!)

I'm 5'11 and 302.2 LBS and my daily goal is at 1885. Some days I take advantage and eat all, while others (like today) I don't always make it! I've still got about 400 calories left, plus exercise calories after my workout I am about to do. I started MFP on March 2nd, 2012 and have thus far lost about 16 pounds. BUT I have cut soda cold turkey out of my diet, and junk food like chips, cookies, candy, cake, you name it. Plus, I NEVER used to drink water. MAYBE 8-20 ounces a day and that was it. Today on the other hand, I have had over 100 ounces and still going.

It's different for everyone, and you're already getting tons of different answers. I guess we all just have to experiment and find what works, have patience and NEVER give up!

Feel free to add :-)

I'm 5'9", and 160lbs. I eat 2000-2500 a day. My TDEE (I have a BMF) is anywhere from 2300 to 3000.

what is a TDEE?

I'm 5'9", and 160lbs. I eat 2000-2500 a day. My TDEE (I have a BMF) is anywhere from 2300 to 3000.

what is a TDEE?

Total Daily Energy Expenditure = your basal metabolic rate "BMR" (which is what you would burn just laying in bed all day) + the amount of calories you burn/expend through added daily activities.

Calculate your TDEE here http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

i'm 5'19 170. i aim for eating 1200 calories. i eat back my calories sometimes if i'm hungry, but not that often.

i've lost 12 lbs or so this month doing this.

i've heard and read it all on here. but this works for me, and i'm sticking with it.

I'm 5'9, 18yrs old and 165 lbs eating 1650

I am a bit over 5'10" and currently at 168. I started at 180 pounds 2 months ago. My goal is 1400 on rest days. I usually do 60 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week, burning about 600 cals each workout. On workout days, I typically eat about half of my exercise cals back totaling about 1700-1800 cals consumed per day. So far it has worked for me, I just hope I don't plateau! Want to lose another 13-17 pounds to get to 150-155 pounds! Note: I have not started weight lifting/strength training yet, as I would like to lose a few more pounds doing cardio and then start toning up!

This is what is happening to me. I'm not eating enough calories.