Calorie Intake for a College student.

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em3113
em3113 Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been slowly but surely shedding the extra pounds. The problem is I have no idea how many calories a day I should be eating when I go back to college in the fall. Currently I'm eating a 300 calorie breakfast and lunch plus 2 100 calorie snacks and one serving of whatever my dad is cooking for dinner. Family dinner is a big deal at my house and I know he usually cooks higher calorie stuff though I don't count. I've lost 16 pounds so far at a rate of about a pound a week. I do 3 days a week of strength training and a half hour of cardio the rest of the days.

I'm going back to school on sunday and I'm not sure what I should be aiming for calorie wise? I know I should be looking to even out my calorie intake without having so much of it at dinner. I walk to my classes (though its a small campus) as well as to work, and downtown if I need anything. I currently weight 189 pounds and am 5"5. I'm looking at home much I should eat to maintain so I can adjust based on what fitness classes fit with my class schedule (a lot of them are one hour long).

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  • coachfeliciad
    coachfeliciad Posts: 54 Member
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    I've been slowly but surely shedding the extra pounds. The problem is I have no idea how many calories a day I should be eating when I go back to college in the fall. Currently I'm eating a 300 calorie breakfast and lunch plus 2 100 calorie snacks and one serving of whatever my dad is cooking for dinner. Family dinner is a big deal at my house and I know he usually cooks higher calorie stuff though I don't count. I've lost 16 pounds so far at a rate of about a pound a week. I do 3 days a week of strength training and a half hour of cardio the rest of the days.

    I'm going back to school on sunday and I'm not sure what I should be aiming for calorie wise? I know I should be looking to even out my calorie intake without having so much of it at dinner. I walk to my classes (though its a small campus) as well as to work, and downtown if I need anything. I currently weight 189 pounds and am 5"5. I'm looking at home much I should eat to maintain so I can adjust based on what fitness classes fit with my class schedule (a lot of them are one hour long).

    Actually if you're currently losing weight based on the amount you're eating now I say stick to it. 1# a week is great and healthy so you're on the right track. And the amount you're eating at each meal sounds great. You're eating your biggest meals early in the day and tapering off as you get closer to the end. That's great. So, from what I can see, you're making great progress.

    -Felicia
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    So you aren't actually counting calories currently?

    I'd go into MFP and set your activity to lightly active, and put your goal at 0.5 to 1 pound a week and eat that.

    Or you can google TDEE calculators and eat 80% of whatever that tells you.
  • em3113
    em3113 Posts: 2
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    I count breakfast, lunch and snacks. Not dinner though. I try and eyeball good portions and didn't worry about it as I had been feeling really good and losing a safe amount of weight. Since I don't know how many calories were in my dinner I find it hard to figure out how much I should be eating at school.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    It should be easier now that you'll know exactly what you'll be eating for every meal; you're now in charge of all of your food. I'll second BusyRae... let MFP tell you how many you should be eating. Set your activity to lightly active to cover the walking, set your goal to one pound per week and let MFP be your guide. You may want to eat a little more in the mornings and at lunch then eat a smaller dinner and your snacks. You'll figure out soon enough what works for you and what doesn't. Be sure to check the scale every week to make sure you're still making progress. Good luck!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Since you aren't weighing your food and are not counting cals at dinner, you're probably eating more than you think you are, which is not a bad thing. But I'd guess that you are eating anywhere between 1300 and 1600 calories a day, although idk what your perception of a portion is for dinner so I can't really be sure. Especially since your dinners could be calorie dense some days and very light the next. I can have what for me is a portion of lasagna, homemade, and it'd be around 500 calories. But then my dad would eat half of that or less with other nutrient-dense (low cal) things.

    Try this website out to calculate an estimated TDEE (maintenance calorie needs) for yourself:
    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    I actually just inputted some... I guess "average" hours in there based on the info you've given. If you strength train 30 minutes and you're really putting effort into your cardio (so that it's not equivalent to just leisurely walking around), then your maintenance could be close to 2500. So 2000 could be enough of a deficit for yourself. I'd say calculate your current estimated needs, and try to count your dinner calories as much as possible. But for now, I'd think that for your first few weeks at school, 1600 calories should be enough to not make you feel terrible, but once you get used to your routines I'd aim higher than that.

    what kind of foods does your dad make for dinners? You could ask if you can help with dinner so that you know what's going in it, and then calculate calories that way. Or you could make your own dinners - I usually make my own or make dinner for the whole family (I commute btw). I generally make all my dinners so that if I'm making a recipe I can put in all the ingredients into MFP, divide up the finished food into equal portions (by weight usually) or just weigh the whole finished dish once it has cooled down and then just mark the dish as a one-serving recipe in MFP and use the weight of however much I'm spooning out as my serving size. E.g. I made some cheesecake that came out to be 748 grams total (minus the pan), so I sliced it up and every time I grab a piece I weigh it; if it's 81 grams then I enter the portion as 0.108 servings.

    Are you going to be making your own meals at school? If so I'd definitely recommend weighing your food, although for now if it's easier to adjust to counting all of your calories through measuring then do that. I use a food scale, cost 25 bucks, and I weigh everything. I just make sure I use the appropriate entries (I've created all my own entries for the foods I eat regularly, and based the nutritional info for non-label foods based off of skipthepie.org and nutritiondata.self.com), so if I'm weighing something raw I use the raw entry, weigh it cooked I use the cooked entry.

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