1400 Calories per day? My BMI is 2281…is that okay?

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kwohl
kwohl Posts: 58 Member
in Getting Started
I am 5 feet 6, female, 44 years old. I want to get to 140. Is doing 1400 calories too little or too much to lose weight? I did MFP two years ago at 1200 calories and felt like I was starving. My BMI is supposedly 2281 per day (per some internet website calculator I found). I excercise 5 days a week, (Bootcamp, running, Bikram Yoga) and eat those calories. Please give me advice. I want to lose weight but don't want to starve or feel like I'm hungry all the time…..thank you in advance!

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  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    2281 sounds more like your TDEE than it does your BMR. I would recalculate it elsewhere to be sure.
  • laurenjill
    laurenjill Posts: 94 Member
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    Are you confusing BMI with BMR? Have you tried to calculate your TDEE?There's literally no way your BMI is 2281.
  • FaylinaMeir
    FaylinaMeir Posts: 661 Member
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    my advice to you is set up your profile again as sedentary and then log your exercise to get a more accurate calorie count. Then eat back your calories you burn so you stay at or above 1400. This is what I do and it works, if you're ever "starving" feeling then my advice is either eat smaller lower calorie meals throughout the day, learn to "deal" with it in the short term or just eat a snack. A banana is only 105 calories and can make you feel full because of the fiber/water content.
    Also cold water helps in the beginning as your stomach shrinks down I believe because most people are used to eating way too much.

    Another option is to stay off by going -100 calories each day or every couple days from where you are now until you get down to 1400.

    goodluck
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    Go to Scooby Workshop to figure out your TDEE and then put it at a 15%-20% loss (slower is better) and go with those calories. Or set up your loss on MFP to 1lb/week (you probably set it for 2lb which gives you lower calories and is too aggressive for most people).
  • hearthwood
    hearthwood Posts: 794 Member
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    Something is definitely wrong, if you had a BMI that high you would weigh well over a 1000 lbs. But the good news is, I am your height and very close to my goal weight of 140, and my calories are set at 1240 a day. But you're younger and you exercise a lot more than I do. I do 1 hour of Jazzercise 3 times a week and burn 365 calories for one hour. If I am hungry, I will only eat back 1/2 of calories burned because MFP and other devices have a history of overestimating calories burned, and if you eat them all back you could easily be overeating your workouts.

    You could also reset your profile to lose one pound per week and that would give you an additional 500 calories a day, if you currently have it set for a 2 pound loss.
  • kefryar
    kefryar Posts: 77 Member
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    I'm 27, 5'5 and weigh 130. I work out about 4x a week for 30-60 mins. I eat 1400 calories and am losing. It seems like you work out more than I do, so I don't think it'd be an issue for you to eat that much. In my experience, when I go down to 1200 calories I hold on to or even gain weight. I'd experiment for a week and see what happens. I will say that I generally don't eat back my exercise calories though. Good luck!
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
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    I think you should try 1400 calories a day for at least two weeks. Make sure you are getting all your nutrients, so be conscious of the quality of food instead of just the calories. Figure out what your body craves and feed it that (offsetting the things you don't crave so much). If you have proper energy, focus and are seeing some body shifting (weight, inches or just looking at yourself in the mirror) its working.

    If on the other hand, you find yourself having trouble concentrating, your diet is taking over your life and you are not feeling healthy, its probably too low.

    As far as being too high, I think that exercise (walking, biking, being active) is the best way to get the additional caloric burn. I wouldn't commit to gyms or anything like that until you decide that it would be a permanent part of your life. Its easy to commit to a leisurely walk - harder to doing strength training unless you just love doing the strength training (and its a fun part of your day and not a burden).
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Go to Scooby Workshop to figure out your TDEE and then put it at a 15%-20% loss (slower is better) and go with those calories. Or set up your loss on MFP to 1lb/week (you probably set it for 2lb which gives you lower calories and is too aggressive for most people).

    This^

    OP - TDEE = total daily energy expenditure. This should include exercise & would be maintenance. 2281 is likely TDEE. BMR (basal metabolic rate) is if you stayed in bed all day.

    Because TDEE includes exercise, you don't add those calories back in. If you use MFP, you will get a lower number......but that number is BEFORE exercise. MFP expects you to add those calories back, but estimates are typically too high.
  • zoey1978
    zoey1978 Posts: 3 Member
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    If you're hungry, try eating more protein throughout the day. Eggs and peanut butter stick with me much longer than a lot of other foods, plus they help me work out much harder/longer. Good luck.
  • KrissyRawrz
    KrissyRawrz Posts: 342 Member
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    I don't think you would be alive if that was your BMI lol I read it and went "wait what"

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