How many calories?

AMamaLana
AMamaLana Posts: 21 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Every calculator I use online tells me something radically different for how many calories I am supposed to eat daily, and how many to eat in order to lose weight.
I see anywhere from 900-1,600 to lose weight and 1,400-2,000 to maintain for someone my size. That is a pretty big margin of error if you ask me.
Where can one find accurate information on this subject?

I feel so completely annoyed at this "diet" stuff. I'm at a loss as to what to do besides completely stop eating whatsoever.
What are those people that claim to live off of sunshine and rainbows without eating food? I think I'll go find them.

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Ridiculous. Pick one (not one that says to eat below 1200 because that is horrible advice) - try it and then after a month or so adjust where needed.
  • PwrLftr82
    PwrLftr82 Posts: 945 Member
    How tall are you? What's your current and goal weight? What do you do for work and how often/long/type of workouts do you do?
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    PwrLftr82 wrote: »
    How tall are you? What's your current and goal weight? What do you do for work and how often/long/type of workouts do you do?

    ^This. Need more info...
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    lanashirley wrote: »
    Every calculator I use online tells me something radically different for how many calories I am supposed to eat daily, and how many to eat in order to lose weight.
    I see anywhere from 900-1,600 to lose weight and 1,400-2,000 to maintain for someone my size. That is a pretty big margin of error if you ask me.
    Where can one find accurate information on this subject?

    I feel so completely annoyed at this "diet" stuff. I'm at a loss as to what to do besides completely stop eating whatsoever.
    What are those people that claim to live off of sunshine and rainbows without eating food? I think I'll go find them.

    900 is ridiculously low.....if you got 1400 from the same site.....that's suspect also. MFP gives you an estimate based upon "I want to lose XX pounds per week" and then defaults to 1200 when the user puts in an aggressive number....or is a petite senior citizen.

    This site comes close to my FitBit One....

    http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    "Accurate"......there is still a margin of error. Muscular people burn more calories sleeping than people with a high body fat %....so unless you have this measured (in a lab)....this is still guesswork.

    Calorie burn for exercise....more guesswork.

    Logging food......try to be as precise as you can....but again subject to error.

    Just pick an estimate....weigh food if possible....be conservative when logging exercise....or use TDEE less a % and don't log exercise at all.
  • AMamaLana
    AMamaLana Posts: 21 Member
    The above calculator asks for a body fat percentage. I wouldn't have any clue. My instinct is to just scream "I am fat! Can't you see!!" at the screen.
    Anyway.
    For me specifically,
    I'm 5'1 and currently fluctuate between 126.6 and 129 or so. Average 127 weighing before eating same time every morning, but by the end of the day I am often 130+
    (I find this big fluctuation crazy, something to that I should know?)
    Before having kids I was 112-118. I've gone through each cycle of pregnancy, nursing, between children, and around again with giant weight fluctuations but always was able to get my weight back down to 116-120. After a seriously nasty relationship and a weight skyrocket from stress eating I went from 118 to 148 over a winter and I have been slowly losing by adjusting diet (since March 2014.) I had also weaned my youngest right before I started gaining that weight, I do believe that had a good part to do with it.
    My goal is to be able to fluctuate between 118-122. I get it, I'll never parade around in size 3 junior's jeans again, but I'm in my early 20's and there should be no reason why I cannot lose the mama fat in my middle.
    I do live a very high stress and busy, demanding life. Single parenting, all three kids have a variety of special needs. I walk a great deal, multiple times a day, 5+ days a week and we live on the fourth floor but that is about the extent of my ability to exercise.
    I logged my food diary on here religiously for the first 6 weeks, but now I only return here and there for a few day stretches at a time to make sure I am staying in check. Slap my wrist, I know. Those first 6 weeks gave me a HUGE change in concept about my diet but being so neurotically calorie counting obsessive was just one more annoyance in my day that I cannot really handle on a daily basis with everything else going on.
    I have plateaued at this 126.6-129 for the past 6 weeks or so.
    Depending on the day, I range from 1,000-1,400 calories but usually towards 1,200. I don't believe that I drop below 1,000 with any regularity, because I just enjoy eating too much for that! As I said, tracking too closely just stresses me out and makes me binge more rather than making me cut down. I do a lot of the Almased shakes, would like to try other types of shakes too, and eat the same portion sizes I give the kids for dinner.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I've seen this calculator recommended a lot - seems pretty accurate for me and doesn't ask your body fat percentage: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
    - I perfer the iffym one, but this one is a little easier.
  • AMamaLana
    AMamaLana Posts: 21 Member
    That one seems to have a lot of other good info with it.
    It is telling me much higher than calculators like MFP did.
    1750 maintain, 1400 lose, 1051 extreme loss.
    Someone my size should really consume 1750 on a regular basis? That is almost McD's three meals a day :-X
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    edited October 2014
    I'm fairly fond of this calculator as it breaks it down and gives you plenty of options and the site also includes a lot of interesting information.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    1750 is not a lot of calories. Per your stats, your BMR is about 1380. BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate, meaning the approximate # of calories your body needs just to cover basic function. Even if you're sedentary, you need at least 20% more than that to maintain, which would be about 1656 calories. If you exercise, you need even more. You can play around with the activity settings yourself.

    At 5'1" and 127 pounds, you're still within the normal range for your height. Given that you're fairly close to goal, you should go with a lower deficit (10-15%) and it's going to take a lot of time and patience.

    What you may actually be looking for is a more toned physique, in which case, you need to think more about your exercise and not so much about diet. Do you workout? And if so, what is your routine?

    ETA: Please stop weighing yourself several times a day. Pick one approximate time and stick with it in order to get a more accurate reading. Most go with first thing in the morning after using the bathroom because. If you weigh later in the day, you're also weighing whatever clothes you're wearing, food in your belly, waste in your gut, etc.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    I am 5'4 118 lbs in the morning, go to bed at in the 120's. I eat 1750 calories a day to maintain my weight.

    Im 27, and only lightly active.
  • Danwantsskinniness
    Danwantsskinniness Posts: 22
    The amount of calories individuals burn at rest can differ by as much as 30 percent- even those with the same amount of fat, lean body mass, and regular activity level. The best way to decide how many calories to go with is to eat at maintenance(or what you think your maintenance is), track the changes that you experience and adjust from there. If your maintenance ends up being 1750 and you want to lose .5 lb a week, then you should either burn an additional 250 cal/day, eat 250 less calories, or combine some variation of burning extra through exercise and eating less. It takes months for the metabolism to adjust to a caloric deficit, and with one that small, your body won't take any metabolic damage.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    edited October 2014
    lanashirley wrote: »
    Every calculator I use online tells me something radically different for how many calories I am supposed to eat daily, and how many to eat in order to lose weight.

    Commonly, these calculators ask you about your exercise habits and daily activity levels. The calculator in MyFitnessPal counts your daily activity levels (are you typically walking around on your feet all day lightly active, are you very active digging ditches, are you a sedentary office worker) into your daily target up front. It will ask you about your exercise plans, but it won't use your plans in the calculation because you will enter your exercise in your diary and the calculation is used then to adjust your eating target.

    You can change your activity level and exercise plans here. Again, only changing your activity level will change your up-front target. Adding exercises to your diary will change your calorie target for that particular day.

    There is no need to use other calculators. It's all right here. Why complicate things? But it is interesting to play what-if scenarios and to help other people (which is what we do here).

    MFP is designed that you will eat the additional calories earned from exercising. Some people prefer not to eat the some or all of the calories earned by exercising.

    31773543.png...Day 98...
  • RSEC75
    RSEC75 Posts: 45 Member
    How much exercise did you put in the calculation? If you are exercising enough then 1750 to maintain sounds like it could be about right.

    I calculated 1524 for you based on no exercise, so 1750 would require you to exercise a couple of hundred calories per day. The website defaults to 20min cardio 3 times a week so I assume they assume that will average just over 200 per day.

    As for the weight fluctuations you mention during the day. That is completely normal, it's the weight of the food you have eaten making you heavier, it's doesn't represent real weight gain as you will pass post of that out again. Most people always weigh themselves at the same time of day every time, and the common time is in the morning before eating or drinking anything and after going to pee. Generally it's advised to only weigh yourself once a week as well as there can be fluctuations day to day, but over a week you should see the trend.

  • Navtendon
    Navtendon Posts: 168
    lanashirley wrote: »
    Every calculator I use online tells me something radically different for how many calories I am supposed to eat daily, and how many to eat in order to lose weight.
    I see anywhere from 900-1,600 to lose weight and 1,400-2,000 to maintain for someone my size. That is a pretty big margin of error if you ask me.
    Where can one find accurate information on this subject?

    I feel so completely annoyed at this "diet" stuff. I'm at a loss as to what to do besides completely stop eating whatsoever.
    What are those people that claim to live off of sunshine and rainbows without eating food? I think I'll go find them.

    Exactly. Best not to count calories at all and not to waste time logging every detail of your life, which is.... normal. It's the food choices available to us that are highly abnormal.

    I used to be obese. All I did to change was keep my diet very low glycemic and eat real foods (primal/paleo). And I REDUCED my exercise substantially. The weight fell off almost too fast.

    Now I have the opposite problem. I'm desperately trying to make sure I don't get too skinny... which happens all too easily with this new way of eating.

  • Navtendon
    Navtendon Posts: 168
    Navtendon wrote: »
    lanashirley wrote: »
    Every calculator I use online tells me something radically different for how many calories I am supposed to eat daily, and how many to eat in order to lose weight.
    I see anywhere from 900-1,600 to lose weight and 1,400-2,000 to maintain for someone my size. That is a pretty big margin of error if you ask me.
    Where can one find accurate information on this subject?

    I feel so completely annoyed at this "diet" stuff. I'm at a loss as to what to do besides completely stop eating whatsoever.
    What are those people that claim to live off of sunshine and rainbows without eating food? I think I'll go find them.

    Exactly. Best not to count calories at all and not to waste time logging every detail of your life, which is.... normal. It's the food choices now available to us that are highly abnormal.

    I used to be obese. All I did to change was keep my diet very low glycemic and eat real foods (primal/paleo). And I REDUCED my exercise substantially. The weight fell off almost too fast.

    Now I have the opposite problem. I'm desperately trying to make sure I don't get too skinny... which happens all too easily with this new way of eating.

  • AMamaLana
    AMamaLana Posts: 21 Member
    MinnieInMaine wrote: »
    I'm fairly fond of this calculator as it breaks it down and gives you plenty of options and the site also includes a lot of interesting information.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    1750 is not a lot of calories. Per your stats, your BMR is about 1380. BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate, meaning the approximate # of calories your body needs just to cover basic function. Even if you're sedentary, you need at least 20% more than that to maintain, which would be about 1656 calories. If you exercise, you need even more. You can play around with the activity settings yourself.

    At 5'1" and 127 pounds, you're still within the normal range for your height. Given that you're fairly close to goal, you should go with a lower deficit (10-15%) and it's going to take a lot of time and patience.

    What you may actually be looking for is a more toned physique, in which case, you need to think more about your exercise and not so much about diet. Do you workout? And if so, what is your routine?

    ETA: Please stop weighing yourself several times a day. Pick one approximate time and stick with it in order to get a more accurate reading. Most go with first thing in the morning after using the bathroom because. If you weigh later in the day, you're also weighing whatever clothes you're wearing, food in your belly, waste in your gut, etc.


    I generally weigh a few times a week at this point. In the beginning I got very obsessive about it along with the calorie tracking, so the weight difference throughout the day was something I noticed right off.
    While 127 may still be considered normal for 5'1, it is not normal for me and it is not a weight that I feel happy, healthy, or will accept as "good enough". I am still very much overweight around my middle and cannot fit in to the clothes I wore even after having my third child and losing that baby weight.
    Toning is a part of the problem, pretty typical after multiple pregnancies, but toning will not drop the fat it will just help snug it all up and in really. It is something I am going to discuss with the Physical Therapist I am scheduled to begin seeing later this month. I have a pretty severe pelvic prolapse that is higher priority for me than my abs haha. The prolapse has prevented me from being able to successfully pick up jogging and makes many yoga or core strengthening exercises quite uncomfortable and/or not possible right now.

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