When finding out how many calories you should eat, should you put your ideal weight?

flashlight365
flashlight365 Posts: 11
edited November 8 in Food and Nutrition
http://www.calorieking.com/interactive-tools/how-many-calories-should-you-eat/?ref=nav

For example, in the link I posted above, do I put my ideal weight?

Also, I don't know if my activity level is sedentary, light, medium, or heavy. I workout everyday, but lift only 3 days a week via upper/lower split. I do cardio the rest of the days including 1 of the weightlifting days which equates to cardio 5x a week. On my cardio days, I also work my abs, do push ups, and squats without weight, excluding the last cardio day. On the last cardio day, I do yoga after the cardio.

Replies

  • jrose1982
    jrose1982 Posts: 366 Member
    edited November 2014
    You use your current weight. After you lose a lot of weight, you need to recalculate.

    I'm getting lost in the details your workouts. It sounds like you lift 3 days a week, and do cardio 5 days a week (with some overlap between them). But what kind of job do you do? Activity level has more to do with the kind of lifestyle activity you do so much you can't track it.

    If you have a desk job, then I think you should say sedentary, and then enter your workouts as exercise on your daily log (that will increase the calories you can eat on that day).
    If you work retail - where you spend all day walking around a store - you would probably say light. I'm not sure what medium would be. Construction, maybe?
  • flashlight365
    flashlight365 Posts: 11
    Thanks for the reply. In the link, construction is actually heavy and medium is something like housekeeping I believe.
  • jrose1982
    jrose1982 Posts: 366 Member
    I see. And it says right in the instructions to use "Light" if you're an office worker. So retail with a lot of walking probably medium.
  • flashlight365
    flashlight365 Posts: 11
    In total I do cardio 5x a week with one of them on a lifting day, so yes, I meant that the cardio overlaps with one of the lift days. It's just real hard for me to get used to eating only 2000 cals. I've always been serious about working out, but I've never been serious about my nutrition until only about 2 weeks ago. I know it's gonna take some time to adjust.
  • jrose1982
    jrose1982 Posts: 366 Member
    It also says "Not including exercise".
  • flashlight365
    flashlight365 Posts: 11
    jrose1982 wrote: »
    I see. And it says right in the instructions to use "Light" if you're an office worker. So retail with a lot of walking probably medium.

    Yes, I believe so.
  • flashlight365
    flashlight365 Posts: 11
    jrose1982 wrote: »
    It also says "Not including exercise".


    Yup, don't know how I missed that the 1st time hahaha
  • flashlight365
    flashlight365 Posts: 11
    I have class during the week and I work part-time as a dietary worker in a nursing home on Mon, Fri, and Sat. So I guess I do light activity?
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