how many calories should i eat?

mghanie
mghanie Posts: 105 Member
edited November 9 in Health and Weight Loss
hey all, Happy Holidays!
so I've been on MFP for a while and I've lost weight :) but due to bad logging I've gained like 10 pounds now. I am 145 and I want to be 135. I'm eating 1389 calories a day trying to lose the weight but I recalculated my TDEE and BMR using fat2fit.com with my body fat percentage, it says my BMR is 1484 and if im sedentary then I should be eating 1728 calories a day and if I'm lightly active I should be eating 1980 a day! My problem is I think that's too much and I don't know which category I fall under sedentary or lightly active. See I work at a theme park 4 times a week so im using taking 5,000 to 13,000 steps 4 days a week. So I don't know which numbers to follow and if they are too high? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • mghanie
    mghanie Posts: 105 Member
    Anyone?
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    Well, you didn't provide us with nearly enough info to help. I need your age, height, number of times a week you weight train, etc
  • jenglish712
    jenglish712 Posts: 497 Member
    Any calculator is just an estimate. If you seem to think the higher number is too high, try the lower one 2-3 weeks and adjust accordingly if you are not losing weight or losing it too fast. A tape measure or scale will tell you more than all the online calculators in the world. They are useful to ballpark.
  • mghanie
    mghanie Posts: 105 Member
    beautifulwarrior18 wrote: »
    Well, you didn't provide us with nearly enough info to help. I need your age, height, number of times a week you weight train, etc

    Sorry, im 22 5ft 4in i dont weight train...
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    If you're currently eating just under 1400 and gaining weight, you certainly don't want to eat any more than that if you want to lose weight.
    My doctor & dietician told me to eat 10x my healthy goal weight to get there, so if 135 is a healthy weight for you, aim for 1350 calories.
    If you don't lose weight on that, nudge it down 50 calories at a time, wait a month or so, and see if you lose weight.
    Don't go below 1200 unless you're very short or your doctor says it's OK.
    Also, ignore exercise or "net" calories, just eat at or below your goal. Most people underestimate how much they eat, and most machines overestimate how much you burn.
    Realize that with so little to lose, it's going to go very slowly. Even 1/2 lb per week would be a victory.

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Take 5-10% off the lightly active number. If after a month you aren't losing, change to the sedentary one.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Were you losing on the 1389 (when you were accurately logging)?
  • mghanie
    mghanie Posts: 105 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Were you losing on the 1389 (when you were accurately logging)?

    For a little bit yes I was.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    mghanie wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Were you losing on the 1389 (when you were accurately logging)?

    For a little bit yes I was.

    Perfect. Tighten your logging back up and you have your answer for weight loss.
  • mghanie
    mghanie Posts: 105 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    mghanie wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Were you losing on the 1389 (when you were accurately logging)?

    For a little bit yes I was.

    Perfect. Tighten your logging back up and you have your answer for weight loss.

    Thank you!
  • MargaretSobers
    MargaretSobers Posts: 167 Member
    The number of calories you take will depend on the several factors which include age, size, height, sex and lifestyle.
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    I am 5'6", 145 & 46 yr old...I can eat 1900 calories and lose weight (currently maintaining at 2100). Why not eat as much as you can while losing weight slowly. This is not a race to see who can lose as quickly as they can.
  • mghanie
    mghanie Posts: 105 Member
    mymodernbabylon wrote: »
    I am 5'6", 145 & 46 yr old...I can eat 1900 calories and lose weight (currently maintaining at 2100). Why not eat as much as you can while losing weight slowly. This is not a race to see who can lose as quickly as they can.

    Do you do a lot of exercise?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    If your logging is accurate, you don't need to worry about the TDEE number. Just pick an intake level and stick to it, adjusting a little up or down depending on how the scale moves.

    And if you aren't logging accurately, the number doesn't even matter.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    edited December 2014
    According to my calculation you should be eating 1432 calories per day.
    That is based on the Mifflin-St Jeor formula. If you don't weight train then you should put that you're sedentary. Don't ever count work as exercise. If you're overweight then clearly the exercise you do at work isn't enough to be counting. Remember, everyone's metabolism is different. Hit that number for a month and see where you are at. If you aren't losing weight, you need to lower that number a bit.

    Everything you log should be done by grams if possible. It's the most accurate measure (liquids not included, those should be measured by fluid ounces or ml). If you don't measure accurately, knowing how many calories to eat a day is pretty worthless. It's okay to guess once in a while (once a month), but not everyday.
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