How many calories should I be consuming?

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Knuxchan
Knuxchan Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 5'9", female, 32 yrs. I work an office job 8 hrs a day (I'm at a desk, but I sit on a medicine ball so I'm not completely stationery). I also have a pull-up bar over the door in the office, so I can get some quick workouts in here and there. At night, I do heavy martial arts training for about 3-4 hours. I also do parkour on the weekends for about 3-4 hours. So my weekly exercise/activity level is about 15-20 hours a week, even though my desk job is 40 hours a week.

I've checked out the calorie calculators online, but all of them only ask what your overall activity level is. Well, because I work at a computer for my day job, my activity level is low, however, I do extremely hard workouts and strength training in the evenings and weekends, and there's nowhere for me to take that in account when I fill out the calorie calculator. It just assumes I ALWAYS have a light/moderate activity level.

I've read that athletes and those who do extreme training need to consume a lot of calories, but I'm wondering if that applies to me or not. I'm not trying to look like the Hulk. I just want to concentrate on building my abs, and lose a little fat around my mid and lower half. I want to stay lean (according to the fat caliper I used, I am considered 'lean'. My BMI is around 22-23). If I build muscle, I want it to be minimal, because I want to stay limber and flexible so that I can still do parkour and martial arts with ease. Too much muscle will make if very difficult to do this.

So my question is, how many calories do I need to be consuming with the amount of activity I do, despite my near-stationary day job?

Replies

  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    All of them have activity levels - if you go to Scooby Workshop, you would be putting in the highest level of activity in the 'enter your activity level' - it's a pull down menu and has nothing to do with just your job but also all your other activities. As you didn't give us your current weight, I can't put your numbers in and give you a calorie amount.

    And note - you won't ever look like the hulk as a woman unless you eat above your TDEE and lift very heavy weights progressively...and even then, it's EXTREMELY difficult to do.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    MFP should have told you this when you set up your account, how many base calories you get. Then, as you exercise, you earn more calories.
    As a woman, you are not going to look like the hulk. It is extremely difficult to actually gain muscle. IF you were in surplus and already seasoned at lifting, you could expect to gain about half pound to a pound of muscle a month.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    There are 2 basic approaches. MFP is aNEAT calculator, meaning that it gives you calorie before exercising, then expects you to determine and add in your calorie burn for exercises as you do them. Scoobies (or IIFYM, or others) is aTDEE calculator, meaning that it inquires about your typical exercise level and then give a calorie number that includes exercise. Subject too a few qualifying assumption, they both get you to the same place. Any method is just an estimate. Ultimately the scale has to be your guide. If you are losing or gaining went inconsistent with the calorie estimate, you need to adjust.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    Knuxchan wrote: »
    If I build muscle, I want it to be minimal, because I want to stay limber and flexible so that I can still do parkour and martial arts with ease. Too much muscle will make if very difficult to do this.

    As others have said, it is very difficult to build muscle. That said, you can put on muscle and stay limber and flexible. Circuses are full of muscular, limber athletes.
  • AdrianBry
    AdrianBry Posts: 138 Member
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    NO one, no app or no calculator and not even MFP can give you a magically number that will just fit you and help you lose weight or build muscle.

    It's a process of trial and error which could take up to 2 weeks and once you find that PERFECT number then you can adjust based on the reuslts you get but with that said...

    things like MFP can give you a good guesstimate on where to start
  • Knuxchan
    Knuxchan Posts: 8
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    Thanks for the replies, everyone. My current weight is 155 lbs. If I am able to lose weight to maybe 140 or even 135, that would be great, however, I assume that with all the working out I do, that I would be gaining muscle, so I probably would not be able to lose weight.

    I checked the MFP profile updater, it asks me 'How would you describe your normal daily activities?' I selected 'Sedentary' because I do sit behind a desk for my day job. Should I not choose this?

    I also filled in '5 workouts/week, 180 min/workout' under 'How many times a week do you plan on exercising?'

    I never heard of Scooby Workshop, but I will check it out.

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