Soo another question about goal calories

Change1992
Change1992 Posts: 40 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well today :)

As you may know, I'm 5'10, 22 F and have lost 28lbs in about 6 months which I'm very pleased with!

Due to a bad injury, I've only recently been cleared for some exercise. (I know I know - should've been doing what I could during the injury but I kinda gave up with the exercise part!)
I've started jogging/fast walking 5k 3 times a week as a starting point to improve my fitness again and try and get some level of toning back.

I've recalculated my daily calories on scoobys workshop and it is coming up with numbers in the 1900s. Currently, I'm eating 1500 at sedentary and am a bit worried about such a large increase.

Does an increase of 400 calories seem warranted for around 4 hours a week of light exercise? Anyone got any experiences/ideas? I don't like messing with my calorie goal other than to take some off every 5lb I lose but would really like the fitness level that running gives!

Thanks all!

Replies

  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    I wouldn't jump up 400 calories. I always add calories in slowly. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    I just don't get why people don't use MFP and log exercise, allowing half the calories

    No need to recalculate elsewhere unless you want to
  • Change1992
    Change1992 Posts: 40 Member
    Hi Terbusha - Yes, I think it's going to be a bit of trial and error by the looks of it! Really don't like messing with something that works which is why I'm a bit nervous but guess I'll have to bite the bullet :) Thanks for your message also

    Hi Rabbitjb - I can't speak for anyone else but I did calculate on MFP for a good while and did lose weight. But it allowed my 1200 calories only and I was constantly feeling dizzy and ill - ant this was when I wasn't doing any exercise! So decided to give the TDEE method a go and this seems to be working much better for me
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    How did you come up with your current 1500 calorie goal--from the scooby website or from MFP? A 400 calorie per day increase seems excessive, to me. That's an extra 2800 calories per week. I, personally, have found that the scooby website gives me numbers a lot higher than the iifym.com calculator (150+ calorie difference), which I have found to be fairly close to my actual TDEE.
  • Change1992
    Change1992 Posts: 40 Member
    My current goal was created by Scooby too. Hmm .... may try and have a little bit of a look - thanks :)
  • mbcieslak87
    mbcieslak87 Posts: 206 Member
    I find Scooby works best for me if I take the under on my estimated workout hours. For instance I run 4-6 miles 3x a week and lift weights 3x a week but I select the 1-3 hours active on Scooby, even though I really am working out for about 4-5 hours a week. That and a 20% deficit 5x days a week and eating at maintenance 2x days a week has me losing a lb a week. (those numbers are roughly 1600 and 2000 respectively for me; 27 F 141lb and 5'6").
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