Advice Needed
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MrWillis212
Posts: 17 Member
Hi all,
I need some help working out the amount of calories needed to lose weight at a healthy level, at the moment I've set my daily calories to 1500 per day and I am not eating back what I exercise, I feel it's not enough but have been battling through it for the past 16 days thinking its just mind over matter.
Can anyone out there give me some advice on how many calories I should be consuming a day vs trying to lose 1kg a (2.2lbs give or take) a week. Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am not understanding a lot that is involved.
Diary
Height: 183cm (6 foot)
Current Weight: 144kg (317lbs)
I work a desk job Mon - Fri & walk to work but don't go to the gym.
Cheers.
I need some help working out the amount of calories needed to lose weight at a healthy level, at the moment I've set my daily calories to 1500 per day and I am not eating back what I exercise, I feel it's not enough but have been battling through it for the past 16 days thinking its just mind over matter.
Can anyone out there give me some advice on how many calories I should be consuming a day vs trying to lose 1kg a (2.2lbs give or take) a week. Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am not understanding a lot that is involved.
Diary
Height: 183cm (6 foot)
Current Weight: 144kg (317lbs)
I work a desk job Mon - Fri & walk to work but don't go to the gym.
Cheers.
0
Replies
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What is your age?0
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290
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Just checked your profile and saw your age. Your TDEE is 2933 cal/day which means to lose weight you should be eating about 1000 calories less than that for your 2lbs a week desired loss. So 1933 calories a day. Currently you aren't even consuming enough calories to cover your BMR (this is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive- it doesn't include any walking/movement we typically do during the day). So yes, you are eating too little and you will probably feel much better once you start eating more
Edited because I can't math at night.0 -
If any of that isn't making sense or you would prefer a more detailed answer then this should help clear it up: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
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do not count walking as exercise. still walk but consider it a normal activity. if you do anything other than that like ride a bike or lift weights then count that and make sure to eat calories back. restricting too much causes body to go into starvation mode and want to hold on to fat longer. it also is hard to keep the weight off once it finally does come off. slow and steady. eat more calories and gradually decrease them over time. don't cut too much of your calories too soon or else you'll mess yourself up. just start at a higher level than you think and every couple months cut back a little until you reach your goal and then add a little more back in.0
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you should try eating 2000 cals per day for a month and see what happens. then next month cut down 100. etc.
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Just checked your profile and saw your age. Your TDEE is 2939 cal/day which means to lose weight you should be eating about 400-500 calories less than that for your 2lbs a week desired loss. So 2439-2539 calories a day. Currently you aren't even consuming enough calories to cover your BMR (this is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive- it doesn't include any walking/movement we typically do during the day). So yes, you are eating too little and you will probably feel much better once you start eating more
Faulty math. 500 calories per day is 3500 calories per week, so 1 pound, not 2. Your TDEE according to scooby's calculator is 3307. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, that would mean a deficit of 1000 calories per day, so 2307 calories.
Remember that TDEE includes your activity, so don't log your walks to work.0 -
i've lost 6 lbs in less than 2 weeks by following MFP (with cheating on weekends -eating whatever and not logging). so i don't want to lose this fast (which ive asked to lose only 1.5 lbs a week. so MFP can be off and not 100% accurate. im going to be eating a lot more. I was maintaining at about 2700-3000 cals easily without working out, but MFP didn't know this. They just used my weight, height, age etc. So now im realizing im starving. and having major cravings and i feel like im starving. not good! lol!! so i'm adding cals back in (even with cheating on weekends!). I don't work out -just am a super busy single Mom who works and goes to school. and probably burns more cals in one day than most people do all week! lol!0
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Just checked your profile and saw your age. Your TDEE is 2939 cal/day which means to lose weight you should be eating about 400-500 calories less than that for your 2lbs a week desired loss. So 2439-2539 calories a day. Currently you aren't even consuming enough calories to cover your BMR (this is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive- it doesn't include any walking/movement we typically do during the day). So yes, you are eating too little and you will probably feel much better once you start eating more
Actually, a 500 calorie per day deficit would equal 1 pound loss per week, as a pound is 3500 calories. To lose 2 pounds, the OP should deduct 1000 calories per day from TDEE. The trick is to find an accurate TDEE. The best thing to do is to use the number from the calculator, track everything carefully for 4 weeks, and adjust up or down by 100 calories if weight loss is not as expected (ie. 4 weeks of 1000 calorie per day deficit should = 8 pounds lost: 1000 x 7 days = 7000 cals x 4 weeks = 28000 cals / 3500 = 8 pounds).
Keep in mind this may not be exact due to water retention if you have changed or increased workouts or eaten more sodium or carbs than usual.0 -
kisses71213 wrote: »i've lost 6 lbs in less than 2 weeks by following MFP (with cheating on weekends -eating whatever and not logging). so i don't want to lose this fast (which ive asked to lose only 1.5 lbs a week. so MFP can be off and not 100% accurate. im going to be eating a lot more. I was maintaining at about 2700-3000 cals easily without working out, but MFP didn't know this. They just used my weight, height, age etc. So now im realizing im starving. and having major cravings and i feel like im starving. not good! lol!! so i'm adding cals back in (even with cheating on weekends!). I don't work out -just am a super busy single Mom who works and goes to school. and probably burns more cals in one day than most people do all week! lol!
Keep in mind that some of that will be water weight and possibly glycogen stores that are normal when you start a diet. Most people's weight loss slows after the first 2 weeks.0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »Just checked your profile and saw your age. Your TDEE is 2939 cal/day which means to lose weight you should be eating about 400-500 calories less than that for your 2lbs a week desired loss. So 2439-2539 calories a day. Currently you aren't even consuming enough calories to cover your BMR (this is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive- it doesn't include any walking/movement we typically do during the day). So yes, you are eating too little and you will probably feel much better once you start eating more
Faulty math. 500 calories per day is 3500 calories per week, so 1 pound, not 2. Your TDEE according to scooby's calculator is 3307. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, that would mean a deficit of 1000 calories per day, so 2307 calories.
Remember that TDEE includes your activity, so don't log your walks to work.
Yes, my math was off. Oops. Thanks for catching that. I'm running low on sleep and waiting for my shift to end. What is the difference in the Scooby's calculator and the one on iifym? Is one preferred over the other or just personal preference?0 -
blankiefinder wrote: »Just checked your profile and saw your age. Your TDEE is 2939 cal/day which means to lose weight you should be eating about 400-500 calories less than that for your 2lbs a week desired loss. So 2439-2539 calories a day. Currently you aren't even consuming enough calories to cover your BMR (this is the amount of calories your body burns just by being alive- it doesn't include any walking/movement we typically do during the day). So yes, you are eating too little and you will probably feel much better once you start eating more
Faulty math. 500 calories per day is 3500 calories per week, so 1 pound, not 2. Your TDEE according to scooby's calculator is 3307. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, that would mean a deficit of 1000 calories per day, so 2307 calories.
Remember that TDEE includes your activity, so don't log your walks to work.
Yes, my math was off. Oops. Thanks for catching that. I'm running low on sleep and waiting for my shift to end. What is the difference in the Scooby's calculator and the one on iifym? Is one preferred over the other or just personal opinion?
I'm not sure which one is more accurate, but either would be a good place to start. OP's 1500 calories is too low.
OP, use a food scale, weigh everything, and eat what MFP tells you to. Log accurately and the weight will come off. Good luck.0 -
~~blankiefinder wrote: »kisses71213 wrote: »i've lost 6 lbs in less than 2 weeks by following MFP (with cheating on weekends -eating whatever and not logging). so i don't want to lose this fast (which ive asked to lose only 1.5 lbs a week. so MFP can be off and not 100% accurate. im going to be eating a lot more. I was maintaining at about 2700-3000 cals easily without working out, but MFP didn't know this. They just used my weight, height, age etc. So now im realizing im starving. and having major cravings and i feel like im starving. not good! lol!! so i'm adding cals back in (even with cheating on weekends!). I don't work out -just am a super busy single Mom who works and goes to school. and probably burns more cals in one day than most people do all week! lol!
Keep in mind that some of that will be water weight and possibly glycogen stores that are normal when you start a diet. Most people's weight loss slows after the first 2 weeks.
Ok, good! I hope so because I it has only been about 11 days or so!0 -
Cheers everyone for your comments, suggestions and advice with this, I really appreciate it.
I'll increase my calorie intake starting tomorrow (to 2000-2100 cal), I already weight everything I was just weighing only enough for 1500 cal's which was the main issue, but I won't be logging my walks to work anymore which makes sense and when I start branching out into gym work or cycling/running etc then I will log those.
Again thank you everyone for your help, this community is amazing!0 -
I'm not sure why people are saying not to log walking. As has been said on these forums before, if we are watching every calorie of food (including those 2 calorie cups of herbal tea) why shouldn't we be adding in all our different types of activity too? There are many people on these forums who have lost a lot of weight with walking as their only exercise.
I keep it in there because I've found that I'm much less likely to skip walking home if I know I'm going to add it to my calories. This has helped me keep much more active, particularly when I'm really tired etc.
However, because I do add walking in I have my activity level set to Sedentary so that MFP doesn't add anything extra in calorie-wise.0 -
I'm not sure why people are saying not to log walking. As has been said on these forums before, if we are watching every calorie of food (including those 2 calorie cups of herbal tea) why shouldn't we be adding in all our different types of activity too? There are many people on these forums who have lost a lot of weight with walking as their only exercise.
I keep it in there because I've found that I'm much less likely to skip walking home if I know I'm going to add it to my calories. This has helped me keep much more active, particularly when I'm really tired etc.
However, because I do add walking in I have my activity level set to Sedentary so that MFP doesn't add anything extra in calorie-wise.
Because we used TDEE to calculate his deficit, not MFP. Apples, oranges...0
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