THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CALORIES

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therusticgypsigirl
therusticgypsigirl Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Im trying to loose almost 150 lbs. MFP says I should eat 1730 calories a day with light activity. This sounds like a lot. Can someone help confirm or assist in the correct caloric intake I should in daily?

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  • Virkati
    Virkati Posts: 679 Member
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    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Insert your information. It will tell you everything you need to know.

    Good luck :)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    therusticgypsigirl wrote: »
    Im trying to loose almost 150 lbs. MFP says I should eat 1730 calories a day with light activity. This sounds like a lot. Can someone help confirm or assist in the correct caloric intake I should in daily?

    Sounds good to me. Eat that and log your exercise and eat at least half of the calories. In a month evaluate whether you are losing at a good rate (good = reasonable and healthy, not as fast as possible) and whether or not you can/should eat more/fewer exercise calories.

    You don't have to eat super low cals to lose weight. I always say that I am a big fan of eating as much as I can while losing weight. Another poster always says "the winner is the person who gets to eat the most while losing weight." Just eat at a moderate deficit, fuel your body for whatever exercise you do, and keep at it and it will come off :)
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Since you think that seems high, are you sure you are lightly active and not sedentary?
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    Yes, MFP does not count any exercise when you set your activity level. If you have a desk job but work out a few times a week you're still sedentary for the purposes of MFP's metrics. You log your exercise seperately each day.
  • graciiekim
    graciiekim Posts: 72 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    You don't have to eat super low cals to lose weight. I always say that I am a big fan of eating as much as I can while losing weight. Another poster always says "the winner is the person who gets to eat the most while losing weight." Just eat at a moderate deficit, fuel your body for whatever exercise you do, and keep at it and it will come off :)

    Preach
  • krallice
    krallice Posts: 2 Member
    edited May 2015
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    1730 calories may sound high to you, but think about it like this - those calories are going to be powering a body that weighs (I presume) somewhere around 275-300 pounds, so it requires a lot more fuel (basal metabolic rate/total daily energy expenditure). Once you start losing a significant amount of weight, you can recalculate and slowly drop your daily intake to keep your deficit proportional and continue losing weight at a steady pace. Running at too high a deficit is not healthy.

    Good luck with everything!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    therusticgypsigirl wrote: »
    Im trying to loose almost 150 lbs. MFP says I should eat 1730 calories a day with light activity. This sounds like a lot. Can someone help confirm or assist in the correct caloric intake I should in daily?

    In my experience, this calculator is fairly accurate so long as the information you put in is accurate. Are you truly light active? What is your goal rate of loss?

    For someone of your stats, this seems like a pretty reasonable goal to lose probably about 1 Lb per week.

    Another issue people have when they start is that they really have no concept of how many calories their bodies actually need and most of us have been told that in order to lose weight you basically have to starve...and nothing could be further from the truth.

    Our bodies require a lot of energy (calories) simply to exist...then we have all of our other stuff on top of that which requires energy.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    therusticgypsigirl wrote: »
    Im trying to loose almost 150 lbs. MFP says I should eat 1730 calories a day with light activity. This sounds like a lot. Can someone help confirm or assist in the correct caloric intake I should in daily?

    You have 148 pounds to lose. You aren't going to do it in a week, or a month, or even a year. 1730 calories sounds very realistic to someone in your weight range. How many calories were you eating before you started this? Compare them to 1730. You didn't gain this weight all at once, and you won't lose it all at once. Might take a couple of years. Have patience, don't give up, and know that you are supported here!
  • jenncornelsen
    jenncornelsen Posts: 969 Member
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    i completely agree that 1730 cals is a good amount. don't set yourself up any lower or u will be hungry all the time and will make this process alot more miserable. i eat almost 1700 cals a day and am losing. and i feel great while doing it. i started at 1200. it seriously sucked. hence why i am eating more. u may need to adjust your calories when u get lighter but at this point i wouldnt.
  • Momjogger
    Momjogger Posts: 750 Member
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    Yes that sounds right. As you lose weight, you will have to eat less to continue to lose.
  • therusticgypsigirl
    therusticgypsigirl Posts: 9 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Wow! Thanks for all the responses. It helps! This was my first and I thought I would get notifications if someone responded. But I didn't, so when I came over to the forum..I had all this feedback, and great feedback at that! I guess I'm obviously thinking this is harder than it should be. I honestly have no idea what I was taking in before. I ate whatever and whenever, hence needing to loose all this weight now. But I was consuming 10-12 dr. Peppers a day before so I can tell us it wasn't good. My food intake problem has always been choices not so much quantity. So now that I've cut out all soda and refined sugar I'm having a hard time eating enough. I'm never hungry, and when I feel hungry I can now tell the difference between hunger and boredom. This is a new life change for me so again thanks for all the advice!
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,565 Member
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    Hire an online coach.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    1730 sounds good to me. I'm eating 1800 calories a day and lose about .5 lbs a week. Cutting out the Dr. Peppers is good, they're about 250 calories a can... so that frees up over 2500 calories for you right there!
  • PopeyeCT
    PopeyeCT Posts: 249 Member
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    therusticgypsigirl wrote: »
    I was consuming 10-12 dr. Peppers a day

    If they were 12oz cans, that's 1500-1800 calories right there.

    I drink a lot of Crystal Light. But if you want soda, just switch to diet. Zero calories.

  • therusticgypsigirl
    therusticgypsigirl Posts: 9 Member
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    No I swear I'm like a crack addict. I just have to stay away from the crack house all together. I'm in love with vitamin water zero.
  • ArkMom35
    ArkMom35 Posts: 225 Member
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    Sounds good to me! I started out with 80 lbs to lose and I had 1770 calories, I lost well on that.

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