Are my calories too low?

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VividVegan
VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
edited April 2016 in Food and Nutrition
I'm 5'6 female and 125 pounds. I'm a college student and live a couple blocks away from campus. I don't have my own car yet so I walk, bike, and/or take the bus wherever I need to go. Aside from the walking around, I do workouts 4 days a week (usually the days I don't have classes). My workouts are mainly resistance training and lifting weights because I'm not a big fan of cardio and already do lots of walking to get around. How many calories do I need? I currently am taking in 1,430 per day. No refined foods or junk. I'm a clean eater (fruits, veggies, whole grains, proteins, water, etc). But I have been very hungry lately. By the way, I'm trying to lose weight and get lean.

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  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,646 Member
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    What do your macros look like? Are you eating the foods that fill you up and satisfy you? Since your diary is closed, it's very difficult to give you any meaningful advice.

    Some people find fats satiating. Personally, I'm a high protein, high carb kinda guy. It took a lot of experimentation for me to figure that out... but it works for me.

    You just need to find what satisfies you and doesn't leave you hungry while staying in your calorie goal.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Well, have you calculated your TDEE? Did you set MFP to lose 1-2 lbs per week or .5 lbs per week?
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    Yeah I tried calculating my TDEE but I get different answers from different sites (ranges from 1750-2100). And I just changed my diary settings by the way. My goal is set to .5 per week.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    I only weight lift and walk around as well. I find that set to lightly active MFP just gives me my TDEE when I set to maintain. Any goal I choose from there (lose/gain) is pretty accurate. If you are doing any cardio you can try eating back some of those calories I guess.
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
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    Yes, sounds low.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    I'm 5'6 female and 125 pounds. I'm a college student and live a couple blocks away from campus. I don't have my own car yet so I walk, bike, and/or take the bus wherever I need to go. Aside from the walking around, I do workouts 4 days a week (usually the days I don't have classes). My workouts are mainly resistance training and lifting weights because I'm not a big fan of cardio and already do lots of walking to get around. How many calories do I need? I currently am taking in 1,430 per day. No refined foods or junk. I'm a clean eater (fruits, veggies, whole grains, proteins, water, etc). But I have been very hungry lately. By the way, I'm trying to lose weight and get lean.

    You are a great weight now! Why are you trying to lose? It sounds like you may need to increase your calories since you do so much walking and working out. I doubt you will gain if you do that. You look great though!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
    edited April 2016
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    I'm 5'6 female and 125 pounds. I'm a college student and live a couple blocks away from campus. I don't have my own car yet so I walk, bike, and/or take the bus wherever I need to go. Aside from the walking around, I do workouts 4 days a week (usually the days I don't have classes). My workouts are mainly resistance training and lifting weights because I'm not a big fan of cardio and already do lots of walking to get around. How many calories do I need? I currently am taking in 1,430 per day. No refined foods or junk. I'm a clean eater (fruits, veggies, whole grains, proteins, water, etc). But I have been very hungry lately. By the way, I'm trying to lose weight and get lean.

    Try just eating at maintenance and getting lean as the resistance training and lifting weights works its magic.

    But to answer your question, yes, 1,430 calories is way too low for someone your height, weight, and activity level.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    Yeah I tried calculating my TDEE but I get different answers from different sites (ranges from 1750-2100). And I just changed my diary settings by the way. My goal is set to .5 per week.

    I gave you an activity level of Active, put your age at 20, your goal weight at 120, and came up with 1,920 Calories / Day.

    When I set your goal to maintain your current weight (you'll get lean via your activity and strength training) I get 2,170 Calories / Day.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    Ok, thank you for your responses. I'll increase my calories more as I'm trying to get leaner. My workouts are usually 30 minutes per day, 4 days a week aside from the daily walking. That's all I can usually fit into my schedule and leftover energy after homework, errands without a car, walking everywhere, cooking and cleaning, etc lol. I currently live alone.

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