How many calories?

shawnaes91
shawnaes91 Posts: 60 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok I am currently wondering how many calories I need to be eating to lose weight.

Previously I have lost 38 pounds by counting calories only. But my diet wasn't well rounded and I was only eating about 1200 a day. I was tired and cranky and constantly thinking about food. I eventually crashed and burned an just quit caring and ate whatever I wanted.

I have lost of the initial weight that I gained back. Someone told me about the 21 day fix and following portion control containers. I tried that. I have lost about 5 pounds with it. But its so restrictive and also only suggest about 1200 calories to max 1500 which is impossible to reach with eating the exact amounts it tells you to.

I am a SAHM so I am pretty inactive unless i work out. I jog/walk 3 times a week minimum 3 miles and I work out 30 minutes 4 days of the week. What caluclator should I be using? My fitness pals is just too low they want me eating 1270 and thats with working out in some form 7 days a week.

Replies

  • marebear31485
    marebear31485 Posts: 36 Member
    What type of calories are you taking in? I have found that by completely changing up my diet and taking in many more calories from protein, I don't feel hungry at all on 12-1400 calories a day.
  • marebear31485
    marebear31485 Posts: 36 Member
    On a side note, I'm not 100% sure it was related, but when I added an exercise goal, MFP increased my daily calorie amount. If you work out every day you may want to put that in there. Also make sure you are using the right lifestyle selector. And you can always eat back some of the calories you lose from your exercise.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    The calories MFP gives you do not include exercise calories.

    Did you choose a goal of 2 lbs per week? That is a very aggressive goal. If you have less than 75 lbs to lose set your goal to 1 lb per week, and if you have less than 25 lbs to lose, you might want to choose one-half lb.

    Then log your exercise every day and eat back half to three quarters of those calories.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited April 2016
    If you don't want to keep fussing with your MFP goal, you can use this "set and forget" technique:

    1. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ and enter the stats for your goal weight not current weight. Make sure it's set to "Desktop with little exercise". For my stats that's 1746.

    2. Subtract 150 to 400 from that number. How much you subtract depends on your goal BMI, your height and what you deem as an acceptable level to eat. In my case that's 1746-300 = 1446 (I'm aiming for a BMI of 26.5).

    3. Set your MFP to that number.

    4. Set your activity level in MFP to sedentary and add your workouts when you do them, which should give you even more extra calories to eat. Eat 0-100% of them back as your appetite dictates.

    This should result in a reasonable intake that will likely not leave you deprived and your weight loss should slow down organically as you lose weight without having to fiddle with the settings every time, ending up at about 1/2 pound loss per week when you are close to your goal weight.
  • shawnaes91
    shawnaes91 Posts: 60 Member
    No my goal was one pound a week to lose. I have around 15 pounds to lose as my goal weight. Thank you for the calculator!
  • BelleCakes2018
    BelleCakes2018 Posts: 568 Member
    Did you find your answer? You don't have to eat anywhere near as low at that to lose 1lb a week.
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