1280 calories

agnatkowa wrote: »

Hi. My entry weight was quite similar. For 36 days I am on 1000-1100 kcal diet and I exercise every other day for about 50min (aerobic). I excluded alcohol, sweets and I have discovered that I was always eating little of actual food, most of it was junk. I feel much better than before and already lost 16 lbs. I am using food scale for every meal I prepare and never forget to log things in mfp. Be patient and try not to make exceptions in your diet, it will pay off

MFP discourages diets like this. Not healthy and not recommended.

Yes, go by what they say, I mean, as a guideline. Go by how you feel, too! Do you have enough energy, how do you feel with 1200 calories a day, is it enough? Pay attention to your carbs and protein, too. If you are working out regularly, like every day, then make sure you are getting plenty of protein!! Drink tons of water!! And if you are still hungry, make sure you are eating enough carbs! At first I was all gun hoe, and pretty much cut out any carbs, and at night, I was starving!! I added in my healthy carbs, and wow, what a difference it made!!

When I was trying to lose, I chose the "eating for the future you" method. This involves calculating your TDEE at your goal weight and then committing to eating that number of calories forever (* if you stay at the same weight, and adjusting for age-related slow down in metabolism). This worked for me precisely because I wasn't doing something to lose that I would eventually stop doing. It also generally means eating more than if you are "dieting." This method doesn't work for everyone, but I know many people who have been successful at it.

You say you weren't able to stick with it in the past because of stress, and that might be true, but realize that life will always have stress. You shouldn't try to do something that's impossible when you are stressed. You should choose something you can do successfully most days, indefinitely, through good times and bad, through stressful times and non-stressful times.

The down side of this method is that weight loss is slower. The up side is that by the time you get to your goal weight you will be so used to eating for that weight that eating any other amount will feel ridiculous. With this method, you are investing in the long-term you.

Here's a good TDEE calculator:

https://tdeecalculator.net/

Good luck.

you dont say how much you actually have too lose?
2lbs a week is a high target, I set mine to 1lb and sedantary and got 1450 (im 5"4 and weigh just shy of 200lbs)
i think you should try the 1560 + maybe a few of your exercise calories and see how you go, you can then adjust after say 4-5weeks as you need to

Kkourt_Love wrote: »

Changed it to lightly active and calories have gone up to 1560 per day. I will try this out and see how well it goes. Thank you all for your thoughts.

I've calculated your TDEE on three different calculators and I'm coming up with roughly 2200 cal/day. Depending on how aggressive you'd like to approach your deficit, I think it's safe to say that you'd be okay eating even more than the above mentioned intake. 1560 is still more spot on than the 1280 cal/day figure you originally received.

I would start at the lowest amount of weight loss per week and see how you go. If that's ok then go to the next level, and so forth. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to reduce by too much. I'm the same height as you. 165 pounds and I wouldn't last one day at 1280 cals! I'm on half a pound a week at 1580 and that's ok. Just!!

I wasn't able to stick with it the last time due to work stress. It is still stressful at work, but after having tubular adenomas in my intestines and gaining ten lbs in the last two months, I am tired of feeling so gross and unhealthy. I am prepared now to commit to it.

It sounds like cutting straight to 1200 would probably just make you even more stressed out. Try starting at a pound a week loss for your food setting and it will probably be easier to get into the mindset of calorie counting.

As for if walking will help you lose weight, it's just calories in, calories out. So you'll lose more weight with walking, but don't overexercise and under eat or it's going to feel awful.