How many Calories Should I eat?

ericabalko
ericabalko Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
On-line calculators say I need 1900 to maintain my goal weight (presently weighing around 130 with a goal of 120). Should I eat 1500 and burn at least 100 in exercise to lose a min of 1 lb a week?
I get hung up by the calorie goals on MFP. I want to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. It says I should eat around 1500 then adjusts up when I workout. I don't want to eat back my exercise cals.
I'm really discouraged bc I have been in a plateau for three weeks now. I am 33 yrs old 5'4" female and workout 45min to an hour mix of cardio and weight training 6 to 7 days a week. I was eating around 1100 to 1300 a day then having crazy hungry days where I'd eat 2200. My waking temps are real low and my morale matches. Any advice is welcome!
I just bought Chalean Extreme so I plan to follow that program when I get it in a week or so.

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    With only ten pounds to lose, half a pound is a more optimal goal for you, and make sure that your logging is as tight as possible. If you don't have one, purchase a food scale and start using it to weigh everything.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2016
    ericabalko wrote: »
    On-line calculators say I need 1900 to maintain my goal weight (presently weighing around 130 with a goal of 120). Should I eat 1500 and burn at least 100 in exercise to lose a min of 1 lb a week?
    I get hung up by the calorie goals on MFP. I want to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. It says I should eat around 1500 then adjusts up when I workout. I don't want to eat back my exercise cals.
    I'm really discouraged bc I have been in a plateau for three weeks now. I am 33 yrs old 5'4" female and workout 45min to an hour mix of cardio and weight training 6 to 7 days a week. I was eating around 1100 to 1300 a day then having crazy hungry days where I'd eat 2200. My waking temps are real low and my morale matches. Any advice is welcome!
    I just bought Chalean Extreme so I plan to follow that program when I get it in a week or so.

    There's little difference when all is said and done between figuring out your TDEE (calorie burn with your average exercise built it) or using MFP and eating back some of your exercise calories. Do it whichever way you'd like, as long as you're faithfully exercising.

    The bolded part above is probably your answer. Eating 1000 calories extra one day per week would pretty much blow your deficit for the week and maybe even more.

    Edited to add:

    With 10 pounds left to lose, 1 pound per week is pretty aggressive. Aim for .5 pound per week and consider adding strength training to your cardio. Most people who get down to the last 10 pounds are really looking to firm up. Strength training while eating at a slight deficit is a better way to go about it than starving yourself into a smaller size you'll have difficulty maintaining as soon as you stop eating that way.
  • ericabalko
    ericabalko Posts: 11 Member
    Thanks ladies. I'll try to eat 1500 every day and see how that goes. I find it hard not to blow my macros. So to make things easier I eat closer to 1300 most days but then I blow it about once a week. SueinAz thank you for pointing that out to me. It probably was obvious on the outside looking in but I was overthinking it all to the point i just didn't know anymore. thanks!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    If your TDEE is 1900 and you aim to lose 0.5 lb/week, which is appropriate for only 10 lbs to lose, then you should only have a deficit of 250 cals, which means you'd be eating more like 1650.

    Since you are prone to the cycle of restricting too heavily and then binging, making sure you have a small deficit that you can live with is probably a better approach. Using a food scale, if you aren't already, will ensure that you are logging as accurately as possible and not undoing that small deficit.
  • ericabalko
    ericabalko Posts: 11 Member
    I do own food scale and use it religiously. I will up my cals.. I'm just scared to but I think y'all are so helpful! Thank you!!! I want to succeed so badly.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    ericabalko wrote: »
    Thanks ladies. I'll try to eat 1500 every day and see how that goes. I find it hard not to blow my macros. So to make things easier I eat closer to 1300 most days but then I blow it about once a week. SueinAz thank you for pointing that out to me. It probably was obvious on the outside looking in but I was overthinking it all to the point i just didn't know anymore. thanks!
    You're very welcome. It's often easier to see things from the outside when you aren't emotionally attached to the problem. :smile:

    Worry less about the macros than the calories; don't let them derail you. Honestly, the combination of fat/protein/carbs you're eating doesn't really matter very much. There are some people who want to track them for specific purposes but if you're not one of them then ignore them for the most part. I have mine set to track protein, iron, calcium, potassium and fiber because I'm more worried about those things than how many carb or fat grams I'm eating.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,165 Member
    With only 10 pounds to lose you should aim to lose .5 pound per week. Decide if you want to use a TDEE calculator or mfp to get your calorie goal. The TDEE calculators take your exercise into consideration so they will give you a higher goal than mfp. Then you just eat that goal and don't log the exercise in mfp. If you use mfp for your goal it does not take exercise into consideration so that even if you do no exercise you will still have a deficit and lose weight. If you use the mfp goal then log your exercise and eat back a portion of the exercise calories it gives you. A good rule of thumb is to start with half and adjust up or down after about 4 weeks. If you do not have a food scale then you really should get one. You will have a pretty small deficit and there isn't much room for error so you want to make sure you are actually eating the amount of calories you think you are.

  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
    edited August 2016
    Hey erica, do also bear in mind that these are all estimates and a starting point. In about a month's time, review how many calories you have actually eaten to get a daily average (yup, add them all up for the month then divide by the days) and how much weight you have lost to get a daily loss (pounds lost x 3500 cals divided by days). You'll then have accurate information about your TDEE (daily calories eaten plus daily loss), rather than estimates and will be able to adjust your intake/output of calories accordingly.
  • lauraemily84
    lauraemily84 Posts: 140 Member
    ericabalko wrote: »
    On-line calculators say I need 1900 to maintain my goal weight (presently weighing around 130 with a goal of 120). Should I eat 1500 and burn at least 100 in exercise to lose a min of 1 lb a week?
    I get hung up by the calorie goals on MFP. I want to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. It says I should eat around 1500 then adjusts up when I workout. I don't want to eat back my exercise cals.
    I'm really discouraged bc I have been in a plateau for three weeks now. I am 33 yrs old 5'4" female and workout 45min to an hour mix of cardio and weight training 6 to 7 days a week. I was eating around 1100 to 1300 a day then having crazy hungry days where I'd eat 2200. My waking temps are real low and my morale matches. Any advice is welcome!
    I just bought Chalean Extreme so I plan to follow that program when I get it in a week or so.

    Hi ya, I'm 5ft 4.5" and have gone from 135lb to 122lb and trying to maintain now. I'm finding it quite hard to get out of diet mode so still loose most weeks but around half a pound - my daily goal is 1510 but I have days were I'm under and then weekends I tend to go out and have meals and alcohol and go way over! I think you need to be aiming for 1380 a day - this was my " diet mode" cal goal and I lost 1lb every week pretty much except star week s! I'm no expert on here that's just wat worked for me and we are similar height/ goal weight . I do weights but dumb bells and walking/running x
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    with 10lbs to lose 0.5lbs a week loss is what you should aim for - so thats a 250 cal deficit a day from your TDEE.
    If your TDEE is 1900 you can eat 1650 and still lose - of course you have to be accurate about tracking those cals, using a food scale and picking most accurate database food entries.

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