People, especially women, around 5'4" 200lbs, what is your NET calorie goal (without exercise)?

Verity1111
Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
edited November 14 in Food and Nutrition
I was eating super low like 1200 or less and its just not seeming like enough this time around...can I eat more without exercise and still lose weight? I will toss in excess exercise when I can and I do walk a mile a few times a week, but I'm not really very active as I used to be (hence considering walking a mile to be decent exercise lol). I'm about 200lbs now (198-199).

Replies

  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    Change your goal to 1.5, 1 or 1/2 lb a week and see which one you can live with. I think 1/2 lb a week should net you 200/300 more depending on your age.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    leanjogreen18 wrote: »
    Change your goal to 1.5, 1 or 1/2 lb a week and see which one you can live with. I think 1/2 lb a week should net you 200/300 more depending on your age.

    I chose my goal myself lol I dont trust calculators so I was asking what amount people who have been successful with weight loss have been eating.
  • 23susu23
    23susu23 Posts: 68 Member
    I've lost exactly what MFP says I would lose (set 1.5/sedentary) but I am a lot older than you--60 and a little heavier. CW is 216 and same height. I started out not exercising at all, then just making sure I got to 5000 steps on my fitbit for the last few weeks, but not eating more than 1200 calories (except on Christmas and one other day)--eating no exercise calories.

    I have upped my exercise this past week to 10k steps with some actual exercise walking. I have eaten about half of the exercise calories just for a couple of days and will continue depending on what the scale shows next week. I've lost 25 so far which as I said tracks right with what MFP says I should lose. I have to mention also that I am very careful with my food logging and even overestimate sometimes just to be sure. Sorry, I know this doesn't help you too much except to say maybe you can trust their calculators but they are just averages, I guess.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    I used a TDEE calculator and figured what my maintenance calories would be at my goal weight. It's between 1500-1600c so that's what I eat.
  • Honeythighs
    Honeythighs Posts: 22 Member
    I'm 5"3, 205 as of today, and I'm pretty much sedentary out of laziness. I started Jan 1st to eat healthier at a starting weight of 212. I understand a lot of this is probably water weightloss. Anyways, my cal goal is 1,200 but I generally eat between 1,200 and 1,700. So yeah I suppose you could go higher. I've read somewhere its a good Idea to sort of stagger your calorie intake to prevent weight loss plateaus, and that's what I've been doing. I've done this sort of weight loss before and kept the weight off for over 5 years. I did end up plateauing at 150. I didn't exercise though, and when I did start I dropped to 140. Then I had a baby...Anyways good luck :smile:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I lost 80 lbs eating 1650-1750 total... I'm 5'5" and I was 213 lbs (and 34yo). I was exercising 5x a week though.
  • AFGP11
    AFGP11 Posts: 142 Member
    I didn't use Myfitnesspal to figure out how many calories to eat. I asked around and found a good calculator that took many different things into account when it gave me my daily caloric needs. I then subtracted 20% from what I burn daily which for me is closer to 1600. I have been losing weight just fine at a higher caloric intake, and I also eat back some of my exercise calories.

    I will admit that the first time I lost significant weight using myfitnesspal, I did follow a super-low diet of about 1200 calories and I lost 60 pounds, but it took a while and I did not incorporate exercise. I am exercising this time around, eating more, focusing on my macros and I am losing fat faster and getting stronger. I am not someone who can stave themselves longterm and 1200 calories is too low for me to enjoy life. Everyone is different though.

    BTW, I started my weight loss journey several years ago at 5'4" and 200 pounds. I lost 60 pounds then, but put 40 back on over 2 years. I think if I had just made my calorie goals more realistic the first time around, I might not have gone crazy and binged after a few months.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I am 5'4" sedentary 42 year old woman. When I started 2 years ago at 179 lbs to lose 1 lb a week MFP gave me a goal of 1340 calories without exercise. If I exercised I logged it and ate about half of those calories. I lost at the expected rate.
    My goal is 1200 calories now without exercise. With exercise I eat between 1200-1600 calories.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited January 2017
    23susu23 wrote: »
    I've lost exactly what MFP says I would lose (set 1.5/sedentary) but I am a lot older than you--60 and a little heavier. CW is 216 and same height. I started out not exercising at all, then just making sure I got to 5000 steps on my fitbit for the last few weeks, but not eating more than 1200 calories (except on Christmas and one other day)--eating no exercise calories.

    I have upped my exercise this past week to 10k steps with some actual exercise walking. I have eaten about half of the exercise calories just for a couple of days and will continue depending on what the scale shows next week. I've lost 25 so far which as I said tracks right with what MFP says I should lose. I have to mention also that I am very careful with my food logging and even overestimate sometimes just to be sure. Sorry, I know this doesn't help you too much except to say maybe you can trust their calculators but they are just averages, I guess.

    This does help. I lost 25lbs in 6 weeks doing it on my own but I didn't use the MFP estimates...I'm pretty much sedentary too. I also overestimate my food sometimes lol Thank you for the input.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    serindipte wrote: »
    I used a TDEE calculator and figured what my maintenance calories would be at my goal weight. It's between 1500-1600c so that's what I eat.

    That's actually a really good plan. I just calculated mine around the same (1500-1600) for my goal of 127lbs at 5'4" or with exercise it would be about 1700-1800...this is assuming a body fat % of 20-30%.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited January 2017
    Honeythighs wrote: »
    I'm 5"3, 205 as of today, and I'm pretty much sedentary out of laziness. I started Jan 1st to eat healthier at a starting weight of 212. I understand a lot of this is probably water weightloss. Anyways, my cal goal is 1,200 but I generally eat between 1,200 and 1,700. So yeah I suppose you could go higher. I've read somewhere its a good Idea to sort of stagger your calorie intake to prevent weight loss plateaus, and that's what I've been doing. I've done this sort of weight loss before and kept the weight off for over 5 years. I did end up plateauing at 150. I didn't exercise though, and when I did start I dropped to 140. Then I had a baby...Anyways good luck :smile:

    Who told you it was water weight loss? There's no reason to think that...it's only 7lbs in 2 weeks. It could be real weight. I lost 21lbs in 6 weeks and it was pretty much all real and stayed off. I agree on the "staggering" which is often called zig-zagging your calories. I have dieting many times and I always found it to be a successful strategy if I did stall. Also, 1200-1700 or a bit lower than 1700 is about where I have been eating. Thank you for the input :)
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I lost 80 lbs eating 1650-1750 total... I'm 5'5" and I was 213 lbs (and 34yo). I was exercising 5x a week though.

    How long did it take you to lose the 80lbs though or do you know how much you averaged per week? I'm definitely not exercising 5x per week anymore...I was every day and it's a long story but I quit for a biggest loser contest because it was making me store water and then lost motivation basically lol
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    AFGP11 wrote: »
    I didn't use Myfitnesspal to figure out how many calories to eat. I asked around and found a good calculator that took many different things into account when it gave me my daily caloric needs. I then subtracted 20% from what I burn daily which for me is closer to 1600. I have been losing weight just fine at a higher caloric intake, and I also eat back some of my exercise calories.

    I will admit that the first time I lost significant weight using myfitnesspal, I did follow a super-low diet of about 1200 calories and I lost 60 pounds, but it took a while and I did not incorporate exercise. I am exercising this time around, eating more, focusing on my macros and I am losing fat faster and getting stronger. I am not someone who can stave themselves longterm and 1200 calories is too low for me to enjoy life. Everyone is different though.

    BTW, I started my weight loss journey several years ago at 5'4" and 200 pounds. I lost 60 pounds then, but put 40 back on over 2 years. I think if I had just made my calorie goals more realistic the first time around, I might not have gone crazy and binged after a few months.

    This makes sense...which is why I am not starving myself and I am allowing myself to go over even if it bugs me lol
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    I am 5'4" sedentary 42 year old woman. When I started 2 years ago at 179 lbs to lose 1 lb a week MFP gave me a goal of 1340 calories without exercise. If I exercised I logged it and ate about half of those calories. I lost at the expected rate.
    My goal is 1200 calories now without exercise. With exercise I eat between 1200-1600 calories.

    You're a little smaller than me (20lbs or so) or were at the time so I will assume eating 1400 calories won't hurt me. Thank you for the information :)
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    I'm in a short weight loss phase right now to get my maintenance range a bit lower. 5ft, 6 in and currently aiming for 1,300-1,600 calories a day, with a goal of around .5lb a week. Current weight 131lbs/goal maintenance range 125lbs-130lbs (current range 130lbs-135lbs).
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited January 2017
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    I'm in a short weight loss phase right now to get my maintenance range a bit lower. 5ft, 6 in and currently aiming for 1,300-1,600 calories a day, with a goal of around .5lb a week. Current weight 131lbs/goal maintenance range 125lbs-130lbs (current range 130lbs-135lbs).

    Much smaller than me and eating the same so I guess I can stay where I am. What is your range right now for maintenance if you were staying 130-135?
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited January 2017
    Verity1111 wrote: »
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    I'm in a short weight loss phase right now to get my maintenance range a bit lower. 5ft, 6 in and currently aiming for 1,300-1,600 calories a day, with a goal of around .5lb a week. Current weight 131lbs/goal maintenance range 125lbs-130lbs (current range 130lbs-135lbs).

    Much smaller than me and eating the same so I guess I can stay where I am. What is your range right now for maintenance if you were staying 130-135?

    It's been 130-135 since last summer, but I was creeping up over that and was starting to see some 136's and 137's on the scale, so a few weeks ago I decided to get things in check again and get back down into the 120s (my lowest weight when I was first experimenting with maintenance a few years ago was around 117lbs). I'm going to do the .5lb a week loss thing until I hit 125lbs and then I'll readjust and go back into maintenance :)
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    Verity1111 wrote: »
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    I'm in a short weight loss phase right now to get my maintenance range a bit lower. 5ft, 6 in and currently aiming for 1,300-1,600 calories a day, with a goal of around .5lb a week. Current weight 131lbs/goal maintenance range 125lbs-130lbs (current range 130lbs-135lbs).

    Much smaller than me and eating the same so I guess I can stay where I am. What is your range right now for maintenance if you were staying 130-135?

    It's been 130-135 since last summer, but I was creeping up over that and was starting to see some 136's and 137's on the scale, so a few weeks ago I decided to get things in check again and get back down into the 120s (my lowest weight when I was first experimenting with maintenance a few years ago was around 117lbs). I'm going to do the .5lb a week loss thing until I hit 125lbs and then I'll readjust and go back into maintenance :)

    I meant did you know your calorie range when you stayed at 130-135 lol but still keep up the effort! Im sure you can do it :) I havent been that thin in a long time Lol Id settle for 130
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