How many calories should I really consume?

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Sara__Beth
Sara__Beth Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone! I've just started using MyFitnessPal again after a long while and I've recently gotten my husband interested in using it as well. Whenever I had first joined I remembered seeing a post about how to accurately calculate how many calories you should consume, it was a little formula you had to do. Now I can't remember what it was called or how you do it, could anyone help me?

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    There are a plethora of different calculators and formulas. All are going to be estimates. I suggest you fill out your MFP profile and see what calorie goal it gives you. If you follow it, you should log your exercises and eat at least a portion of the exercise calories in addition to your base goal. Many people find that starting out by eating 50% of exercise calories is a good method. Eat like that for 4 weeks and then look at your progress and adjust calories up or down if necessary.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
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    That's the easiest way to do it, starting out. Be honest about your activity level though!
  • FarewellBlues
    FarewellBlues Posts: 66 Member
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    Agree with the above posters - all the formulas are rough estimates, figuring out your maintenance calorie level takes some trial and error.

    But, the most commonly used estimation (and I think the one MFP uses) is the Mifflin - St. Jeor formula. You can google it, there are some alternatives as well but they give roughly the same estimate.

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