Calories needed to lose weight - 39 y/o woman

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Please - some quick advice. To lose 20 lbs by the end of November how many calories should I be eating per day? Either for sedentary or light exercise (I can't work out so have to focus on calories as much as possible).

Starting weight 78 kgs and height 172 cm.

Any other ladies in your 30's or 40's managed to lose this amount?

In total I would love to lose 40 lbs, but my first goal is 20 lbs so please help.
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Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    ^^ that. What works for one won't work for all do your own working out for your body and goals.

    Sorry. Thought this would be a friendly place to get some information as different calculators have given me different answers.

    If I weren't confused/looking for advice, I wouldn't be asking here.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    Why don't you plug in your stats on the goals page and eat that?

    Sorry. Thought this would be a friendly place to get some information as different calculators have given me different answers.

    If I weren't confused/looking for advice, I wouldn't be asking here.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

    1200 (before exercise) is the lowest default minimum based on meeting nutritional goals. So start there, if you find 1200 difficult then add exercise and earn more calories. Just do the best you can with the time that you have. Weight loss goals with timelines aren't always a good fit.
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,137 Member
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    MFP is foremost an app to give you the info you're asking for. That might be why people are being blunt with you. If you put your stats in honestly, MFP will tell you. We can't tell you, or with the proper stats, we can, but you can do it just as easily, the same way we would. Try the level MFP gives you for a month and see how it goes. Tweak it if you need to if you are losing too fast or not at all.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Options
    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

    I eat 1200 plus my exercise calories when I want to lose weight. I'm in my 40s.

    That means I eat around 1600-1700 calories each day.

    Did you set it to 2lb loss or 1.5lb?


  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
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    I think it's reasonable, but ditto PP's that MFP's tools can help you work this out based on your height, weight, and activity level since those are also relevant.

    FWIW when I was 39 I set out to lose 20 lbs. After a false start, once I hit on an eating plan that worked well for me, it took me about 3 months to lose 20 lbs. I'm 5'7", lightly active, SW 151 and was eating about 1350 cals/day, plus I ate back 1/2-2/3 of my exercise calories.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
    Options
    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

    I eat 1200 plus my exercise calories when I want to lose weight. I'm in my 40s.

    That means I eat around 1600-1700 calories each day.

    Did you set it to 2lb loss or 1.5lb?


    I set it to 1.5lb, so alrighty then, that seems to be right.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    musicfan68 wrote: »
    MFP is foremost an app to give you the info you're asking for. That might be why people are being blunt with you. If you put your stats in honestly, MFP will tell you. We can't tell you, or with the proper stats, we can, but you can do it just as easily, the same way we would. Try the level MFP gives you for a month and see how it goes. Tweak it if you need to if you are losing too fast or not at all.

    Thank you. Yes I've put them in honestly (?) or else why bother. As I said, was somewhat confused but everyone seems intent on clearing it up for me. Message received.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    macchiatto wrote: »
    I think it's reasonable, but ditto PP's that MFP's tools can help you work this out based on your height, weight, and activity level since those are also relevant.

    FWIW when I was 39 I set out to lose 20 lbs. After a false start, once I hit on an eating plan that worked well for me, it took me about 3 months to lose 20 lbs. I'm 5'7", lightly active, SW 151 and was eating about 1350 cals/day, plus I ate back 1/2-2/3 of my exercise calories.

    Thanks for the advice, this sounds really great. We'll see how I go.
  • Firstcomeslove
    Firstcomeslove Posts: 21 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

    1200 (before exercise) is the lowest default minimum based on meeting nutritional goals. So start there, if you find 1200 difficult then add exercise and earn more calories. Just do the best you can with the time that you have. Weight loss goals with timelines aren't always a good fit.

    I see. The exercise thing is an issue, so if it's 1200 then so be it. Good point about the timeline!
  • nissarayna
    nissarayna Posts: 70 Member
    edited July 2017
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    That's a very sensible goal.

    Set your diary to a 1.5lb loss per week and eat the calories it gives you.

    Thank you. I have looked and it gave me 1200 per day.

    Does anyone have experience with eating that many calories and losing steadily - esp women in 30's and 40's?

    45 yo female here, 1200 cal for around 4 months, zig-zagged from 800-1000 for first 2 months, would not recommend that, but 1200 has suited me. As of my weigh in this past Monday I have lost 30.5lb (started Jan 23 2017), all I do is walk daily and weigh everything with portion control and carefully timed meals that fit my schedule. I never get hungry, except twice when I went far too long without eating.

    Good luck to you

    Edited to add, I've been changing my weekly goals as I go along, mine is set to .5lb loss a week now as I only have 8lbs left to my original goal of 115lb.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    Yes, similar profile & goal, but the old MFP had me pegged at about 1350 cals./day (Sedentary) for a slower weight loss. I don't think I could have gone faster, but it worked for me (about 18 lbs. lost). I gained back ~7 lbs. starting a new job, eating out a lot, and not doing MFP, but I'm heading back to goal weight again by restarting MFP. If you find you have trouble w/ the 1200 cals./day, adjust your weight loss goal pace (e.g., to 0.5 or 1 lb. a week) accordingly. GOOD LUCK! You can do it!
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    nissarayna wrote: »
    45 yo female here, 1200 cal for around 4 months, zig-zagged from 800-1000 for first 2 months, would not recommend that, but 1200 has suited me. ... Edited to add, I've been changing my weekly goals as I go along, mine is set to .5lb loss a week now as I only have 8lbs left to my original goal of 115lb.

    I assume you must be shorter than 5'6" - 5'7"? I can see someone shorter doing better on 1200 cals./day. I can't imagine 800-1000/day! I would probably eat my arm...

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,563 Member
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    Yes, I started losing weight with 40 (and untreated hashimotos, btw). I wanted to lose about 5kg originally to get back to 70kg - was 75kg at 169cm. It went so easily that I thought: lets see if 67, my old 'dream weight' was possible. And then I started maintaining at 58, but ended up around 55 as my maintenance cals were much higher than I thought.
  • nissarayna
    nissarayna Posts: 70 Member
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    Aemely wrote: »
    nissarayna wrote: »
    45 yo female here, 1200 cal for around 4 months, zig-zagged from 800-1000 for first 2 months, would not recommend that, but 1200 has suited me. ... Edited to add, I've been changing my weekly goals as I go along, mine is set to .5lb loss a week now as I only have 8lbs left to my original goal of 115lb.

    I assume you must be shorter than 5'6" - 5'7"? I can see someone shorter doing better on 1200 cals./day. I can't imagine 800-1000/day! I would probably eat my arm...

    Yes, I'm 5' 2". The 800-1000 a day was in the beginning while trying the boiled egg diet and the military diet, call them a learning curve for me, and not something I would ever repeat nor recommend, thanks to this community I have long since learnt to eat much better :)
  • choppie70
    choppie70 Posts: 544 Member
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    I am 46. I have lost 45 lbs so far with a goal of 1200 calories. I eat back about 1/2 of my exercise calories so I average 1400 calories a day.