Calories needed to lose weight - 39 y/o woman
Firstcomeslove
Posts: 21 Member
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.
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
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Why don't you plug in your stats on the goals page and eat that?9
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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.1 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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?
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suzannesimmons3 wrote: »^^ 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.3 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »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.0 -
Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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.4 -
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.4
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Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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?
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?
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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.2 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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?
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.3 -
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.2 -
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.0 -
Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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!1 -
Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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?
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.1 -
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!1
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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...
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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.1
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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...
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
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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.1
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If you tried the numbers it suggests and you're not losing...and your weighing and tracking properly...try lowering your calories by a little bit. See if that helps. Make an appt with a nutritionist? Are you weight lifting and doing cardio? Possible your gaining a little muscle?2
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nissarayna wrote: »Firstcomeslove wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld 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?
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.
Oh thank you for sharing and congratulations on all your hard work and results! I'm hoping that 1200 works for me too.
As for the 800-1000, I can imagine that must have been hard. I have read some articles saying that a very low calorie diet of 800 (combined with fasting and mediterranean style eating) for a short period of time can help "beat diabetes" as well as lose weight. I don't have diabetes but if I get stuck at 1200 with no results, I guess that could be an option for a limited time. I know you don't recommend it.
You're so close to your goal, do you have a maintenance plan in mind?0 -
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!
Great advice - thank you!0 -
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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.
Wow, great results! Congratulations. Were you at 1200 calories? How long did it take to get 67 and then to 55? What calories are you at for maintenance now.0 -
With less than 50 lbs to lose, you really should be aiming to lose no more than 1 lb/week which should give you more than the bare minimum 1200 calories, making it easier to adhere to, helps preserve lean body mass (especially if you are not going to be exercising).
Spend some time reading the stickied Most Helpful Forum posts at the top of the Getting Started section, they will have a lot of great info about choosing an appropriate goal, how to be successful using this site, etc.
And for what it's worth I'm 5'2 and in my 40s and lost ~35 lbs eating between 1600-1900 cals (fairly active) and am now maintaining that loss for a couple of years.2 -
You might be better off setting weight loss to 0.5 pounds a week, with so little left to lose.1
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sunsweet77 wrote: »If you tried the numbers it suggests and you're not losing...and your weighing and tracking properly...try lowering your calories by a little bit. See if that helps. Make an appt with a nutritionist? Are you weight lifting and doing cardio? Possible your gaining a little muscle?
Hi! Thank you for the good advice. I have to knuckle down on my numbers and see how it goes for a month at 1200 calories per day. I can only do limited exercise unfortunately. I have thought of looking for a nutritionist, but want to see how I go first.0 -
Firstcomeslove wrote: »sunsweet77 wrote: »If you tried the numbers it suggests and you're not losing...and your weighing and tracking properly...try lowering your calories by a little bit. See if that helps. Make an appt with a nutritionist? Are you weight lifting and doing cardio? Possible your gaining a little muscle?
Hi! Thank you for the good advice. I have to knuckle down on my numbers and see how it goes for a month at 1200 calories per day. I can only do limited exercise unfortunately. I have thought of looking for a nutritionist, but want to see how I go first.
Why only limited exercise? Are you physically unable? Are there any sorts of exercise you can do? Is it a time factor?
1200 is the bare minimum recommended for women and is not always necessary for women to go that low in order to lose. The goal you entered of 1.5 lb/week is probably more aggressive than needed for the amount of weight you have to lose (20-40 lbs) and so 1200 is probably lower than you should be aiming for as well.
Do you have a food scale for weighing your foods to ensure logging accuracy?1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »With less than 50 lbs to lose, you really should be aiming to lose no more than 1 lb/week which should give you more than the bare minimum 1200 calories, making it easier to adhere to, helps preserve lean body mass (especially if you are not going to be exercising).
Spend some time reading the stickied Most Helpful Forum posts at the top of the Getting Started section, they will have a lot of great info about choosing an appropriate goal, how to be successful using this site, etc.
And for what it's worth I'm 5'2 and in my 40s and lost ~35 lbs eating between 1600-1900 cals (fairly active) and am now maintaining that loss for a couple of years.
40 lbs for me seems like a big number, I've never been this big. I understand that people have more to lose etc but for me, this is huge.
I do want to see the weight move, plugged in the numbers as people recommended and MFP says 1200, so that's what I'll start with. If it gets too hard then I can always change it to 1lb per week as you said, and see how that goes.
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