ideal intake for a 5'9'' female?

healthyandthin1
healthyandthin1 Posts: 16 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
okay so hi i just wanted to ask what your opinions are on this topic, what would be an ideal intake for a 5'9'' 145lbs female, who wants to lose weight? i know myfitnesspal sets a goal for you but it doesn't seem right to me, at first i wanted to try 1200cal. a day, but i keep hearing that that's unhealthy and i don't want to harm myself but i don't understand why that would be too little... so basically, let me rephrase my question, if i were to set my intake at 1200cal. a day, would that be efficient?

thanks and sorry i'm just a little confused

Replies

  • leebesstoad
    leebesstoad Posts: 1,186 Member
    I guess the first question is what is your goal -- what are you trying to get to? But without even that info, i can say, there is no way I would think that 1200 is appropriate for you. And what are you doing for exercise? A bit more info is needed.
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    hi there. i'm 5'8" so i clicked on your link! our BMR is probably at least 1500, and you really shouldn't eat below that unless you're morbidly obese. honestly you're already at a pretty low weight for your height and wanting to go lower, you need to go slow. set your goal to lose 1/2 a lb a week. it's slow going, but you don't have a lot of fat to lose which means you have more muscle to feed, and for that you need calories. good luck :-) feel free to add me if you'd like
  • ngressman
    ngressman Posts: 229 Member
    I am shorter than you and a lot heavier. My goal is 2 pounds weight loss, and mfp set me at 1200 calories. It works for me, but I make sure I eat my exercise calories back. When I don't exercise I make sure my food choices make it so I can stay full and not go over my calories.
  • Kate_UK
    Kate_UK Posts: 1,299 Member
    I'm 5ft 9 and my intake is 1450. Anything less than that and my weight loss grinds to a halt. You might loose on 1200 for a few weeks but you'll likely find that it will stop after a while.

    ETA

    I just worked out your weight in stone - why do you want to loose any more? At 10st 4 your already at the very light end of a healthy BMI. At 11stone (an extra 10lbs) I'm slim with a flat stomach, below that people keep asking me if I'm ill. Be careful.
  • Arnegard
    Arnegard Posts: 22 Member
    I am 5'9" but have a few pounds on you. I personally would never set my calories at 1200 unless I was laid up with an injury and getting no activity. I rely pretty heavily on exercise to lose weight. I love to cook, bake and eat so I would rather run a few miles instead of starve myself.
  • crista_b
    crista_b Posts: 1,192 Member
    Try this calculator to determine your TDEE and do about 15% less than that #: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    For example: I'm also a 5'9" female (but my weight is much higher than yours), and the calculator estimates my BMR at 1830 and my TDEE at ~2500. Because I have a lot more to lose than you, I do TDEE -20 to 25% which is ~1880 to ~2000. I've been doing 1850-1950 calories/day and losing.


    ETA: Your profile says your UGW is 120lbs. For a 5'9" woman, that's likely too low. You're at a good weight now. Maybe focus on lowering your BF% and ignore the number on the scale. If your BF% is too high, you can be what some people refer to as "skinny fat". If you're 145lbs with 25%BF, you're going to look heavier than if you were 145lbs with 18%BF even though the body weight is the same.
  • carlom18
    carlom18 Posts: 174 Member
    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
    according to your age, gender, weight, height and ASSUMING you are sedentary and using the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, your TDEE is 1792 (1800) calories
    to lose weight just subtract 10 - 20% and stick by that. so at a 15% defecit you should eat 1530 calories per day to lose weight. or you could do 500 per day for 3500 weekly calorie defeict. what ever works best for you.
  • cdjs77
    cdjs77 Posts: 176 Member
    I started at the exact same height/weight as you (I'm still the same height). I lost the weight/BF% that I wanted to with a net of 1200-1300 per day (about a 1-lb/.5-kg per week loss). If you net 1200 calories (i.e. food intake - exercise = 1200 calories) you should be fine (assuming that is what you want to do). There are some people that just eat 1200 calories no matter how much exercise they do which means they are netting much fewer calories than 1200. That is potentially damaging.

    But it really depends on your activity level. I was pretty sedentary at the time so eating 1200-1300 calories in addition to exercise calories was fine for me. If you are more active in your everyday life outside of exercise you may want to aim for more.
  • kpawlucy
    kpawlucy Posts: 1 Member
    Hi...we are the same exact height and weight. I've tried the 1200 cals a day along with exercise. I am wanting to get down to 138 lbs. I will tell you from experience: 1400 calories is a much better eating plan. Those 200 extra calories really do make a difference. We are tall and we can get away with eating those calories...the 1200 cals a day is just depriving your body and it's a lot harder to stick to. You will see great results with the 1400 a day. I went from 189 to now 144..trust me..it works
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    With so little weight to lose (already normal weight for height) set your goal to lose 0.5 lbs/week and eat back the cals burned from exercise.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Why wouldn't you go by what MFP gives you. There's no way 1200 would be enough for someone your height to lose. I'm only 5ft 2 and it wasn't even enough for me.
    Try what MFP says for a month and see how your weight loss is going then. You aren't even overweight so 0.5lb a week is what you could aim for.
  • takemetosingapore19
    takemetosingapore19 Posts: 86 Member
    Hey! You should add me. I’m 19 and also 5’9.5”!! I eat 1200 calories no problem. :) I exercise a lot so my gross calories are 1500-1800
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    takemetosingapore19 wrote: »
    Hey! You should add me. I’m 19 and also 5’9.5”!! I eat 1200 calories no problem. :) I exercise a lot so my gross calories are 1500-1800

    This post is five years old and the OP hasn't been here since
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    takemetosingapore19 wrote: »
    Hey! You should add me. I’m 19 and also 5’9.5”!! I eat 1200 calories no problem. :) I exercise a lot so my gross calories are 1500-1800

    This post is five years old and the OP hasn't been here since
    Lol, I should have caught that. so, a new members first post in the forms was to resurrect a 5-year-old thread. Lol
  • takemetosingapore19
    takemetosingapore19 Posts: 86 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    takemetosingapore19 wrote: »
    Hey! You should add me. I’m 19 and also 5’9.5”!! I eat 1200 calories no problem. :) I exercise a lot so my gross calories are 1500-1800

    This post is five years old and the OP hasn't been here since

    Oh my god. :D other people were commenting I didn’t even realize
This discussion has been closed.

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