Confused on how many calories I should eat.

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stacyreeve511
stacyreeve511 Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I’m 5ft 3 inches and I picked sedentary even though I take care of my home and walk my dogs. It says that I need to eat 1200
Calories a day. That just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’ve tried it before and kept going over. It just doesn’t seem correct. What am I missing. Do I need to work myself into 1200
Calories??

Replies

  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
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    1. Do you eat back your exercise calories. You should, 50-75% is average as MFP tends to overestimate calories burned.
    2. You might be trying to lose too much too fast for you. Unless you eat really carefully, (nutrient dense, low calorie), 1200 a day is hard. There are some tweeks to a diet that can help you hit the 1200 mark, removing 99% of dairy is one of them.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    How much are you trying to lose altogether and how much per week? I'm 5'3 also and I'm on 1400 to lose 1/2lb per week.

    Here's a chart with step down goals...... (Posted by Teabea in an old thread I bookmarked)

    Pound per week goals
    75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
    Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range
  • 1590874st
    1590874st Posts: 5 Member
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    I'm 5 foot 4 and doing 1200 calories too. It is manageable. It helps if you choose nutrient dense foods and protein to keep you full. I have oats and berries for breakfast, lunch is a half cup of brown rice with a small tin of tuna and a cup of stir fried veg and dinner is usually something like salmon/chicken with veg. I have a banana with a tablespoon of yogurt for morning tea and 4 vitawheat with hummus in the afternoon. I also include 3 skim milk coffees. I lost a kilo in the first week but nothing since then so hoping it will start coming off soon! Good luck!
  • nicolehorn0114
    nicolehorn0114 Posts: 51 Member
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    smolmaus wrote: »
    MFP calculates sedentary as under 10k steps a day, do you know how far you'd go walking your dogs? You can put in for example 30 mins walking, easy pace from the cardio database to account for it. You won't get much but it's something (and you should probably double check with another calculator since sometimes exercise estimates on MFP can be very generous.)

    On the other hand if 1200kcal really isn't working for you (been there, know it's hard) you can just slow down your rate of loss. It's not a race to the finish line, you want this process to be as sustainable as possible!

    Sedentary is less than 5,000 steps. Lightly active is 5,000-10,000.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited June 2018
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    It's right in the ballpark and it works. If you've ever been to the WW, that's always been a basic standard of 1200 cal aday...just for comparison. Your activity level = target, too. I swim 2 hours aday and it's considered...leisurely, along with walking the dog, yard (4 acres) and house work. I'm bustin' my hump out here but it's all fun. Really.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,994 Member
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    stacyreeve511 wrote: »
    I’m 5ft 3 inches and I picked sedentary even though I take care of my home and walk my dogs. It says that I need to eat 1200
    Calories a day. That just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’ve tried it before and kept going over. It just doesn’t seem correct. What am I missing. Do I need to work myself into 1200
    Calories??

    What do you weigh?
    Do you know how many steps you get a day?
    Most importantly, have you actually been doing 1200 calories, and if so, what have your results been? Or if you've been tracking at some other calorie level, what has it been, and what have the results been?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    stacyreeve511 wrote: »
    I’m 5ft 3 inches and I picked sedentary even though I take care of my home and walk my dogs. It says that I need to eat 1200
    Calories a day. That just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’ve tried it before and kept going over. It just doesn’t seem correct. What am I missing. Do I need to work myself into 1200
    Calories??

    I think you answered your own question - you picked sedentary even though you're not. Change it to lightly active or log your walks and eat back those cals.

    Also, how much weight do you have to lose, and how many lbs per week did you choose? Perhaps you chose a too aggressive goal.
  • stacyreeve511
    stacyreeve511 Posts: 7 Member
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    I have about 30 lbs to lose. I have some health issues so some days I’m stuck in bed. I should wear my Apple Watch and see but it’s gonna be anywhere from 2500 steps to 5,000. Depends on the day. I’m doing 1450 calories right now. Lots going on health wise and I’m sure that’s a cut down from I was eating. Trying to get used to that then I’ll work on bringing it down more. I’m not trying to lose it fast just lose and keep it from going more. I had a total hyster so right after I gained weight. Never had extra weight before. So it’s all new to me. And crazy how the hormones affect that. I crave chocolate ALOT. And I know it’s due to the hormone imbalance right now. So working on cutting out sugars and replacing items. As I get back into clean eating will see how it goes.
  • stacyreeve511
    stacyreeve511 Posts: 7 Member
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    Sorry I didn’t respond. MFP didn’t tell me I had any responses
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    So with 30 lbs to lose, you should be set to no more than 1 lb per week. If you're at more than that, change it :smile:

    Rather than focus on eating "clean" I would focus on making sure you're getting enough protein, fat, and fiber. If you're low on any of them it can make it tough to stick to lower calorie goals. Now eating more whole foods will often lead to more of those 3 things, but it's no guarantee! And nothing wrong with chocolate, I have a little every night.

    I lost 20 lbs at a rate of 0.5lbs per week because I just couldn't eat less than 1500 cals and be happy. It was really slow, sometimes I wouldn't see the scale move for a month, but if I ate lower I just would've ended up quitting! Hopefully you will get past your health issues and get your activity level up a little at some point as well. Hang in there!
  • stacyreeve511
    stacyreeve511 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thanks. The chocolate cravings are all day every day. I gotta figure out why that’s happening.

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