Question about how many calories I should eat

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thatrabidgirl
thatrabidgirl Posts: 32 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, I need some help figuring something out.

I previously spent a couple years eating 1200 calories or less than (even on days where I'd intensely work out or walk 15,000 steps in a day) and it severely messed with my metabolism.

I'm 5'9 and I started out at around 190 pounds with a goal weight of of 150. I dropped down to 160 pounds within a year after much plateauing but then I had a bad fall and broke a couple bones in my hand. Since I had to wear a giant cast I couldn't get wet, I decided to stop working out but I continued eating at 1200 calories. Needless to say, I regained some weight that I couldn't lose, even when I started working out again. I'm at about 180 pounds last I checked but my scale broke about a month ago and I'm not too enthused about replacing it since I had a compulsion to check my weight every single day.

I recognize now that I developed a bit of an eating disorder and now I'm focused on eating enough for my body type and size but I'm a bit confused about how many calories I should eat. I'm about 180 pounds now and still would like to get to my goal weight of 150 pounds, but I'd like to get there the healthy way now.

Now I try to eat at least 1500 calories a day, something I still struggle with. I have days where I just can't force myself to eat anymore. Y'know the pitfalls of trying to recover from an ED.

I work a sedimentary office job, but I'll still try to get in a full hour of walking, not too hard considering I work in New York City. I'd say I average about 10,000 to 12,000 steps but I don't carry my phone on me when I go about my office so that number is probably greater. But I also have days where I can't fit in any activity. (I'm also a freelancer and I do a lot of projects from home.)

According to freedieting.com, my maintenance calories if I don't have any activity is about 1950 and if I do have some activity, my maintenance calories is about 2300. Quite a difference.

What I'm really wondering about it, should I eat that same number of calories every day even if my activity levels are drastically different? Like there are some days where I can't fit in any amount of activity; should I still eat about 1800 calories on these days?

This whole thing just has me really confused.

Thanks for any help!

Replies

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    What does MFP give you for a calorie goal if you enter lightly active (averaging 10k steps is not Sedentary no matter your job) and a rate of loss of 1 lb/week? Start with eating that - logging everything you eat ideally with a food scale. If you do more exercise, log and eat about 50% of those calories back. Do that for 4-6 weeks and see if you are losing at an average of 1 lb/week, ignoring normal fluctuations.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Every website uses estimates. Activity level is a range, not one number. People with higher lean muscle to fat ratios burn more calories than people with high body fat percentages. Exercise is always a guess.

    No one here can give you a "best" estimate. Counting steps and phone apps - can you sync your device to MFP? I wear my FitBit 24/7 (except showers). This gives me my estimate. Again it's an estimate. I still had to tweak the numbers after weeks of logging.

    Logging food.....this is the biggest estimate of all. Are you weighing portions with a digital food scale? 1200 calories, 5'9" and no weight loss.....something doesn't add up there.

    Think of calories (and deficits) as a WEEKLY thing. One day up, one day down.....makes no difference. Make a daily average if eating the same calories a day helps you stay on track.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    The beauty of MFP's method (NEAT) for you is that it gives you a calorie goal that does not include exercise.

    Set your goal to 1 lb per week, and choose the activity level that matches your normal day-to-day without exercise. Those are your daily calories. When you do exercise, log it and eat back some of those calories (exercise burn estimates can be a bit high). Track how you feel and your results over time (weeks and months, not days and hours :smiley:) and tweak as you go!
  • thatrabidgirl
    thatrabidgirl Posts: 32 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    What does MFP give you for a calorie goal if you enter lightly active (averaging 10k steps is not Sedentary no matter your job) and a rate of loss of 1 lb/week? Start with eating that - logging everything you eat ideally with a food scale. If you do more exercise, log and eat about 50% of those calories back. Do that for 4-6 weeks and see if you are losing at an average of 1 lb/week, ignoring normal fluctuations.

    Hmm, they give me 1,790 calories... That's a bit more than the 1500 they told me before.
  • thatrabidgirl
    thatrabidgirl Posts: 32 Member
    edited June 2018
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    Every website uses estimates. Activity level is a range, not one number. People with higher lean muscle to fat ratios burn more calories than people with high body fat percentages. Exercise is always a guess.

    No one here can give you a "best" estimate. Counting steps and phone apps - can you sync your device to MFP? I wear my FitBit 24/7 (except showers). This gives me my estimate. Again it's an estimate. I still had to tweak the numbers after weeks of logging.

    Logging food.....this is the biggest estimate of all. Are you weighing portions with a digital food scale? 1200 calories, 5'9" and no weight loss.....something doesn't add up there.

    Think of calories (and deficits) as a WEEKLY thing. One day up, one day down.....makes no difference. Make a daily average if eating the same calories a day helps you stay on track.

    Yes, I use a food scale. Have been for 4 years.

    Did you even read my post? I did lose weight eating only 1200 calories, 30 pounds in fact, but it f*cked up my metabolism completely. More to the point, I was losing hair eating at this level and my nails wouldn't grow. When I stopped working out but stayed eating at 1200 calories, I gained weight because my metabolism was screwed up.

    I'm looking for help to move past my eating disorder not regress it.

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