Can anyone help me figure out how many calories I should be

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bsolada
bsolada Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If someone can help me I'd be extremely appreciative. I am trying to lose about 10 pounds. I was about 3-5 pounds within reach of my goal of 118 pounds when I started falling off the wagon. From the Fourth of July on, I have had terrible eating habits. I went home to visit and my mom makes so much food, I would binge every day that I was there. This has resulted in me gaining and getting back up to 130 pounds.

So my question, I am a 5'5" female, sedentary (just to be safe) and currently at 130 pounds. I just had my percent body fat tested at around 23%, although I question this because I was hovering around 18%-19% body fat. I am hoping to get back on a weight lifting and work out schedule soon, but I doing about 50 hours of work right now between class, work, and college cheerleading. What should my calorie goal be? Should I try to lose 2 pounds a week, or 1/2 pound, etc? I tried to eat closer to my maintenance before, but I never lost anything. I have only really lost when I was eating closer to 1200-1300 but maybe I was being impatient.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • lguy29
    lguy29 Posts: 131
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    I think that a reasonable goal would be no more than one pound a week. When you aren't far from your goal weight, the weight comes off a lot harder than it would if you are, say, 40 pounds from your goal weight. Stick around 1200 to 1300 calories a day and drink lots of water! I know between college sports and classes you get worn out and its hard to exercise, but every little bit counts :) Good luck!
  • Elle_Jamaicangirl81
    Elle_Jamaicangirl81 Posts: 418 Member
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    give this a read

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics
  • smbakke77
    smbakke77 Posts: 273 Member
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    at your size and current weight I think you should be looking at losing about 1/2 lb a week with somewhere between 1800-2000 calories a day maybe?
  • nukehiker
    nukehiker Posts: 457
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    can't remember where i found this formula but it goes like this. take your goal weight in your case 118, multiply by 12. for you that's 1416 calories, now if your doing daily exercise you may want to eat back some of your calories hope this helps.
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    Go to My Home > Goals > Change Goals
    Then click "Guided" and continue
    Enter your info, choose sedentary, 0 workouts, 1/2 pound a week
    That the number you want....

    You should be looking at 1/2 pound a week when you have just a little to lose.
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    Since you only have 10 pounds your body is most likely gonna fight you for that! So, slower is the only way to go. Set your goals for 1/2 pound loss per week and eat back all your exercise calories. You don't want too large of a daily deficit.

    Also, muscle strengthening is more the name of the game in the last 10 pounds, but it does take time to build it. So keep your cardio going but don't overdo it.

    Take another look at your calorie goals and log everything as accurately as you can. Try to stay away from fast foods , processed stuff and good luck at moms.....just keep thinking healthy rather than indulgence.

    You sound very active so I would definitely eat enough, if you don't your body will hang on to what it can. Starving is just a bad way to go about it, so think food for fuel.

    So go back into your Goals tab, choose sedentary only if you sit most of the day. Litely active would be a teacher type of lifestyle?? Add cheerleading as a cardio exercise. Being a student I know you sit in class but do you walk alot to get to where you go? Just somethings to think about.

    It really is a math game at this point combined with LOTS of patience :)

    Best of Luck!
  • harrietlg
    harrietlg Posts: 239
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    between 1500 and 1700 is probably best
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    when you don't have a lot to lose, the deficit is smaller anyway, and you can't drop below 1200, so that would be a good place to start. If you want to friend me I'll give you links to a thread you might find useful, for "not-that-heavy girls" trying to lose the last 10 pounds.
    There was a trainer that recommended eating your weight x 10 which would put you at 1300/day. But the difference between 1200 and 1300 is negligiable so that "ballpark" would be reasonable. But I think your maintenance calories are around 1700, so the deficit is pretty small (500 day) and that means one pound a week if it were a perfect science (500 cal deficit per day x 7 days =3500 calories=1 pound of fat).
  • harrietlg
    harrietlg Posts: 239
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    between 1500 and 1700 is probably best
  • bsolada
    bsolada Posts: 23 Member
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    Thank you so much for your responses everyone. It really means a lot to me. I read about all these people maintaining at around 2,000 calories and I get jealous because I think mine is between 1400s-1600s so I feel like I have very little room for error. Also, I don't even know if 118 is attainable for me but I do believe I am considered small framed so that is in the range. I would love to see the one hundred teens again!

    Thanks again everyone.

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