How many calories..

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mandynicolem42818
mandynicolem42818 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How many calories should I start out at for a decent deficit? (500+ deficit) I’m 25, 5’2” and weigh 174 right now. I want to get down to 125. MFP says 1,200 calories a day but that is just not sustainable for the average person.. I work out pretty lightly, 2-3 times a week just cardio right now.

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  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Try a 250 calorie deficit. Slow is easier.
  • mandynicolem42818
    mandynicolem42818 Posts: 10 Member
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Try a 250 calorie deficit. Slow is easier.

    I’m so impatient though 😭 and that’d be 2,100 calories for me 🤭

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    The MFP calorie goal is based on how many lbs per week you chose. If you go down a half lb or a lb, you'll get more calories.
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
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    Unless your elderly, short, and sedentary, you really dont need to eat that little to lose. Select a loss of 1-1.5 lb per week and itll give you more. MFP is also designed for you to eat back exercise calories, so logging those gives you more wiggle room too. Slow weightloss not only allows you to eat more, but better helps develop sustainable habits so that you can keep the weight off. Remember, it's not a race.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    edited June 2019
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Try a 250 calorie deficit. Slow is easier.

    I'd wait to do such a small deficit until you get closer to goal. A 250 calorie deficit will take forever when you have 50 pounds to lose. That's just my opinion, though. I did a 250 deficit when I had less than 10 pounds to lose and it took months - which was OK, because it was only 10 pounds, so not that big of a deal. I wasn't in a hurry. But where you are at to start, I'd set it to at least 500 calorie deficit just to get a bit more weight off at the beginning. Then slow it down as you get closer to goal. It could take you 2 years to lose 50 pounds at such a tiny deficit (250 calories.) I mean that's fine if you don't mind, but you could do it in a healthy way in half that time... B)

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