Calling all 5'5" gals! What are your calorie goals?

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mayamilitia
mayamilitia Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
According to MFP's calculator I should be eating 1200 cals...does anyone else follow this goal? Do you add back all of your exercise calories? I always get confused about the last part, like today I burned 300 cals through walking and cycling and don't know if I should be eating it all back 😅

Replies

  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited August 2020
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    It depends on what weight loss per week goal you selected. If you put in 2 pounds per week, try 1? 1200 is really hard to stick to for most people.

    I am 139, 5'5" and about 9 pounds to go. I am also 45 years old. I am eating around 1400-1500 approximately daily.

    Yes, if you're using MFP as intended: eat back your exercise calories. Just be careful not to overestimate them. If you';re not sure you really burned 300, eat back 150-200.
  • jessiemeckle
    jessiemeckle Posts: 118 Member
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    I have about 70lbs to lose so my calorie goal is 1400 if I want to lose 1.5 pounds a week.
  • deb122884
    deb122884 Posts: 2 Member
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    I eat between 1200-1400 & dont eat back my exercise since Im trying to loose 5 lbs in a month. Im 60 and dont work but workout in the gym 3-4 times in the gym for about 30-45 minutes each time.
    Wishing you good luck👌
  • fstrickl
    fstrickl Posts: 883 Member
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    Hi! I’m 5’5, my goal weight is 140ish...(I’m more concerned with clothing size and getting toned than a number on the scale) my calorie goal is 1620. I eat back some of my exercise calories sometimes. I figure since my calorie goal is higher I don’t need to eat back all my exercise calories. Although I may need to be a bit more precise for continued success... either way there’s absolutely no way I could do 1200. Feel free to friend me, my journal is open to friends 🙂
  • princessfifitinkerbell
    princessfifitinkerbell Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi! I'm 5'5", 134lbs, 45yo, and my goal is to hit 128, which is totally arbitrary, and means nothing. I'm pretty content with where I am right now, but wouldn't mind being less fluffy. MFP has my cals set to 1760, and that's with the intention of losing .5lb a week. I have my fitbit linked, but typically don't use my extra cals, only if I'm starving. I workout (CrossFit)3-5x week, and and hit 10K steps a couple of times a week. I find at my set cals, I'm typically not hungry at the end of the day, and I don't feel deprived. When I track (I track for a few weeks, then for a while I don't), I stay on track, and lose consistently. I wouldn't be okay, dropping down to 1200 cals.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,419 Member
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    I'm 5'5", first started MFP already down about 28 pounds from peak weight, so weighing in the mid-150s pounds at the time, and got 1200. I ate that, plus all exercise calories, but it was too low: I lost fast, got weak and fatigued, took weeks to recover even though I corrected as soon as I realized. I went on to lose another 25ish pound at 1400-1600 plus all conservatively-estimated exercise calories, so 1700-2000 gross calories of food most days. (I did increase calories (decrease my deficit) to slow things down a lot for the last 10 or so pounds.)\

    The thing is, the actual calorie number you need is pretty individual. What I'd suggest to start is:

    * Pick a loss rate that's less than 1% of your current body weight per week, and even less than that if < 40-50 pounds to lose.
    * Set your MFP activity level per instructions, *not* including exercise activity, just daily life stuff.
    * Log and eat back at least a fair chunk of any exercise you do above and beyond what was in your activity setting (recognizing that even the lowest sedentary setting includes a little allowance for everyday meandering around the house and doing daily stuff, maybe equivalent to 3000-4000 steps or so for most people).
    * Log your food carefully, and eat close to your goal, including the same consistent chunk of exercise calories (50%, 75%, 100% - just pick a consistent fraction and use it the whole time).

    Do that for a month, full menstrual cycle if you're premenopausal so you can compare weights at the same relative point in two different cycles at least. If you lost dangerously faster than your target, eat more. If you lost slower, and could lose faster safely, eat less. To adjust the intake, assume that 1 pound of weight loss weekly is 500 calories per day, roughly. For example, if you need to lose 0.5 pounds fewer per work to be on the safe side, add 250 calories per day.

    That's it. Just keep watching, and adjust periodically. MFP's estimate will be close for most people, further off for a few (high or low), and way off for a very rare few, because it's just giving you a statistical estimate, and that's the inherent nature of such statistics.
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    edited August 2020
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    1520 cals. I've been doing this for about a month now and have lost 3.3kg, slow but steady. This has included a couple of days when I have gone over and a whole weekend away where I ate what I wanted, but other than that always a deficit.

    I usually end up eating back some of my exercise calories because I find I am hungrier on those days. If I don't then it's a bonus.

    It's a realistic goal for me - any less than 1500 and I just get HANGRY! :lol:
  • illdecidelater
    illdecidelater Posts: 7 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I'm 5'5", first started MFP already down about 28 pounds from peak weight, so weighing in the mid-150s pounds at the time, and got 1200. I ate that, plus all exercise calories, but it was too low: I lost fast, got weak and fatigued, took weeks to recover even though I corrected as soon as I realized. I went on to lose another 25ish pound at 1400-1600 plus all conservatively-estimated exercise calories, so 1700-2000 gross calories of food most days. (I did increase calories (decrease my deficit) to slow things down a lot for the last 10 or so pounds.)\

    The thing is, the actual calorie number you need is pretty individual. What I'd suggest to start is:

    * Pick a loss rate that's less than 1% of your current body weight per week, and even less than that if < 40-50 pounds to lose.
    * Set your MFP activity level per instructions, *not* including exercise activity, just daily life stuff.
    * Log and eat back at least a fair chunk of any exercise you do above and beyond what was in your activity setting (recognizing that even the lowest sedentary setting includes a little allowance for everyday meandering around the house and doing daily stuff, maybe equivalent to 3000-4000 steps or so for most people).
    * Log your food carefully, and eat close to your goal, including the same consistent chunk of exercise calories (50%, 75%, 100% - just pick a consistent fraction and use it the whole time).

    Do that for a month, full menstrual cycle if you're premenopausal so you can compare weights at the same relative point in two different cycles at least. If you lost dangerously faster than your target, eat more. If you lost slower, and could lose faster safely, eat less. To adjust the intake, assume that 1 pound of weight loss weekly is 500 calories per day, roughly. For example, if you need to lose 0.5 pounds fewer per work to be on the safe side, add 250 calories per day.

    That's it. Just keep watching, and adjust periodically. MFP's estimate will be close for most people, further off for a few (high or low), and way off for a very rare few, because it's just giving you a statistical estimate, and that's the inherent nature of such statistics.

    This was extremely helpful. Thank you!
  • mayamilitia
    mayamilitia Posts: 5 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I'm 5'5", first started MFP already down about 28 pounds from peak weight, so weighing in the mid-150s pounds at the time, and got 1200. I ate that, plus all exercise calories, but it was too low: I lost fast, got weak and fatigued, took weeks to recover even though I corrected as soon as I realized. I went on to lose another 25ish pound at 1400-1600 plus all conservatively-estimated exercise calories, so 1700-2000 gross calories of food most days. (I did increase calories (decrease my deficit) to slow things down a lot for the last 10 or so pounds.)\

    The thing is, the actual calorie number you need is pretty individual. What I'd suggest to start is:

    * Pick a loss rate that's less than 1% of your current body weight per week, and even less than that if < 40-50 pounds to lose.
    * Set your MFP activity level per instructions, *not* including exercise activity, just daily life stuff.
    * Log and eat back at least a fair chunk of any exercise you do above and beyond what was in your activity setting (recognizing that even the lowest sedentary setting includes a little allowance for everyday meandering around the house and doing daily stuff, maybe equivalent to 3000-4000 steps or so for most people).
    * Log your food carefully, and eat close to your goal, including the same consistent chunk of exercise calories (50%, 75%, 100% - just pick a consistent fraction and use it the whole time).

    Do that for a month, full menstrual cycle if you're premenopausal so you can compare weights at the same relative point in two different cycles at least. If you lost dangerously faster than your target, eat more. If you lost slower, and could lose faster safely, eat less. To adjust the intake, assume that 1 pound of weight loss weekly is 500 calories per day, roughly. For example, if you need to lose 0.5 pounds fewer per work to be on the safe side, add 250 calories per day.

    That's it. Just keep watching, and adjust periodically. MFP's estimate will be close for most people, further off for a few (high or low), and way off for a very rare few, because it's just giving you a statistical estimate, and that's the inherent nature of such statistics.

    Thank you so much! I have been eating 1600-1700ish calories regardless of exercise for the past two months and the scale hasn't moved. I think that range may be my maintenance calories. I exercise 5 days a week but nothing intense, usually just long walks and pilates, but outside of that I'm pretty much sedentary. I think I'll decrease by a little bit and see what happens!
  • Myjenayayer
    Myjenayayer Posts: 6 Member
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    I'm very lazy and 5'5. I work out three days a week for forty minutes and I eat an average of 1300 a day.

    If I was more active I'd raise it to 1400.

    1200 makes ma cranky.

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