Need help with macros and calories

Lmgonzales wrote: »

Hello,

My name is Lisa and I am just starting back. I had an extremly hard 2 years and gained some weight. I had a premi baby a year ago and my 5 year old daughter was diagnosed with cancer. To say the least it almost destroyed me. I am here to regain my body and health back. I am 5 feet 5 inches tall and weight 184.5 lbs. I am a larger thicker built. I carry my weight pretty evenly. Please help me with what calories and macros I should start off with. I know they generate when you update your goals and weight but mine came up under 1500 which seems low to me. Please help if you can. Thank you

Hi Lisa! Your calorie goal that MFP gives you will be based on your activity level (without intentional exercise) and how fast you want to lose. Your calorie goal will be higher if you are losing weight more slowly or if you're more active. MFP is designed for you to add your exercise calories to that initial number, so if you burn 300 calories from a walk, you could eat 1800 (1500 base + 300 from exercise) that day and still expect to lose at the rate you set. Unless you want to follow a particular way of eating (like low carb) you can probably just leave the macros at their default. Weight loss comes down to calories, though following macros can be good for general nutrition, or making sure you're satisfied by the food you're eating, etc. I use my macros as guidelines rather than firm limits - the calories are really what I pay attention to.

The advice that is generally suggested on MFP, and after a few months at this I agree, is to try whatever changes you're making for a few weeks or a month (at least one menstrual cycle if you have a cycle at present) and see how your weight changes over that time. Then, you can make adjustments. Hope this is helpful.

My stats are a little different than you (I'm a giraffe), but am also on 1,500 calories NET. Today I will go on a walk and burn 150 calories. That means I can eat 1650, subtract the 150, and still hit my goal calories of 1,500 NET.

If you find it is too hard to stick to 1,500, change your goal to a lower # of lbs/week. Example- it might say 1,500 calories when you're set to 2 lbs/week loss, but if you change it to 1.5 lbs/week loss it may give you 1,700 calories.

Chose a weightloss goal that fits to you. Don't go too fast if you feel that you have too little food. Slow and stead wins the race. Hey, you have some weight to lose, but in the overall scheme of things it's not that much. Could be a lot worse. That's good news! Weight spread out evenly is also great. All you need is consistency and patience.