How many calories should I eat - confusion!

jrgold
jrgold Posts: 45 Member
edited October 3 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone!

All these different calculators are telling me different things. I am female, 5''7, and 165 pounds. My goal for now is to be 150 pounds (I'll see if I want to lose more later on)

My BMR is : 1579.55.
According to myfitnesspal, it order for me to lose a pound a week, they gave me 1420 calories.

I chose a sedentary level, because I do not have a job where I am on my feet a lot. I do plan on working out though by going to the gym ...no idea how many calories i would burn with that.

Soo is it safe to eat less than my BMR?

Replies

  • beachgrl2004
    beachgrl2004 Posts: 4
    The reason they have you at 1420 calories a day is so that you will lose weight without changing your sedentary lifestyle. If you track your exercise it will give you more calories to make up for the calories you burned that day while still eating at a deficit to lose your one pound per week.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    Since you only have 15lbs to lose you might want to try for 0.5lbs per week and eat more.
  • melizerd
    melizerd Posts: 870 Member
    That's the amount you can eat without getting off the couch and lose weight (in theory anyhow) When you work out you will "earn" more calories. If you search the boards on "eating exercise calories" you'll find lots of threads talking about whether you should or should not eat those.

    I eat about half mine back because I don't have HRM (heart rate monitor) so I don't want to over eat, if you have a HRM you'll know how much you're burning and can eat back them all (or almost all) of them and you'll find that you'll lose weight.

    The important thing is to NET 1200 calories a day so your body has good fuel to burn while working out :D

    I'm currently at 166lbs, 5'7" and shooting for 155lbs as my final goal!
  • jrgold
    jrgold Posts: 45 Member
    For some reason I feel like adding the calories burned (say, 200) to my net total is like 'cheating'....wouldnt you be better off with a bigger deficit as long as you are still eating enough?
  • jrgold
    jrgold Posts: 45 Member
    *just saw the above posts*...halving the calories burned sounds like a good idea. Maybe i will just eat an extra 100 when I work out, esp if i am hungry by the end of the day.
  • beachgrl2004
    beachgrl2004 Posts: 4
    people have different opinions about eating exercise calories, i personally eat mine if i am hungry. if you eat your exercise calories you will still lose weight. if you chose not to eat them just make sure you are getting to 1200 everyday.
  • SixCatFaerie
    SixCatFaerie Posts: 690 Member
    people have different opinions about eating exercise calories, i personally eat mine if i am hungry. if you eat your exercise calories you will still lose weight. if you chose not to eat them just make sure you are getting to 1200 everyday.

    ^^^This! :bigsmile:
  • Raf702
    Raf702 Posts: 196 Member
    Hi everyone!

    All these different calculators are telling me different things. I am female, 5''7, and 165 pounds. My goal for now is to be 150 pounds (I'll see if I want to lose more later on)

    My BMR is : 1579.55.
    According to myfitnesspal, it order for me to lose a pound a week, they gave me 1420 calories.

    I chose a sedentary level, because I do not have a job where I am on my feet a lot. I do plan on working out though by going to the gym ...no idea how many calories i would burn with that.

    Soo is it safe to eat less than my BMR?

    Don't stress yourself by comparing different calculators. Each will always be different, stick to just one and follow it. BMR is basically your basal metabolic rate, I'm sure you know what that entails. It's perfectly fine to eat less than what your body burns naturally being alive. You just need to monitor your macro-nurtrients(fat/carbs/protein) consumption and making sure that your eating the proper amount per day.

    I actually use a different formula in order to determine maintenance calories then following a calorie deficit from that. Your BMR is 1579, maintenance for your current stats would be 1898 according to a different formula I use. So now if you want drop weight, then you simply eat under your maintenance calories. Now that's up to you on how much under in calories you want to consume, at the same time monitoring how much macro nutrients your consuming. So your not lacking those nutrients that you need daily.

    If your trying to lose 1lb a week, 3,500cals=1lb, 500 cals x 7-days = 3,500 calories. So if you eat 500 calories under your maintenance for 7-days. With that math I just did for you, then you essentially have just lost 1lb of weight in 1-week(7-days)

    Just remember, eat under your maintenance calories no matter what the caloric value is. Watch your macro nutrient consumption and that your hitting the proper amount per day. And you WILL lose/drop weight. Good luck!
  • jrgold
    jrgold Posts: 45 Member
    Thanks everyone for the advice!


    Raf - What youre saying makes sense, since 1898-500 = about 1400 cals, which is close to what myfitnesspal is reccomending me.

    Guess I am not the only one who isnt sure whether to eat exercise calories or not. I will put them to use on certain days when I really feel like I can use the extra boost.
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