What should my calorie intake be??

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FoodAllergyQueen
FoodAllergyQueen Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if this is something that has already been answered.

I am 5'3", weigh 120 and I'm not looking to lose much weight just tone up and maybe drop a pant size. I have a desk job so I am sitting most of the day, but after that I go to the gym and jog/run about 2 miles, do some weights every other day and 3 days a week I take a very high intensity cardio class (kickboxing, bootcamp, and a ploy type class: All of which involve using light weights). On the weekend I ride horses for about 3 hours and Sunday is my rest day. Before my desk job I have put on a few pounds considering I went from riding about 8 horses a day to sitting :cry:

My first question is: On this site, sedentary is considered having a desk job...but since I am going to the gym at least 4 days a week, and exercising at least 5 days...am I really sedentary?

My second question is: It says my caloric intake should be 1,200 calories a day. I am beginning to eat a lot healthier than before and with multiple food allergies, I have learned to start embracing more veggies! BUT simply eating 1/2 a gluten free bagel with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1/2 a cup of non-fat greek yogurt for breakfast, with a soup and salad(greens etc), and an apple sauce and the remaining bagel half with peanut butter for lunch, leaves me with around 120 calories for dinner. I am STARVING after lunch and if I cut my sugar and fat out too much I become VERY VERY lightheaded and shaky.

Any tips?? Should I be upping my calories? I have been going over the 1,200 limit and eating around 1,300.

Thanks!!! :smile:

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if this is something that has already been answered.

    I am 5'3", weigh 120 and I'm not looking to lose much weight just tone up and maybe drop a pant size. I have a desk job so I am sitting most of the day, but after that I go to the gym and jog/run about 2 miles, do some weights every other day and 3 days a week I take a very high intensity cardio class (kickboxing, bootcamp, and a ploy type class: All of which involve using light weights). On the weekend I ride horses for about 3 hours and Sunday is my rest day. Before my desk job I have put on a few pounds considering I went from riding about 8 horses a day to sitting :cry:

    My first question is: On this site, sedentary is considered having a desk job...but since I am going to the gym at least 4 days a week, and exercising at least 5 days...am I really sedentary?

    My second question is: It says my caloric intake should be 1,200 calories a day. I am beginning to eat a lot healthier than before and with multiple food allergies, I have learned to start embracing more veggies! BUT simply eating 1/2 a gluten free bagel with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1/2 a cup of non-fat greek yogurt for breakfast, with a soup and salad(greens etc), and an apple sauce and the remaining bagel half with peanut butter for lunch, leaves me with around 120 calories for dinner. I am STARVING after lunch and if I cut my sugar and fat out too much I become VERY VERY lightheaded and shaky.

    Any tips?? Should I be upping my calories? I have been going over the 1,200 limit and eating around 1,300.

    Thanks!!! :smile:

    Well if you are looking to maintain weight or toning up, you have your account set up improperly. You should set it at maintenance and not weight loss. There is no way you will get 1200 for maintenance. Second, I would actually suggest putting your exercise into your lifestyle calculation so you aren't chasing exercise calories. Since you seem to do a lot of activity, i would suggest moderately to very active.


    The key is monitoring your weight for a month and slow adjusting. Based on your stats, your BMR is around 1263 calories. And you sit at a desk and workout 6 days a week. So there are two ways to do this.


    TDEE = 1263 * 1.2 = 1515 and eat back exercise calories. So if you burn 500 calories a day, then you should aim for 2015 calories in a day or

    TDEE = 1263 *1.55 = 1957 and no eat back your exercise calories.


    if you want to be safe, you can add in a 10% or 20% deficit until you learn your bodies caloric needs. By this, I mean you watch your weight for a month @ 1900 calories. If you lose weight, you add another 200 calories. If you stay the same weight, you maintain and if you gain weight, you back off 200 calories. Each month you would evaluate your progress.
  • FoodAllergyQueen
    FoodAllergyQueen Posts: 11
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    Thank you so much! Very informative. I am definitely doing more maintaining my weight then loosing. I think dropping a pant size will happen once I tone up.

    There is so much "stuff" out there that says 1,200 calories but for my activity level it seems impossible.

    Thanks again for clearing this up for me :happy:
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Thank you so much! Very informative. I am definitely doing more maintaining my weight then loosing. I think dropping a pant size will happen once I tone up.

    There is so much "stuff" out there that says 1,200 calories but for my activity level it seems impossible.

    Thanks again for clearing this up for me :happy:
    1200 calories is thrown around way way way too much on this board. Most people really dont' know where it comes from or how it affects your body but they have heard it a lot and go with it. Below is some good reading when you have time.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395948-caloric-intake-results?hl=caloric+intake+results&page=1#posts-5425208
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
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    Most women should have 1600 calories a day for weight loss. Men is more like 1800. Small deficits tend to work better than large ones.
    This site lets women get down to 1200. Which is a tad low for healthy, lasting weight loss. Especially if you exercise.
    I lost quite a bit of weight at 1600 calories a day. I just have trouble sticking to it. pout

    You will get lots of advice, and no one is "right." So I give the general guideline and say - find what works for you!
  • FoodAllergyQueen
    FoodAllergyQueen Posts: 11
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    Thanks everyone. I have food allergies and celiac so most of my gluten free foods are high calorie which is what trips me up even if I'm eating a "normal" portion. I of course have days where I am hungry and so I eat (I definitely don't starve myself lol) but other days I find that I am not all that hungry.

    Lizard053, I definitely need to find what works for me! At least i'll be able to stay motivated and be able to track my calories on this site :)

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