High Calories - How much are you eating?

lilkitn
lilkitn Posts: 25 Member
edited November 10 in Food and Nutrition
It's been brought up in a previous post that what MFP is setting for a goal isn't enough calories in a day. I thought about upping my calories a bit and have been doing some research.

I am 5'1" and currently weigh 130lbs. My current body fat is 27.3%, which makes my current lean body mass 95lbs.

My goal is 115lbs for 17.5% body fat by September this year.

Harris Benedict has my BMR at 1366, and Katch-McArdle has it at 1303. MFP currently has my goal at 1200cals/day plus whatever I exercise I do eat.

I currently work out at the gym 4-5 times a week doing 20-30 minutes of cardio and I also strength train.

My question is what should I set MFP at for my initial goal (without exercise). And what are people currently changing their MFP to, please include your height so we can get a better picture.

Replies

  • amyllu
    amyllu Posts: 432 Member
    The only thing that I found is that when I entered my exercise levels etc. MFP automatically gave me a reading for extra calories for the day accordingly... in other words it wasn't and isn't a set thing for each day/week but goes by HOW MUCH exercise is done per day.
  • tdrinkard85
    tdrinkard85 Posts: 54
    I am 5 foot 7. I have my calories set at maintenance. I don't want to lose weight but I want to lose fat percentage. I read new rules of lifting for women and this is what they recommend and it seems to be working. There are a lot of girls on here that do that. My maintenance is at 1940, but I changed my macronutrient ratio. I do 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fats. This increase in proteins really helps.
  • gleechick609
    gleechick609 Posts: 544 Member
    So your TDEE is roughly 2117 calories. You can eat up to that to maintain your current weight while exercising 4-5 days a week at a moderate level.

    I'd probably eat around 1800-1900 (10-15% deficit) calories while using your exercise burn as the other part of your deficit .

    Set your macronutrients to Carbs: 40 % and Fat/Protein: 30%
  • gleechick609
    gleechick609 Posts: 544 Member
    BTW: I am 5'7 and have my calories set 20% under my TDEE with an activity level of lightly active
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    3250 is my current target but I actually need to be slightly over it based on results.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    When I was losing (I'm eating over maintenance right now to gain muscle), I was eating around 2000 calories NET, and losing a half pound a week. I've had to set my MFP activity level to "very active" for it to be correct for me. I also eat my exercise calories. I am 5'9" and was around 150lbs.
  • lilkitn
    lilkitn Posts: 25 Member
    I found a website that gave me a TDEE of 2067 so that's not too far off. It was also saying you can minus 20-30% of your TDEE for weight loss. 20% = 1654, 30% = 1447. But this is after your activity, so you need to take off how much you'd usually burn, which for me is 250-350calories, 4-5 times a week. That would put me btw 1304-1404 calories for a 20% loss, and 1197-1097 for a 30% loss.

    Have I figured that out correctly?
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    the easiest way for that is still to TDEE minus 20%, when you log exercise, eat your cals back.

    Anything below BMR should NEVER be done.
  • lilkitn
    lilkitn Posts: 25 Member
    There was no way I was going to do 1100, that's just crazy. But I was just trying to figure it all out right, I didn't want to find out that I was eating my exercise calories twice. I was thinking about bumping my calories up to 1300, maybe 1400.
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    go all in Honey trust me, go for 1600 and eat back half exercise cals...

    im at 1800 and eating half back and still losing xx
  • lilkitn
    lilkitn Posts: 25 Member
    You know, the more I look at it, the more I think the exercise calories are being counted twice. If you calculate your TDEE as your normal activity level and then let MFP put your exercise calories on for you, then you've counted your exercise calories twice. I think a more acurate way of doing it would be to calculate your TDEE as 1.2 (little or no exercise), since your BMR is calculated as you were comatose and not moving at all, minus your 20% loss, and then let MFP put your exercise calories on for you. This is what mine would look like:

    BMR (1378) X Little or no exercise (1.2) X Loss (20%) = 1323 Calories.
    Then let MFP put on your exercise calories for you to eat.

    Does that make more sense?
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    it does but you should never go below your BMR

    it depends what kind of job you have, i am listed as sedentary, as some days i work in an office, some days im out walking around cities and towns, some days im driving all day.

    that way my fitbit adds extra cals on, and then my exercise with my HRM.

    genuinely, get Dan to run your numbers the way he said you should in that other post... or do it yourself, i just did it for a friend, MFP told her to eat 1230, she is now eating 1800.

    shes not lost a pound since she had started MFP. my guess, she was starving herself.
  • lilkitn
    lilkitn Posts: 25 Member
    I totally agree with you, I'm not sure why MFP has set SO many women to a 1200 caloric intake. The thing is I'm a small person, I'm only 5'1", and what really got me thinking is seeing people that where way taller than me and eating the same amount! Height can make a huge difference when it comes to weight! That and body build. I talked to Dan, he said that I should eat 2000 calories, which for my size doesn't sound right at all, I think he must have got confused or read something wrong. That's why I thought I should maybe see if I could find the answers. I'm a massage therapist, so when I do work I'm burning more calories, but my hours aren't very high right now. I work out 4-5 times a week at the gym, cardio and strength train, so that's where I'll get most of my calories burned.
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    eat for the body you want... thats a great mantra to live by...

    i have more weight to lose than you... so i can afford to shave off a few extra cals... did you read the facebook article he posted.. it explains it really well.. i have more fat to catabolize than you, so naturally i can afford a larger defecit..

    try upping to 1600 cals.... see how that goes for 3 weeks or so... once you are stabalized out and losing again, add another 50 cals each couple of weeks to get up to 1800... the less you have to lose, the slower you want to lose it... also make sure you are weight training... and by that i mean lifting heavy!! x
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