how calories are figured?

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giag09
giag09 Posts: 203 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
i get that it takes in account your activity level but i am 5'2 1/2 athletic build and active and can only eat 1300 calories...i weigh 134 and wanna be around 130 will i always only be able to eat 1300 calories i am so afraid to eat more and gain weight uggghhhh! btw i have always had food issues i used to be heavier and i am terrified to go back...

Replies

  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
    Do you never intend on maintaining? Your calories will go up once you hit maintenance.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,819 Member
    You won't gain 20 lbs or something over night.....you go to your maintenance calories, and keep track of your weight.. .If it starts to creep up more than five pounds you adjust.

    This is a dynamic process. You won't hit your goal and then forget to keep track.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    How calories are figured:

    They find your BMR based on height, weight, sex, and age. (BMR is the amount of calories you would burn doing nothing, just lying in bed all day.)

    Then they add in a bit depending on your activity level. (NOT including how much exercise you say you will do, just your daily activities. This is the amount of calories you burn walking around all day and doing your daily activities.) This is called Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE. For sedentary I think it's about 1.2 times your BMR.

    Then, for every pound per week that you want to lose, they subtract 500 calories from your TDEE. So if you want to lose 1/2 a pound a week, they subtract only 250 a day, and if you want to lose 2 pounds a week it would be 1000 a day.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,459 MFP Moderator
    i get that it takes in account your activity level but i am 5'2 1/2 athletic build and active and can only eat 1300 calories...i weigh 134 and wanna be around 130 will i always only be able to eat 1300 calories i am so afraid to eat more and gain weight uggghhhh! btw i have always had food issues i used to be heavier and i am terrified to go back...
    You shouldn't be a afraid food. It's an essential item to life. And why would you stick to 1300 calories when you could be eating 2000 calories and not gain. If you are exercising, then it shouldn't be an issue to eat more. Maybe it's time for you to throw away the scale and start looking into doing body recomposition where you cut body fat or even gain lean muscle mass. If you don't, you might be looking at an eating disorder due to fear.
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    i get that it takes in account your activity level but i am 5'2 1/2 athletic build and active and can only eat 1300 calories...i weigh 134 and wanna be around 130 will i always only be able to eat 1300 calories i am so afraid to eat more and gain weight uggghhhh! btw i have always had food issues i used to be heavier and i am terrified to go back...

    Assuming you've set MFP up for a calorie deficit you should be able to eat more than 1300 calories, including those you earn with exercise, and still lose weight. But at this stage of the game you do need to be careful with your bookkeeping. Getting the calories right can be tricky when you're this close to your goal because the numbers are all estimates and an error in the wrong direction can erode your deficit or put you in a calorie surplus. But not by much, and certainly not fast enough to get you in serious trouble before you catch on to what is happening. Pay attention and tweak as necessary and you should be OK.
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