How many calories?

thebutteredtoast
thebutteredtoast Posts: 141
edited December 20 in Food and Nutrition
Hey everyone. I've been doing some research online and after putting my stats into quite a few things, I've gotten different reports all over the board telling me how many calories I should be eating.

According to MFP I should be eating 1300 calories a day.

Most other sites say 1500-2000 calories a day.

I'm 5'4", 157 pounds. I work out 3 - 5 days a week for a minimum of a half hour. I've been doing mostly cardio but I also do strength training which I don't track on here. My GW is 120-130.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
    the best most trusted formula is called the harris benedict formula..google it..its on wiki..its the most accurate. just remember to convert to metric and add in your 'activity' level. the activity level includes your daily exercise routine.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    Most other sites figure your calories based on the exercise you tell then you MAY do.

    This site wants you to enter your exercise after you do it, then you get 'credit ' for it and you will be given XXX number of calories more to eat.

    If it were me, I'd use MFP numbers, and then add in the exercise.

    But, even 1500 as a base sounds low.

    With only 30 pounds or so to lose, you should set your Goal here as "Lose one pound a week" .....you'll be given more as a base amount. You need to eat to keep up your energy, and to get the proper nutrients.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    the best most trusted formula is called the harris benedict formula..google it..its on wiki..its the most accurate. just remember to convert to metric and add in your 'activity' level. the activity level includes your daily exercise routine.

    Most other sites do use this. And they figure your calories based on what you say you plan to do. If you miss a workout, you are left trying to figure out what to do to make up for that. I much prefer this method, where you get to decide on which days you will work out and then need to eat a little more. In the real world, it is difficult to stick to a consistent schedule for a lot of us.

    This site uses the Mifflin- St. Joer (sp?) formula.

    Here is the explanation why:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/help/faq/3-how-does-myfitnesspal-work
  • kat5556
    kat5556 Posts: 164 Member
    the best most trusted formula is called the harris benedict formula..google it..its on wiki..its the most accurate. just remember to convert to metric and add in your 'activity' level. the activity level includes your daily exercise routine.

    I found the harris benedict formula on wikipedia and it had the conversion in both metric and pounds. It was very close for me to what this site calculated within 93 calories. That's for posting it because I was looking for verification.
  • mfp_1
    mfp_1 Posts: 516 Member
    You can easily exceed your calories by inaccurate measurement of food. You don't have to weigh everything but you do need the option. Do you have digital scales?
  • thebutteredtoast
    thebutteredtoast Posts: 141
    Awesome. I'm going to check that out right now. I've never heard of it before so you learn something new every day!

    And mfp_1: I do have a scale that I weigh my food on. I measure/weigh everything I eat.
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
    MFP doesn’t take your workout in consideration, so if you give it ( 3 workout per week / 30 min each ) OR ( 7 per week /10 hour ) no change in your calculated calorie by MFP.
    Another site are considering your workout, so you can use MFP with eating back your burned calories ( and this is the best choice because some time you may not be able to do your workout on schedule ) or to use other site without eating back ( in this case you have to follow your training schedule )
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