How many calories/day

edguenth
edguenth Posts: 5
edited December 20 in Introduce Yourself
Hey all!
I'm pretty new to MFP and would love to have some active friends on here to stay accountable and motivated! Please add if you can help me :)

My question is: how many calories should I be taking in per day? I have been on a few websites to see what they say and the average is about 2000-2200 cal/day. My numbers:

5'11''
177lbs
female
21 years old
I lift heavy 6 days a week
My job is on my feet, but I am in class/driving to class for 3.5 hrs in the morning and 3.5 hrs at night

I need to make sure that I am taking in enough calories but not too much! Thanks for your help!

Replies

  • parisiantwyst
    parisiantwyst Posts: 41
    To lose weight, subtract about 250-500 calories from your estimated daily burn. This will help you lose between .5 and 1lb a week. If you're looking to lose more, eat the same amount, but exercise longer. The calorie deficit will go up, but you should never eat less than 1200 calories a day, unless you have an extremely slow metabolism and have been advised to do so by a doctor or nutritionist.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,923 Member
    Not that everyone that is 5'11 is the same, but...January 1st I was 180 (but I'm a tad older @ 33! LOL). I believe I ate about 1500/day, but I have a sedentary job and rarely exercised (I didn't start working out until March, but had lost about 15 before that). I now weight 153. I'd think with your lifestyle you could easily eat 1800/day and still lose about 1 pound a week. I'm on maintenance calories right now, and MFP gives me 1880/day, but I'm still losing slowly...need to find my sweet spot to stay what I weigh now...

    Go on to the fat2fit.com website and use their BMR and TDEE calculator. Stay 500 calories per day under your TDEE and never eat below your BMR.

    If you don't trust that, I'd go by what MPF gave you (with you entering in your age, height, weight now, Moderately Active Lifestyle) and stick to that. Eat back your exercise calories...it's all a guessing game really. Eat enough to be nourished (never eat below 1200/day, us tall girls need more food than our shorter friends) and you shouldn't be hungry. Just be realistic...

    Good luck and welcome!
  • BuckeyeLife
    BuckeyeLife Posts: 313 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

    This will give you a lot of good information to figure out a good caloric intake for you.
  • edguenth
    edguenth Posts: 5
    Thanks everyone! The websites are awesome!
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