Ladies- How many cals do you eat?

I'm 5'6" and 138-140#. My BMR is 1490 (assuming I'm about 20% body fat). On a day I do not work out, I usually eat 1650-1800 calories. On workout days, I've put down 2400 cals easy (having burned 700 cals running).

I set my MFP cal. to 1800 because I exercise 6 days a week and weight lift but I don't eat all my cals. so I usually eat about 1300 to 1600......it depends on what i feel my body needs that day

I'm 5'1 and between 105-110 lbs. I eat 2000-3000 calories per day, depends how hungry I am. Basically I eat whatever and whenever I want. I don't work out all that much but I am pretty busy on an average day, on my feet quite a bit.

Normally I'm in the 1300 - 1400 range. If I've had a very heavy workout day I'll go up to about 1500 calories. When I first started out my doctor recommended I say within the 1200 to 1300 calorie range if I wasn't exercising.

When I was still trying to lose I had it set at 1200 and ate back all of my exercise calories (between 300-800 extra per day). Now that I'm in maintenance mode I have it set at 1640 and still eat back my exercise calories so I average about 2000 to 2400 per day.

The body cannot survive off of 1200 calories. A child needs that much. Please check out the group Eat More 2 weigh less. determine your TDEE and BMR. Read the threads and go from there.

I eat 2150 everyday if I burn over 500 calories I will eat back some of my exercise calories so I never net below my BMR...

I average 2100 per day, workout 5-6 days a week, mostly strenght. I lost 8 lbs this year, went from 150 to 142lbs. But when I started counting calories at the beginning of this year, I was averaging 2300 to 2400 calories per day.

I eat 1700-1800 a day.

I eat like a champ! I eat 2400 a day because I work out about 5 days a week. 2400 is my TDEE, and whle I was terrified to do this, it's working! I am gaining muscle, but incredibly NOT getting fat. I guess it depends on what your goal is, and everyone has different ones, but I love lifting and this helps me lift heavy.

I really dont think its a doable thing for me to stick to 1200 so im thinking 1500 is a good number since I plan to work out at least 6 days a week. What do you guys think? How much are you eating and whats been your results? By the way I'm 5'7 currently at 175 I want to get to 135/140 BMI is in a healthy weight range at 159

I'm 5' 8", 165 pounds and I eat around 2,000 calories a day.

I'm set to 1200 calories a day and have been since I started MFP in mid-March. I've lost a little over 25 lbs since then. Most days I get close to the 1200 with light exercise, as well as whatever I do at work that day. Lately, I've been lucky to hit 1000 calories with the heat taking a toll on my stomach. I am going to try resetting to the BMR and test that theory soon. I am 5'7", 155 lbs with 12 lbs to go until I hit my (1st) goal weight.

1350 and I burn around 200 calories, so I usually eat around
1500 calories a day

Please remember, things are different for each person. Just like many of the posters have said. There is NO magic number. As you can see if you read alot of the posts, some people eat 1200, some people eat 2400 per day. All of them are happy and loosing weight or meeting their fitness goals. Its VERY individual. No one is right, no one is wrong.

Personally, my bmr is at 1600 and my TDEE is at 2400. So I have my calories set to 1900 per day. When I first started MFP I had it set to the typical 1200 and noticed that I was shakey and hungry and basically not giving my body what it needed. So that number didnt work for me. After calculating my numbers, (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) I am loosing weight at a safe rate and not starving myself, nor deny myself any foods that i really want. I workout 3 times per week.

Find what works for you. These are all just guidelines. Best of luck!

bump

This is probably going to scare most of you... but I kid you not, I NET around 2600-2800 daily.
So I guess if I was not exercising, my daily calorie intake would be at least around 3200 a day

Yes, that is A LOT.

Okay, so I eat A LOT. But, allow me to explain:

1)Most of my calories come from raw fruits and vegetables.

I would say that at least 1000 calories of my daily net cals come from fruits. Everyday I have apples, mangos, bananas, blueberries, watermelon, nectarines, etc. I eat a huge variety of fruit every day.

I also eat a lot of veggies a day (seldomly with any dressing). I eat carrots, sugar snap peas, cabbage, lettuce, celery, kale, etc. Most I eat raw... but I also eat a lot of brussels sprouts, too. Maybe 20-30 sprouts a day just steamed and then roasted in the toaster oven with just salt and pepper.

Then the other part of my calories come from steel cut oats, unsweetened almond milk, freeze-dried fruit (IE, Trader Joe's freeze dried mangos) Fat free greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Odwalla Superfood Bars... Vegan bars... ( I have at least two bars a day, even though most of them have sugar contents that are through the roof!! But still delish nevertheless. My favorite go-to candy bar aka energy bar is Clif White Chocolate Macadamia... YUMMMMY!!! ).

So...... as you guys can tell, I spend a ton of money on food. Most of my monthly check goes towards food! What can I say?!

2) But......... I also spend a ton of time at the gym...

Monday-Friday I do at least 2 or 2.5 hours on the elliptical at various resistance and incline.
Somedays INCLUDE 20-30 mins of strength training/heavy to moderate lifting ontop of the cardio.

Saturdays-Sundays I have at least 1 to 2 hours on the elliptical also at various resistance and incline.
Usually it is 30-40 mins of strength training at morderate weights.

So while I do love to eat... and most of it is very healthy food, I work for it. I am able to eat the same amount of calories as a man twice my size (I am 5'5, 128 pounds) but still maintain my weight.

I have eaten like this and exercised like this for over year now.

PS. I do not have a fast metabolism at all....... since I was little I was never able to eat the same foods as my friends without getting pudgy