Ladies- How many cals do you eat?

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

1950 and i enjoy every yummy bit of what i eat too

I stalled at 1200, and was hungry and tired all the time. Would workout more so I could eat more - bad combo, I was still hungry. Upped cals to 1500, fat started coming off again. Now I'm set at 1800, but I make sure to net between 1368 (my BMR) and 2120 (my TDEE). If I'm hungry (truly hungry, not just snacky, which is tough on these summer days!), I eat, if I'm not, I don't. And no stress if I go over the 1800 as long as I stay under the 2120. And on occasion when I go over that, still not a big deal because it's not a regular thing.

I'm 44 years old, 5'8", currently 138lbs. :bigsmile:

I'm 5'3 and currently 177 lbs. My fitness pal has me at 1200 calories a day too, but once I add in my usual workout it has me at anywhere from 1700 to 1900 calories a day. I don't usually eat all of my calories back from my workouts, but I will occasionally go over the original 1200. I just make sure to have a lot of water and fruits and veggies, which are low in calories. I think if you're not hungry you shouldn't force yourself to eat to get to a certain number, just make sure you're eating healthy food and you're not depriving yourself.

I am 57 years old and exercise daily for 40 minutes. The past 6 months have been maintaining my weight after losing 43 lbs. I find that I start to gain weight, if I eat over 1500 calories in day. I was losing the weight with a calorie count of 1200-1300 calories.

I calculated my TDEE and target a 10% cut from that number. For me at 5'11", 175 lbs, age 32 and working out 6 days a week is ~2600 calories.