I'm doing this wrong. Aren't I?
Stats: Gender - female, Age - 32, height - 5'4, weight - 218, lifestyle - sedentary.
Ok, I started trying to lose weight again April 30th, right? Well, when I input my info into the site's Calorie Target tool it said I needed to eat 1271 a day to reach my goal. I thought this sounded kind of small since I read that below 1200 calories for women is bad. So, I decided to bump it to 1400 just to be safe; you know, slow and steady weight loss that I can keep up. However, I've been reading around the forums here and I have a feeling I'm still doing it wrong. I'm hearing BMR, RMR, and other stuff I don't understand.
Can someone tell me if I should change things? And if so, what calorie total should I be looking at instead? (I'm only 2 weeks in so I'm not worried about eating more if I'm told to.)
It's just weird, because I've been eating 8 small meals throughout the day and feeling great. I even have enough energy to walk 4 miles every other day without feeling like I want to die at the end -- which is a good thing because I've basically been a shut-in for the last, oh, 9 years. (I spend the majority of my day on my butt -- behind the computer, playing games, or watching TV. Thank god someone still married me. lol)
Anyway, any help is much appreciated.
Hi
I think you may have entered your details incorrectly.
I have put your stats into the Burn Meter (see Tools) and it said your burn meter is over 2000. (Although that seems high to me). I suggest you got back to your setting and make sure you have entered all your personal details correctly.
I am 5ft2", female, aged 43 and 196lbs and my calorie limit is 1200. I would expect yours to be more than that given your height and age.
Give it a go.
hi there,
the problem is that you have probably put in a "target date" for a "target weight" which is not achievable healthily. instead of calorie target tool, use the "burn meter" which will give you a realistic amount of calories you burn in one day, which should be around 2000 for your weight and lifestyle. my humble suggestion is never to have more than 500 calories deficit everyday. That is, if you workout and burn 200 cals, and in total you have burned 2200 a day, you should be eating at least 1700 on that day, and at least 1500 on normal days. I have started with almost the same stats as you, and did not even exercise for my first 15 pounds, and i was eating 2000 a day.
don't try to get fast results or you risk crippling your metabolism. good luck!
@pinky
Your BMR is 1,754. Don't eat below that. Max weight loss target if you wish to be agressive is 1% of body weight per week. More workable is 2/3 of that. so for you 1.5 lbs a week. Eat at or above your BMR n your body burns that many calories if you just lie in bed whole day. So anything else you do in the day burns calories causing weight loss. You burn 20%, for your BMR or 350 calories, in day to day life. Exercise to burn another 400 for a daily target of 750. As 1 lbs fat = 3,500 calories you should lose 1.5 lbs a week. If you can, try get some weight / resistence training to prevent muscle loss while on deficit.
Ok, I understand this a lot more now. I'm going to use the Calorie Calculator and eat at my BMR from now on. (I'll keep checking it as I lose weight.) I'm just glad I caught this two weeks in. Thanks again for all the input. I appreciate it! :)
