Confused

Starqueg

Can someone help me figure out just how many calories a day I should be eating?  Which of the many formulas is the healthiest to follow?  I'm fairly sedentary, but trying to be more active.  According to MFP I should eat 1200/day for sedentary or 1310 for light activity.  Other people talk about their BMR and TDEE, which give higher numbers.  Help?

J&K10910

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

If you do that, that calculates your BMR, which are the calories your body burns ON ITS OWN (aka if you were laying in bed).  Rather, the calories your body should burn, barring any health issues that contribute.  If you go a little further down the page, it gives you the harris-benedict equation which will help you figure out how many you should eat to support your activity level.  Then, subtract 500 a day for 2 lb a week loss, or 250 a day for 1lb a week loss (or whatever in betwee), and you should have your number.

So for me, my BMR is 1476.  I am currently "lightly active" so I multiply that by 1.375 to get 2030, which is what I need to eat to maintain my current weight (that's a little high for me, in my experience, but probably only by about 100-150).  So if I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week, I need to eat about 1500 calories a day (2030 minus about 500).  That's a little bit high for me to lose 2 lbs a week personally (everyone is different, no math equation will be the magical answer for everyone), but I will lose about 1-1.5 lbs a week eating that much and remaining "lightly active."

So those numbers are good starting points, but you'll have to see what works and tweak.  Listen to your body.  If you're always hungry or often hungry even though you'r eputting good food in your body (lots of lean protein, enough healthy fats, some good carbs, lots of fiber and fruits and veggies), then you probably need to eat more.

turtleslove

Remember that quality is way more important than quantity. A 100 calorie "snack pack" (crap) will not feed your body as well as 100 calories of veggies or lean protien. Remove bad things from your diet and the number of calories you eat will be much LESS important.

Starqueg

So according what what J&K posted I should be eating around 1500 calories/day to lose two pounds per week.  Thanks J&K!  I ate a bigger breakfast today after adjusting my intake levels and my body is much happier with me.  1200 calories is not enough to get me through the day no matter what MFP might say.

iloveu4ever

Look into also calories vs fat.

J&K10910

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_confused-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:fbeabc20-d782-47e6-bf66-6a51d9875520Post:d9d5c9a7-5350-467e-b194-bcc380daeb69">Re: Confused</a>:
[QUOTE]Look into also calories vs fat.
Posted by iloveu4ever[/QUOTE]

What in the world do you mean by this?  Fat is good for you.

gymbugmj2k

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_confused-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:fbeabc20-d782-47e6-bf66-6a51d9875520Post:0cf37788-e12f-4dc9-9aa4-1f45e085f56a">Re: Confused</a>:
[QUOTE]Remember that quality is way more important than quantity. A 100 calorie "snack pack" (crap) will not feed your body as well as 100 calories of veggies or lean protien. Remove bad things from your diet and the number of calories you eat will be much LESS important.
Posted by turtleslove[/QUOTE]


THIS. OMG THIS.
Say you eat 2500 calories a day right now....and you have room for improvement as far as quality of food (you eat fast food occasionally, eat prepared packaged foods, snack aisle snacks, etc) 2500 calories of THAT kind of food is a LOT LESS QUANTITY than 2500 calories of GOOD quality foods (fresh ingredients, homemade dishes, etc)

Remember that a calorie is a unit of ENERGY.  The whole purpose of food and eating is to give our bodies ENERGY (kind of like gas in a car)..if you give a car crap quality gas, it's gonna huff and puff and sputter.  if you give it good quality gas, it'll go for miles!  but the point is - you have a 15 gallon tank no matter what =)


so. long story short.... don't worry about the calorie number just yet.  make a LIFESTYLE change.  eat fresh ingredients whenever you can. eat homemade foods whenever you can.  eat whatever amount is comfortable for you for about a week, and track it in an app or a chart. don't worry about numbers. its just to see what your'e eating normally.  you might notice that you'll automatically begin to eat less calories because your body realizes that it's getting all the energy it needs from the GOOD fuel you give it =)

If after 2-3 weeks of eating fresher, healthier foods you don't see a change, then increase your activity level.

good luck!