How the fuck do I calculate how many calories I need a day?!

[mylobster]

I've name changed because I'm about to disclose personal info

I've seen TDEE calculators online but they're all fucking different.

The apps I've got are all insanely different My fitness pal seems to think I need 1200 calories a day, lose it thinks 2170 and nutracheck suggests 1800 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Please can someone help?

I'm
female
29 years old
5 foot 3
And 20 stone

I want to get to 10 stone and I know I can do it, Im trying to start calorie counting properly but it's hard to work out what my deficit is if they're all so bloody different!

Look at Dan wheeler - you tube and ticktok - an absolute eye opener

How active are you OP?
Desk job or retail? Do you currently do any exercise?

Also could you try tracking what you are currently eating in my fitness pal & see how many calories you are consuming as a "baseline" to cut down from?

Oh sorry I forgot to add, I work as a nurse so I'm on my feet most of the day, I average about 7000 steps on my day off

@CaptainCarp I will be doing exercise on my days off and before my shifts when on a late,

I've found traditionally 1200-1300 cals works for me to lose weight.

However, by going low carb/low sugar, minimum 3 litres of water a day, and no snacking I've found the weight to be dropping off; lots to lose but sitting on average 2.5 to 3 kilos per week.

To be honest, I think I would be sitting around 1500 cals now, but not counting as I'm losing more by cutting down on bread/rice/pasta to once a week vs every day/every meal.

And finally recognising sometimes food is just that; not a treat or dessert every day!

@ohwaitthatwasme I saw him! That's why I'm thinking I need to rethink what I'm
Doing as 1200 calories is making me feel sick

I’m a nutritionist. I work it out by calculating

BMR 655+(4.35xweight in lbs)+(4.7xheight in inches)-(4.7xage) then to work out your TDEE it’s BMR x activity level (1.2, 1.375, 1.55 or 1.725) then calculate how much deficit you want to be in and subtract that off to give you your calories. Using this calculation I can guess to within 100g how much weight my clients should be each week if they have stuck to their plans.

And 1200 is way too little, I can tell you that right now looking at your stats without doing any calculation. You’d be starving. I mean literally starving.

@mylobster

Oh sorry I forgot to add, I work as a nurse so I'm on my feet most of the day, I average about 7000 steps on my day off

I've just inputted your details into myfitnesspal & it's given a BMR of 1964? Also used TDEE calculator. Net & got the same.

Moderate exercise puts you at around 3000 cal usage.

Are you sure you've inputted the data right especially if it's switched to metric?

[quote mylobster]@ohwaitthatwasme I saw him! That's why I'm thinking I need to rethink what I'm
Doing as 1200 calories is making me feel sick [/quote]
He has a video on YouTube about the calculation, I haven't watched it yet so don't know how it is, but what I have seen so far seems to make sense. I have a lot to lose, but I'm just sitting researching the 'right' way and eating all the chocolate before I commit myself to doing it!

Also don’t just work out your calories, you need to work out your macros. You could lose weight eating 1500 calories worth of Mars bars but you’ll look and feel like shit compared to losing weight on 1500 of properly balanced nutritious food. Each macro has a vital function. I never put my clients on less than 130g of carbs a day.

For reference op I am 5'4" & 14.5 stone.

Pre Christmas I was losing weight eating 1700kcals.
Walking 1 mile 4-5 days a week & cycling 5k (indoor bike) 2-3 times a week.
I have a desk job & struggled to hit 5000steps most days!

@CaptainCarp this is what the tdee calculator I used said and it just seems a lot!

What are you eating at the moment? You could just subtract a load of calories from that and you should lose.

You’re really active and 20st. You could totally lose on 2100.

1200 is not sustainable.

[quote mylobster]@CaptainCarp this is what the tdee calculator I used said and it just seems a lot! [/quote]
The thing with being overweight is that you use more calories just "being" so it will seem a lot.

You'd need to cut 500 calories a day from that to lose 1lb a week. So as womanity said around 2100 calories maybe a good start.

1200 is very low especially for someone with an active job. You'll feel ill & probably end up snacking on sugar to make you feel better.

Is snacking on junk an issue for you? Or have you got a bad takeaway habit?
Looking at what & when is as important as how much in terms of changing your eating habits.

I’ve done a quick calculation. To lose 1kg per week you’d need to be on 1695 calories per day. To lose 0.5kg per week 2245. A 40/40/20 macro split would be 169g carbs 169g protein and 37g fat

Need now, or need at your target weight? I lost weight very successfully a few years ago by looking at the calories I’d need each day, to maintain the target weight, with zero exercise. Then I looked at the calories I’d be burning with my actual exercise using something like map my run...Added the two numbers, and used that as the guide. The weight came off quick to start, then slowed as I reached close to target. BUT. You want to loose 50% of your body weight. That is a MASSIVE strain on your health if you do it too quickly, so I’d suggest breaking it into several stages, and reducing the daily calorie intake just to reach each stage, then reducing again for each stage, till you get to the final target. I’m not a doctor - perhaps find a friendly medic and run whatever plan you settle on past them before you start it? Good Luck!!

Could you get a fitness tracker? I have one and I know that I need around 2100 to maintain so I try to stick to around 1600. I couldn't survive on 1200!
Have you considered Slimming world or weight watchers? The support you get there is amazing and it csn help to be accountable. Good luck

@womanity

You’re really active and 20st. You could totally lose on 2100.

1200 is not sustainable.

^^This. I don't know where MFP gets the 1200 calories from but it's far too little for pretty much everyone except the very light and inactive. You're neither of these.

Do you think you can get on with calorie counting? It takes a lot of headspace unless you eat a mostly packaged diet that is quite repetitive, otherwise you need to be working out the calories in the fraction you eat of everything you cook, which is tedious and time consuming.

If you want to go that route, I'd say you can lose on around 2000 calories a day, which will be far easier to stick to than 1200.

If you prefer to cook from scratch, the easiest thing is probably to do something akin to slimming world, which is just make all your meals from lean protein, veg, pulses, eggs, grains.

Make sure you have a third by volume of fruit and non starchy veg overall and limit bread to one or two slices a day, cheese to one small piece and obvious junk like crisps, biscuits, cake, alcohol etc to no more than 2-300 calories a day.

Eat until you are comfortably full not stuffed and there's no need to count or measure most of what you eat or ever be hungry.

Stick to that most of the time (don't worry about the odd slip up) and the first few stones should come off easily.

TDEE calculator gives just over 3000 cals a day for moderate activity, which is probably about right from what you say.

7000 steps per day is more than just sitting down and getting up occasionally, you do need to be walking around or go out for an actual walk to achieve that. Plus when you're working, you'll do far more than that anyway.

I think it's much easier to chose a number then see what happens afterwards. I'd suggest you start with, say, 1600 calories and then see what happens. I think it's good to start diets slowly to give your mind and body time to get used to dieting. Make sure you weigh yourself carefully and make sure you log your food really really carefully. Then, when you see how your body is reacting adjust the calories up or down.

I've joined Team RH Fitness - they calculate your calories and macros for you. I'm in the 14 stone range and I'm on 2100 calories a day, 15000 steps and 3 workouts a week. I'm down half a stone so far so it's working and I can see changes as well. I'm eating a lot more protein than I've ever done before and it's really helping me to feel full whereas usually I'm hungry all the time!

I read somewhere that a very rough ready reckoner is to add a 0 onto the number of pounds you want to be.

So 10 stones is 140 pounds = 1400 calories a day.

As you have a bit to lose, you could try that for starters and adjust as necessary nearer your goal.

Good luck! I lost 7 stones a few years ago. You can do this too! I don’t miss eating the way I used to. I never thought I could change but change IS possible.

Just continue eating your current food, but reduce the portion size by about a third and see how you go.

A lot of people really overthink weight loss.