Can anyone tell me how many calories I should be eating a day?

[pinkpopsss]

I'm really confused trying to work this out.
My BMR is 1539 and I tend to walk for 5-6 miles per day.
Currently that's my only exercise.
So I'm assuming that is lightly active.

I'm currently eating between 1400-1500 calories a day.
Is this too much ?
If my BMR is 1500 should I be eating 1000 cals a day ?

I'm female and 32

I'm 5ft 7 and my weight is 10 stone 1 lb

You're not making any sense.

Your body needs 1539 calories a day to continue sitting around.

Why do you think that less than that is too much?

I am trying to loose weight.
I don't know how many calories I should be eating to achieve this.

How long have you been doing your weight loss plan?

How do you track your calories? What sort of food do you eat? When do you weigh yourself?

I started two weeks ago.
I track them on MFP
I eat a lot of eggs ,fish,chicken,veg,salad ,fruit etc

A fitness tracker can give you a more personalised estimation of what you burn with your amount of activity. And if something doesn't seem to work you can tweak it,

Have you lost any weight yet?

Okay, well a deficit of 500 calories a day (3500 a week) will lead to 1lb a week weight loss (roughly, average, blah blah) which is generally considered to be healthy and sustainable.

I have two further questions
(a) why are you going on your basal metabolic rate rather than your TDEE?
(b) what makes you think you need to lose weight?

You need to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and forget about your BMR
Deduct 500 from your TDEE and aim for that.

My understanding is that no one should eat less than 1200 calories a day as a general rule. You are already a healthy weight and its concerning you would want to restrict your calories to that extent, please try and give your body what it needs x

5ft 7 and 10st 1 is really quite slim OP, how much are you hoping to lose?

Tbh only a few pounds.
I'm more interested in being a bit more toned and loosing some stomach fat.

@ImFree2doasiwant, it might be, it might not be. I've been over fat at that weight, (scales measure fat percentage) I'm the same height with a small frame. I'm much better towards the lower end of a healthy BMI.

@pinkpopsss, well you can't spot reduce your fat. You can lose overall fat and tone you muscles. Aerobic exercise like your walking and some resistance exercises will achieve this. Dieting will help with fat loss but you need to ensure you keep up good nutrition to be able to build muscle.

Would you say walking 5-6 miles daily would be light exercise ?
As I'm assuming moderate is jogging etc ?

Erm it can burn quite a few calories depending on how far you travel roughly 100 cals burnt per mile. Soo 500 to 600 calories. Seem a pretty decent burn to me.

5-6 miles is almost 2 hours activity/day - it counts as at least 'moderate' not light activity levels.

This site gives estimates TDEE rates for activity levels. I am 5 ft 7, weigh less than you and burn 2400 cals a day with a 6 mile run and a 3 mile walk.

If I skipped the walk I would burn just over 2000 cals which is what I would guess you are burning now overall.

Sorry link for the site.

tdeecalculator.net/

And running and walking burns very similar amounts per mile traveled. Running just gets it done quicker!

@pinkpopsss

Tbh only a few pounds. I'm more interested in being a bit more toned and loosing some stomach fat.

Then you need to make sure you eat enough protein (for your muscles) along with a healthy diet and do more exercise. You don't tone up by walking I'm afraid, you need to do resistance training with weights (or just your body weight) to tone up. Things like sit ups, planks, lunges, press ups, squats etc. This will help you to continue to burn fat when you're not exercising. Don't restrict calories too much or it will be counter-productive. You're not really overweight so just keep eating how you are, no need to count calories if you're eating fresh whole foods, lean protein, good fats, avoiding (but not banning) processed foods and sugar.

if you are a seasoned walker and walk lots (ie nurses) the muscles become very efficient and don't burn as much as someone new to this form of exercise.
that's why changing exercise and muscle groups every so often is recommended.
if you're not loosing with good food choice and activity change up the activity (biking or resistance training).

Walking is good though. Helps promote good circulation, prevents dementia, is very relaxing and stress busting. It does tome the led walking muscles. When I decided just to run over the first lockdown and then started walking again I felt it! You use different muscles.

I'd keep the walking up but do some muscle building exercises too. Eat well, good balanced diet and make sure you get enough protein to build muscle. A small calorie deficit does help lose the fat though, I say that because I've done it at your weight and it helped. I lost fat and still gained muscle. I ran and walked and did resistance exercises as well.

no need to count calories if you're eating fresh whole foods, lean protein, good fats, avoiding (but not banning) processed foods and sugar.

Sorry but I needed to. I'd just lost sight of the right portion size for my needs. I live with people who burn more because they are taller and more muscular, I was eating the same as them.