fratangelodenise98's Journal, 15 March 2022

You need to do the math on this subject. Age, current weight, activity level all play a part in coming up with a ballpark figure. Go back to the entry pages,of FS where you enter that data. 

I used the calculator when I signed up. In order to lose weight it recommended 1200 but I don’t exercise thus the low number. 

I try to keep it anywhere from 100-200 below what was recommended. If I go over what's recommended. If I go over one day, I have a cushion. It's different for everyone but having dieted in the past and lost weight, I think my calorie estimate is truer to what I need. I'm not hungry. Also,, I'm not suggesting this for anyone else. It's working for me at the moment. Can't predict next week. Might have to adjust it. 

I am very overweight so I budget 1800 calories a day. I used the calorie calculator from TOPS. There are many available online and fs has one. 

I was given a guide what says <250-2,000, 220-249-1800, 175-219-1500, 120-174-1200  

I use the Harris-Benedict equation WITH the activity factor (link below): https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/bmr-harris-benedict-equation For reference, I am 40 years old, 5'1", and currently weigh 145 lbs/26% BF. My maintenance calories are around 2250. When I am actively losing weight (as I am currently) I eat between 1750-1950 a day depending on my activity level. The calories you need on a daily basis are largely determined by your activity level and muscle mass. If you are able, I would highly recommend going and getting what's called an InBody Scan (Google "InBody Scan near me). Gives you a better idea of what's going in terms of body composition, so you can accurately determine how many calories you need. Hope this helps, blessings + good luck.  

I have been able to maintain 1000 for over a year now and still eat everything off course in portions. Some schools of thought will say that's not healthy but it works well for me 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

Thank you everyone. Haven’t counted calories in years. Use to points lol 

Eating 1000 or less calories causes your body to go into starvation mode. You will lose weight but when you eat “normally” again you’ll regain quickly. The best option to to find a sustainable weight loss goal / journey 

Noom told me 1200 to lose weight. Your 1450 to maintain 140 is probably pretty good if you are fairly sedentary.  

4,600 calories. determined thru trial and error over months of maintenance. this yeilds me about a average gain of 1lb a week. 

I am 5’3”, about 115. I hike, swim almost every day and can tolerate 1500-1600 calories a day. On days I know my activities are going to be curtailed I try to keep the calories in the 1300 range. FS offers me 1400-1600 but for me that is too much for weight loss unless there is activity  

I'm 5'1... to maintain I m around 2000-2100 cal because I work out moderate to intense training for 4-6 days a week. in reality I only workout to be able to eat more 😄🤭 toning is in mind but mainly to eat more 😁 

5'3, 115-117, 2500 cals a day. I walk an average of 18000 steps a day, lift my body weight (calisthenics) and external weight 4 days a week in such a way to challenge myself more every time, dance a few hours a week and run very occasionally (like a few times a month max). When I was losing weight, my average was 1650-1750 cals a day. I rarely had days below that intake. 

Honestly, I wouldn't base my intake off anyone else's answer. It's most likely going to take some tracking and trial and error to figure out your personal caloric needs. How many calories you need just to exist is going to be affected by your muscle mass which you don't know from the answers here. And descriptors like "active" don't really mean much. I think I'm moderately active and consider 10000 steps to be lightly active. To some, 18000 steps a day is extremely active. Start with a calculator like this one for an estimate: https://prophysique.com/macro-calculator/ See what happens to your weight for a week or two. That will tell you whether the number suggested is going to help you lose weight or not. Keep track of your activity, what you eat and your weight and you'll figure it out. 

At the bottom of your daily food diary is RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) analysis. In that section there is a choice to calculate your RDI. Choose this, put in your current activity level, for me sedentary, your age, your height, your current weight and gender and this will calculate your RDI. For me when i started the diet it was 2620 calories. I want to shed 10 pounds a month to get down to 220lbs. A pound takes 3500 calories to burn off so in a month I need to run a daily deficit, calories consumed less calories burned. of -1166 calories to lose 10 lbs. a month. So, with no exercise I need to limit my caloric intake to 1454 calories. You can eat more and exercise more as long as you keep daily deficit somewhere around the 1166 calories. I use Fitbit to track exercise and calories burned, and journal my food and keep weight log in FatSecret. Calories burned comes in automatically from Fitbit and can be seen on the "stopwatch" icon. The macronutrients is a different story. I use USDA recommendations but there are a million diets, like Keto, etc. 

Try this chart. https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html 

I went to five different calorie calculating website. Put in my age, sex, height , activity level and what I set my goal weight as. I then took the 5 numbers added together, divide by 5 and got an average. (All the sites calories varied by a few hundred Ks . So I didn’t know which ONE to hang my hopes on, so this was helpful to me) . Blessing on your health quest! 

No calorie calculator is accurate. It's a math equation that uses your age , weight, height and a few pre determined activity values to tell you what your body needs. It might spit something out that's close in some cases. But it's all trial on your part to get your calorie needs dialed in.  

Without getting to specific let the bathroom scale be your guide. If you are at the healthy weight you want to be eating around 1450 that sounds right. If you become either less or more active on a consistent daily basis you may need to make an adjustment. Good Luck !