# How many calories a day are you on?



## threebirds

Im on my first ever 'diet', and trying to go from 14st (size 18) to 12st. I really need to get my bmi under 30.

We've been ttc for 2yrs, we both have some fertility problems but we have managed to get preg once but sadly that ended at 13wks.

If I to get ivf/icsi on nhs then bmi needs to be under 30. So that's good motivation.

Im using My Fitness Pal, watching what I eat, trying to get a good balance (im a vegetarian) and exercising (mostly walking, some wii fit & exercise dvds).

I am wondering what daily calorie intake others are aiming for, and what kind of level is realistic & sustainable. Most of my fat is round my belly.

Im aiming for 1200 calories a day but do go over this 2-3 days of the week. But overall managing quite well. I had no weightloss for the first 2-3 wks but now it is coming off. Prob losing about a lb a wk. 

Would love to hear from others about what you're doing and what you think of my approach!

Thanks xx


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## threebirds

Im guess on av it would be 300 cals breakfast, 400 cals lunch, 500 cals dinner with any snack or excess counterbalanced with exercise. But I'm not that consistent! Although I am beginning to see how people can get obsessed with it all. For me this is good tho as it beats spending all my time obsessing about ttc which is beyond my control & focussing on something that is within my control - my weight. Sorry I think I am now sounding like a control freak but ttc does take its toll. Anyway would love to hear from other ladies x


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## magnolius

Before I got pregnant and was dieting I was aiming for 2100 a day. I weighed 183 lbs and am 5'11".

Now that I am pregnant I am staying at around 2600 a day but sometimes I go over.


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## WantingABubba

I aim for 1500 cals a day x


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## pandacub

I also aim for about 1500.


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## WantingABubba

pandacub said:


> I also aim for about 1500.

Heya, wanna be WLB?

Your son is super cute, btw :D


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## WantingABubba

I've upped my cals to 1650 now, as my BMR is around that.


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## Lubbird

1200 is quite low if you are exercising too as you are likely to get a burn that takes you under 1000. Myfitnesspal is ace though :thumbup:

I you don't exercise then i'd say 1200 is good. It depends what you ate before cause if you drop your calories by too much too quickly you may go into starvation mode x


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## pandacub

Sorry, ive only just seen this! Yes, i Need one, ive fallen off the wagon and into a pile of chocolate 
Aw thanks :)


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## threebirds

Lubbird said:


> 1200 is quite low if you are exercising too as you are likely to get a burn that takes you under 1000. Myfitnesspal is ace though :thumbup:
> 
> Thanks  i know 1200 sounds low, it is my target including extercise - so if i eat 1500 cals i try to burn off 300 if that makes sense. I do go over a couple of days each wk. But i agree MFP is great. I've lost a stone in about 10wks, so just got to keep with it!
> Good luck ladies x


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## Raven24

I have my mfp goal set to 1200 a day but allways eat more than taht because i exercise and eat back my exercise calories. If i didnt do that id never manage im starving all the time.

Exercise wise ie been doing 30 day shred every day and running every other day.

Good luck


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## WantingABubba

Okay, I'm at 1750 now :)


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## WantingABubba

pandacub said:


> Sorry, ive only just seen this! Yes, i Need one, ive fallen off the wagon and into a pile of chocolate
> Aw thanks :)

:haha:


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## threebirds

Well done Raven - 41 lb so far is brill 
How long did that take?

I've lost about 18lb in 10 wks.

Good luck ladies x


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## Raven24

threebirds said:


> Well done Raven - 41 lb so far is brill
> How long did that take?
> 
> I've lost about 18lb in 10 wks.
> 
> Good luck ladies x

thank you
i lost the first 30lbs in about 3 months from end of june last year but i fell off the wagon for a few monts over winter and started up again at the end of january but only got serious in the last few weeks, im hoping to lose 3lbs a week.

18lb in 10 weeks is brilliant :happydance:


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## wanting2010

My target without exercise is 1400, but on the days I exercise if I'm still hungry I'll eat anywhere from 1400-1800. I try to exercise at least 5-6 days a week. So far I've lost 26 lbs!


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## threebirds

Wow wanting, 26lb is great. 
Good luck ladies x


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## ILoveYouZandT

I'm really REALLY new to this whole calorie thing. Myfitnesspal tells me I can have 1400, so I will go with that. And apparently with exercise I burn around 400, but I seem to eat that back...  

I just started watching what I eat Tuesday last week, hence "really REALLY new" lol. I played with my eating quite a bit, one day last week I consumed under 1000 calories, and the day after that I consumed only around 600-700 calories... I figured out this probably wasn't a good idea? I was so hungry the whole day. So now I've upped it. =D 

Hoping to shed some weight, we'll see how it goes.


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## WantingABubba

I keep changing it, :haha:

I'm at 1740 cals a day now, and staying there for the time being :)


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## WantingABubba

ILoveYouZandT said:


> I'm really REALLY new to this whole calorie thing. Myfitnesspal tells me I can have 1400, so I will go with that. And apparently with exercise I burn around 400, but I seem to eat that back...
> 
> I just started watching what I eat Tuesday last week, hence "really REALLY new" lol. I played with my eating quite a bit, one day last week I consumed under 1000 calories, and the day after that I consumed only around 600-700 calories... I figured out this probably wasn't a good idea? I was so hungry the whole day. So now I've upped it. =D
> 
> Hoping to shed some weight, we'll see how it goes.

Always make sure you eat back most/all of your exercise calories, and don't eat below 1200 cals. Not good for you!

Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE?

Also, are you joined to MFP? They'll usually do all the numbers for you.

Try eating 1700 cals and see how you feel.

ETA - Oh, and get yourself a heart rate monitor. Both MFP and exercise machines overestimate calorie burn, but HRM are much more accurate. I picked up a good one for £12.99! Lemme know if you want the link.


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## WantingABubba

threebirds said:


> Wow wanting, 26lb is great.
> Good luck ladies x

Is this to me, hun?


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## threebirds

WantingABubba said:


> threebirds said:
> 
> 
> Wow wanting, 26lb is great.
> Good luck ladies x
> 
> Is this to me, hun?Click to expand...

Oops shoulda said it was to Wanting2010. Wantingabubba great start to your weightloss. Sorry for confusion gals x


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## ILoveYouZandT

WantingABubba said:


> ILoveYouZandT said:
> 
> 
> I'm really REALLY new to this whole calorie thing. Myfitnesspal tells me I can have 1400, so I will go with that. And apparently with exercise I burn around 400, but I seem to eat that back...
> 
> I just started watching what I eat Tuesday last week, hence "really REALLY new" lol. I played with my eating quite a bit, one day last week I consumed under 1000 calories, and the day after that I consumed only around 600-700 calories... I figured out this probably wasn't a good idea? I was so hungry the whole day. So now I've upped it. =D
> 
> Hoping to shed some weight, we'll see how it goes.
> 
> Always make sure you eat back most/all of your exercise calories, and don't eat below 1200 cals. Not good for you!
> 
> Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE?
> 
> Also, are you joined to MFP? They'll usually do all the numbers for you.
> 
> Try eating 1700 cals and see how you feel.
> 
> ETA - Oh, and get yourself a heart rate monitor. Both MFP and exercise machines overestimate calorie burn, but HRM are much more accurate. I picked up a good one for £12.99! Lemme know if you want the link.Click to expand...

Thank you! I definitely didn't feel good doing that, I felt so woozy and just so hungry all day. I'm doing about 1900 calories right now, I feel like this is too much?! I am signed up for MFP, how off do you think they are on calories burnt during exercise? I've been relying on this thing! Ugghh. I've lost a pound so far, and I will weigh in again on Monday, so we'll see how it's working out. Today I consumed just under 1400, and had 533 left over because I did more exercise than expected. I hope it's not really really off.

Thanks for the suggestion about the HRM. I'll look into on ASAP! I'm actually in Canada, so I'll just pop in somewhere local. 

What's TDEE? BMR is about 1779, so should I aim to for about that?


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## kate1984

Ive only had 600 cals today, hoping for a loss this week


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## happyjen

I'm on 1300 a day. A low gi diet does help but it's not easy. I do go over but that's usually at weekends as I use these as my treat period where I'm more relaxed about what I eat.

Regular exercise is a must though, just controlling my diet was not enough to shed my baby fat so I'm on the exercise bike about 3 times a week when the my little one is sleeping and use resistance bands to tone up.


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## WantingABubba

kate1984 said:


> Ive only had 600 cals today, hoping for a loss this week

600 cals is not healthy :nope:


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## WantingABubba

ILoveYouZandT said:


> WantingABubba said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ILoveYouZandT said:
> 
> 
> I'm really REALLY new to this whole calorie thing. Myfitnesspal tells me I can have 1400, so I will go with that. And apparently with exercise I burn around 400, but I seem to eat that back...
> 
> I just started watching what I eat Tuesday last week, hence "really REALLY new" lol. I played with my eating quite a bit, one day last week I consumed under 1000 calories, and the day after that I consumed only around 600-700 calories... I figured out this probably wasn't a good idea? I was so hungry the whole day. So now I've upped it. =D
> 
> Hoping to shed some weight, we'll see how it goes.
> 
> Always make sure you eat back most/all of your exercise calories, and don't eat below 1200 cals. Not good for you!
> 
> Have you calculated your BMR and TDEE?
> 
> Also, are you joined to MFP? They'll usually do all the numbers for you.
> 
> Try eating 1700 cals and see how you feel.
> 
> ETA - Oh, and get yourself a heart rate monitor. Both MFP and exercise machines overestimate calorie burn, but HRM are much more accurate. I picked up a good one for £12.99! Lemme know if you want the link.Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you! I definitely didn't feel good doing that, I felt so woozy and just so hungry all day. I'm doing about 1900 calories right now, I feel like this is too much?! I am signed up for MFP, how off do you think they are on calories burnt during exercise? I've been relying on this thing! Ugghh. I've lost a pound so far, and I will weigh in again on Monday, so we'll see how it's working out. Today I consumed just under 1400, and had 533 left over because I did more exercise than expected. I hope it's not really really off.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion about the HRM. I'll look into on ASAP! I'm actually in Canada, so I'll just pop in somewhere local.
> 
> What's TDEE? BMR is about 1779, so should I aim to for about that?Click to expand...

Of course you would, hun. The other day, I only had 1,000 or so calories because I was so heartbroken over OH that I would feel sick when I ate, but I was also so hungry!

And don't worry, I also felt worried about the cals when I first started, but it was fine and I am losing. You'll relax soon, don't worry. However, they are very off on the exercise, hence why I would suggest a HRM.

Your TDEE should be on MFP, if you click on goals. You can also find online calculators 

Sorry for my late reply, and HTH!


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## WantingABubba

threebirds said:


> WantingABubba said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> threebirds said:
> 
> 
> Wow wanting, 26lb is great.
> Good luck ladies x
> 
> Is this to me, hun?Click to expand...
> 
> Oops shoulda said it was to Wanting2010. Wantingabubba great start to your weightloss. Sorry for confusion gals xClick to expand...

:haha: that's okay x


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## veganmama

i feel best eating around 1200

but ive been bored lately so i think ive been eating around 2000 lol


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