Am I eating enough calories

katie21

I was wondering if anyone had any advise on my diet in relation to my goals:

Stats
Femail
65 KG
5 foot 5
BF 29%

My main aim is to lose about 3 kils but mainly to reduce body fat %.

My usual daily diet Monday to Friday would be

Breakfast - 2 eggs scrambled (no milk or butter)

Snack - Manderin or apple

Lunch - Tuna salad
110g Tuna
Beetroot/red onion/lettuce/cherry tomatoes
sprinkling of sunflower/pumpkin seeds

Afternoon snack - Either Frommaige Frais with an apple or 50g cashew nuts

Dinner - Depends on what my mam cooks, but meat and veg. Might be chicken/pork chop/beef and all veg.

I try to have fish oil supplements with my 3 main meals.
And usually 1 Green tea a day.

I dont touch Potatoes/pasta/bread Monday to Friday and only if eating out at the weekend will I eat badly.

Allow myself ease off on Sundays.

Off alcohol and hope to be off it until Paddys day!!

I am quite active:

Football training twice a week
Stength training 4/5 times a week


If people have advise or think I am doing anything right or wrong I would like to hear.
thanks

I forgot to mention I am using my fitness pal and my calorie intake is generally around 1400/1500 calories

tosser5

Given the strength training that you are doing i would say it would be a good idea to incorportate some complex carbs into your diet, like wholemeal bread or pasta

Stench Blossoms

tosser5 wrote: »

Given the strength training that you are doing i would say it would be a good idea to incorportate some complex carbs into your diet, like wholemeal bread or pasta

No no no. If she's not eating them at the moment then adding them in would be silly IMO.

OP you need to work out how many calories you need to eat and go from there.

The stickies here are a good place to start.

A good macro split for you to stick to is 40/30/30 protein/fat/carbs.

Looks like a great diet in terms of what you are eating.

Any idea of the portion sizing etc?

myfitnesspal, log a couple of days worth of food (weigh stuff - you'll be surprised at how bad you are at estimating portion sizes!) - This is something that people miss, you need to weigh for a while, to learn the portion sizing all over again!

If you're not eating enough calories, then just eat more of the good stuff (meats and veg, you look like you've got it though!). Any interest in fish? I used to be a hater but I just think it's far too good to pass up on anymore.

1400 kcals with that level of activity is probably just on the shy side. Enter your details here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

and multiply by ~ 1.3 to get what you should aim for if you want to 'maintain' your mass. Take 300 - 500 kcals away from that and aim for that if you're looking to change.

Stench Blossoms

I personally think the mfp calorie goals are sh!Te.

I'd go with bw in lbs x 12 for weight loss.

katie21

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes I have been using my fitness pal for a few weeks now. I think their goals are ridiculous. 1200 calories is too little and that's what they recommended for me.

Most days I seem to clock up around 1500 calories.

When I calculate my requirements from the stickies I get about 2200 which I don't think I could eat on a normal day! With what I eat at the moment I always feel full!

I'm just afraid that perhaps there are negative side effects from not getting the calories I have calculated from the stickies. I guess I will give it another month or 2 at what I am doing and see what results I get and then decide from there.

Stench Blossoms

I get 1716 from the forumla bw in lbs x 12.

katie21

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

I get 1716 from the forumla bw in lbs x 12.

Thanks I was using a different formula.
So, to lose weight, am I right in saying I should reduce by 15% because I would need 1716 to maintain my weight?

Stench Blossoms

No. Those are the calories to lose weight.

Maintain is bw in lbs x 14.

katie21

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

No. Those are the calories to lose weight.

Maintain is bw in lbs x 14.

Ok. Thanks for your help!

Mellor

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

I personally think the mfp calorie goals are sh!Te.

I'd go with bw in lbs x 12 for weight loss.

MFP BMR calories are pretty accurate
if you are sensible. The problem is people put in massive deficits and the complain that the calories are do low.

Stench Blossoms

Mellor wrote: »

MFP BMR calories are pretty accurate
if you are sensible. The problem is people put in massive deficits and the complain that the calories are do low.

I did it with bmr *1.3 and took away 300 and it gave me 1200ish. Too low for me, even if I am a midget.

Mellor

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

I did it with bmr *1.3 and took away 300 and it gave me 1200ish. Too low for me, even if I am a midget.

A problem most people have is that they don't realise that selecting a weight loss goal automatically does the deficit. So they put in 2lb/week not realising this takes 1000 cals away from maintainance.

I don't know if we have different MFP apps, but on mine there's no option for multipliers like 1.3.

I put in 65kg female, light active, and maintainance calories are 1800. Sounds alright right to me.

IIRC the BWx12 estimate for fat loss cames from Lyle. I think it was in relation to men, women were suggested to use a slightly lower value.

Either way they are both just estimates, and pretty rough too as its so subjective as to what counts as sedentary, active etc

Stench Blossoms

Sorry I was using Emmets suggestion to multiple it by 1.3

I use bw x 12 and it works for me.