# Calorie deficit and age



## Jenny65 (Nov 29, 2022)

I calculated how many calories I can eat to lose my last bit of weight, I had to enter my age, current weight and activity level, it said to lose 1-2 pounds a week I cant eat more than 900 cals a day! And when I get to the goal weight to maintain it I can only eat 1100 a day! Its an age thing I think plus desk job, so need to be more active.

To help my diabetes I need to lose another 4 inches from my waist.  Apparently each inch is apparently half a stone so I have 2 more stone to lose to get to 8 stone.

I think this must be an age thing as in my thirties I could eat 1400 cals a day and lose 2 pounds a week, sometimes more.  I need to get more active as have a sedentary desk job,  I have been walking but in the cold weather not so much.


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## Eddy Edson (Nov 29, 2022)

I really doubt the 1100 kcal/day for maintenance! What tool are you using?

This one has the best credentials: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp

Using that, I'd estimate your maintenance level at around 1700 kcal/day if you're very sedentary.

(Actvity level 1.4; age 57; weight 140lb; height around 5 ft 4 inches, I guess, for a BMI around 23.)


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## AndBreathe (Nov 29, 2022)

Jenny65 said:


> I calculated how many calories I can eat to lose my last bit of weight, I had to enter my age, current weight and activity level, it said to lose 1-2 pounds a week I cant eat more than 900 cals a day! And when I get to the goal weight to maintain it I can only eat 1100 a day! Its an age thing I think plus desk job, so need to be more active.
> 
> To help my diabetes I need to lose another 4 inches from my waist.  Apparently each inch is apparently half a stone so I have 2 more stone to lose to get to 8 stone.
> 
> I think this must be an age thing as in my thirties I could eat 1400 cals a day and lose 2 pounds a week, sometimes more.  I need to get more active as have a sedentary desk job,  I have been walking but in the cold weather not so much.



I don't want to comment on your potential caloric requirements for losing or maintaining weight, but what I would say is that, for me, shape shifting and weight shifting were not fully aligned.

I've always been a bit straight up and down, with upstairs girlie bits.  I got to a very slight form, but still had that column shape.  

It was several months later, having maintained my weight that one day I noticed I had waist.

I would urge you not to get too hung up on perfection, or the ideal shape.  Ideals can just be not ideal at all.
When I started my diabetes journey, my focus was on managing sugar levels.  I had never carried a huge amount of weight, but I decided I'd rather be a happy, healthy person, with love handles, living a good life with T2 diabetes than a super-skinny person who became a slave to a maintenance regime, designed for the population, rather than me.

Only you can decide how to move forward, but this is a long haul.


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## Jenny65 (Nov 29, 2022)

Eddy Edson said:


> I really doubt the 1100 kcal/day for maintenance! What tool are you using?
> 
> This one has the best credentials: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
> 
> ...


I want to be 8 stone though so maintenance is lower


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## AndBreathe (Nov 29, 2022)

Jenny65 said:


> I want to be 8 stone though so maintenance is lower



Jenny, I'm 160cm tall, and my weight has sat literally just under 50kg for the last 9 years.  I don't count calories, but when I have, I find I am consuming 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain.

I'm not a gym bunny or endurance athlete.  Your numbers for maintenance seem extremely low.  My BMR is more than that.


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## travellor (Nov 29, 2022)

AndBreathe said:


> Jenny, I'm 160cm tall, and my weight has sat literally just under 50kg for the last 9 years.  I don't count calories, but when I have, I find I am consuming 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain.
> 
> I'm not a gym bunny or endurance athlete.  Your numbers for maintenance seem extremely low.  My BMR is more than that.



Wow.

Way more than me.
That's more than I could probably force in.


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## helli (Nov 29, 2022)

AndBreathe said:


> Jenny, I'm 160cm tall, and my weight has sat literally just under 50kg for the last 9 years.  I don't count calories, but when I have, I find I am consuming 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain.
> 
> I'm not a gym bunny or endurance athlete.  Your numbers for maintenance seem extremely low.  My BMR is more than that.


That's pretty similar to me. Using the calculator @Eddy Edson suggested, that is how many calories I should be eating. 
And I am definitely older than @Jenny65


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## AndBreathe (Nov 29, 2022)

travellor said:


> Wow.
> 
> Way more than me.
> That's more than I could probably force in.


On low carb, I'm not eating grains, or lots of the "padding" in meals.  If I find I'm losing weight, there are lots of calories in fat.


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## Eddy Edson (Nov 29, 2022)

Jenny65 said:


> I want to be 8 stone though so maintenance is lower


Probably around 1,500 kcal/day for that weight, going by the calculator, which also says your RMR (resting metabolic rate) would be around 1,100 kcal/day.  

My guess is that whatever tool you're using tells you that your maintenance burn is just your RMR if you tell it you do no exercise. Which would be nonsense, unless you're actually in a coma or something, but I've seen on-line calculators which do that.  

For somebody not in a coma but very sedentary, multiplying your RMR by 1.4 gives a reasonable estimate for your energy burn, according to the experts.


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## travellor (Nov 29, 2022)

AndBreathe said:


> On low carb, I'm not eating grains, or lots of the "padding" in meals.  If I find I'm losing weight, there are lots of calories in fat.


Very true.
Twice as many as carbs and proteins.
Crack on for the pork scratchings, avoid the Pringles.
I'd be circular again on 2500 calories.


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## Jenny65 (Nov 29, 2022)

AndBreathe said:


> Jenny, I'm 160cm tall, and my weight has sat literally just under 50kg for the last 9 years.  I don't count calories, but when I have, I find I am consuming 2000-2500 calories a day to maintain.
> 
> I'm not a gym bunny or endurance athlete.  Your numbers for maintenance seem extremely low.  My BMR is more than that.


My BMR is just over 1300 what does that number mean please


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## AndBreathe (Nov 29, 2022)

Jenny65 said:


> My BMR is just over 1300 what does that number mean please


Base metabolic rate. That’s the rate when you are doing nothing.  Not sedentary, but just staying alive.


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## Eddy Edson (Nov 29, 2022)

Jenny65 said:


> My BMR is just over 1300 what does that number mean please


BMR = "basal metabolic rate". For practical purposes it's about the same as RMR = "resting metabolic rate". Both are the amount of energy you burn just for being alive, pretty much.

A person living in the real world burns more than their BMR / RMR, because they think, move, fidget, talk etc, at leat a bit.  1.4X BMR/RMR is a reasonable estimate, for somebody who sits most of the day & doesn't do any exercise.


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## Kreator (Nov 30, 2022)

My BMR is generally between 1400 - 1500, my active Cals are always above 400 and generally around 500

My daily Calorie intake is between 1900 - 2100 Cals a day, which seems to fit in roughly with the above

I'm maintaining on this, although I do drop weight if I either aren't as active or eat less, but it generally averages out

Not sure if age is a factor, but I think I'm just as active now as I was in the 80's and probably having around the same intake...was a little different in 90's/2000's/2010's!!!


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