Newbie here ..
 

Hey everyone just wanted to introduce myself .. my names Julia i have two children Haley is 6 and Nicholas is 2 .. I'm in desperate need to lose weight .. ive been lurking on here for a few days now and so many of you have inspired me to join in .. i have a question for the ladies doing calorie counting .. how do you know how may calories you should be eating?? do i just take myself down to 1400 a day or is there a set amount i should have according to my weight?? does this make sense .. lol sorry if not .. looking forward to getting to know you ladies and of course to get "skinny" .. i have 157 lbs to lose to be in my "normal" weight range!!

Welcome to 3FC. Congratulations on making the decision to become a healthier you :)

Welcome Julia!

For calories, go to a site like thedailyplate.com or fitday.com and calculate how many calories you should take in. Keep in mind that these are rough estimates, but they give you a starting point that you can work with.

:welcome3: to the forum!

Welcome to our little corner on 3FC :)

I think the average woman needs 2000 calories to maintain a healthy weight. (on average) But to lose weight you might want to go a bit lower. It all depends on how much you want to loose and what kind of a workout routine you are going to have. The more you work out the more calories you can allow for.

I love fitday... you can input your calories and exercise. It also allows you to add custom foods and make weight loss goals.. providing you with a goal for calorie restriction and such. It's great and it's free.

Welcome to the site! You will love it here, everyone is very nice and helpful. Good luck to you!!

Hello and welcome! I also use fitday and find it very useful. I don't know how much you weigh, but you should consider that when deciding on your calorie limit. Make sure you pick a limit that you can live with. I decided that I would limit myself to 1500 calories per day. but it was very difficult to do and I felt like a failure when I couldn't stay under that number. I raised my llimit to 1800 and lose about 1.5 to 2 lbs per week. 1800 calories works for me.

There are a couple ways to know how many calories you need to lose weight. The basic way is to figure out your BMR, or your Basal Metabolic Rate. This is how many calories your body burns just to live---you can stay in bed all day long and this is how many calories your body needs to maintain.

Do a Google seach on BMR calculator. You will plug in weight, height, age and sex, it will spit out your BMR. Now you take that figure and find out how many calories you need to either burn and/or delete to lose. One pound is 3500 calories. SO if you take off 500 calories of your daily BMR you will lose one pound a week 500 x 7 = 3500 calories.

For example I am 5'4", I weigh just under 300 pounds and I am 43. I need 2058 cals to maintain--with no exersize. (if I were a man I would need 2473!)
When I calorie count I shoot for 1800 a day, but never make it, with the cut of calories and my exersize I am losing at least 2 pounds a week.

BUT if you are wanting to do a calorie counting diet (I highly suggest) you need to have some type of program or book to do so. I would suggest sparkspeople.com. You plug in all the numbers and it will tell you how many calories you should have a day--along with fat grams, carb grams, protien etc. You can track everything you eat there, as well as very minute of activity, You can set small and large goals, look up recipes etc.

It seems confusing, go to fit day or sparks and start up, they will do the work for you

Welcome, Julie! Good to see another new face around here. The joint is jumping! And congratulations on taking that first big step to a healthier you!

There are probably more accurate ways to determine how many calories you should be eating, but to get a rough-and-ready approximation quick, you can type "calories maintain weight" into Google; sites will come up that have a calories calculator. Enter your stats, using your GOAL weight and it will tell you what calories a gal your height and your activity level but at goal weight eats.

I look forward to reading more about your weight loss adventure!

:wel3fc:

:lucky::yay:

welcome!!!

;o)

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and help .. I've tried WW in the past but counting points got old so i gave up on it .. but i wish i wouldn't have i could probably be down at least 70 lbs by now :( .. owell this is my new start ..

welcome to our club!!!

I started at 376 lbs and ate 1800 calories a day for the last four months. I JUST took it down to 1700 a few days ago and started calorie cycling as well.

It's best to go to somewhere like fit day and let them tell YOU how many calories you should be eating.

Welcome! :hug:

Don't look back.... You are here and you are going for it - that is all that counts now...

I calorie count as well and that is what has worked best for me so far...

This place is amazing - you are going to learn so much here - these are some of the smartest ladies I have ever met.... half the time, I feel like a student surrounded by very wise teachers and loving every minute of it....

Welcome!!! I am also calorie counting, and doing 1300-1700 calories a day, but try to stay around 1500. I am walking 5 days a week (15 miles a week) and I am losing about 2lbs a week (some more, some less). Again welcome!

:wel3fc:

Come join us in Calorie Counters - check out the stickies at the top for some great tips on how many calories you might want to start with.