[fireflynova]

Hello Everyone Another newbie here.

I'm sure this question gets asked alot, and I've done alot of reading through all the older threads but still need some clarification.

I joined sparkspeople.com as a way to track my food/exercise. I'm 250 lbs, and stand 5'2. It gave me an amount of 1200-1550 cals per day, and burn at least 570 cals per week thru exercise, to lose 2 pounds per week.

I then read (I know you can't believe everything you read).. http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/...oseweight.html which seemed to have a lot of great info! It used a formula to calculate your daily caloric intake needs to sustain your current weight, assuming you are TOTALLY inactive.. (which pretty much right now, I don't exercise at all)..

This is the formula, using my stats:

AsssssssssBasal Metabolic Rate
sssssssssssBody weight multiplied by 12 (for men) or 11 (for women)
ssssssssss 250 lbs. x 11 = 2750
BsssssssssActivity
sssssssssssOne third body weight multiplied by the number of hours you don't sleep, typically 16 hours
ssssssssss250 lbs. x 1/3 = 83.3 x 16 = 1333.3
DsssssssssRequired Calories
sssssssssssA + B
ssssssssss2750+ 1333.3= 4083.3

It pretty much says I need to eat 4083.3 calories per day with no physical activity to maintain my current weight. So if I eat 500 calories less (about 3583)per day, and burn an additional 500 calories per day in exercise I can lost 2 pounds per week?

1550 and 3583 are very different numbers.. Did I read something wrong? I apologize if this is very confusing, but I'm very confused. I can count the calories on my own and exercise, but I want a good starting point - I was planning on doing the zigzag idea, but I don't want to set myself back by starting at the wrong point. I'd appreciate any help, or a point in the write direction of threads on here that could help.. THANKYOU SO MUCH!

[AnAbsoluteDiva]

So you wanna has made a mathematical error. I wrote them about this and they're working on it.

They were going to try to pull the info off while they got it fixed.

[ennay]

This is a good source:
http://nutrition.about.com/library/b...tion_guide.htm

Its going to give you a higher number than sparkspeople, probably ~1900 to lose 1 lb/week w/o exercise, 2 lbs with 500 cal/day of exercise

Start out at the higher end of the caloric ranges and see where that gets you after a few weeks, you can always go lower if you need too.

[Heather]

I can't speak of the math errors or anything else. To lose 1 pound a week you need to have eat 3500 calories a day less than you burn -- or 500 calories a day.

I track all my food too, and it's great, but it's also easy to get caught up in all the numbers.

What you need to remember is that all of these calculators are estimates anyway. The best way to figure out how many calories you need to lose is to track your eating and how much you lose!

My suggestion? Try a figure on on the higher side for now. When I started weighing 295 I ate 2000 calories/day and didn't do much exercise. I lost very regularly, dropping calories slightly as I went.

At 250 pounds, you do need a number of calories to just fuel your body. Maybe it makes sense to pick a number like 1800-1900 calories. Track your eating for a few weeks and see how you do. If you are losing at a rate you want, keep it at that rate and drop a bit when it slows. If you aren't losing, drop the calories a bit and see what happens.

Do track for a while though, because weight loss is not linear -- sometimes we retain water and stay the same or gain, other times it seems the weight falls off fast. There are complex factors here...

[nomorefatpants]

The 500/500 comes from the idea that if you drop your current caloric intake by 500 and burn 500 through exercise you will lose 1-2 pounds per week. If your caloric intake is really high, then you may want to start off this way and reduce your caloric intake as you lose. The key ofcourse is to know what you're eating which is hard to guess so I agree that you should track everything you eat so you have an idea of where you are starting.