Sorry, I'm a little new at this. I used to just do 1200, lose the weight really fast, and then gain it all back.

I'm female, 25, 5'8", 165 lbs, and live a sedentary lifestyle, but I do work out 5x a week for 30 minutes (on a Gazelle, which I figured burns as much as walking) I'd like to lose 20 lbs. in the next 3 months. I've been trying to cut daily caloric intake to 1500, is this about right?

If you go on discovery health, you can find a Basal Metabolic Rate calculator. ( I can't post a link)

This will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories your body just needs to survive, without activity. I put your age in as 40, and it came out at about 1500 calories per day. If you eat 1500, you should maintain your weight if you're sedentary. If you exercise, you should lose slowly.

You can start by reading the Sticky thread at the top of this forum called Frequently Asked Questions.

Also, a tracker like FitDay has a goal module that will estimate your basic daily calorie burn and how much to eat to lose at a certain rate.

Good luck!

Jay

There are several calculators on-line. My favorite one is at freedieting.com. Check out the calculators section.

One day I want to make a list of the various calories each of the sites tells me I should eat. It is amazing how different they can be. You have to pay attention to the fine print to see the assumptions in each of the calculators.

You should try many different sites and use them as a guide to get started. But in the end, it will be through trial and error that you will come up with what works best for you.

On average, 1500 calories is a good starting point. I have stayed between 1400-1500 calories for the past year and it has worked well for me.

Lori

If you read the Frequently Asked Questions sticky, there are directions there on how to figure out the calorie range that is right for YOU, rather than the online calculators, which are mainly estimates.