I went to about 6 different sights today to see where my calorie level should be and according to them it's 2300, 2500, 1762, and 1712 (I can't remember the others). They all seem WAY too high to be able to lose weight. And I have my activity level at light or moderately light depending on the description on the sight. I sit at a desk 95% of the day and run my butt off the other 5%. I have to go down a big flight of stairs to do anything. Give papers to anyone, go to the bathroom, talk to the production line, anything. I also make sure I exercise 4 days a week minimum. I'm almost 27 so I put that in for my age. What the heck does a girl do? I was going to stick around 1500 thinking even that was kinda high but do I need to go even higher?

No need to freak out... It can be a little overwhelming when you have all these different numbers and don't know what's going to work for you. But of course, no website can really calculate what calorie amount is going to work for you. It looks like you've already lost, what, 14.5 pounds? You've obviously been doing something right! With all that exercise, I would probably recommend 1600-1700 for your height and weight, to start out.

If you start off higher, you can always lower it anyway! Just listen to your body. And you'll know if it's working partly by what the scale says, of course. You can tinker with your calories and see what effect it has on the scale. There's no pressure to get it right the first time, but you've gotta start somewhere!

Good luck

I've actually lost 40 but I had my gall bladder out, got lazy and gained 19 back. I'm working on getting that back off now plus some.

I'm at 1360 for the day with my dinner. Maybe I should add a cup of skim milk and another veggie to make it a little higher. We'll see how it goes.

Lynsey, I know this doesn't really have to do with your question but I'm wondering: did you feel like you gained after having your gall bladder out because you "got lazy" or because it was harder to lose weight after having it out? I had mine out a week and a half ago and last week I got so scared after reading online about so many people having trouble losing weight after gall bladder removal.

I got scared also. I read those same horror stories. I can't tell you yet. I lost 6 pounds in Jan and then gained it back and I've lost 4.5 now in a week. I think it was all water weight though. I'm doing awesome all week but I've had a few set backs on the weekends but I know it wasn't enough to gain any real pounds. I think so far it seems to be harder. I'll let you know after I've been at it w few more weeks.

Gall bladder removal usually results in weight loss. You have a harder time digesting fat and large meals. If you're gaining after surgery, you're just eating more. Removal will work for you, not against you.

I know you tried all the diff sites I have been using livestrong.com my daily plate. It has seemed to be accurate. I entered my info and i put in to lose 3lbs a week and i have lost pretty close to that. I also use it to enter my food and it tracks my calories as well. I def. think that range was high for you. Your 1360 sounds a little closer. But only your body will be able to show and tell you what will work for it. Good luck I hope you find the right limit for you!!

I go by the weight I want to be which is 123 and then calculate my caloric needs from there. For some people who have a 100 pounds to lose they might want to use a weight that is 50lbs less instead of all 100 but this seems to do the trick for getting down to the weight you want to be.

I'm your height, and I eat about 1250-1450 per day; when I'm your weight, I don't expect it to be any less, but I think I'll need to work out more. It's whatever works for you, I guess, but 1600 seems high, and I think you'll find that weight loss creeps along. If you stick to 1400ish or in the 1300s, I'm sure you'll lose 2 pounds a week. However, I know it's better for some of us to forsake speed for comfort, and that's totally understandable if you want to stick around 1500-1600 for that reason. It's really up to you.

Good luck!



PS- the best basic BMR calculators put you at about 1590-1600ish resting. I don't trust the adjusted ones, personally, that take into account what you do during the day. If I were you, I would just stick to eating at least 100 calories under my BMR, and I think you should be just fine.

Thanks girls. I also use the daily plate. They have me at 1712. I ate some toast with dinner last night and drank some milk and ended up at 1590 because I didn't want to be too far under. I guess I'll go for less today.

I only lost .5 pound this week so that's not good. I was sticking to around 1400-1500 last week except for Friday and Sat I went over.