How many calories should I be consuming?
 

Hi everyone!

Im new to the forum and I am trying to figure out how many calories a day is a good number to maintain for 2-3 pounds of weight loss a week.

Does anyone recommend a good site/calculator/formula to use to figure it out?

I was originally thinking around 1200-1500. Is this generally reasonable or totally not healthy?

Thanks in advance! =)

No one can give you an exact number of calories you should be eating each day. It is more a matter of trial and error..or in my opinion anyway. Even the calculators are nothing but a guesstimate. You can check out the one on this site here - http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm and work it for a couple weeks at their suggested caloric intake and tweak as necessary. Good luck and keep us posted.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
here is the BMR calculator...3500 calories burned is a pound for 2lbs you need tobun an extra 7000 calories a week or a deficite of 1000 calories a day

Calorie calculators like the one Onederchic mentioned seem pretty accurate to me based on my experience.

If you are young, active, and are substantially overweight, you might maintain a weight loss of 2-3 pounds a week. On the other hand if you are older, sedentary, and are only moderately overweight, it is probably not possible to keep up that amount of weight loss. Of course, in the beginning you could lose that much or more but it is probably realistic to aim for losing 1-2 pounds a week over the long haul

In MHO, 1200-1500 calories should be enough to give you a healthy amount of nutrients if you make the effort to work healthful foods into your diet. That's about how many I eat and I am doing okay. My weight loss is slow but then I am in my fifties and not inclined to exercise.

Thank you so much...the websites were great. 1200-1500 is a little low for my weight/age/activity but I feel like Ive ate a good, healthy amount with that so I might see how it goes.

Im sure as I lose weight I'll have to adjust but we'll see.

Thanks ladies!

I generally try to stay around 1200, but I break it up into 5-6 meals to curb hunger and cravings throughout the day.

I follow Biggest Loser's method. Multiply your weight by 7 (for me 244 x 7 = 1,708). With every 10 pounds I lose I will readjust it.

There really is no single answer for everyone. If you are heavier you NEED more calories because you burn more in everything you do!

What I recommend is picking a number -- maybe 1500 or 1700 calories (hard to say since I don't know your starting weight). Then track everything you eat for 2 weeks, trying to keep to that number on average. Then see what happens with weight loss. If you're losing about 1/2 - 1% of your body weight a week, that's great! Keep at it... if you don't lose, lower the calories. If you weigh near or over 300 pounds, then I would recommend 1800-2000 calories a day.

Remember, any calculator will just give you an estimate. You have to figure out what works for you!

That formula can't work for everyone though, right? I did it and it gave me 1050...no way you should ever go under 1200 calories! Maybe that would be my number after burning calories for the day?

You are correct with your calculations (with their method). In their book it states anyone under 150 lbs should eat 1050 calories. If you weigh more than 300 you should start out eating 2,100 calories.

I really do not agree with that, I think that is too little....especially if you work out a lot, you need to fuel your body. I wouldn't go under 1200 a day.

Let me start by stating that this is just my opinion...

I do not believe TBL weight loss is realistic for average, everyday lifestyles nor do I believe it to be the healthiest method though the show makes for some good late night tv watching :D