I'm brand new to counting calories and don't know how to figure out how many calories I should aim for everyday? Up till now I've eaten whatever I wanted, hence my weight gain bleh! I've read that 1,200 calories is the lowest you should go but is that what I should be aiming for? That's not a lot of calories lol. What's a good starting point? Is there an equation to figuring out your ideal calorie consumption? Here's my info, in case it helps

age-33
female
height-5'6
current weight-164lbs (goal weight 140)
activity level-low, but I will be adding some sort of exercise daily, probably 30 minutes of biking or walking
bmi: 26.5

There are tons of calorie calculators online. I like the one by freedieting: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

According to this calculator, you need to consume 1,761 calories per day to maintain your current weight if you're sedentary. To lose a pound a week, you need to consume 500 calories less than that, or 1,261. If you exercise three times per week, your maintenance calories go up to 2,017, so you would need to consume 1,517 to lose a pound per week. It goes without saying that all these figures are approximations as each person's body works slightly differently.

F.

Thank you, this is a big help!

I was going to suggest 1500 caloies a day.

Yes, anything on Google for "calorie goal calculator" will probably give you a reasonable estimate. Pick a number and stick to it for about a week, and see if you are making progress. If you're maintaining or gaining weight, drop your goal number a bit and carry on. The lower your daily goal, the faster (theoretically) you will lose weight. But most people on here would advocate sticking to 1200 calories as a bare minimum; less than that and it becomes unhealthy. Obviously this isn't true for 100% of everyone, but it is a good guideline.

Then you can use a website like http://www.loseit.com or http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate to log your calories used, or just a notebook or spreadsheet works equally well - whatever you like best.

Hi veggiegirl! You and I are about the same weight now with a similar goal weight...I think it's probably wise not to go below 1200, but everyone is so different and you need to just experiment with what works for you. Years ago, even with running almost every day, I didn't lose weight if I went over 1100 or so, and honestly that's pretty hard for me. I am experimenting now at around 1300-1400. I walk/run several times a week but at age 49 (and with my genetics, sigh) it is harder still.

I am going to check out the links everyone mentioned here, so thank you from me too!

For this week I'm going to aim for 1,400 calories and then next week reevaluate and see if I need to tweak it I also have my yearly physical today and I'm going to talk to my doctor and see what she recommends.

For me, counting calories is to make sure that I'm eating ENOUGH. It's so easy to under eat when you're dieting, making your metabolism slow down, and your body hold onto fat.

I use the 'Lose It!' app on my phone, because once you get the hang of it, it only takes you about 5 minutes every morning to plan out what you're going to eat.

I eat every 3 hours in order to maintain balanced blood sugar levels, keep my energy levels up, and make it so that I don't binge at the end of the day once my body gets fed up and decides to let me know that I haven't eaten enough for the day

'Lose it!' is also online, but be careful not to set your goals too extreme. I'm not sure how others do with dieting, but I set my goals to lose 2 pounds a week months ago, and I didn't lose A SINGLE POUND (1100 calories per day) -- FOR MONTHS. Well, this is probably because I've had a history of depression, I quit Adderall (ADD meds), and I also quit smoking... BUT ...

What everyone else said was correct. Find out what works best for you, but remember that if you have greedy fat cells, setting your caloric intake TOO LOW will put you on an epic yo-yo, cyclic diet (especially if you have, or used to have an eating disorder).

Give yourself a month or so to figure out how your body responds to different caloric loads, and different foods.

What may be even more important for you is making sure that you have deciphered your 'metabolic type.' It was for me. And of course, if you lift weights, your body will burn more calories .

Great point about making sure you eat enough! My mom is a binge dieter and practically starves herself sometimes. She never loses a lot of weight though!

I don't have a cell phone but I'll check Lose It online