Hello beautiful dolls!
My name is brittany i am 21 and I am trying to figure out around how many calories would be a good idea to help me lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week. About me: I am 5"5' 188 ( 13 stone 6 pounds). I exercise at least 2 times a week and I a student. I know calorie intake can be pretty debatable, but i'd like to hear from all of you beautiful ladies and find out what would be a good start point. I was wondering if 1500 a day would be a good start. I believe my BCR is 1653. So my body burns about that amount of calories simply by living i suppose. Well thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading all your responses!

Even before I got to the fifth sentence in your post I was thinking 1,500 would be a good place to start. That figure has worked for me every time, since the teen years to now in midlife. (I think I've finally tamed the yo-yo monster, so I'm hoping I won't be regaining and relosing anymore, beyond normal small fluctuations.)

F.

I also agree that 1500 is a good place to start.

Go for it!!

Thank you guys!! That's what I was thinking 1500 would be about right.

do you use Fitday.com? If you don't, it's a great place to get the info you need. create a free account, and then you just put in your weight, height, etc...what you weigh, what your goal is in how much time, and it will calculate it for you. Plus, if you add in activities like exercise, it takes how many calories you burned doing it in to consideration with your daily totals...

I eat around 1600 calories, I fluctuate around 183 and exercise almost daily- anywhere from 15 minutes to a hour. I lost the first 10 lbs pretty quickly, but the last 2 lbs haven't been as quick to drop. The problem with counting calories can be that you may not be eating enough to lose OR that you are eating too much to lose. Paired with exercise it can be even more difficult and measuring instead of weighing is preferred. I think it is best to watch your portion controls along with calories eaten. You will train your mind and body what a REAL portion is, I use to eat two cups of noodles and be so full I felt sick. I have now trained myself to eat half that and more veggies and fruits. Some days I really want to eat that huge cinnamon bun and sometimes I will eat half or 1/4 of it, but I know that to eat the whole huge cinnamon bun is like adding 500-1000 empty calories (depending on how much yummy gooey stuff it has on or in it). I feel that after teaching yourself new eating habits portion control will be the most helpful, calories in/calories out is a great tool, but don't go crazy thinking you can't have one or two days where you DO eat something a little higher in fat/cals, but always in moderation and not every day. I am a student and I find that when I buy fruit and pack it to go I usually stay on my calorie plan nicely and can have a bigger dinner or lunch. Since I have been on break I haven't lost much and I think it is because I have too much time to snack (and have). I don't know if that helps, mostly it is finding your "sweet" spot and training your mind and body to say "no" to the extra sweet or salty snack.