[shoupfamily]

Hi, I've been lurking but have a burning question so I decided to register...

I've just recently begun my weight loss efforts. I'm wondering how many calories I should be eating. I've heard that if you eat too little your body will think it's starving and cling to everything. How do I know where that point is??

Thanks everyone!

[baffled111]

Welcome!

Ok, here's the way it works. 1lb of fat equals 3500 calories. To lose a pound a week, you need to reduce your calorie intake for the week by 3500 cals, or, 500 per day. If you add in exercise (which you should!) that will increase the speed with which you lose. So your first job is to figure out what your 'maintenance' calories are--how many calories you should eat, per day, to maintain your current weight. You can do this by journaling your regular eating for a week or so, or you can put your info into one of the million calorie calculators on the web. These are just estimates, but they make for a good start. Then you subtract the 500 for weight loss and that's what you should start with. In your case, depending on your age, it will probably be around 1600 a day. Depending on how quickly or slowly you lose from there, you can tinker with your calorie-intake, exercise and nutrition. (Hint, protein and fiber are the best friends of the calorie counter )

Good luck!

[aphil]

I recommend that anyone above 200 pounds try 1800 calories a day first-because the more you weigh, the more calories your body uses a day-as you get lighter, then you will eventually have to drop down a bit at a time.

The only way to know how much to eat per day is trial and error. Weigh in, and then do 1800 for a week-then weigh in again. If you lose 1 or 2 pounds, then you are on the right track! If you don't lose anything at all, then try 1700 for a week, and so on and so forth.

Because of our starting weights, ages, personal metabolisms, how active our jobs are, how much we exercise, etc.-everyone's calorie requirements will be different.

[baffled111]

1800 is a nice place to start. You can get quite a lot of food in for 1800 calories so you'll be less likely to give up and probably just as likely to lose weight.

Just make sure to take up some kind of exercise. It helps to create a nice big calorie deficit