I would like to lose 2lbs. a week, I was told that I should only be eating 1200 cal. a day, I tried that and was starving, so after reading a whole lot of posts here I decided to up it to 1500 cal., I feel alot better but am afraid I wont lose. I must admit that I absolutley hate working out, but know that I must. Is this the right amount of cal. for me at my current weight? Please help I am so lost.

I use livestrong.com
it's a great tracker and if you put in your current age, height, and weight it'll give you a number of calories to consume per day and the best part is you can track exactly what you eat and see how you do :]

from what I've heard, it's just trial and error for most people
you just have to see what works for you

livestrong has definitely helped me though

I checked out the livestrong site and it is also telling me 1200 cal a day, but i am worried if i stop losing what is left to drop, would i then have to eat only 1000 cal. a day? This just doesn't seem right.

Have you looked at a calorie calculator to determine your maintenance calories? Once you get an idea of where to start (and this is just a guideline, as everyone is different), you can figure out how much to cut your calories to lose. Cut 500 calories a day to lose one lb a week. Cut 1000 per day to lose 2 lbs a week.

I just plugged in some numbers to "calories per day calculator" to get an idea of your maintenance requirements, and I guessed 22 for your age and lightly active for your activety level. It shows 2013 calories/day to maintain your current weight. So, without increasing exercise, you will not be able to lose more than about one lb a week without cutting your calories to a dangerous level. You should eat at least 1200 calories a day unless under a doctor's care. I'd shoot for one lb a week, and cut your calories to about 1500 (which is where you are now) and then really work on that attitude about exercise to see if you can't make more progress.

I was guessing your age and activety level, so you may want to go do this for yourself. Here is the link.
http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

I also tried this with your age at 26 and that came out to 1988 maintenance, so you might want to stick to around 1450....but your metabolism may be faster or slower than this calculator, so you have to try it for a few weeks to see what is happening for you.

thank you very much you made my day, I am 31 but I will try to calculate myself.

I used freedieting.com

I'd try 1500 calories for a few weeks and see what your losses are. No good? Up it 100-200 calories and see what happens. It's all about trial & error. You may not be able to lose 2lbs per week without starving yourself and I don't recommend it. I can lose up to 3.5lbs a week, but I am also about 50lbs heavier then you. I noticed a lot of people struggle with this. But the less you weigh, the harder it is to lose the weight. 1lb a week should be fine for you. You may lose more/less some weeks or none at all!

Hi,

See the frequently asked questions for the Calorie Counting forum. It should answer many of your questions:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120806

Also, I've read that a healthy rate of weight loss is 1% of your weight per week. For you, that would be 1.65 pounds per week.

Hope this helps!

Hi Tanya we are the same height and I was at 163 but now at 156 and my goal weight is 120. I am 37 so I'm a bit older and our metabolisms probably are different but I've been eating 1500 calories and I'm losing on an average of 2 lbs a week. I also walk 3 miles 5 days a week. Like everyone has said start off with 1500 and adjust as you go along everyones body is different. But like someone posted the closer you get to your goal weight the more diffcult it's going to be to loss.

Freedieting.com's calculator says that you can lose weight at around 1400 calories per day if you are sedentary with a desk job and don't exercise.

Try it! don't be afraid! The scale may go up a little at first, but don't let it scare you!

Jay

fitday told me 1249 per day and i was starving too. i'm probably more between 1400 and 1600 on an average day now. though i guess the weight loss has slowed.