Sorry for all the questions, but like I said, I'm a noob. :P

I've been trying to watch my sodium for the past few days, so I've been avoiding half of the stuff I'd normally eat. I'm trying to stay around 1600-2000 calories, but lately I've been around 1000. I know that can't be enough. I told my mom (she's a nurse) and she told me that was way too few and that I could gain weight just from eating too little.
I've searched online and couldn't really find anything that could tell me what the minimum should be for my height and weight, so I thought I'd ask here. How many calories is too few calories?

I went to Freedieting.com and chose daily calorie needs, and entered your stats. I also went to Mayo Clinic and used their calculator. These are all over the web--you could also go to Fitday.com.

You should be able to lose weight--at least a pound a week--eating 1800 calories a day. That's if you are mostly sedentary. If you get regular exercise, you may lose more.

So, yeah, 1000 is toooooo low! And so is 1200.

Jay

I can't say for sure what the right calorie level is for you, but I will say that it's definitely not 1000. You'll starve yourself with that... When I began losing weight at 286 pounds I ate 2000 calories per day. I'm almost half of that weight now, and I still eat about 1600 calories per day. It will be much better for you in the long run to keep your metabolism humming by giving your body sufficient calories and nutrients.

I have that problem too...I am vegetarian and tend to stay away from most wheat produts because they give me migranes, so I am ALWAYS at 1000 calories or less. Any suggestions?

i'm also a vegetarian and i am avoiding carbs for the most part. i've been eating around 1400-1600 calories a day along with exercise and it's working great for me. i eat a lot of fruit and veggies, almonds, cereal with soy milk, tofu, wraps, rice, and soup. one thing that you could try is adding more vegetables to your diet and drinking more water - that will definitely help you to lose weight because it will cleanse your body and help your metabolism to break down food faster.

I was surprised to find out a few weeks ago that I have the same problem, too. It's a lot of work for me to get to 1200 calories some days, and like you -- when I first started counting I found out I was barely getting 1000.

I'm working on increasing my calorie intake to consistently about 1400 a day.

I've been struggling with the same thing. I add on healthy calories by including higher calorie fruits on everything--avocados, bananas, grapefruit, currants or dried apricots.

I do that too because I worry asbout eating too much and end up way too low on my calorie count. I track daily at thedailyplate and it is awesome. You can put in your stats and how active you are, as said above, and it will tell you what to eat to lose your goal per week. I think it might be a tiny bit high because it sounds a little high but I usually do my daily plate after dinner and if my calories are a bit low, I reward myself with a 100 Calorie fudge bar (Healthy Choice Premium Fudge Bars DELICIOUS!) and seeing what is bulking up my count and what is really low, helps me balance.

Good luck!

This first http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...mr-formula.php and then this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...dict-equation/

Boy I envy those who have trouble get in X amount of calories. That has never, ever been the case with me. I can't even fathom it.

I'd definitely say you should aim for at least 1600 calories, 1800 would not be unheard of as either.

I wouldn't be *majorly* concerned with sodium. Eating as many whole foods as possible, staying within your calorie budget, will most likely automatically take care of the sodium all by its lonesome. Think things that you make yourself. Vegetables. Salads. Fish. Chicken. Soups. Stews. Chili. Fruits. YOU control the sodium in them.

When cooking use lots of different spices to flavor things up. Cumin, chilli powder, garlic, onion, parsley, basil, pepper, etc... Use different vinegars and lemon.

Of course there are no calculators or no person who can tell the exact "right" amount for you. You will have to experiment and find out what works for you - and what doesn't. It all seems a bit daunting in the beginning, but with some trial and error and a tweak here and there, you'll figure it all out.

Maybe I'm dumb, but I did that twice and it told me I should be eating 2,727 calories. Something seems wrong with that.

The websites that cassieroll posted are to calculate the number of calories your body is estimated to burn in a day just to maintain it's weight. In my PE class at school we did the same thing and mine came out around 2500 calories. Now, that could vary by a few hundred, depending on how close the estimate of your activity level is to reality, etc. So in order for me to lose one pound per week, I'd need to eat 3500 calories less per week... so -500 per day. So in theory, if I ate 2000 calories per day I could lose 1 lb per week. Two lbs would be -1000 per day, so 1500 calories. Again, these are just to give you ball park figures. My actual maintenance level might be closer to 2000 calories... but at least it gives you a decent idea of a starting point.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Yeah it does sound a little low to me. When I started out I was on 1500 and I lost a like 7 lbs. Then it started slowing down until I spent 2 weeks religiously working out everyday and eating no more than 1500 calories (and I count everything that I eat very carefully) but without losing any weight. This week I bumped it up to 1800 calories and in the 3 days I've been doing that I've lost 3 lbs. So I'ld say listen to your body within reason. If you're losing weight and have lots of energy I might go as low as 1200 but if you stop don't be afraid to bump it up. For me my base calories are like 2400 so I know as long as I eat less than that I won't be gaining weight I just won't be losting it as quickly.

I've been losing eating 1600-1700 calories daily and working out for atleast 30 min 3 days a week.

and I've done this every since I've weighed 233 and it's still working! Just try what works best for you..

If you find you aren't losing and especially if you are working out try bumping it up say 100 cals daily. Or try calorie cycling to jump start metabolism and for wiggle room somedays.

I love to calorie cycle!