I know all the technical stuff, I’ve used the calorie calculators and I know that I need to subtract about 500 calories per day for every pound I want to lose per week. But there’s so much conflicting information out there regarding how many calories you should actually eat to lose. I’m becoming obsessive about it and that’s often the point where my efforts have gone downhill (or rather uphill) in the past. So please, help! Right now I’m aiming for a 2 pound loss per week, so my calories have been around 1200 or a little lower (I haven’t been factoring in my activity level into my calorie intake). My concern is that I may be eating too few calories and will throw my body into “starvation” mode. So, yesterday I ate about 1500, and today I’m aiming for 1600-1800. I plan on lowering my calories back around 1200 for a few days again tomorrow.
Whew – anyhow, my second concern is that I was actually doing fine with 1200 calories, and by upping them the last couple of days I’ll have ruined my efforts (weigh-in tomorrow). Can anyone offer opinions on this, is it better to zig zag or cycle my calories, or should I keep the steady. Should I up them a little if I keep them steady? Also for anyone who’s had significant weight loss success how many calories did you average per day while losing? Include your starting weight if you wouldn’t mind please, and did you gradually lower your calories as you got closer to goal? If so, how much and how often?
Thanks

At your present weight, 1200 is way too low. 1600 is the lowest I'd go. You'll end up messing up your metabolism and not losing if you don't eat enough. Recompute you calories every 10-15 pounds lost.

I know I read somewhere where you are to multiply your current weight by 7 and that is the amount of calories you should have a day. But that never seemed to be right for me. Even at 140 lbs would be less then 1000 calories a day. That is not right!!! Maybe someone can clarify.

QuilterInVA Not sure how you got that number for HerNameWasBlue

Well, if it helps (although I'm certainly not finished)... this is very basic as I jumped calories a round a little here and there, but in general:

At 358 pounds I was eating 1600-1800 calories (losses good, but inconsistent)

At 325 pounds I increased my calories eventually to 2200/2500 (started a strength training program - losses good, way more consistent)

At 275 pounds, decreased to 2100/2400 (losses still good, consistent)

At 265 pounds, decreased to 2000/2300 (losses still good, consistent)

At 240 pounds, decreased to 1900/2200 (losses mediocre, focus lost, exercising stopped, don't think food had that much to do with it but eventually regained some weight)

At close to being back to 240, eating 2000/2300 (losses back to good, consistent)

So oddly enough, more than 100 pounds lighter I'm eating more and losing weight on a more consistent basis. I'm more active, and doing strength training, but what I have is more energy for the day to day stuff.

The number I've seen batted around is 9-10 cals/pound for weight loss and 13-15 for maintenance. For me the low numbers on both are about right. I'll see later if I can see where I last saw that.

ETA:

"9. 11-12 and 13-14 calorie rule: if you are trying to lose weight, consume no more than 11-12 calories for each pound of your desired body weight each day. Say you want to be 138 lbs, consume no more than 1656 cals (138 x 12 cals =1656 total daily cals). Maintenance should be between 13-14 cals per pound of weight per day or 1932 calories max (138 maintenance weight x 14 cals =1932 per day). Stay within these caloric guidelines and you will be successful. Bear in mind these are only estimates. Consult with your fitness professional or doctor before starting any diet or nutrition plan."

http://www.tomterwilliger.com/2008/1...-loss-success/

I'm sure there are nothers, but these are starting points.

- - - - -

To maintain your weight, you can use the following formula:
* 10 calories per pound of desirable body weight if you are sedentary or very obese
* 13 calories per pound of desirable body weight if your activity level is low, or if you are over age 55
* 15 calories per pound of desirable body weight if you regularly do moderate activity
* 18 calories per pound of desirable body weight if you regularly do strenuous activity

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/001943.htm

That's maybe a better source, giving maintenance levels. My current maintenance levels would put me at around 13 cals/pound of current weight. To work on weight loss you would pick your activity level, multiply out, then subtract 500 or 1000 cals/day. Again, this would be a starting point.

I'm about 10 pounds heavier than you, and I try to do 30 minutes of high intensity exercise everyday (burning around 300 cal). I'm losing well on 1500-1600 cal a day. I generally eat more on weekends and less during the week. Not sure if it helps the weightloss, but it fits in my lifestyle better.

Thanks for the replies, they do help somewhat. Logically I know that 1200 is too low for me, but at the same time I don’t want to be wasting my time by raising my calories ( I refuse to weigh myself more than once a week, and I’m worried I’ll throw myself off for an entire week and not realize it if I up my calories to 1600). To be a bit clearer, here’s where I’m getting confused:

When I use the online calculators, it says that I should eat 2170 calories to maintain my weight, and to lose 1 lb per week I should eat 1670 calories per day (this makes sense to me based on my understanding that you need to subtract 3500 calories from your maintenance calories per every pound you want to lose in a week). Since I’m aiming towards 2 lbs per week, I figured I’d need to subtract another 500 calories daily, which would put me @ 1170 (rounded up to 1200). Yet, other online calculators say that I will lose 2-5 lbs (5 lbs?!?) per week if I eat an average of 1670 calories per day (this doesn’t make sense with the -500 daily calories per weekly pound concept). Sorry, I’m just really confused

Edit: Just wanted to note that 1670 calories is 8x my body weight according to one of the websites

I'm going through the same thing myself and am confused if its the right thing. I'm eating 1200 cal a day and have been for the past 4 weeks and have lost 10 lbs (I contribute some of that to water weight). I also did what I'm guessing is the same calorie calculator and it says I should be eating 1690 cal a day to lose 1-1.5 lbs. The thing is I feel fine on 1200 cal a day not sluggish at all, however I plan on seeing my doctor soon for a physical and am going to ask her. I most likely after this week will bring my cal up to 1400 but add in more exercise. Anyways I think its something you need to talk to a doctor or nutritionist about to be certain because nothing online will be specific to you.

I aim for around 1500, as I figured that was a safe number and not too low. I naturally go higher and lower, that's my way of varying things. When/if I stall I'll reconsider things then. I get moderate exercise.

i guess they mean than you can lose 5 lbs @ 1670 cuz with those cals you have more energy and hence you excercise more so it is possible if you workout regularly

You can't "plan" to lose a set amount per week because you are not a Toyota measuring miles per gallon. Granted, you must eat fewer calories than you burn in order to lose weight. Try tracking everything you eat and every activity you do on FitDay.com. After a few days, you will be able to track how you are doing and make adjustments. Look at the big picture, as long as you are moving weight in a downward direction and you're feeling good, then you doing thing right. You didn't get heavy at 2 pounds/week and you're not going to lose at the same rate.

I have been eating anywhere from 1400-2000 calories per day since mid-January. I do classes at the Y three days a week and try to walk or do stretches on the other days. I have lost 20 pounds (as of this morning), and I am thrilled with the loss. It is slower than what many people want, but I am making a life style change, and I am much healthier!

I am eating balanced meals, but I do not deprive myself of anything. If I want to have ice cream, I have it, I just count it in with my daily calorie range. I track my foods on a food tracker that I turn in on Wednesday nights at my First Place 4 Health class (bible based weight loss), and I also record everything at sparkpeople.com.

It took me many years to get up to my highest weight, so I know that I'm not going to get to my goal quickly. I'm fine with that.

Good luck!